Practical Talks with Home-builders 
II. THE INTIMATE CONNECTION BETWEEN SITE AND STYLE—WHY THE 
FORMER SHOULD GOVERN IN A GENERAL WAY THE CHOICE OF THE LATTER 
by Alexander Buel Trowbridge 
[This is the second of a series of intimate, helpful talks with those who are about to build. The aim is to offer untechnical 
suggestions to prospective home-makers in the hope that many of the usual mistakes and difficulties may be avoided through 
fore-knowledge. The talks are written for those of moderate means rather than for those to whom economy is no object .] 
W E have been guilty of preferring fashion to fitness in house 
designing. There was a time when “Colonial” was all the 
rage; another when half-timber work was the favorite of the hour. 
It is apparently necessary, though irritable, that women should 
follow fashions in dress, even if, in many cases, the styles do not 
suit the wearers. But suppose every woman expected to wear 
her gowns continuously for twenty-five years! Is it conceivable 
that she would follow fashions? Not at all. The cut and color 
of the clothes would be chosen with strict attention to the pro¬ 
portions and character of her figure and the color of her face, eyes 
and hair. So it is with home-building. A house should be built 
to outlive fads and fashions, and inasmuch as family life in the 
American country home is largely out-of-doors during at least half 
the year, the conformation of the site, the color value of the back¬ 
ground which nature has prepared and the character of the foliage, 
all are matters that should enter into the critical examination of a 
site before the architect is instructed to proceed with designs. 
It is of the greatest importance to examine every available 
house site on a property so that the final choice will be made only 
after every defect and every advantage have been considered. 
Many a home-builder makes a mistake at the outset in deciding 
upon the location of his house without taking the trouble to learn 
the opinion of his architect. If the latter is both intelligent and 
conscientious he will insist upon seeing the site before he makes any 
drawings. If the owner is intelligent he will invite his architect 
to visit the property before the site is finally chosen in order to 
avail himself of any helpful hints the architect may offer. It is 
not imperative that this advice be followed, but it should have 
careful consideration, as it is vitally necessary that the owner be 
in full possession of all of the facts in the case before attempting 
to reach a decision. 
This advice should be paid for at a price per hour or per day 
agreed upon before the journey is attempted. From the archi¬ 
tect’s standpoint a charge is necessary to guard himself against 
the danger of wasting time in choosing property before the archi¬ 
tectural work is assured. Architects have often been imposed 
upon by speculators and by well-meaning but over-zealous 
searchers for property, hence the custom of charging for such 
service. From the owner’s standpoint, the expense is justified 
on the ground of economy. Often an architect is able to point 
out to the owner how a substantial sum may be saved either in the 
selection of property or through the choice of site for the house. 
Architects of the best class charge fees varying from $20.00 to 
$100.00 per day, plus expenses, for personal trips calling for inspec¬ 
tion and report. 
In the case of small investments when the owner cannot con¬ 
sider so large a payment, it would be well to invite the architect’s 
co-operation after the property is purchased but before the site is 
chosen. It is usually not within the imaginative power of the 
average home-builder to be able to form a mental picture of a 
house on a sloping piece of ground. He is accustomed, at least 
in most communities, to see conventional structures with the 
first floor just high enough from the ground to admit of basement 
windows, and with the grade at a more or less constant level on 
all sides of the house. In fact, it may be asserted that if he is 
contemplating a hilly site his first thought is “How much will it 
cost to grade up to the house and how much cutting and filling 
will be needed?” Occasionally a picturesque house is built upon 
a flat lot, but the great majority of houses on level sites are sober 
and staid rather than picturesque. The character of the site 
suggests, to the artist, the kind of house best suited to the problem. 
A true designer goes to the site with an open mind and with no 
preconceived convictions. The owner should do as much. Very 
many of the failures in architecture are caused by a lack of this 
open-mindedness, shown occasionally by architects but more 
often by owners. Don’t make up your mind long in advance 
of the purchase of your property as to the kind of house you pur¬ 
pose to build. Or if, because of the possession by your family 
of a valuable set of Colonial furniture, you would deem it best to 
have a Colonial or Georgian house, let that fact dominate you in 
your search for property. If you have a level site well back from 
the main road with stately elms and oaks to serve as background 
for the house, you do not want picturesque architecture. Above 
all else you should choose a style that suggests dignity and repose. 
If, on the other hand, your property has a wild character and the 
ground is irregular, with hills and valleys, rock and ridges, and an 
assortment of medium size trees, it is possible that picturesque 
architecture with gables, turrets, dormers, etc., may be the only 
type that will seem appropriate to the setting. If you approach 
this irregular site with a determination to fit to it the formal house 
which has been the ideal of your imagination for years, you will 
only create a condition that will render a good solution impossible. 
Set aside your preconception and enter enthusiastically upon the 
labor of evolving, with your architect, a house that fits so truly 
its environment that it shall seem the one thing that was needed 
to produce a unified composition. 
Owing to a very general inability to picture in the imagination 
the type of house that will fit a difficult site, it will be found that 
such properties are held at lower figures than those requiring less 
imagination. This is a point very little understood by the public. 
The writer has in mind a house which was planned to secure two 
noble panoramic views so related to the site as to make necessary 
a floor plan having a peculiar angle greater than ninety degrees. 
While the house was being framed the visiting neighbors passed 
summary judgment upon the architect (who was also owner) 
and came to the definite conclusion that he was crazy. Why? 
Because a house was being erected which was unlike any these 
neighbors had ever seen. When it was finished, and large plate 
glass windows framed the two superb views, the neighbors were 
honest enough to take their hats off to the architect who dared to 
depart from tradition and plan with regard to the local conditions. 
This illustrates the point, namely, that in any problem where there 
is a little more than a flat suburban lot to deal with, and views, 
grades, trees, etc., are important parts of the governing conditions, 
it would be folly to approach the problem with fixed notions as 
to the style of the architecture. 
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