HOUSE AND GARDEN PAPERS ON HOME MAKING 
CHOOSING A SITE FOR THE HOME 
By The Editor 
A LL residential property within the limits 
of a city is subject to practically identi¬ 
cal conditions, and it is only in minuter details 
that the differences between urban, semi¬ 
detached, or suburban houses affect a choice 
of site. We may therefore consider city 
property in a general way as available for 
either of the above types. There are some 
locations which are fundamentally ob|ec- 
tionable for any residential use. Such, for 
instance, are minimum grades, especially 
in intersecting streets. 1 hese low spots 
are subject to surface flooding during heavy 
rain-storms, when, the capacities of the 
neighboring sewers being overtaxed, water is 
very apt to back up and run in the cellar 
windows. 1 his is a common phenomenon 
during heavy summer thunder-showers. But 
there is a more permanently obnoxious con¬ 
dition usually indicated by these depressions 
in street grades, and especially so when they 
occur at street intersections, namely, the 
presence of an underground stream which, 
having been covered up during the filling in 
of the neighborhood, now flows either through 
a sewer or by some natural underground 
channel. This will be certain to break 
bounds during periods of prolonged rains, 
and dampen or even flood the adjoining 
cellars. All surface dirt and undesirable 
loose matter of all kinds works down to these 
low spots and dries as dust, making the 
neighborhood a thoroughly unsanitary one 
in all weathers. 
Although a corner lot is usually to be pre¬ 
ferred, the local situation should be carefully 
studied before a choice is made. Trolley 
tracks on both streets are a distinct element 
of depreciation as the bumping of the wheels 
over the crossing is an annoyance by day 
and a distinctly injurious adjunct by night 
or during illness. The best place for any 
trolley line is in an adjoining street, rather 
than in your own. Corners, even in the best 
residential districts, are sometimes a source 
of annoyance at night if made the playground 
of children from less favored but neighbor¬ 
ing streets and alleys, as is often the case. 
This aspect of affairs should be studied by 
personal observation before a final decision 
is made. Generally, however, a corner lot 
is desirable in that our house becomes of 
the semidetached type, with increased oppor¬ 
tunities for light and air, and the New York 
vital statistics, quoted elsewhere, show that 
these are real and not apparent advan¬ 
tages. There is a choice of corners, if a 
choice can be exercised. The best corner 
is the northwestern one, especially if the 
longer side of the lot faces south. The least 
desirable is the southeastern corner, for 
reasons already considered in the last num¬ 
ber of House and Garden. There are 
too many special considerations affecting 
any particular lot to make it possible to antic¬ 
ipate all imaginable conditions, and we must 
therefore content ourselves with an indica¬ 
tion of the more normal conditions in city 
property. Property on sloping streets, of 
course, requires careful study with reference 
to the avoidance of surface washings from 
careless owners of adjoining properties and 
also of adjustments of plan to grade. This 
latter reaches its most acute stage when the 
grade of the lot is materially higher than that 
of the sidewalk. Often in the latter case a 
depressed service entrance at side or rear 
is quite possible of attainment, as is also a 
depressed kitchen or laundry yard, both of 
which features lend themselves readily to 
the fullest development of the house garden 
as a real source of enjoyment. Where the 
lot extends through to a minor street in the 
rear, the most favorable conditions exist, of 
course, for the completest development of a 
city house that is possible on any lot of 
relatively limited extent. 
The advantages of lots on streets facing 
public parks usually far outweigh the dis¬ 
advantages which are the apparently inevit- 
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