OBSERVATIONS ON THE EXTREME AND INTERMEDIATE SITUATIONS OF RURAL RESIDENCES; THE ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER, SCENERY, AND CLIMATE OF EACH PLATE LV. SITUATIONS EXEMPLIFIED. THE taste which prevails in rural architecture, and the desire for the enjoyment of country scenery are such as to render the choice of a situation, as well as that of the design for the residence, of paramount importance. The principal considerations as to the house itself, after that of the beauties in respect to the prospect has been duly considered, are, that such structure be not only rendered chaste, but also found in harmony and accordance with the surrounding scenery. We must likewise before we commence the design consider the salubrity of the air, the goodness of the water, the soil, and the means of access to the mansion. The next consideration is unity, or appropriating of the style of architecture to the spot; and, lastly, that of determining the aspect, and fixing the situation of the house on the ground.* The requisite domestic comforts and conveniences within the house, and the just appropriation of rooms, will necessarily depend on the practice and knowledge which the architect possesses. At the same time that the architect is required to select a spot every way adapted for a country residence; he is also to adjust the best rooms to the best views. And as unity is the fundamental principle of composition, so it is essentially necessary well to consider all the required arrangements, both internally and externally, in reference to home scenery, previous to the commencement of the design; and for this purpose we must call to our aid the sister art of landscape-gardening, it being obvious that the rural architect in some degree ought to possess those qualifications, for his occupation blends unavoidably into that art, when designing the various perspective elevations, as well as appendages appertaining to a country seat. NORMAN CASTLE.-Those ancient baronial mansions were erected during the reign of the Norman kings, by those barons who had accompained the conqueror from Normandy to England, and on the highest eminences in this country, overlooking the domain which had been either confiscated or seized from the English nobles by that monarch, and given to his followers. From these fortified residences they overawed and kept in complete subjection to their wills their retainers, vassals, and dependants; but since the discovery of * The choice of the aspect of a country house is important, as our health and comforts will be materially affected by it. The north aspect is cold and dreary: the east may be objected to on account of its blighting winds, and of the sun shining upon the house early in the morning only, though it is of importance that the dew or rain which has fallen in the night should be speedily absorbed in the morning. The west is objectionable, on account of an excess of sunshine. The southwest is not good, inasmuch as the rains are the most frequent from that quarter. The south is good, but the south-east aspect is universally considered to be the most desirable.—(Author.) gunpowder these baronial and frowning piles have become generally untenanted and useless. Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, the seat of the Duke of Rutland, pleasantly situated on the summit of a high conical hill, overlooking a beautiful vale below, (whence originated its name,) though a modern structure, possesses much of the ancient feudal character. Now, though this is the proper site for a baronial castle, yet it would be a highly improper one, and out of character, if adopted for that or any other residence of a different style of architecture. Where an extent of ground permitted, the choice of a good spot to be made on which to erect a country mansion, and the slope, the hill, and the valley were alike available, it would be but bad judgment if we did not avoid the extremes. Again, were a situation too elevated to be chosen, whatever might be the style of the architecture, whether appropriate or inappropriate, or however imposing the edifice and extensive the prospect might be, or even enchanting the panoramic view around, still much of its grandeur would be lost from the deficiency of a hill in the rear, as a back ground. It would here also be much exposed to bleak and piercing winds, and pelting rain and sleet in the winter, and unprotected and exposed to the sun's rays in summer; all those concomitants being injurious to the health of the residents. As to the home scenery, the cutting winds will act as a check to the growth of the vegetation, and will consequently deprive the mansion of those ornamental accompaniments so essential, and which contribute so powerfully to render the tout-ensemble interesting. * Climate. There are three degrees of altitude in eminences to be considered: namely, the moderate mound the high hill, and the lofty mountain; the mound is but a small eminence, while the hills in England rise to varied heights, and the mountains in Wales, such as Snowdon and Cader Idris, ascend almost to the clouds. The same may be said of Ben Nevis in the Highlands in Scotland. According to their heights so the air differs in degrees of temperature, which is ascertained by the barometer. But we have no instrument to ascertain in what degree one air differs from another in medical quality, since the composition of the atmosphere appears to be nearly the same on