A wall, four feet high, of arroyo stones capped with clinker brick, broken by plant-bearing posts and central entrance gateway, bounds the 
western boundary line of the property 
A Bungalow Colony in a City 
AN INGENIOUS AND ATTRACTIVE SOLUTION OE THE PROBLEM OF HOW TO SECURE SPACIOUS¬ 
NESS IN SETTING AND LOW-COST BUILDINGS OF GOOD DESIGN ON RATHER EXPENSIVE LAND 
by Mabel Urmy S e a r e s 
Photographs by H. A. Parker and F. W. Martin 
O NE of the [perplexing problems of a growing suburban town 
or city is to make the best use of those pieces of property 
which, though lying conveniently close to the business district, 
are still left vacant or partially deserted by the moving of resi¬ 
dents to more attractive portions of the place. 
The inability of most business men to make beauty of archi¬ 
tecture and environment one of the assets of a business center, 
works both negatively and positively as a discourager of trade. 
For beautiful surroundings and good architecture in a group of 
stores not only attract business to the fortunate occupants, but the 
reverse of these conditions aids materially in the depreciation of 
nearby property and drives toward other centers what should be 
the closest circle of constant buyers. 
When, however, all the conditions are favorable; when clean 
streets, artistic signs and an interesting skyline are enhanced by 
flowering plants and shade trees, there will still remain near the 
civic center, or near the university in a college town, a certain 
amount of property deemed too valuable for a single house and 
yet not needed for a business block. The ordinary solution of 
this problem is the apartment house. And, if we study in this 
connection the cities of Europe which have for generations con¬ 
sisted largely of apartment houses, we shall find interesting and 
very livable structures built around garden courts and developed 
to a high state of comfort and convenience. But, excepting as 
temporary quarters, or in a large city, the apartment or flat does 
not appeal to the American family. Even a tiny house, all her 
own, has more attraction for the ordinary home-maker than a 
more or less well defined portion of some other person's house. 
Knowing this, the owner of such holdings hesitates to decide in 
favor of an expensive building which may stand idle much of the 
time and which must be very large indeed to use all of the prop¬ 
erty to advantage. 
A study of these conditions and of the additional fact that 
a deserted house may already stand upon the lot near which busi¬ 
ness has slowly crept, has often led to the remodeling of old 
houses and barns into small apartments and the addition of other 
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