House and Garden 
FIG. I I— RAVENNA 
Piazza del Duomo 
Nancy another [fig. 15]; and you will notice the use ol 
the great forged iron gates in the Place Stanislas 
(huilt from the plans of Here in 1752-1756), close 
adjoining the last, to close the open angles which 
would otherwise have left the sides disconnected. 
Here, then, are two leading principles of such plans. 
1 he monuments being placed at the sides, the centre 
of the square is left free, and the space is enclosed by 
a continuous frame of buildings. Next, the “place” 
must he proportionate in size and shape to the build¬ 
ings to which it is to give value. Generally speaking, 
the space in front of a church or other vertical com¬ 
position will be found to he deep, while that before a 
town hall or other building whose characteristic is 
length is usually wide. 
1 he two piazzas at Modena [fig. 16] are typical 
and instructive. The Piazza Reale dominated by 
the Palace is wide and large, and the Piazza 
Domenico deep and small, and the effect of the one 
is enhanced by the contracting form of the other. 
1 he way in which the streets open upon them 
should he noted. The street passing in front of 
the church does not break the frame, since its direc¬ 
tion is perpendicular to the visual rays of the ob¬ 
server, and those entering towards the facade do 
not destroy the effect, since they are at his hack. 
13 PISTOIA 
FIG. 
Piazza del Duomo. a—Duomo. b 
tistery. c—Bishop's Palace. d—Pa¬ 
lazzo Communale. e—Palazzo 
del Podesta 
Bap- 
The projection of the left 
wing of the Palace is 
not accidental. It serves 
to prevent the attention 
being lost in the side 
street, and to clearly sep¬ 
arate the two squares. 
Too large a space is not 
desirable ; in the first 
place, it reduces the ap¬ 
parent size of even a co¬ 
lossal building, as in the 
case of St. Peter’s at 
Rome; and in the second place the idea of size in 
the square itself is not increased indefinitely by the 
increase of its proportions. Sitte remarks that if 
a narrow strip of ground he added to a small space 
the result is perceptible and often advantageous, hut 
if the space he already large the addition is hardly to 
he noticed. 
In connection with this subject of scale he gives a 
very striking illustration. “In architecture,” says 
he, “the relation of proportions plays a far greater 
part than actual size. You may see in many public 
gardens statues of dwarfs over six feet high. There 
exist, on the other 
hand, statuettes of 
Hercules no higher 
than your finger; yet it 
is the larger of the two 
which is the pigmy, and 
the smaller the hero.” 
The scale, then, of the 
“place” must he that 
of the chief buildings in 
it. We have all experi¬ 
enced the discomfort of 
the gigantic modern 
spaces across which we 
have hurried with our 
lives in our hands, a 
discomfort we never 
experienced 1 n the 
smaller ancient squares. 
Yet the Piazza di San 
Marco gives an effect of 
space and grandeur 
quite lacking in modern 
examples, although its 
extreme length only 
equals the width of 
Russell Square. 
I he irregular plan of 
ancient “places” is a 
feature presenting some 
striking points of in- fig. 15— nancy 
terest/ Our forefathers, 
did not design streets b “ p | la d u Go^eriment PaUls 
