Piazzas 



cult. Yet until quite recent years the diffi- 

 culty of the problem was hardly recognized. 

 No attempt was made so to unite the piazza 

 with the house, in both form and material, 

 that it should seem an integral part of it 

 and not a mere attached shed. Whatever 

 the material of the house, the piazza was 

 built of wood, and it was simply tacked on 

 to the walls without the slightest thought of 

 union. Its roofs had no relation to the roofs 

 of the house, and its forms were very slight 

 and fragile — the jig-saw running riot in a 

 vain effort to adorn it, but no serious effort 

 being made to build it beautifully. 



To-day we see a very great change for the 

 better. The piazza is treated — with more or 

 less success, of course — as part and parcel of 

 the house. It is borne by a sohd base in- 

 stead of by isolated posts which allow the 

 cellar w^alls to be seen, or by a chicken-coop 

 lattice. This base is often continued around 

 the piazza as a parapet, some three feet in 

 height, which has both artistic and practical 

 merit, for it increases solidity and therefore 

 dignity of effect, and it screens the feet of 

 the occupants from the wind, and protects 



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