134 



Garden and Forest. 



[May i6, i8 



street, such lawns and gardens as it might liave lying in 

 the rear — as we see, for instance, in the most dignified 

 streets of Salem and of countless smaller New England 

 towns. To-day the more usual custom is to set the house 

 well back from the street, leaving room in front for a lawn 

 with trees and shrubs, and in the rear for a flower or fruit 

 garden, and often a stable. Such an arrangement, con- 

 sistently followed, is certainly the best as regards the gen- 

 eral aspect of the street, giving it width and dignity and a 

 pleasing combination of natural with architectural features. 

 And it is probably best, too, as regards the comfort and 

 pleasure of the average owner ; for while it removes his 

 windows from the immediate neighborhood of the street, it 

 permits him still to take a contemplative part in the life of 

 the street over a foreground green and pleasant to the eye; 

 and this privilege is more valued by the average American 

 than, for example, by the average Englishman, whife he 

 has not the Englishman's feeling that to enjoy his own pri- 

 vate share of Nature's beauty he must carefully seclude it 

 from the eyes of others. 



We may accept this arrangement, then, as the typical one 

 for an American villa, and pass to the consideration of a 

 question which deals with a matter almost as important 

 as the position of the house itself This is the question. 

 Where should the main doorway of the house be placed .'' 

 And it is so important because upon the answer to it will 

 depend not only the plan of the house itself, but, to a great 

 degree, the plan and effect of the grounds as well. From 

 the architect's point of view it may almost always seem in- 

 contestably best to put the entrance in the front of the house, 

 for, especially in small and simple buildings, he must depend 

 upon it as one of the chief features in his design. Yet 

 even at the sacrifice of a certain portion of architectural 

 effect it may often be better to place it in a less conspicuous 

 position. 



A gravel or asphalt walk, intrinsically considered, is not 

 a pleasing feature. It is simply a useful feature which 

 sh<.)uld not be introduced unless necessity compels, and 

 should always be kept as inconspicuous as convenience 

 will allow. Whether it be straight or sinuous its action is 

 the same — it cuts up the ground into two parts ; and too 

 much thought and skill cannot be expended in lessening 

 the injury to vmity and breadth of effect which this fact 

 implies. If the space available for a lawn between the 

 house and the street is narrow, it is all the greater pity to 

 cut it up with lines of gravel ; and if it is wide, then it is 

 still a pity to sacritice the chance for beautiful gardening 

 effects which it affords. Place the main doorway in the 

 front of the house, and a path must, of course, give direct 

 access to the street ; and if horses are kept, the impulse will 

 be to make the path a driveway, although the broader the 

 line of gravel, the more serious, of course, is the injury to 

 the lawn. It can hardly be disputed that unless grounds 

 are so extensive as to merit the name of a country-place 

 rather than of villa-grounds, a driveway should never be 

 allowed to pass through them on the side towards the 

 street. Whether the outlook is inward from the street or 

 outward from the windows, it will injure the effect more 

 seriously than any otlier feature that is likely to be desired. 

 When horses are kept and a stable stands in the rear of 

 the house, it is decidedly desirable, therefore, that the main 

 doorway should be placed in the side of the house. Then 

 all the drive required will be a single stretch, entering the 

 grounds near their outermost angle and passing the door 

 on the way to the stable. It need hardly be pointed out 

 how much less offensive is such a drive than the one we 

 often see even in very small grounds — cutting through 

 their whole extent on the street side and then encircling 

 the house to reach the stable, and often having an addi- 

 tional curve and an additional gateway to allow of enter- 

 ing and leaving the grounds without going into the stable- 

 yard to turn. 



If there is no stable, but the necessity of having a direct 

 carriage-approach is nevertheless felt, the same arrange- 

 ment commends itself, of course, for the same reasons. But 



in such a case the necessity in question is much more apt 

 to be fanciful than real. A short walk to the carriage is 

 seldom uncomfortable, even to the feet, except in winter ; 

 and a narrow board walk temporarily laid down over the 

 asphalt or gravel will cheaply do away with the greater 

 part of the inconvenience that winter brings. Unless he 

 keeps horses in a stable on the place, or unless there is an 

 invalid in the family whose comfort must be the first con- 

 sideration, an owner who cares at all for the beauty of 

 his grounds will sacrifice his carriage-approach without 

 a pang. 



Yet even if it is sacrificed there are still good reasons why 

 the entrance should perhaps not be in the front of the house. 

 If it is there, we repeat, a walk is still required, and the 

 narrowest will still be a disfigurement to the lawn.^-and the 

 smaller the lawn, the greater the disfigurement. The space 

 to be traversed from door to street will not be perceptibl)' 

 lengthened by placing the door in the side of the house. 

 No injury to the plan of the interior need result from the 

 fact — for even if the door admits not to an old-fashioned 

 narrow entry, but to a hall which is used as a living-room, 

 a little ingenuity will suffice to make some of the windows 

 of this hall command the front prospect. Again, unless the 

 grounds are of much more than average breadth, the front 

 of a villa is the best place for loggias or piazzas for the use 

 of the family in summer ; and such features are better 

 adapted to their purpose when disconnected from the en- 

 trance and protected from the immediate access of visitors, 

 while by carefully planting near the street-line and the 

 piazza, and carefully designing the piazza itself, it M'ill 

 often be possible to secure a due degree of privacy as re- 

 gards passers in the street. 



We do not say that there may not often be good reasons 

 for choosing the front instead of the side of a villa as the 

 place for the main doorway when a carriage-approach 

 thereto is not required, or that architectural effect intrinsic- 

 ally considered has not always a right to much attention.. 

 What we have wished to point out is that with small 

 grounds the side of the house is decidedly the better place 

 for the door when a carriage-approach must be combined 

 with it, and that in all cases it will be well to consider its 

 position carefully before the architect begins his design. 



The Attack «n City Hall Park. 



The project to erect a huge Municipal Building in City 

 Hall Park has been temporarily arrested by the interference 

 of the State Legislature. Even if the new building would 

 have any architectural merit, which is an improbable 

 supposition, it would appear that any scheme to over- 

 shadow and belittle the old City Hall, which has a 

 beauty of its own, not to speak of its age and associations, 

 would find little favor. But apart from this, the project, 

 which is by no means dead, is here spoken of as another 

 illustration of the danger that constantly menaces parks, 

 and every other open space, in our rapidly growing 

 cities 



As land becomes expensive every foot not covered with 

 brick and mortar seems wasted, and the pressure to en- 

 croach upon it, and "improve" it in some way, is almost 

 irresistible. Herein New York, which has a smaller acreage 

 of public ground in proportion to its size and population 

 than any other considerable city in the civilized world, it 

 might be supposed that a few rods of greensward and a 

 cluster of trees would be appreciated and protected. But 

 what was St. John's Park a few years ago has been covered 

 up by a huge freight station. The Battery, beautiful for 

 situation, and a priceless blessing to the thronging popula- 

 tion about it, has been invaded by a railroad, which never 

 rests from its effort to extend its tracks and condemn a still 

 larger portion of it to ruin. From the City Hall Square 

 itself a section has been already taken for Mr. Tweed's 

 Court House and another for the Post Office, and now 

 comes the present threat to absorb the greater fraction of 

 what remains. 



