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House & Garden 
M U N I T Y 
GARDENS 
( Continued, from page 79) 
Mrs. Lawrence Keene illustrated here. 
It is always advisable to build an 
ornamental screen or wall to separate 
the rear of each house from the com¬ 
mon yard and to mark the beginning 
of the individual garden space. This 
wall or screen should come out beyond 
the buildings as a buttress. Make it 
anything you desire—a fence, a wall, 
a trellis. It should be at least 7 ' high 
and project into the gardens 6' or 7 '. 
This is the first step towards preserving 
one’s individuality in a community 
garden. Such a separating screen or 
wall may be topped with an ornamental 
motif of iron work, sculpture, a flower 
box planting, or one or more pottery 
tubs from which vines are permitted 
to trail. 
In the photographs of Goring Court, 
a community garden in London, you 
will see that they have dispensed en¬ 
tirely with the separate terrace idea. On 
practically each one of these houses 
the owners have built an extension the 
entire width of the house one story high. 
They have used it as a garden room 
with a wide window running nearly the 
width of the extension. On the top of 
this first story is a roof garden, with 
a low wall sufficiently high to screen 
the occupants of the terrace from the 
neighbors. These are equipped with ment consequent on the usurpation of 
awnings and are furnished with com- 5 th Avenue by shops, 
fortable wicker chairs suitable for Each of these houses has turned its 
outdoor use. back on the street and faces the view. 
Around the edge of the court is a The view in this instance is a stretch 
planting of flowering shrubs, in front of of the East River, Blackwell’s Island, 
which are bright colored perennials and the huge span of the Queensboro Bridge, 
annuals, in the centre of the grass plot, and the ultimate reaches of the city to 
a fountain with an oblong pool. the eastward. These gardens have been 
An excellent community garden is arranged as if the river was a stage and 
found in Sutton Place, New York City, the houses and their terraces the seats 
that remarkable residential area which in a theatre. For indeed the river is a 
is part of the recent East Side develop- stage, with its constant trafficking of 
house, the residence of Miss Marbury, 
and Miss de Wolfe, the terrace is one 
step below the garden proper, and is 
paved with red tile. The furniture is 
of wicker painted green. Hanging bas¬ 
kets of ivy and evergreens, suspended 
from the awning frame, give a cheerful 
effect in winter. A narrow bed outside 
the fence and between the line of grass 
and stepping stones, is planted with, 
bright flowers. 
The house next door, the residence of 
Miss Isabelle Camman, is treated in a 
slightly different manner. A brick wall 
encloses this brick terrace, and a simple 
picket gate leads into the common gar¬ 
den. The w 7 all is decorated with bright 
pots of earthen ware planted in winter 
with evergreen, and in summer with 
pink geraniums. This terrace has iron 
furniture painted bright blue. 
The home of Mrs. Lorillard Camman 
has been given a different treatment. 
Here the dining room or garden room 
is on a higher level. The kitchen is 
below the dining room and carefully 
screened from the community garden 
by a clever ornamental trellis. 
Further on in this group is still an¬ 
other type, Mrs. W. K. Vanderbilt’s 
house, whose terrace is on a higher 
level than the others, and whose sLps 
boats and the bridge is a supplementary lead directly down into the garden, 
stage, with its procession of cars and This entire group of houses have 
pedestrians high in air. been so planned that their dining rooms 
As the embankment takes practically face the river view. All the windows 
a sheer drop at this point, there is no are long and open directly upon the 
opportunity for terraces leading down terrace, which in summer enables these 
to the water’s edge. The common gardens to be virtually open air rooms, 
garden is simply a large flat terrace. The center of the common garden is 
The illustrations show how the Com- of grass and in front of each house and 
mon garden may be enjoyed and still around the edge of the space, is a path 
maintain the required element of of stepping stones, sunk in the grass, 
privacy, for each house has a terrace Several large, fine old trees are in the 
with an iron railing and gate. In one center of this plot. 
