WALKS, DRIVES AND ENTRANCES 29 



CHAPTER III 



ARRANGEMENTS OF WALKS, DRIVES AND ENTRANCES 



After the site for the house has been located the next provision 

 to be made concerns the best arrangement of walks and drives. 

 Here, as in all the other features of landscape development, we have 

 a wide latitude and are not confined to any one particular style. 

 Every property has its individual conditions; these must be care- 

 fully considered, for they will more or less influence the designer of 

 the drive and walk arrangement. One principle, however, is fixed: 

 Drives and walks must be as direct as possible without being forced 

 or twisted; they should approach by means of straight lines or by 

 easy, graceful curves. 



The house being the objective point, the trend should always be 

 in its direction. The approach, when from the side, should be so 

 placed that a good perspective of the house will attract the eye as 

 one comes toward it. If some architectural feature in the house 

 is a dominant note and worthy of attention arrange the curve so 

 that, at a certain point, this feature will hold the center of the pic- 

 ture. Some such feature may be a prettily designed window or 

 doorway. 



When the house is situated at some distance from the highway, 

 the foreground fairly level, and the property of considerable depth, 

 a straight approach (Fig. 16) on the axis of the portal, such as the 

 straight, box-bordered approaches of the old Southern homes, is 

 most pleasing. 



In a straight approach (Fig. 17) there should be no circles, such 

 as we often see, around which a detour must be made before the 

 house is reached. 



On a property of little breadth the straight walk through the 

 center bisects the lawn, leaving two tracts which are very difficult 

 to treat. On such a property it is better to confine the walk to one 

 side (Fig. 10) and arrange the planting to accentuate the breadth. 



In the majority of cases drive and walk should enter at a right 

 angle to the property line (Fig. 18) and finish parallel to the house. 

 Fig. 19 shows an improper method of intersection with front pavement. 



