House and Garden 
Atlantic coast the chill, fog-bearing, marrow¬ 
piercing winds which breed New England 
pessimism. 
Generally speaking, however, an eastern 
or southeastern aspect is next preferable to 
a northern, as the morning sun of the winter 
months, if visible at all, is a welcome visitor 
in every room exposed to its rays; and since 
the morning summer sun shines from such 
a high angle as it swings to the eastern and 
southeastern quarter of the sky, windows 
looking in that direction are easily shaded, 
if desired. 
It is universally conceded nowadays that 
a house is, other things being equal, the more 
hygienic, the more it is exposed to the sun¬ 
shine. It is for this reason; and for the 
further one that from that quarter come the 
prevailing breezes of the summer months, 
that the southern aspect is the one most 
eagerly to be sought and secured for the 
home. Even if the house is to be occupied 
the year round, the high angle of the summer 
sun during the midday hours renders it not 
unwelcome, for it is only as it declines west¬ 
ward that its lowering rays combine with 
the pulsating heat of the mid-afternoon to 
form an almost intolerable burden upon 
cloudless and breezeless days. It is at such 
an hour that rooms having only a western 
aspect are insufferable, just as they are chill 
and cheerless at the same hour in winter. 
Such are the larger elements of aspect. 
Prospect, concerning itself only with the 
outlook or view, presents wholly different 
problems whose demands are often totally 
opposed to the claims of aspect. I he prin¬ 
cipal or, sometimes, the only view is toward 
the north or west, and the skill of the expert 
designer is often taxed to the uttermost to 
save the situation by producing a plan whose 
skilful adjustment and relation of parts meets 
all requirements adequately. I hen again, 
and this especially in the country, the house 
cannot justly be considered as an isolated 
self-centred subject, but must be treated, or 
at least dealt with on broad lines, as a detail 
of a larger picture. Whether it shall be placed 
upon a hilltop, or upon a spur of a lower 
range, or in the valley, involves general con¬ 
siderations which can be best understood by 
reference to specific instances; but as these 
involve photographic illustration, they must 
be deferred. I he materials for the exterior of 
the house must also be largely determined 
by the site, and the coloring of the neighbor¬ 
hood if rural, or the general treatment in the 
vicinity if urban. 
Generally speaking then, both the intimate 
arrangement of the plan, and the exterior 
design of the home are, to use a mathematical 
phrase, functions of the site, and are abso¬ 
lutely indeterminable apart from it. 
Real estate offered for residential purposes 
is subject to an element of value which affects 
in a much slighter degree other unimproved 
properties. A business man, seeking a loca¬ 
tion for a new factory or warehouse, considers 
only transportation facilities and power, and 
builds where he can best get his raw material 
in and his products out at the least possible 
cost to himself. For his purposes, one site 
is as good as another if these primary elements 
of value are equal. It is only the merchant 
who is a retailer, and whose purchasers are 
of the more well-to-do classes whom senti¬ 
ment affects. Here, it is of so great impor¬ 
tance as to amount to a factor in the capital 
of the establishment. Of three or four large 
department stores there would seem no 
apparent reason why one should be pre¬ 
eminently more successful than the others, 
aside from the question of personal skill in 
management, which though important, is 
not sufficiently marked to account for the 
obvious differences in success. The real 
reason will be seen to lie in the fact that pre¬ 
eminent success is the good fortune of the 
one while denied to the others purely as a 
question of location. To the one, the best 
class of customers will co re because it lies in 
the shopping district which sentiment has 
marked for its own, while they will not go to 
the others, though but a block to one side of 
the main thoroughfare of the retail district, 
because sentiment forbids divergence from 
the customary route of travel. 
In the better residential districts senti¬ 
ment is the absolutely controlling factor of 
value. Its influence appears in most concen¬ 
trated form in the city. Here there is always 
some one quarter which sentiment has 
assigned to fashion, and the acquisition of a 
building lot here is merely a question of 
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