A HOUSE AND GARDEN IN POLAND 



THE house now to be considered is one designed for a site in Poland, 

 where the rigour of the winter climate demands some modifications of the 

 normal English plan. The chief of these modifications consists in the reduction 

 of the windows as far as possible, and the construction of these with double 

 thickness of glass with an air-space between, and also in the thickening of 

 the walls, and by these means reducing to a minimum the influences of 

 outside conditions on the internal temperature. It further became desirable 

 to create an interior world which in its warmth and brightness would, to 

 some extent, compensate for an enforced seclusion within its walls for half 

 the year. A large floor-space and a somewhat irregular disposition of 

 the apartments was specially desired so that the interior would be rich 

 in pleasant vistas, and the occupants feel something of that sense of un- 

 confined freedom which the rectangular plastered box cannot give. The 

 plan which is illustrated shows but a modification of a scheme which was 

 originally designed by my client with a view to realise such a spacious and 

 unconfined interior effect. 



In the scheme for the roof it became necessary to consider the question of 

 snow and to avoid all internal gutters. The heating question is also an 

 important one, and involves, besides the ample open fires, a complete system 

 of hot-water heating. 



The conditions under which this house is to be built are peculiarly 

 favourable to that human expression in workmanship which, under modern 

 conditions, it is so difficult to obtain. The brick for the walls are all made 

 on tne spot, and the timber for the trees felled in the neighbourhood. In 

 the working of this timber it does not pass under the fatal rule of the 

 steam saw and plane, and so the beams of the house seem still to retain 

 some of their original characteristics, and are eloquent in signs of human 

 handicraft. It is all the difference between the orange picked from its native 

 tree and the orange bought from the greengrocer's shop, and the associations 

 of Nature still cling around the beams and posts in the house. In the effect 

 of the interior it is the art of mere building which is principally relied upon, 

 and posts, beams, braces and arches all contribute their aid to the whole 

 constructural scheme. 



The final notes of the general effect of the interior, which consists for 

 the main part of broad spaces of creamy plaster with the grey-brown of 

 timber, are supplied by brilliant concentrated notes of colour in heraldic 

 decoration. In some of the rooms a more extensive use of superficial decora- 

 tion is arranged for, and the bedrooms are each adorned with a special flower 

 motif. 



The scheme for the garden shown in connection with this house is based 

 on existing features in the grounds surrounding a previous house, and also the 

 natural levels, so that lawns and terraces can be formed without excessive 

 cutting and filling. In thus modifying and developing an existing garden, 

 impediments which one is apt to regard a little impatiently at first seem 

 gradually, when the matter has been exhaustively considered, to become the 

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