H ouse and Garden 
pendent to refuse to 
build a country house 
unless he has some¬ 
thing to do with its 
surroundings is often 
met with opposition 
from his client because 
of the dislike of the 
word “ formal ” and 
what it seems to im¬ 
ply. In truth, the man 
who designs an archi¬ 
tectural or formal land¬ 
scape in connection 
with a building is ad¬ 
hering more closely to 
a natural law than the 
man who, wanting to 
be natural, designs a 
few crooked curves to 
approach his house, 
with a circle or a loop 
giving the visitor only a way to turn around 
and to get out again. 
In speaking of a “ natural law,” l refer to 
the fact that Nature abhors a sudden shock 
or a quick transition. The straight line is 
of necessity predominant in all architectural 
construction, and it is equally true that Na¬ 
ture herself almost never produces a straight 
THE GARDENS OF THE LUXEMBOURG 
Illustrating architectural landscape treatment in the heart of a city 
line. It is therefore natural that an archi¬ 
tect should not abruptly stop his straight 
lines and study of proportion and composi¬ 
tion with the four walls of his building, but 
it is natural that these lines of composition 
should extend into the crookedness of his 
landscape so as to make the landscape and 
the architecture marry. 
It seems to me that 
A PORTION OF THE GARDENS OF THE VILLA CONTI 
Illustrating architectural landscape treatment in connection with a building 
there is no contention 
between the so-called 
“natural ” and the so- 
called “formal” land¬ 
scape designers. The 
two could work to¬ 
gether and should do 
so, the architect design¬ 
ing the immediate sur- 
roundings of his 
house,—which is what 
the French call la sauce 
de Varchitecture ,—and 
the “natural” land¬ 
scape man taking up 
the work where he 
leaves off in the out¬ 
lying property and in 
the general planting of 
the grounds. 
Probably, with rare 
exceptions, it has never 
233 