all points of the earth and ocean; but we know from observation, that there are great differences in the air as well as climate, as far as their effects on the human frame are concerned. In this division of our inquiry it is confined to that of the tops of hills and lofty promontories. Where the hill is of a moderate height, lying open to the south, and backed by others in the rear in the form of a crescent, we should pronounce such a spot salubrious and bracing; where the hill is lofty, open, and exposed, such situation would be severely felt, and on the tops of mountains would be insupportable, arising from the too great lightness of the atmosphere. Thus, on the mountain of the Simplon in Switzerland the climate has been found to vary considerably from the base to its top. At the bottom is found every vegetation growing in abundance, and one constant spring; about two thirds up the mountain the traveller becomes languid, and at the summit he is almost frozen with cold.+ TUDOR MANOR-HOUSE.-After the extinction of the Norman line and abolition of the feudal system in England by the Plantagenets, the barons deserted their promontories and high grounds, and, according to Harrison, the old English historian, then built their mansions on champaign grounds, where they continued The baronial castle consists of military architecture, being formed in the masses of round towers, and a large keep in the centre, having crenelated parapets, machicolated cornices, loop-holes, and tri-lobed windows, with outworks and drawbridge. The character of the baronial castle is that of stately grandeur; and as it carries the mind back to circumstances of romance and chivalry, it requires a bold promontory for its site, surrounded with romantic scenery of hill and dale, venerable trees, craggy rocks, and a broad river, meandering on its way through a glen or deep dell. Thus, whenever a castellated mansion is built upon a high hill, unaccompanied by its original and material fortified outworks of barbicans, bastions, watch-towers, portcullis, and drawbridge, it will be a folly set upon a hill, as well as being a bad subject for the painter's art; for wherever an edifice cuts the line of the horizon it will ever present a crude feature either in a picture or in a landscape. The motives and the objects of the painter and lanscape-gardener as to effect are precisely the same. On the other hand, as such edifices were originally never erected but on situations that afforded some natural means of defence, as before described, such as that of high eminences and promontories, some of which projected over deep rivers, and others on the coast jutting into the sea; so, likewise, to build such piles as castles in vales or on plains would equally be a violation of purpose and principle, and expose the architect and the owner who built it to the same ridicule for mimicking those baronial examples where the illusion neither was, nor could be kept up.—(A.) + Notes of a Medical Traveller. to dwell for some considerable period. When the Reformation took place in the reign of the Tudors, and individual property became secured to every subject in the realm, the lords of manors again removed, and then built their houses at the foot of hills, and at last descended into vales, there erecting houses on glades near the margin of some meandering river, where the mansions were surrounded with trees to shelter and protect them from the winter winds, and thus, as they supposed, to shield them from all malady; thus our forefathers ran from one extreme into that of another. Now, as all excesses are condemnable, so low grounds and valleys as well as high grounds and promontories should be avoided. When a house is placed in a low situation, however surrounded by luxuriant foliage, or enlivened by running streams, an unpleasant feeling is produced in the mind; here the eye also turns with abhorrence from the cold and dreary situation, where no idea of comfort, fitness, or grandeur can be associated. Not only will the view here be so confined as to depress the spirits and affect the nervous system of the occupants, but a poor effect of the seat be produced in the tout-ensemble, by diminishing in the appearance the size of the mansion in consequence of the intervening foliage, which, though producing a picturesque effect, nevertheless most gentlemen are desirous of extending and showing their seats to the utmost extent. The house will also here be liable to continual damps and mouldiness, and by being overshadowed by trees, the free circulation of the air will be impeded, and the situation be found not only unpleasant but unhealthful.* Climate. The objections as to climate in valleys are, that they produce many complaints; first, colds, from the drafts up them in the winter season where they lie open to plains, like some of our streets leading out of squares where the wind rushes up with great fury, and in the summer, where the ridges on each side are lofty, with barren sides, through the reflected heat from the sun, producing vertigo, bile, nervousness, and hypochondriacism, and worse complaints if the valley is situated, near where "The fog does o'er the marshes glide;" for then malaria may be expected. Speaking of the valleys in Switzerland, Dr. Johnson says, "There are few portions of the earthy surface in these temperate climes better calculated for the deterioration, if not the destruction of life, than the valley of the Rhone. It is bounded