HOUSES AND GARDENS 



considered as essential parts of the scheme, the defects of the qualities for 



which they pay so dear. 



The popular view as to dwellings seems to be that they grow like trees in 

 certain shapes, and with certain internal defects beyond the control of mere 

 human agencies, and so the flat, like the villa, is accepted without a murmur 

 of criticism. 



The plans for flats which I illustrate may be found to be somewhat more 

 liberal in their accommodation than those to be obtained at a moderate rental, 

 in London at any rate ; but the present high rent of flats seems to be due to 

 temporary artificial conditions, and there is no valid reason why a flat should 

 not provide the same accommodation as a terrace house for approximately 

 the same rental. Moreover, the plans submitted are mainly to illustrate 

 certain principles of planning which would apply to small flats as well as 

 large ones. 



The first essential is to secure a roomy and spacious ensemble in the 

 sitting-rooms by such modifications as we have already considered in the 

 ordinary house plan, and this is a more pressing requirement in the flat because 

 its rooms are generally small, and there is no garden to afford relief to those 

 prisoned within its cells. The apartments for the servants should not be 

 jumbled up with the family rooms, but should be definitely planned and iso- 

 lated, and while the sitting-rooms can be connected to give an ample floor- 

 area, there should be rooms also which may be entirely quiet and private. A 

 balcony is also a desirable feature in a gardenless dwelling. 



On referring to the larger plan illustrated, it may be noted that the 

 servant can reach the front door and the bedrooms without passing through 

 the sitting-rooms. On entering from the porch the visitor, instead of finding 

 himself in a narrow passage, is at once welcomed in a roomy hall, beyond 

 which a glimpse may be caught of the drawing-room. In both hall and 

 dining-room the planning has led naturally to recessed fireplaces, and in spite 

 of the ingle-nookeries of the modern villa it is maintained that such a type is 

 unequalled for comfort. The bedrooms are five in number, including the 

 servant's bedroom, and thus afford the full complement of rooms which the 

 average family demands, while the furnishing of some of these as bed-sitting- 

 rooms would afford private retreats for the individual members of the 

 family. 



The whole scheme is practically a house built round a court which affords 

 light to the servants' premises and to the passages from which the bedrooms 

 open. This passage, with its side lighting and ceiling at a low level, will be 

 entirely different to the narrow and lofty one which has already been men- 

 tioned. Its windows will not afford an outlook into the court, but with their 

 leaded glazing will merely let a toned light into the passage. 



There is a lack of storage-space for boxes, but it has been considered that 

 space in the flat itself is too valuable to be used in this way, and the base- 

 ment or roof-space of the building would afford the necessary accommodation 

 of this kind required by the tenants. In the treatment of the exterior of 

 such a building simplicity and economy should be the ruling ideas, and the 

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