Height of 

 walls. 



Balustraded 

 walls 



Harmony 

 with 



residence 

 necessary. 



TERRACES AND TERRACE GARDENS. 



or even more so than any other. Illustrations Nos. 112, 113 and 114 demonstrate ' this 

 point. The first shows a terrace wall in brick in the Home Counties, and the other two, 

 how well the black slate of the Lake District, with its necessarily massive construction, 

 harmonizes with its rugged surroundings. Most of the terrace walls designed in connection 

 with the gardens illustrated in this work are finished with a simple flag coping. Some 

 have battered walls, and others have the surface broken up by pilasters or by sloping 

 buttresses with balls or sugar-loaf finials over each buttress and lead urns or large vases 

 to mark the sides of steps or angles. A retaining wall with the coping only a few 

 inches above the inside ground level is usually sufficient where the difference in the levels is 

 not more than three feet six inches, while for cases where the difference is greater, some form 

 of protecting wall or balustrade, such as those shown in illustrations Nos. 118 and ng, is 

 necessary. There are cases where there is not justification for a balustraded wall and yet 

 the terrace looks unfinished without it. In such instances, a hedge of yew, privet or 

 cotoneaster, planted close inside the dwarf wall, trimmed perfectly square and kept quite 

 low, will be useful. 



The height of walls above the finished ground level on the higher side may vary 

 from the dwarf wall just considered up to three feet three inches, the latter being known 

 as :< leaning height." Unless the fall to the lower terrace exceeds six feet, the best 

 height for a solid wall is seventeen inches or " sitting height," while, for deeper terraces. 

 it is safer to make it from thirty-three to thirty-nine inches high. 



Pierced or balustraded walls are seldom a necessity. In their favour it may be 

 urged that, independent of the architectural effect, they add to the beauty of a terrace by 

 allowing more to be seen of lower lawns and flower gardens than do solid walls. When 

 the terraces are formed on the side of a steep hill and are therefore necessarily narrow 

 and deep, as in illustrations Nos. 116 and 117, the openings allow more of each level 

 to be seen, and when viewed towards the house, they prevent the garden from appearing 

 as though entirely formed of walls. 



A terrace wall cannot, however, be considered as a feature separate and distinct 

 from the architecture of the residence. A brick or stone mansion in the style and 

 of the period of Inigo Jones, or a modern residence in which stone and brick are 

 combined in the same way, require similar terraces. If stone dressings are used in 

 the house they must also be used in the terrace walls ; they might not extend beyond 

 the quoins and coping, but in some form they are necessary to secure harmony. 



Simplicity is to be aimed at, yet there are many instances in which it is necessary 

 to use ornament. The charming examples of balustraded walls at Montacute, Brympton, 

 Wilton, Haddon, etc., are each indispensable to the success of and show a pleasing 

 fitness to the garden they adorn. Pierced walls accord with houses which are light 

 in design, like some of the later Tudor residences, while iron bays between stone piers 

 often form the best balustrade to a Georgian residence. As already mentioned in the 

 chapter dealing with garden walls, quaint use may sometimes be made of local materials, 



such as land tiles and ridging tiles for small or very rural 

 gardens, but there' is a distinct danger of extravagance which 

 must be guarded against. 



To give a clear impression of what is meant by simple 

 and elaborate terrace walls, a series of designs drawn to scale 

 of terrace walls designed for gardens planned by the Author, 

 is given in illustrations Nos. 118 and 119. In addition to the 

 examples in stone, there is one which may be interesting in its way, viz., a wooden 

 balustrade designed for the terrace in front of an old house in Staffordshire, while 

 No. 112 shows a combination of brick with wood balusters. No. 118 shows stone 

 terrace walls with bays of wrought iron filling in the circular sweeps. 



FIG. 115. 



94 



