CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN 



SEMI-DETACHED HOUSES 



HE semi-detached house might, perhaps, be better described as 

 semi-attached, for it is its attachment which forces itself upon 

 its tenant as its salient characteristic. It generally represents 

 a hesitating compromise which is fatal to success, and secures 



for itself neither the advantages of the terrace nor the detached 



house, while it seems to combine the drawbacks of each. It represents 

 a builder's expedient for making the most of his frontage, and inasmuch as 

 it ranks higher in the conventional scale of excellence than the terrace 

 house and commands a higher rent, it is often to be seen on the outskirts 

 of the modern town, where it has been built for those who cherish the 

 illusion that a semi-detached house is necessarily superior to one in a 

 terrace. 



This type of house generally consists of the ordinary terrace plan with the 

 addition of a narrow passage at the side by which the butcher's boy is enabled 

 to reach the back premises. The rational planning of a house on such a 

 frontage would not sacrifice three feet of it for the use of the butcher's 

 boy, but would rather, in building a continuous terrace, give this space to the 

 principal rooms, and would then rather consider the possibility of bringing 

 the back premises to the butcher's boy instead of sacrificing space and spoiling 

 the garden by placing the kitchens at the back of the house regardless of 

 aspect, and thus involving difficulties in their approach from the front. Here 

 one is met by the same traditional follies which have been alluded to in the 

 case of the terrace house, and comfort and convenience are alike cheerfully 



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