House and Garden 
FIGURE 3 
“On the left of the dining-room is a large se¬ 
cluded room, then another smaller one open to east 
and west. On this west side there is a view of the 
sea, not so close as from the dining-room, but, on 
the other hand, a more tranquil one. Outside, near 
the dining-room, the building forms an interior angle 
which retains and intensifies the lively warmth of 
the sun. I his place is very agreeable in the winter 
and serves as a gymnasium for my servants during 
that season. No other winds are heard there hut 
those occasioned by the clouds that disturb the 
serenity of the sky.” 
1 here is, in this description, no dwelling upon the 
size or grandeur of his house, its richness or its 
luxury; no reference to its appearance or its cost; 
but rather an insistence upon its convenience; its 
quiet here, the view to 
he obtained there ; its 
warmth here, its shade 
and coolness there; its 
absolute fitness for its 
purpose and its site. 
1 hese were the things he 
had in mind because 
these gave him happiness 
and comfort. 
Pliny had not only this 
house in the environs of 
Ostia, but also another in 
Tuscany. In a different locality, a different cli¬ 
mate, he describes different arrangements. These 
two country houses present plans peculiar to each 
and determined by the situation, the advantages of 
aspect, scenery, water, and the habits of the country; 
hut these conditions and these alone were factors in 
the disposition of their plans. It may he said that 
these were great houses occupied by a wealthy and 
powerful family and kept in order by a large and 
numerous retinue of servants. So they were, but 
the principles that underlie the disposition of parts 
in the cottage and the palace are essentially the same, 
only differing in the degree to which they are capable 
of application. 
By reason of the very nature of this problem of 
fitness of home to site; by reason of the fact that each 
case is, in a sense, unique, 
and must of necessity, 
he so; there are no rules 
which will assist, no set 
method for its solving, 
except the broad and 
general rule which applies 
to the aspect— the relation 
of the house to the points 
of the compass—and then 
only under the average 
conditions of wind and 
weather which obtain in 
230 
