CHAPTER I 

 THE HOME AND THE CITY 



ON entering a city we at once form an impression. If the city be 

 one of attractive homes, tree-lined streets, with neatly kept and 

 vine-covered cottages, the impression will surely be a good one, 

 for such a city is a grateful contrast to the many towns and cities where 

 this air of homelikeness and neatness is notable for its absence. The 

 individual home owner who maintains a well-kept lawn, tastily displayed 

 shrubs and flowers, with such features of personal charms as a rose-cov- 

 ered arch, bird baths and possibly a productive vegetable garden, is 

 certainly making a contribution to the city's' beauty. 



Every city should have a city plan just as every home should have 

 a definite plan of development; and yet if the homes, the units which 

 make up the city, are not made attractive, the city is sure to fall short 

 of its aspirations. Plan as we may for beautiful boulevards and 

 attractive streets, to which we assume that contiguous buildings and 

 grounds will conform automatically, it still remains in the power of the 

 individual to spoil the effect of the whole scheme by building any kind 

 of monstrosity he chooses or by developing his grounds in the most in- 

 harmonious manner, thus preventing a satisfactory working out of the 

 scheme. 



"The exterior of your house is not private property," says Ruskin, 

 and this we should all realize; and in planning our places we should 

 have the welfare of the entire street in mind. To assume that there 

 would eventually be a regulation of housing architecture is too remote 

 for conjecture, and yet one cannot help but wish that such regulation 

 were possible. Often when a portion of a street or certain districts are 

 developed by the same company, the houses are built in a uniform type 

 of architecture, study having been given to the street or section in order 

 to produce a harmonious and thus a pleasing effect. That these devel- 

 opments win the admiration of all who see them is proof that a cer- 

 tain amount of regulation is desirable. Some, however, should be left 

 for personal expression. 



Good architecture should be a characteristic not alone of the larger 

 and more expensive home, for the small house can be designed in just 

 as pleasing manner as the larger one. Can anything be more beautiful 



