I 4 8 



THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



GARDEN-HOUSES. 



Dutch Origin of Gazebos tint! Garden-houses Mottoes for Their Doors- Their Popularity in 

 England Two-storeyed Examples -The Most Suitable Materials for Their Building. 



O. r al! the accessories of a garden, from Tudor days until modern times, the garden-house has 

 been the most important. In the fifteenth, and until the middle of the eighteenth, century 

 every care was taken that, besides being ornamental features, they should also be able 

 thoroughly to withstand the vagaries of our climate ; but with the dilettantism of the latter 

 half of the eighteenth century the substantial summer-house gave place to the Greek 

 temple and Chinese pagoda, which in their turn have been succeeded by the spidery rustic wooden 

 arbour of to-day, all freshly varnished and thatched with heather, that in no way takes the place of the 



comfortable stone or 

 brick built garden- 

 house of the eighteenth 

 century. 



B a n q u e t i n g - 

 houses, gazebos and 

 g a r den- houses a 1 ! 

 mean pretty much the 

 same thing in an old 

 English garden. The 

 origin of the word 

 ga/ebo is undoubtedly 

 Dutch, and signifies 

 particular! v that type 

 of summer-house built 

 at the corner of a 

 terrace, or angle of a 

 moated garden, where 

 from its position it 

 c o u 1 d command a 

 w i d e s p r e a d view. 

 Such summer - houses 

 are important features 

 in every Dutch garden, 

 and great variety is 

 shown in their design. 



164.- -A GAZKBO AT wKSTiiURY COURT. They are usually built 



of brick or stone, 



panelled in wood, often containing fireplaces, and in every way are intended as living-rooms and comfortable 

 places for retreat. They are generally disposed at convenient points about the garden ; but whenever 

 the house should chance to be situated near the high road, we are certain to find at least one of them in 

 a position to command the passing traffic. I remember a delightful &quot; zomerhuis &quot; on the high road 

 not far from Haarlem, overlooking a moat, and nestling amid a grove of limes, its casement thrown wide 

 open, allowing a peep of the cosy panelled interior. Here in the long summer evenings the men were 

 wont to bring their pipes and the ladies their needlework, and gossip of the passers-by was freely indulged 

 in. In bygone days the citizens would often erect such gazebos in the neighbourhood of large towns upon 

 some little patch of ground outside the town, to which they could retire with their families after the 

 business of the day. These little buildings in Holland were formerly quite characteristic features of the 

 highway, and we still come across a few that have escaped destruction, decorated with quaint names or 

 mottoes painted above the door. Thus may be read such inscriptions as &quot; Lust en rust &quot; (Pleasure and 

 ease), &quot; Wei tevreeden &quot; (Well content), &quot; Nood gedacht &quot; (Never expected), &quot; Vriendschap en gezelschap &quot; 

 (Friendship and sociability), &quot; Het vermaak is in t hovenieren &quot; (There is pleasure in gardening), anil 

 many a similar quaint phrase indicating a feeling of content and comfort on the part of the owner. 



