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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1913 



Here is illustrated an admirably chosen small site and a well-designed small house fitted to it 



The Small House Site 



By Harold Donaldson Eberlein 

 Photographs by T. C. Turner and others 



HE wording of this head at once suggests 

 a question to the reader. Does the ad- 

 jective "small" apply to "house" or "site"? 

 Does it mean a site for a small house or a 

 small site for a house? To which the 

 answer is that it means both. In other 

 words, to put it quite explicitly, it means a small site for a 

 small house. The site for the ordinary small house is 

 usually small also. If it is not small, but leaves instead 

 much latitude for the choosing of a location, the problem 

 is so simplified that there would be no point in writing 

 about it. 



Small things suitable for what we want are always harder 

 to find than large things. It matters not whether we are 

 seeking a satisfactory bit of ground for the site of a small 

 house or a modest and inexpensive but appropriate wedding 

 gift to send away, the same observation holds good. Of 

 course if one is easily satisfied and content to take almost 

 anything, the task is- not so hard. For the person of good 

 taste, however, the person of exacting ideals and a fine dis- 

 criminating sense, there are shoals and difficulties ahead. 

 In pitching upon a site for a small house may the few 

 following suggestions prove helpful to the seeker. To be 

 content with a little is a most laudable thing from a 

 philosophic point of view, but in praising this sort of con- 



tentment there are many that either utterly overlook or 

 else confuse the important limitations of quality and quan- 

 tity. If one must, perforce, be content with a little, there 

 is no reason why he should not insist that that little be of 

 the best quality. This is but reasonable, for when the 

 little must be all-sufficient under all circumstances, quality 

 is put to a far more searching test than when quantity 

 somewhat relieves the tension. The choice of a small house 

 site is, therefore, a problem in intensive selection. 



Let us consider, first of all, the things to be carefully 

 avoided if we would secure lasting satisfaction from the 

 result of our choosing. To begin with, we must look well 

 into the future and see to it that, in the course of all 

 ordinary probability, our site is not likely to deteriorate in 

 value or become in any way undesirable. No matter how 

 engaging and apparently suitable a site may appear at 

 first glance, beware of committing yourself to it till you 

 have thoroughly canvassed all the possibilities that may 

 affect its future. If it is a suburban site it will be well to 

 ascertain from an authoritative source what its position is 

 relative to contemplated future public "improvements" — 

 not always appropriately so named, however. It may be 

 that the cutting through of a street or road would completely 

 destroy the charm of the site, and it seems to be a common 

 failing of the majority of "city fathers" that they are sq 



