CHAPTER II 



ARRANGEMENT OF NARROW LOTS 



All lots should be planned carefully from boundary to boundary, whether they 

 are to be but small front and rear areas, or narrow strips of land at the sides, or 

 more spacious yards. Small yards are usually the result of high land values, and 

 if one has paid dearly for narrow frontage, only by careful planning can he hope 

 for value returned. If the land was not to be used, why then was it purchased? 

 Rear areas are apt to become catch-alls for rubbish unless they are adapted to 

 useful purposes. Use, however, is likely to invite care and neatness, and neatness 

 alone is often a satisfactory solution for the small-back-yard problem. 



One has to pay, for every foot of frontage, on many streets, as much as fifty 

 dollars a front foot. Though the depth of the lot has some bearing on the rate, 

 the principal factor is the importance of the street, and one pays primarily for 

 frontage. Since one has to pay dearly for every foot, why not so plan the land as 

 to derive from it the greatest possible use and enjoyment? In planning a house, 

 one tries to arrange for the desired dimensions in this and in that room, but also 

 observes great care in joining these rooms so that there may be no waste space in 

 halls, angular areas, and irregularities which do not affect the apparent size of the 

 house or its rooms but do add to the total cost. We should plan small yards to 

 be compact and economical in the same way. 



In cramped quarters good order is especially necessary. One may not think 

 his yard is in disorder, but it is quite likely that careful study of the arrangement 

 will di.'iclose possibilities of greater convenience and more spaciousness. In the 

 case of a new property where the house is yet to be plaimed and built, the first- 

 floor rooms, the entrances — in fact, any general aspects or details of the house 

 plan which might better relate it to its lot — should be taken into account. The 

 position of the house, as well as its outside dimensions, determines the size of the 

 front and rear areas. If the house does not extend across the entire width of the 

 lot, the use of the narrow strips at the sides should be determined and the space 

 arranged accordingly. Frequently houses are found on one side of which is aa 

 area of no particular use, while on the opposite side a foot or two more would haY& 

 made possible a much-needed walk or driveway. If lots are not very deep^ so^ 

 that both front and rear yards must of necessity be shallow, it may be better^ 

 rather than to try to obtain sufi^cient space between the houses for side ligMr, 

 to plan them broad and narrow with no windows in the ends and to leave only 

 what space may be necessary for a side passage. The better penetration of light due 

 to the small front-and-back dimensions may result in the interiors of such houses 

 being better lighted than those of houses so arranged as to depend for some 

 light from partially darkened side windows. Cf course, an architect may not 

 have opportunity to thus mould the plan of the house, but forethought costs: 

 nothing, and, in many cases, saves much. Thus the first considerations should 

 include a careful study of the plan of the house in relation to the lot, and its 

 position thereon. 



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