288 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



out by using irregular lots, if it be possible to fix beforehand the approxi- 

 mate house-locations and perhaps the general scheme of development 

 of each lot. This more detailed study raises the cost of the design, 

 and many purchasers are averse to accepting predetermined schemes 

 for the development of their property, but sometimes land can be 

 handled in this way which would entail prohibitive construction ex- 

 pense if developed in any stereotyped fashion. (See Drawing XXXIV, 

 opposite.) 



If an irregular block is to be cut up into lots, it should be nowhere 

 so deep between street and nearest street that the two lots lying back 

 to back in this part of the block shall be of too great a depth. To some 

 extent such a difficulty may be minimized by designing lots of greater 

 area in such a place so that they may have greater depth without hav- 

 ing undesirable proportions, but there is, as we have seen, a more or 

 less definite limit of size of lot which is likely to be salable in a given 

 location. Special pains should be taken in arranging the lot bound- 

 aries to avoid making any angle considerably less than a right angle ; 

 and, where it is possible, the boundary lines of each lot should run straight 

 between corners, thus avoiding slight additional angles to complicate 

 the plotting and description of the lot. In subdividing a block into lots, 

 in general the designer will begin by setting off a separate lot in each 

 corner of the block. These corner lots will probably be larger than 

 the average because they are subject to restrictions along both street 

 fronts, and the amount of land available for house site is by so much 

 reduced. The side lines of all the lots will be drawn in each case as 

 far as may be at right angles to the street line, and so spaced in the 

 length of the block that, with a depth in general half the depth of the 

 block at that point, each lot is given a salable size. This must be done 

 of course without producing a frontage on the street too narrow for 

 use or too broad for economy. If these conditions cannot be reason- 

 ably met, it will probably be desirable to consider changing the shape 

 of the block even at some additional expense of road construction. 

 Lot Orientation Where the lots are small enough so that the location of the house is 

 more or less fixed between the sides of the lot, and where — as is usually 

 the case under such circumstances — it is customary to place the house 

 parallel to the street and as near the street as the restrictions allow, 