on each side by steep mountains four or five thousand feet in height, and the intermediate ground contains all the elements that are found to operate against human health. The valley consists in some places of a rich, flat, alluvial earth, covered with corn, gardens, and fruit-trees; in others it presents swamps and meadows, others again coppice and woods, pine forests, &c., while brawling brooks intersect it in all directions, and often inundate it in their precipitous course from the mountains to the Rhone, which runs through its centre. Were this valley beneath a tropical sun, it would be the seat of pestilence and death. As it is, the air must necessarily be bad, for the high ridges of moun * As Tudor architecture consists in its masses and outlines of the vertical, and the angular forms, with gables, oriels, and pinnacles; so the accompaniments should be that of trees, with whose romantic and aged branches it blends in a very playful and pictorial manner; and so much was principle observed in the masses of this style of architecture to the adoption of scenery, that such country residences as were erected in valleys, and embosomed in trees, actually gave rise to those beautifully varied and high-clustering chimney shafts now so universally admired. The Tudor style of architecture from its extensive use in the mansions of this country at a time when some of the largest were built, has again come to be considered as peculiarly appropriate for country residences. Perhaps, as a British domestic style, it has more interesting associations connected with it than any other, and there is nothing in its forms and details but what may readily be adapted to every modern convenience and luxury; but we, nevertheless, think it important in this place again to draw the attention of gentlemen to the too frequent misapplication of the Tudor architecture. Now, however beautiful, picturesque, or admirable this style may be in itself, we say again what we have always insisted upon, that it is the selected situation on which the house is to be erected, that must at all times determine both the character of the design, and style of the man sion: For nature should the work direct, Not fashion be the architect.-(MS.) If, therefore, in designing a country villa, architects were to take hints for the forms and disposition of the masses from the ground, we should not then have such frequent repetitions of the same forms, and so many common-place structures. Surely this principle ought to be attended to even in the commonest cottage, for by it, even independently of architectural details, the interest created by such means may be much enhanced. By this means also a house will be made to appear to have arisen out of the situation on which it is placed, whether beautiful, picturesque, or grand, instead of appearing to have been brought en masse from some city or town.-(B.) tains, which rise like walls on the north and south sides, prevent a free ventilation, while in summer a powerful sun beats down into the valley, rendering it a complete focus of heat, and extracting from vegetation and humidity a prodigious quantity of malaria. In winter the high southern ridge shuts out the rays of a feeble sun, except for a few hours in the middle of the day, so that the atmosphere is not sufficiently agitated at any season of the year." (Dr. Johnson on Change of Air.) GRECIAN VILLA.-No colony from the Grecian states has invaded or settled in England; we must therefore look to Greece for their villas, to be enabled to ascertain the sites chosen by those people for such country residences, which we find were chiefly on plains; at least, those were so situated in the suburbs of Athens, and so reported by historians, and seen in the illustrations of the works of travellers at the present day. According to the horizontal character of the Greek style of architecture, it appears to demand the elevated, gently-sloping plain, backed on the north by an amphitheatre of hills, clothed with varied verdure, and crested with the cedar and the cypress; in fact, both the site and the adjacent scenery should appear like classic ground, and not that of the rustic, for whatever comes to us from the Greeks has an air of chasteness and an irresistible claim to our admiration. By this their architecture and sculpture has justly obtained the same pre-eminence as the poetry of Homer or the eloquence of Demosthenes. As the Greek architecture is divided into three canons or orders, so we deem it proper to divide our remarks into the same number, by pointing out the peculiar character and accompanying scenery proper for each style of building. First, the Doric, its character being that of plainness, requires those level scenes in nature which are unadorned, as most appropriate or in unison, as an extended plain. Secondly, the Ionic being delicate and chaste, suits best with elegant and dressed scenery, and to be situated near the head of a verdant lawn, around which are plantations. Lastly, the Corinthian, that being in character the most enriched and ornamental, requires luxuriant scenery, refined by taste in all its associations. In forming a Grecian villa, our young architects uniformly study and compose from the sacred architecture of the Greeks instead of from their domestic, whereby they give their production the character of the temple, and to do this more effectually, they avoid all appearances of chimneys by the omission of their shafts above the roof, so that we are frequently at a loss to say whether we behold a dwelling-house, a public building, or even a temple itself. Now, notwithstanding this concealment of chimney-shafts, which we acknowledge too frequently disfigure a uniform building, we should greatly prefer their being seen, for the sake of giving to the structure the appearance of a dwellinghouse. Indeed, the young architect may always bear it in mind as a principle, that all fac-simile imitations rank no higher than a servile copy, and that their genuine imitation, which belongs to elegant art, must be the imitation of the spirit and manner, not of mere masses and individual forms.