TRECOURT 



THE title of this house was suggested by the fact that the grouping of 

 its structure involves the formation of three courts. Of these the central 

 or fountain court is completely enclosed by the house, and, so far, the 

 traditional model of an ancient type of plan is followed. There seems 

 little doubt that this formation was originally adopted mainly for purposes 

 of defence, and some excuse may be required to justify the perpetuation 

 of such a plan in these days when conditions demanding the fortification 

 of dwellings no longer obtain. It may be urged then that there are 

 many other advantages, practical and aesthetic, which make the plan 

 of building round enclosed courts advisable in modern times. The 

 form of plan which resulted from the necessity for defence inevitably 

 secured the quality of seclusion, and led to the creation of a little inner 

 world, an enchanted territory of courts and enclosed gardens which owed 

 the greater part of their charm to such enclosure. And this idea of the 

 house and its garden as a little fairy- land, sheltered and defended from the 

 bleak influences of the common every-day world without, can only be ade- 

 quately conveyed by the same expedients which would be adopted by those 

 who were obliged to fortify it against the attacks of enemies. 



The court system of house planning has, moreover, other advantages, 

 leading as it does to compactness of plan in a large house, and to an in- 

 creased facility for lighting the various rooms and passages. Another 

 ancient device for the defence of the house, may here be noted in passing as 

 an example of that process of rational adoption and reluctant rejection of 

 the features of old houses which results in a building which fulfils modern 

 conditions. The enclosure of a house by a moat has much to recommend 

 it from an aesthetic point of view. The reflection of its walls in the still 

 water from which they seem to spring, conveys the idea of a little island 

 home set like a jewel in a zone of silver. But the obvious inconsistency of 

 creating an obstruction to the approaches of the house with no practical 

 object, and then making bridges for transit over it, makes the enclosing moat 

 to a modern house appear an archaic affectation, and the most one can learn 

 from it is the beauty of the conjunction of architecture and still water, and 

 the value of reflections in design. 



Referring to the illustrations, it may be noted that the use of colour in 

 architectural sketches, especially when it is of that accidental character which 

 the weather gives, has often been somewhat unfairly reprobated. As, 

 however, in the choice of materials for country building, it has been urged 

 that they should be adapted for Nature's painting, some suggestion of this 

 process must necessarily be conveyed in illustrations of exteriors. Some 

 indication might also have justly been added of the growth of creepers on 

 the walls, and these have only been omitted in order not to confuse the forms 

 of the structure. The relative plainness of the building is an indication 

 that its grey stone walls will be partially adorned with climbing plants, and 

 its red roof stained by the weather with tints which can only be dimly 

 suggested by the sketches illustrated. 

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