October, 19 2 2 
55 
{Right) When the vacant 
plot is first acquired, the 
character of the site will 
determine to a great extent 
the location of the house 
and the arrangement of 
the grounds. The imagin¬ 
ary plot illustrated by these 
sketches is typical of al¬ 
most any small or medi¬ 
um sized property, and the 
impression it should give 
at first glance is one of 
■what is known as a forma! 
layout. Certainly it does 
not suggest a naturalistic 
treatment—a type of design 
in accord only with the 
wildest kind of situation 
{Below) In the. final view 
of the series the house and 
grounds are shown in their 
completed state; the house 
dividing the lot into two 
sections: that which is seen 
and used more or less by 
the public, and that which 
is devoted exclusively to th: 
play, work and quiet pleas- 
use of the household. From 
the emptiness of the plot in 
the first sketch the ultimate 
effect can be realized in the 
course of probably five 
years, if the hedge plants 
and fruit trees are good 
sized when planted and the 
soil well prepared for them 
(Below center) The first 
actual move in the design, 
as indicated in the second 
sketch, is to locate, tenta¬ 
tively, the spaces for the 
house, gardens, lawns, ap¬ 
proaches, and play and ser¬ 
vice areas. There will be a 
greater amount of private 
area on the place if the 
house is located well toward 
the street. Let the size, 
shape and situation of the 
various spaces be deter¬ 
mined by the house and by 
the character and shape of 
the plot—not by a precon¬ 
ceived notion inappropriate 
to the site and surroundings 
{Left) After the various 
elements of the scheme 
have been located, one 
must imagine the approxi¬ 
mate appearance of the 
principal masses: the house, 
arbors, hedges and trees, 
and decide whether or not 
these things are going to be 
too large, too confining, 
and so on. So often one 
goes in for the details first, 
such as planting flower 
beds, or shrubbery clumps, 
placing an arbor or a pool, 
or locating an isolated gar¬ 
den, that it becomes al¬ 
most impossible to work 
them into a well knit scheme 
