The House and Its Site 
houndary fence and hcd^e 
to Entrance oate t 
followed in the plan; whether this wing is sym¬ 
metrical with that; whether this garden is balanced 
upon the axis of that room; whether a hundred 
things are done that are supposed to be required 
by some irrelevant condition; but it is of importance 
that the sun should shine in where his warmth and 
light is desired; that this or that room should he 
open to the cool breath of the summer breeze or 
protected from the cold of winter; that this view 
should be enjoyed; that the other should be hidden 
and not obtrude itself. 
I hat is what is to be sought and that can only be 
gained by a careful, loving study of all the conditions 
which go to make up the site and its surroundings. 
I here are probably no people who paid so much 
attention to the comfort and elegance of their homes, 
according to their customs and habits, as did the 
Romans. There are extant, letters of Cicero and 
the younger Pliny, descriptive of their country homes. 
Pliny’s villa was on the seashore some seventeen 
miles from Rome. “It is,” says the Consul, “large 
enough for my convenience, and does not require a 
costly maintenance. In the first place, there is an 
entrance hall, simple in character without being 
mean; thence you enter a circular portico enclosing 
a small but pleasant court; there you are sheltered 
from the weather, for the porticoes are protected by 
transparent screens, and still more effectually by 
the projection of higher roofs. 
“This second court communicates with a third and 
larger one, into which opens the dining-room jutting 
out on the sea, so that when the southwest wind 
blows and the waves have lost their first violence 
they gently wash the base of the walls. This room 
is pierced on all sides by doors, and windows as large 
as the doors, so that, front and sides included, you 
see three seas, and at the side you enter by, the great 
court with its portico, the small circular court, then 
the entrance hall, and beyond that the woods and 
mountains. 
