HOUSES AND GARDENS 



special cases, but the estate plan should be evolved in this way from the indi- 

 vidual house, which should be again evolved from real requirements, and not 

 based on fantastic chimeras and conventions. 



As to the amount of frontage given to the houses, some variety may also 

 be introduced, and a terrace with a liberal frontage allowance is better than 

 detached houses set close together, because in the latter cases the spaces 

 between the houses are practically useless for light or outlook. 



It is, moreover, unreasonable in building a terrace that all the houses 

 should have exactly the same accommodation. 



The tailor who sells ready-made clothes recognises certain variations from 

 the normal in the human frame which it is impossible to ignore, and the same 

 variations occur in families. So that while the majority of the houses may 

 contain normal accommodation there should also be a certain number adapted 

 for abnormal cases. It will thus be seen how many factors there are which 

 tend to suggest variety in the plan of the terrace house, and when to these 

 are added the peculiar local conditions which it is impossible to deal with here, 

 it may well be urged that there is no rational excuse for the standard terrace 

 plan, and, so long as the large majority of the population are doomed to live 

 in such dwellings, it is doubtful whether there is much cause for congratu- 

 lating ourselves on the improvement of the British homes of to-day. 



In the two plans for terrace houses shown, the first would be appropriate for 

 a terrace where the road is on the sunny side, and where it is therefore desirable 

 that the principal windows should look towards the road. In such a case it 

 would be desirable that the houses should be set well back, so that the garden 

 space should be in front, and the house should be to some extent free from 

 the dust and the noise of the road. 



The straight walk leading to the front entrance might be flanked on the 

 one side with a range of posts and roofed with branches so as to form a 

 pergola, of which one side is formed by the division-wall between the houses, 

 and the other afford glimpses of a long flower border. This path would 

 then appear as a simple kind of cloister. The whole of the ground plan of 

 the main block of the house would then consist of one large room, with its 

 dining recess, serving-room and staircase. In this room the usual passage at 

 the side is incorporated, and is merely divided by a curtain, for it seems 

 unreasonable that so much space as is usually occupied by this passage should 

 be entirely cut off" from the house for only occasional use. This large room 

 is heated by a fireplace of ample proportions, and the whole effect on entering 

 from the porch is one of homely comfort and breadth. 



In order to get the maximum amount of light at the back, the kitchens 

 are treated as a separate block, and represent a little additional house for the 

 servants, with its separate stair and bedroom accommodation over the kitchen. 

 In the main block the family bedrooms are provided on two floors, of which 

 the upper is in the roof. 



In the second plan for a terrace house it is assumed that the road is on the 

 north side, and so the kitchens are placed on the road side and the whole of 

 the south front then remains to be treated as a private garden. The frontage 



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