180 THE PLAN OF THE PLACE 



ture : that is, it should serve as a base to the 

 building. It will at once be seen, therefore, that 

 terraces are most in place against those buildings 

 which have strong horizontal lines, and 

 they are not suitable against buildings 

 with very broken lines and mixed or 

 gothic features. In order to join the 

 terrace to the building, it is usually ad- 

 visable to place some 

 architectural feature 

 upon its crown, like 

 a balustrade, and to 



162. Terrace fall- 

 ing too suddenly away 

 from the building. 



ascend it b> means of architectural steps. The 

 terrace elevation, therefore, becomes a part of 

 the base of the building, and the top of it is 

 an esplanade. 



A simple and gradually sloping bank can 

 nearly always be made to take the place of a ter- 

 race. For example, let the operator make a ter- 

 race, wij:h sharp angles above and below, in the 

 fall of the year; in the spring, he will find that 

 nature has taken the matter in hand and the upper 

 angle of the terrace has been washed away and 

 deposited in the lower angle, and the result is the 

 beginning of a good series of curves. Fig. 159 



