The Entrance to the Small Place b y ruth dean 



THERE are three definite ways of disposing 

 of the drive on either a small or a large 

 place; and other ways are but amplifica- 

 tions of these. First: the drive which 

 ends in a turn around such as that shown in 

 diagram No. I. Second: the "horse-shoe" 

 drive. Third: the drive which terminates in a 

 court or yard. 



On small places there is little room to conceal 

 the defects which each one of these schemes de- 

 velops when crowded into a limited space, and 

 what to do with the drive very often resolves 

 itself into a choice of evils. Everyone in these 

 days of plentiful automobiles wants to be de- 

 livered at his own door, and the drive is not the 

 negligible factor it was when sixteen foot touring 

 cars were unknown. One finds that the whole 

 of the front yard is to be given over to drive, or 

 else that the only available lawn space must be 

 cut in two, and all there is to do is to minimize the 

 encroachments of the road by gradingand planting. 



The "turn around" scheme, which admits of 

 more manipulation than the other two, cannot 

 be worked in a space which reduces the inside 

 radius to less than twenty feet. This means 

 that a car can make the turn in a circle whose 

 outside diameter is sixty feet. An ellipse should 

 be eighty feet or more over its long diameter. 



Regular circles and ellipses are almost always 

 objectionable, from the standpoint of art, and 

 luckily one seldom sees them. Trees or rocks 

 or some other irregularity in the surface of the 

 ground usually intervenes to turn the road from 

 an even course, but if these fail they should be 

 introduced into the scheme. The circle, which 

 is too obvious a form to be interesting, and lacks 

 the dignity necessary to make it formal, should 

 be modified and used in frankly naturalistic 

 work with its form concealed by grading up the 

 lawn centre, and by planting. 



From the dimensions given above it is plain 

 to see that a house which sits from seventy to 

 one hundred feet back from the road may easily 

 have its entire front yard taken up with road. 

 Sometimes it is not a bad idea to regard this space 

 as one large turn around for in so doing one may 

 gain more unbroken lawn space than in any other 

 way, for instance such a drive as the one shown 

 on diagram No. 4 in which the house is placed 

 one hundred and ten feet from the road, run 

 straight from the gate for twenty-five feet, 

 skirts the property lines and leaves the centre 

 portion free for lawn. Clumps of bushes and 



trees here and there partly hide the road and 

 wise grading sinks it slightly below the level of 

 the lawn, making it invisible for at least part of 

 its length. 



With the house moved up nearer the road this 

 scheme becomes unfeasible and some other kind 

 must take its place. The so called "horse- 

 shoe" drive, one which leads into the grounds 

 only to lead out again directly, is open to the 

 same objection as the circular turn around. It 

 lacks any quality of surprise or mystery to give 

 it interest. Unless it be planted and graded 

 so that one side is partially, if not wholly con- 

 cealed from the other, it is as dull as the book 

 who's ending is apparent from the beginning. 

 As a means of easy and convenient access to the 

 house it is beyond reproach. It adapts itself 

 to almost any sized place and usually admits of 

 curves easier from the automobilist's standpoint 

 than any other kind of drive, but it reveals all 

 too readily the limits of the grounds, and makes 

 besides, two distinct entrances. 



The alternative for this kind of drive is one 

 ending in a yard, sometimes when its size, dignity, 

 and position warrant, called a forecourt. On the 

 small place it must be more often than not, a 

 side or back court, which is service and garage 

 yard as well as turn around. Its great use- 

 fulness lies in the fact that it banishes the 

 extent of drive necessary for a turn around, 

 from limited lawn space, at the same time leav- 

 ing it possible for a car to approach close to the 

 house. 



A car can back and turn in a space forty feet 

 square providing it is entirely covered with 

 gravel, that is to say has no centre of grass to 

 be avoided. Such a gravel covered area is not 

 sightly and must be put some place where it can 

 be shut off from view by vine covered trellis 



The turn around with plantings that harmonize with the 

 curved line 



The simple horse-shoe, " in and out " does not leave much 

 scope for the planter except in grades 



The terminating drive almost straight but 

 planted to screen the garage doors 



and 



SUGGESTED DISPOSAL OF TREES AND MASSING OF SHRUBBERY TO FIT THE DIFFERENT STYLES OF ENTRANCE DRIVEWAY 



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