Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/84

 60 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 96 building as a human habitation, there is also an obvious absurdity in expending so much for appearance, and yet paying so little attention to internal comfort, as to almost exclude that essential requisite to every dwelling, light. It is evident that all the rooms in this house must be very much darkened ; not merely by the arcade, but by the great projection of the roof beyond it. No man, who exercises his reason for a moment, as to what he sees before him, can feel satisfaction on looking at a structure like this ; at least with reference to such a climate as that of Britain. Perhaps in Italy, so much shade as this Design would produce may be desirable ; and the want of light may not be so great an object in the present state of civilization in that country, since the people are not readers, and are far from being cleanly in eitlier their persons or houses. But even for Italy, this Design is bad; because, in the warmest climates there must be times when more light is desirable than can be ad- mitted into any of the apartments of this dwelling. Still the Design possesses a degree of simplicity and grandeur, and may afford useful hints for something better. The basement raised so as to include a sunk story, fig. 94, would be a great improvement, in point of convenience, and this would admit of lighting the rooms above from two sides instead of one, fig. 95 ; because, in that case, the back kitchen and store closet would be under ground. Another mode of improving this Design would be to retain the ground-floor in its present state, and to raise a bed-room story over it, roofing the arcade or veranda with glass, con- cealed by a parapet, and supporting the bed-room story on the inner walls. The removal of the projection of the roof would of itself admit more light ; but when to this is added the light which will pass through the glass roof of the veranda, fig. 96, the house will be rendered habitable in any climate. In proportion as the height of the verandas and their openings are increased, the more light will be admitted to the windows beneath them ; and if we imagine a veranda raised six or eight feet higher than the tops of the windows which it pro- tects, the rooms would be as light as if there were no veranda at all. In all cases, therefore, of introducing arcades, colonnades, or verandas, before living rooms, they ought either not to project far from the walls, or to have their openings carried up higher than the archi- traves of the windows. This last arrangement, however, can very seldom be carried into effect in buildings of more than one story, without violating some principle of utility or fitness. The arches in the Design before us being somewhat higher than the windows, a balcony might be formed over the veranda, which, by getting rid of the projection of the roof, would admit more light, and this, with a bed-room story added, would produce a good effect, fig. 97. There remains to be noticed another great defect in the expression of this