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 solid base in- 
stead of by isolated posts which allow the 
cellar walls 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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