250 LANDSCAPE DESIGN 



design is not so definitely tied by considerations of use and available 

 space. But the difference in the design of estates of various sizes is 

 usually one of degree rather than of kind. The general principles will 

 apply, with modifications, to estates of all sizes ranging from the pri- 

 vate estate so small that the house and other buildings dominate the 

 design inevitably, to larger estates the expression of which is less re- 

 stricted, and in which, in many cases, units of design organized ac- 

 cording to landscape characters rather than according to the will of 

 man may be developed. 



In these larger estates the relative esthetic importance of the various 

 considerations is quite different from what it is in smaller estates. 

 The house and its architectural surroundings, while still the focus of 

 the whole design, still the object of most importance for its size in the 

 whole scheme, is no longer dominant by its visual aspect as it inevitably 

 is in the house lot. In other words, in the larger scheme the house is 

 only one of many objects which go to form the whole design, and the 

 dominance of the house, in so far as it is dominant, is due to its 

 associations, to its greater precision and elaboration of detail, and to 

 the radiation throughout the design of lines of view and necessary 

 lines of traffic to and from the house. 



The House The internal arrangement of the house is important to the whole 



plan of an estate, both because of its effect on the shape of the house, 

 and so on its mass as an object in the design, and also on account of 

 the relation of the areas about the house to its doors and windows, 

 and to the views from it. 



The larger the house is, the more possibilities of arrangement of 

 rooms there will be, because commonly the more servants will be kept, 

 and so short access for service within the house is less important, 

 and particularly because the possibility of building a number of wings 

 will give light and air to various rooms in various different arrange- 

 ments. But in the house where space must be saved for reasons of econ- 

 omy, certain typical arrangements of the interior have been found to 

 be the most desirable for the usual family, living as our present civiliza- 

 tion causes them to live. In ordinary out-of-town houses, general 

 schemes like the following are common. (Compare the ground floor 

 plans of the houses in the estate plans given.) 



