The House and Its Site 
wooded with short 
a n d inconsequen¬ 
tial view. Upon 
this hill, at the 
edge of the or¬ 
chard, was built 
the house of Mr. 
M —. Before 
determining the 
site and the plan 
the approach re¬ 
quired considera¬ 
tion. 
1 he main road 
from the railway 
station, which lay 
some three-quar¬ 
ters of a mile to 
the eastward, 
wound across the 
southern face o f 
the hill - making 
the southern boun¬ 
dary of the prop¬ 
erty — a n d after 
joining the Ridge 
road led into the 
farm f r o m the 
northeast. On ac¬ 
count of the 
greater travel, and 
for other reasons, 
this approach was 
not suitable. 
There was an old 
road, however, 
which sidled up the 
lull and lost itself 
in the orchard, and 
this,; with some 
regrading a n d 
change in direc¬ 
tion toward i t s 
upper end, became 
the private road 
and a very satisfac¬ 
tory approach. 
At the top of this 
road was a level 
piece o f ground 
and two good trees 
which fixed the size 
of the sweep be¬ 
fore the door and 
the site of the 
house; hut this 
sweep, and the site, 
was close up to the northern side of the property, 
and the sun and the prospect was in the other direc¬ 
tion, and so the front of the house became the 
hack, and the plan made itself. 
The kitchen wing was bent back to allow the full 
advantage of the prospect to the west and as a pro¬ 
tection to the rest of the house from the cold winds 
of the northwest, and helped, with the hedge upon 
the other side, to form a forecourt before the door 
and a screen to the drying yard and stable. All the 
living-rooms, and the bedrooms above, enjoy the 
prospect and the sun. 
Upon the outskirts of the same city, and on the 
eastern side of the same valley, a painter of pictures, 
Mr. G., desired to build his home and studio upon a 
piece of ground to which he had fallen heir. Per¬ 
haps if the plot had not come to him in some such 
way, it had not been used for this purpose, since, at 
first sight, it seemed almost impracticable. 
The conditions of the site were these: It lay on 
the westerly side of a street which ran across the 
westward-facing slope of a hill rising, quite steeply, 
to a ridge perhaps a quarter of a mile beyond. 
The plot had a length along this street of some¬ 
thing over one hundred and fifty feet, a width at its 
northern end of about fifty, and widened at its 
southern limit to one hundred and twelve feet. It 
had a drop in grade from the street to the back of 
the lot- from east to west—of fifteen feet. Two 
fair-sized trees stood in the southwest corner. 
The street in front was far from pleasant, being in 
an adolescent condition and occupied, from time to 
time, by dust and a noisy trolley car and, perma¬ 
nently, by a prospect of the stilted ends of dwellings 
on a higher level and the possibilities of speculative 
building. 
To the north and south the immediate view was 
unimportant, but to the west lay the heights above 
Kingsbridge, the stretches of the Harlem river and 
a vista to the Hudson and the wooded shores of 
New jersey. 
I he conditions imposed by Mr. G. were —sine 
qua non —a home, a studio of very moderate size and 
removed as far as possible from the machinery of the 
household, the benefit of all the sun and view there 
was, and as much garden and privacy as possible. 
Figs. 3 and 4 show how these were met. 
1 he house was set close up to the northern and 
narrow end of the lot and as near the street as possi¬ 
ble, leaving but a strip of yard and a kitchen court. 
A wall some eight feet high was built about the 
garden and the yard. No living, and but one bed¬ 
room, looks upon the street, the street windows in 
the living-room being set high from the floor. The 
sun marches through all the rooms and each enjoys 
his view. 1 he trees roughly determine the width 
of the garden and, by filling and levelling, it occupies 
all the remaining available space, the hedge screen¬ 
ing any near unpleasant prospect and securing 
2 33 
