The Livable House 



along a street to be screened means sinking the street just so much 

 below the level of the eye and increasing the value of the planting 

 by the additional height of the border. On the other hand, cut- 

 ring down a flat stretch may disclose a very pleasant outlook, and 

 will always have the effect of bringing the object revealed nearer 

 to the point of view. 



Getting enough variety into flat land is, for the small place at 

 least, a simpler process and always a less expensive one than elimi- 

 nating the too great variance in a hillside site. A house to be 

 thoroughly pleasing must have the appearance of ease and dig- 

 nity which comes from fitting comfortably into its surroundings, 

 and if it is designed in the beginning to fit the different levels of 

 a hillside it will demand less in the way of grading at the end. 

 It is not easy to create landscape; to move in a site to fit a house 

 after it is built. Any house is bound to have an unpleasantly new 

 appearance for some time after it is completed, and it is far 

 simpler to place the house where old trees and a sufficiently level 

 stretch of land invite it, than to import these afterward to give it 

 the look of belonging in its surroundings. 



Next to appropriateness in the design of the house itself, prob- 

 ably the most important factor in the success of a hillside house 

 is the terrace or terraces on which the house stands., Some of the 

 uncomfortable looking buildings one sees sliding down hill make 

 it seem impossible to build a terrace too wide, although, even if 

 this were a serious danger, the expense of grading would usually 

 prevent such a circumstance. There is much to be said for the 

 distressing condition of the man on a rocky hill where "soil is 



[36] 



