HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1913 
Architects and landscape gar¬ 
deners have built up new theories 
to overcome these disadvantages, 
and so are able to take advantage 
of all the considerations of the 
physical character of the plot, the 
orientation of the rooms, and the 
better unification of house and 
grounds. They are gradually 
overcoming the idea of making 
the house attractive mainly for the 
passerby. They are working for 
the idea of increasing the privacy 
of the family life, and employing 
greater freedom to obtain this 
have built a great number of 
houses with the kitchen facing the 
street. 
Let us assume, then, that we 
have broken away from the con¬ 
vention of having the street in¬ 
fluence our house. We may then 
attack our problem with fewer re¬ 
strictions. As an hypothetical case 
let us say that the axis of our lot 
along the greatest depth runs east 
and west, and the street upon 
which the narrowest part of the 
lot faces, runs north and south. 
Say, also, that our lot is upon the 
west side of the street. We may 
put the main axis of the house 
along the axis of the lot and have the end of the house face the 
street. As a tentative plan, let us say that the kitchen and pantry 
occupy the northeast corner, the dining-room, the southeast quar¬ 
ter, and the living-room running across the house with an ex¬ 
posure north, west and south. In such a plan as this the prevail¬ 
ing southwest wind blows kitchen odors away from the house, 
gives the dining-room a cheery exposure south and east and the 
living-room also a warm southern outlook. But the kitchen faces 
the main street. We 
have sacrificed for 
room arrangement the 
external appear¬ 
ance of the house! 
Perhaps, but not nec¬ 
essarily. The correc¬ 
tive for this is in 
building for privacy, 
in the erection of a 
service yard or serv¬ 
ice entrance of some 
sort, or the employ¬ 
ment of some screen, 
either of a wall, lat¬ 
tice or shrubbery. The 
briefly sketched de¬ 
scription of the house 
given above is one of 
countless possible ar¬ 
rangements with sim¬ 
ilar ideas; but very 
often to get the de¬ 
sired orientation of 
rooms the service 
quarters of the house 
must come nearest 
the highway. Even if they do not, 
we must correct the old-fashioned 
plan of leaving the rear of the 
house bare and unsightly with 
open cellarways, the refuse of the 
kitchen traffic, garbage pails in 
evidence, ash barrels standing 
about, and all the muss and dis¬ 
order of the constant passage to 
the kitchen. We will endeavor to 
find some solutions for this untidy 
state of affairs. 
Where the lot is large a service 
entrance proper may be built. Such 
a kitchen yard must be at least 
thirty or forty feet in diameter 
and closely adjoin the kitchen it¬ 
self.' It must also be in a position 
to provide an economical means of 
filling the coal cellar direct from 
the wagon. It should be ap¬ 
proached by a driveway wide 
enough; at least nine feet wide 
and, if possible, away from the en¬ 
trance driveway. This service en¬ 
trance in the plan suggested first 
would either wind in or come di¬ 
rectly to the kitchen, and it should 
have provision for turning around. 
If the turn is to be taken within 
the kitchen yard inclosure, it will 
probably be necessary to provide 
for a yard fifty feet in diameter. The driveway itself can be 
landscaped at the points where it interferes with a view from the 
house and can be made attractive. It will confine the business of 
running the house to a definite area, the laundry may be hung 
within it and some provision made for the comfort of the serv¬ 
ants. If the service yard problem is properly attended to, very 
often there is less cause for worry about keeping the help. 
Naturally such a yard requires an extensive place. It is more 
or less expensive if it 
be walled in, or if it 
be surrounded by a 
hedge 0 f sufficient 
height to screen it. 
This is one depart¬ 
ment that the archi¬ 
tect must be consulted 
about early, and if a 
landscape architect is 
employed, his co-op¬ 
eration obtained as 
soon as anything defi¬ 
nite is determined. 
With the small 
place where such a 
large service yard is 
impossible, results can 
be accomplished eco¬ 
nomically and effi¬ 
ciently. Lattice, in a 
large degree, solves 
most of these prob¬ 
lems. One may over¬ 
come the necessity for 
width of kitchen yard 
by having the turn- 
Even the formal type of house finds use for lattice. This dig¬ 
nified screen takes away from the ugliness of a basement area 
If a few vines graced this small service entrance, it would be decidedly attractive. The 
lattice is simple, but its supporting posts are sufficiently strong to support clothes lines 
