HOUSE AND GARDEN 
C 
November, tqii 
299 
problem a 
short time ago in a lot 
100 by 200 feet which 
faced east with the 
narrow side towards 
the street. The house 
was to be designed 
for the conditions 
prevailing on the 
south side of Long 
Island where the pre- 
vailing southwest 
s u m m e r wind is a 
very important fac¬ 
tor. Obviously, if the 
house were placed 
with the principal 
rooms toward the 
street, they would not 
get the benefit of the 
cooling winds of sum¬ 
mer. I11 consequence 
it was so designed 
that the rooms faced 
for the most part 
toward the rear of the lot and gave on an enclosed formal gar¬ 
den 70 by 100 feet. This left a space 30 feet by 100 for clothes 
yard, garage, etc. As the house was about 30 feet deep this placed 
it 70 feet back from the street and left an ample space for lawn 
and carriage drive in front. Of course in planning a house which 
is large enough to allow of any departure from the stereotyped 
forms, the architect's first duty is to study the habits of the owner 
so as to provide the accommodation which will, if possible, ex¬ 
actly fit the needs of the family which is to occupy it. Exactly the 
same conditions should govern the planning of the grounds in re¬ 
lation to the house. If the house is to be used only part of the 
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It is very helpful to a layman to have a drawing made, almost photographic in its quality, 
showing the relation of the proposed building and its garden setting 
year, the character of 
the planting and the 
decorative treatment 
of the grounds must, 
of necessity, be vitally 
influenced by the sea¬ 
son or seasons when 
the place is to be in 
use. If, as frequent¬ 
ly happens in the sub¬ 
urbs, a place is to be 
occupied through the 
school year, and is to 
be vacant for three or 
four months in sum¬ 
mer, the emphasis 
should be placed on 
tbe effects to be ob¬ 
tained in winter and 
the early spring and 
late fall. On the other 
hand, when the house 
is to be used largely 
in summer, the win¬ 
ter effects are com¬ 
paratively unimportant. The cost of upkeep is also a matter to be 
carefully considered. It would be absurd to plan a place that would 
require two or three gardeners when the owner would feel that 
one man for a day or two a week was all that could be managed. 
The Corey place at Newton (of which Chapman and Frazer 
were the architects and Mr. Stephen Child was landscape archi¬ 
tect), is an excellent example of a sensible and artistic planning. 
Here the owner was an automobile enthusiast and drove large 
and heavy cars which demanded a carriage turn of sixty feet 
diameter. This, by the way, is the minimum size for turning a 
large automobile comfortably. A smaller turn would necessitate 
Two schemes for the development of an approximately triangular plot between two equally important streets. The scheme on the left shows the 
architect’s method of securing individuality and a much more spacious approach. The owner, however, preferred the more stereotyped form to 
the right, having the house line up with the others in the block 