The community space in Sutton Place consists of a broad stretch 
of lawn. A flagged path runs along the edge of the river terrace, 
with a wrought iron fence protecting the bluff 
A 
I T A L I 
VILLA of t h 
AN R E N A I S 
(Continued from page 65) 
the purpose of the designer. 
What a surprise it is, after wander¬ 
ing along the informal path that seems 
to lead aimlessly through the flower 
carpeted chestnut grove, to burst sud¬ 
denly upon the vista of a sparkling 
cascade guarded by grotesque river 
gods. It is very theatrical, that first 
glimpse of the garden picture, framed 
for us like a stage setting, at the end of 
a deep shaded avenue of Scotch fir. 
Perhaps this offers an explanation for 
the unusual location; the Italians of the 
Renaissance were not unaware of the 
value of a theatrical element in garden¬ 
ing. The setting is complete; it is a 
scene of Veronese sumptuousness, even 
to the warm glow of color that must 
recall the rich paintings of the Old Mas¬ 
ters. The actors alone are lacking, but 
in our imagination we can recall the 
gorgeous dames and cavaliers wdio once 
gave life to these scenes. Of that scene, a 
contemporary writer, Tomasetti, says, 
“You must imagine the rich display of 
garments and of military uniforms, next 
to the pompous ladies of crinoline with 
richly plumed and powdered wigs, the 
haughty procession of the Cardinal and 
Prelate, the permeating melody of the 
gavotte and minuet echoing through 
the shady avenues and flower grown 
walks, the murmur of gossips and the 
prattling of the ladies, of gallants and 
cavaliers; murmurs often briskly inter¬ 
rupted by the crackle of laughter from 
everyone, caused by an unexpected 
spurt from a treacherous ‘water sur¬ 
prise’ that reduced ladies and cavaliers 
alike to the level of geese without re¬ 
spect for age or station. It was an 
age of real fickleness, of costume dis¬ 
play and of fantastic elegance, and 
although we are obliged to deplore it, 
we must remember how interesting and 
inimitable it was in art, in poetry and 
prose so characteristic and full of never- 
to-be-forgotten allurement.” 
But in an analysis of Italian gardens 
of the i6th or 17th Century, the pe¬ 
culiarities of the Italian climate as well 
as different economic and social condi¬ 
tions must be considered. This sym¬ 
pathetic climate makes oossible economy 
in construction that has given a char¬ 
acteristic boldness of scale. To be able to 
mold gardens out of the native hillside 
by cutting here and retaining there, to 
In the rear of the Casino the space is divided into elaborate box 
parterres, surrounded by a low wall guarded by the caryatides. A 
strip of mosaic pavement forms an approach to the terminal gate 
e 
S A N C E 
merge ramps, terraces and grottos into 
the existing topography rather than 
superimpose them, like a bark on the 
crest of a wave, is an opportunity that 
has given the Italian Villa half its geni¬ 
us. This genius is nowhere better il¬ 
lustrated than at Caprarola. 
The garden which, in this case cor¬ 
responds to the immediate surroundings 
of the average residence, is built up in 
our different levels, each one opening 
out at some point on the hillside. It is 
so a part of its surroundings that one 
is not conscious of ascending a rather 
steep slope although the ramps and 
steps are very considerable. The dif¬ 
ference in level has been made the op¬ 
portunity for the creation of a garden 
picture that, far from discouraging one 
with a wearying climb, leads on from 
one fascinating feature to another un¬ 
til, quite unconsciously, one arrives at 
the climax, the Casino. 
The Casino, the focal point of the 
gardens, as beautiful as it is simple, is 
a masterpiece of garden architecture; 
perfect in proportion, refined in detail 
and admirably suited to its purpose. 
Its charm has been recognized by pil¬ 
grim students for generations, and the 
frescoes which adorn its loggias have 
covered the pages of many books. Yet 
the greatest lesson it has to teach seems 
still unlearned; without the Casino, the 
gardens would be meaningless and in¬ 
complete, while without the gardens, 
the design of the Casino would be 
(Continued on page 94) 
