Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/791

 PUINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING VILLAS. 7^7 mnsscs entailed on particular families, there has hitherto been very little room for choice. Commercial men, who, after having made fortunes by trade, have retired to the country to enjoy them, have had hitherto little opportunity afforded them of making a judicious choice, and have generally been obliged to set themselves down where they could. Hence the great number of villas which are to be found in dull, low, and damp situations, undistinguished by a single feature of external beauty. Hence, also, the little attention that has hitherto been paid to the situation of villas by Architects ; so that, when an oj^por- tunity does occur of making a choice, they are not, in general, competent to take advantage of it- A new state of things, however, is gradually arising : in a few years landed property will be more equally distributed ; its value will be diminished ; and, in consequence of a greater number of possessors, there will be an increased demand for viilas, and a consequent improvement in the taste of Villa Architects. Sect. II. Of tht Position of the House, and the Arrangement of the Grounds of a Villa ' Residence, 1638. The Arrangement of the Grounds of a Villa Residence includes the position of the house, relative to the natural features or accidental circumstances of the grounds ; and the disposition of the offices, roads, gardens, farm, and other component parts of the whole. 1639. The Position of the House should, in every case, be pointed out by some striking natural feature ; or, where no such natural feature exists, an approximation to one should be created by art. Whenever a house is so placed as to display no sufficient reason why it has been erected in that precise spot, rather than in any other, something must decidedly be wrong. There is no surface on which a house can be built, which may not be so managed as to create an artificial reason for making choice of the exact spot on which it stands. This is to be effected, first, and principally, by elevating the base or platform from which the structure appears to rise ; and, secondly, by the disposition of the plantations by which it is connected with the surrounding scenery. On the dullest and flattest surfaces, by raising the house on a platform of twenty or thirty feet high, or more, according to the dimensions of the house ; and by connecting this platform with the surrounding grounds and plantations, by gradations of terraces and shrublierics, the main body of the house will be raised higher than the highest of the surrounding trees ; and this, by giving, at a distance, the same effect as though it were placed on a knoU, will afford at once a satisfactory reason to the stranger, why it was erected on that spot, in preference to any other. The space under the arches which sujiport the platform may always be made use of as cellars or offices, and the surface over them can be laid out as Italian or terraced gardens. Even if only a part of the space under the platform were made use of, stUl the important effect produced would justify the means. In the case of a uniformly sloping bank or hillside, on which it is desired to create an artificial position for a house, the Architect should proceed in one of two vays, according to the nature of the ground. In a dry soil and subsoil, he may scoop out a recess, with the earth of which he may form two prominences on each side of it ; and in an elevated posi- tion in the back part of the recess he may place the house, so high as to raise its main body considerably above the surrounding trees. When the two projecting points or prominences ai-e properly planted, the house, at a distance, will ajjpear to be placed in a natural recess on the side of the hill, backed and flanked by wood. When the soil and subsoil of such a bank are moist, a platform may be raised, projecting boldly forward, and a recess excavated behind ; with the soil from which, terraces may be formed in front of the house, and at two of its sides ; the space behipd, and also the sides, being planted. The effect of this at a distance will be, to give the house the appearance of being built on a projecting point or promontory ; which, from being the only one on the otherwise uniformly sloping bank, would appear clearly pointed out by that circumstance as the position for a house. These examples will be sufficient to give every Architect, who has studied the effect of scenery in the country, an idea of the mode of proceeding, to create artificial situations in the most hopeless cases. 1 640. IVhen there are natural Indications of Features in the Grounds, they may always be heightened by the foregoing means, as well as by others. A knoll, if too small, may be enlarged ; a rock (a most desirable feature on which to found a house, when it can be obtained, but wiiich is very rarely taken advantage of as it might be) may be increased TO. magnitude upwards, by additions ; or downwards, by the removal of earth. The bend of a river may be widened, or the course of a stream may be changed : in either case, neightening the natural expression, and creating a most desirable site. Where a house is to be built on the margin of a lake with a tame uniform shore, the common practice is, to keep it a certain distance from the water, and to form a lawn between it and the house : but a bolder and more striking mode of proceeding would be, to carry the plat- form on which the house is placed to the very margin of the lake, and even projecting