Rural Jlrchitedure. 209 
RURAL ARCHITECTURE— VILLA. 
By the kindness of Mr. Ranlett, author of " The Architect," 
we are enabled to present our readers with a beautiful design of 
an ornamental villa, in the Romanisque style, given in the first 
volume of his valuable work, (which, by the bye, should be in 
the hands of every person who has any pretensions to taste, or 
who ever contemplates building a residence.) 
" It is built," says Mr. Ranlett, " on the Clove road, near the 
north side of Staten Island, and commands a variety of prospects, of 
unsurpassed loveliness; from the windows of the second story 
may be seen six beautiful cities, with their spires and white resi- 
dences gleaming in the distance. There are New York, Eliza- 
bethtown, Jersey City, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, and Newark; 
and in addition, the sparkling bay, with its castellated islands; 
the gray palisades; the Passaic, with its crowds of white sailed 
vessels and splashing steamers ; the cedar-fringed hills of the 
island; a gurgling brook, which supplies the house with water; 
and numberless beautiful villas, cottages, and farm houses, which 
surround it on every side. Orchards, meadows, fields of grain, 
and trim gardens; a pure air, a genial soil, and freedom from op- 
pression; here are all the elements of happiness, and beauty, and 
the architect must be imbued with the spirit of the place, and in- 
spired by its genius to conceive his designs, which shall harmon- 
ize with such surroundings, and not appear like intrusions when 
placed in their midst. Let those who inspect our works say whe- 
ther or not we have been true to our calling, and fulfilled the 
task which we have voluntarily assumed." 
The size of this elegant villa, in the main building, is about 36 
by 40 feet, exclusive of the verandahs, and cost, complete, about 
$3,800. 
The innumerable landscape sites for villas in the vicinage of 
New York afford opportunities for indulging the most refined, the 
most voluptuous, the most romantic, or the most whimsical, tastes 
in architecture; and we are far from wishing to put a curb rein 
on any man's fancy, in a matter which is so purely personal to 
himself as the style of his house. A man's cottage is, in this 
country, the casket which contains his most precious jewels; it is 
the nursery of his best affections, the real temple of his truest 
worship, where he retires to give vent to his joys or his griefs, 
and it should honestly conform to his tastes and his means; the 
fashion of it should be peculiar to himself. All that we propose, 
is to furnish him a variety of patterns, from which he may select 
one which accords best with his inclinations. We would not, be- 
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