THE CHOICE OF A SITE AND ITS TREATMENT. 



limits of a few acres of land. He will also desire to be within reasonably easy reach 

 of a fairly efficient shopping centre such as that provided by a county or market town. 



This question of accessibility has been greatly altered by the advent of the motor Accessi- 

 car. Whereas, formerly, a mile or a mile and a half was about the limit which the bility. 

 business man was prepared to go morning and evening in all weathers to and from the 

 station, nowadays there are hundreds of instances where the same men travel from five 

 to ten miles, and that with as little trouble. This, coupled with the steady and continu- 

 ous improvement which is going on in the train services for business men, has opened up 

 a very extended radius for choice of residence and has saved many an old Elizabethan 

 farm or manor house or obsolete coaching inn from destruction and decay. 



In other cases, the proximity of one of the large hunts, a yachting centre, a re- 

 nowned golf course or other facilities for country sports, may take the place of business 

 requirements. 



Personal preferences will differ very much and are often a little bewildering to the Personal 

 architect. It is quite exceptional for two persons to have the same ideas as to the value Preferences. 

 of a site, the conditions which appear desirable to one being often wholly objectionable to 

 another. One person prefers to look on his neighbour's house, and feels more sociable 

 thereby, while another prefers to be so entirely isolated that even his estate cottages must 

 be placed out of sight and sound. Most people are, however, agreed on the desirability 

 of pure air and a sunny situation, the best from the latter point of view being one 

 which slopes towards a point a little East of South, while the worst is that which slopes 

 towards the North-west, and in nearly every instance extensive or beautiful views are 

 courted, and the presence of well-grown timber or hedge rows with young timber trees is 

 considered desirable. A house built on a treeless field, especially on an elevated site, 

 appears unsociable, whereas a few well established trees serve, in a way, to link the present 

 with the past and help the new architecture to blend with the landscape. 



When all the factors discussed, hygienic, commercial, social, artistic, geographical, and 

 personal, have been applied to those sites of about the area required which are available, 

 it will generally be found that the choice is very narrow indeed, and probably the 

 question will largely decide itself by the pre-eminent suitability of one particular plot, 

 though, even when the best has been done, the result will partake of the nature of a 

 compromise, and many difficult problems will be left for consideration as the work of 

 development proceeds. 



We may imagine, then, that our prospective owner has now made up his mind. To A typical 

 carry the subject further and show how the site which he has chosen should be treated, s ^e. 

 we have taken from the ordnance map the parcel of ground shown in illustration No. 10. 

 In extent, shape and contours, it is suitable for a moderate-sized residence, and very 

 typical of the class of site we have been discussing but at the same time distinctive 

 enough in its general characteristics to prevent its being treated in any stereotyped 

 manner. The site, nine acres in extent, is such as might be found in most hilly dis- 

 tricts, especially in Westmorland, the county in which it is situated. It has been slightly 

 altered to conceal its actual identity, but the alterations are not such as in any way 

 to affect its use for the present purpose. 



A farmstead with numerous outbuildings formerly occupied a level site indicated on n s aspect 

 the plan in the largest of the six fields which, with the two plantations of well-grown 

 timber in good condition and the two coppices to the South and East, make up the nine 

 acres. All are fenced with the rough stone walls characteristic of the district. The 

 appearance of the plantations suggests that they may be the remains of a general clearing, 

 the whole nine acres, with the exception of a portion of the lower field, being formerly 

 covered with timber or coppice wood. The general fall of the land is to the South- 

 east and a tumbling stream enters the ground near the North-west corner and passes to 



