December, 1909 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
197 
This house is very little larger than the one below. The satisfying effect of spaciousness has been 
secured through the terrace treatment, the planting and the clear expanse of lawn 
second factor. That is the one 
which stands for the changing, shift¬ 
ing, human equation, wherein the de¬ 
gree of cultivation, the temperament 
and the taste of the builder are to 
reveal themselves in the production, 
through living mediums, of some¬ 
thing that is good or bad, beauti¬ 
ful or ugly, truly artistic or falsely 
artificial. 
The two great schools of land¬ 
scape architecture are familiar 
enough and we have all shared, to a 
greater or less degree, in the bitter 
warfare that has raged between 
them since the long-ago days of 
Queen Anne; for it was in her reign 
that the reaction against “for¬ 
malism” which grew into an hys¬ 
terical obsession, first set in. 
It is doubtful if more belligerent 
partisans have ever represented 
opposing factions than those who 
have ranged themselves respectively 
on the side of “formal” and “in¬ 
formal ”- — or natural—style in garden 
design. The contempt with which 
the latter have always regarded 
the former is only equaled by the 
disdain which the former have ever entertained for the latter. 
But it looks very much as if the long controversy was drawing 
to a close. Not that it is fought out—oh, dear no! — but in spite of 
the resolute defence each faction has made of its chosen position, 
and the tenacity with which it has clung to it, force of circum¬ 
stances is bringing them both down—or up — upon a common 
ground; a garden ground, shall we say, that is neither strictly 
formal nor painstakingly and laboriously natural, but rather a 
happy compromise. 
This is precisely as it should be. No amnesty, voluntarily 
but grudgingly declared, could be as binding as this which the 
American home owner’s constantly growing appreciation of the 
beautiful in art and Nature is forcing. And the equilibrium 
which is thus becoming established furnishes the most favorable 
condition for the development of a national taste and skill in 
There is a very' common lack of feeling for the necessity of the gradual 
transition from architecture to nature. This home could be 
greatly improved by the use of judicious planting 
gardening, indicative of and harmonious with, national life and 
character. 
The most ardent adherents of the landscape or natural school 
can hardly claim for it suitability to small areas, yet the small 
area is the typical American home site; while, on the other hand, 
the loyal advocates of that exquisite perfection of line and bal¬ 
anced detail which are the formal garden’s structural necessity, 
must admit that these features demand an outlay in building and 
a skilled care in the maintenance beyond the capacity of any¬ 
thing less than a truly plethoric purse. 
But both sides must agree that all buildings, of whatsoever 
form they may be, are artificial—hence, following strictly the 
logic of the “natural” school, are abominations, out of harmony 
with Nature. And what’s to be done about that? 
The apostle of Nature, untamed and free, has tried to an¬ 
swer by planting out base lines of buildings and the angles of 
masonry or wood with vines and low shrubs—but discerning 
eyes see that something still is wrong, though their possessors 
may not know what. A house rising from an irregular planting 
of trees and shrubbery is far better, to be sure, than a house rising 
bare from the ground on which it stands—but this is not enough. 
There is but one reasonable and logical reconciliation between 
Nature and the artificial. They cannot be brought into harmoni¬ 
ous relations except by carrying out architectural lines beyond the 
limits of stone or wood, in the more plastic materials which Nature 
supplies direct out of the garden -the trees and shrubs. By this 
means and this means only, there is the gradual transition from 
Nature wild to Nature tamed, and from Nature tamed and brought 
into a seemly order which approaches graciously yet unmistak¬ 
ably towards geometrical precision, to the actual and beautiful 
precision of the artificial structure man has contrived, by the aid 
of his compass and square. 
And now it looks very much as if we had reached the position 
of formal and informal, instead of a choice between the two — which 
is exactly the answer to this troublesome question that a study 
of the wonderful old gardens yields. So it develops that we have 
