CHAP TEE IX. 



MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN STRUCTURES. 



§ 1. — GAKDENERS' HOUSES. 



These should form an adjunct corre- 

 sponding in style and consequence with 

 the garden, of which they may be said to 

 form a part. This is, however, we regret 

 to say, by no means a general case ; and 

 hence we often find, even in gardens of 

 high pretensions, and where great expense 

 has been gone to in minor details, the ac- 

 commodation afforded the head gardener 

 inferior to that which ought to be pro- 

 vided for his assistants ; while the latter 

 are lodged in damp and ill-ventilated 

 dens, in general forming part of the back- 

 sheds, and wholly unfit for human habi- 

 tations. The house for the head gardener 

 should be in keeping with the garden it- 

 self, and in all cases closely attached to 

 it, and, if possible, placed near the en- 

 trance, having the principal windows 

 looking towards the garden. Hence the 

 south-west or south-east corners of a 

 walled garden are appropriate sites; and 

 next to these the north-east or north- 

 west, as being in general nearer to the 

 hothouses. The latter is the position of 

 the garden house at Woburn Abbey. In 

 some cases the house is placed immedi- 

 ately without the garden, as at Tottenham 

 Park ; in some within, as at Eaton Hall ; 

 in some, in the centre of the principal 

 range of glass, as at Frogmore ; while 

 others are placed on elevations from 

 which the whole of the gardens may be 

 seen at one glance. Such is the case at 

 Drumlanrig Castle, where one of the best 

 specimens of such houses in Britain may 

 be seen. In respect to style, they should 

 be in harmony with the mansion and the 

 other buildings in the park. In respect 

 to accommodation, none should have less 



than two sitting-rooms, exclusive of the 

 kitchen, nor less than four sleeping apart- 

 ments, with corresponding minor con- 

 veniences; and all bedrooms should be 

 up-stairs. If the intended occupant be 

 only a man and his wife, less accommo- 

 dation might be sufficient ; but if there 

 be a family, common decency and morality 

 demand separate sleeping apartments ; 

 and in places of consequence, a spare bed- 

 room should always be provided. Water 

 should be laid on, for the use of the 

 family, the supply of a water-closet and 

 bath ; and abundant drainage and venti- 

 lation should be secured even to the most 

 humble of these dwellings. The examples 

 we have given in the following pages 

 are neither extravagant nor out of cha- 

 racter with the gardens to which they are 

 attached. Most of them have been built, 

 or are in course of erection, from our 

 own designs. A fashion of very ques- 

 tionable propriety appears to exist very 

 generally in Britain, of placing the dwell- 

 ings of all domestics in the most out of 

 the way places imaginable ; and if cir- 

 cumstances force the site into view, the 

 building is immediately surrounded with 

 plantations, or covered with scandent 

 growing plants, as if unworthy of being 

 seen ; — thus rendering the air around it 

 unhealthy and impure, the rooms dark 

 and damp, and forcing an impression on 

 the mind that the occupant is an inferior 

 being. 



If such houses are so unsightly — and 

 many of them are so, having been built 

 without any regard either to taste or 

 comfort — then it were better to raze 

 them to the ground, and to build others 

 in their stead that would accord with 

 the buildings or objects around them. 



