HOUSES AND GARDENS 



freedom, instead of that chilling passage which no art of man can make 

 homely and inviting. 



Let us now consider the back room, which in a house of this kind will 

 be the dining-room. It is generally small and cramped, and in spite of its 

 sheet of glass, which makes it impossible to escape from the insistent 

 presence of narrow back premises, it is also dark. It is assumed that the 

 kitchen premises form an annexe in the rear, and are not in the basement ; 

 and their position will make it difficult to light this room properly, while 

 the prospect from its window can hardly be anything but cheerless. But 

 the window of the front room will give a large amount of light, and more 

 in fact than is needed there. 



A further modification of the structure would therefore take the form 

 of making an opening in the partition which divides the two rooms, which 

 may be either fitted with glazed doors or with the beam and curtain as 

 before. A small conservatory might then form the end of the vista outside 

 the dining-room window, or if the window itself is merely modified it 

 might take the form of making it solely a means of letting light into the 

 room without disclosing the barrenness of the outlook. This may be done 

 by fitting shutters glazed with leaded glass on the inside face of the wall. 

 These could be easily removed, and besides forming a screen, they would 

 have all the advantages of double windows and counteract those disadvantages 

 of the large window which have already been referred to. 



In making such a modification of the stereotyped villa plan, I fully 

 recognise that it will only appeal to the more intelligent inhabitants of villadom. 

 The conception of the house, which includes the sacrifice of the front room 

 to the visitor, and the furnishing of it with superfine and highly polished 

 cabinets and occasional chairs and tables, will not gladly accept for mere 

 family uses the most important room in the house easily and comfortably 

 furnished, with materials which will stand, and not be the worse for, constant 

 service. In considering how such a modification of the plan will meet the 

 conditions of family life, the question may first of all be considered from the 

 fundamental standpoint of heating. In such a villa, the family will often be 

 normally a " two-fire " family, and will only keep in constant use the kitchen 

 fire and that in the back sitting-room. The inevitable result of this will be 

 that the back sitting-room in the winter months will be the general and only 

 sitting-room and feeding-room for the family group, or if the front sitting- 

 room fire is kept in use the family must necessarily have their meals in the 

 cold. When, however, the whole area of the two rooms is treated as one 

 apartment with a good fire in the front room, the dining-room becomes a sort 

 of recess in the hall, and shares in its heat as well as light, and the whole 

 interior forms a roomy and comfortable setting for the family life. On 

 occasions when it is necessary to receive visitors without infringing on the 

 family life, this may be done either in the back or front portion of the plan, 

 according to the convenience of the occasion. The separate uses of the back 

 room would depend on the possibility of including another fire in the 

 minimum heating arrangements, or a heating apparatus might be used to 



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