ORANGERIES. 



iSi 



may be more fitly lavished. Whether it be in sculptured caryatides along the front or graceful lead 

 figures over the parapet, a certain exuberance of ornament will not be out of place here, or clash with the 

 sobriety of the house. It stands for the modern temple of Flora, and that is sufficient excuse. Hut 

 it is as an annexe to the house that the future of the orangery probably lies, and in that position its 

 exterior ornateness must be subservient to the rest of the scheme. Fashion has changed nowadays in 

 several matters that intimately a fleet country-house building. In the first place, people pay much shorter 

 visits than they did in the old days, so that less accommodation is required. 1 he brewhoiiM-, and olten 

 the laundry too, is no longer a requirement, as these tilings are &quot; done out.&quot; and, lastly, motors do not 

 need anything like the space that used to be taken up with long ranges of MaMmi; and coach-houses. 

 In short, the dependencies are fewer and the roof area less, and without a certain range of buildings 

 to treat it is difficult nay, impossible for the architect to get much eth ct out of any scheme. Hut 

 we still have the orangcrv, and in this connection it is a godsend. It must almost of necessity cover 

 a good deal of ground, and it may be marshalled with the main building &amp;gt;o as to save the situation. 



In the ideal home that 1 have half promised myself to build lor my declining years you will come 

 to the orangery on the lelt as you step out into the court garden Iroin the corridor beyond the hall. It 

 will balance the kitchen wing on the right, and the sun will begin to creep in a little before middav. It 



.204. ---AT CASSIOBURY PARK. 



will be paved in stone diamonds and softly carpeted down the centre, and will form the buffer state between 

 my own sancta at the end and the rest of the house, which may be as noisy as it likes with women and 

 children. Yon can picture to yourself the double row of well-kept shrubs, down which the servant will 

 come with noiseless tread to announce an intruder on my solitude, and the pleasant odours of flowering 

 things that will take their place in the summer 



As the orangery is essentially for winter Irnising of the trees which, in summer, will stand out in the 

 paved court or border the parterre, it forms a capital place when empty for wet-day games or for tea during 

 garden-parties, as the practice is at Osterley and elsewhere. Some years ago it was not unusual for an 

 architect to be told that a conservatory in connection with the new house was to be worked in at any cost. 

 He could see the request coming and it always made him sad. Happily, it is not so common now, though 

 ants in the house have possibly had more to do with it than a better understanding of architecture. An 