* Climate. The climate on a plain must vary according to circumstances, whether the ground is situated high and inclined, or whether it is low and level; the elevated plain where the surface slopes to the south with a gravelly substrata, is thoroughly healthful, but where the plain is low, flat, and on a clay soil, it is then unhealthy, and where there is a level surface and stagnant water, malaria in the summer season must here prevail. Pisa, which is situated on an extensive plain, says Mr. Mathews, (Diary of an Invalid,) is the very best place on the continent for complaints of the chest during the winter season, and Nice, of which I speak from The Grecian style of architecture may be considered as the opposite to that of the Tudor, the former being composed of horizontal lines the latter of vertical. The Grecian is characterized by porticos or peristyles of columns, supporting pediments joined to buildings of a parallelogram form, embellished with a chaste and beautiful description of elliptical, parabolical, and hyperbolical mouldings, and enriched honeysuckle and foliage ornaments in detail. In applying pure Grecian architecture to modern practice there exists a great difficulty, as is evident from the buildings among the Romans, as well as from the want of success which has attended the attempts that have hitherto been made in England to introduce the Grecian style into country villas and private dwelling-houses in cities. In rural residences it is not only necessary to avoid introducing the external characteristics of a town-house, but those of the internal arrangements also. Thus, where the extent of the plan is unlimited, the drawing and sitting-rooms should range on the ground floor, and none but sleepingrooms should be above. The various domestic offices may form wings to the country villa or may be detached, and a communication obtained by a colonnade or piazza, as circumstances may render it necessary. The stables, coach-houses, drying-yard, and all such requisite appendages should be at the back of the house, or so disposed as not to intrude; nothing that can be deemed derogatory to the general character of a gentleman's residence should be seen from the windows of an elegant Grecian villa.-(C.) good authority, is, perhaps, the very worst. The air of the first is warm, mild, and muggy, and that of the second is pure, keen, and piercing. Nice is the great rendezvous of English invalids, and certainly it is a most lovely place; inclosed on the land side by a semicircle of hills and mountains, it sweeps round the base of a steep rocky mount which stands in the midst of it on the very verge of the sea, commanding a beautiful and extensive view of land and water. "It is no wonder that the wealthy Romans should have eagerly contended for every inch of ground on this delightful Hygeian shore. There is something in the sight of a boundless, waveless, and tideless ocean, which, independently of the pure and refreshing air, conduces to tranquillity of mind, and calms the effervescence of the passions. The depressive atmosphere of the Campagna and Pontine marshes is here exchanged for the refreshing sea-breeze that skims the Mediterranean by day and the bracing land-wind that descends from the Apennines at night. The scenery is highly ro mantic. ROMAN MANSION.—When the Romans settled in England their architecture was here of the most splendid and gorgeous character, and the ancient city of Rome at this time stood on seven hills, while their villas in England were seated on the sides and mid-heights of eminences.* Modern Rome now occupies a plain, and the Pinsian hills and the Alban mount are become what Hampstead and Highgate are to London. A gentle sloping declivity, facing the south and near a river, is still the most eligible and cheerful spot for a country mansion, particularly in the Roman or Romo-Italian style; such is the site, "And sunny mount of beauteous Castle hill,+ Of Fortescue's leisure."-POMFRET. What the Devonshire Poet said of Mount Edgecombe applies here, "The raptured eye now wanders round REV. J. BIDLAKE, A.B. On this lovely spot the most vivid excitement of feeling is experienced, not only from the unchecked liberty of vision into the distance, but the grandeur of the promontory at the back, clothed with shrubs, and crested with a ruined castle of bye-gone days; undulating hills with sombre shadows sleeping in their recesses, the beautiful lengthening outlines which flow about their surfaces, constantly changing, attract the attention. This is not only the best situation for a mansion, but also for the introduction of ornamental decorative accessories, as well as in the gardens or in the shrubberies in accordance with the buildings, or with a bold and extensive scenery. A mansion thus placed excites in the beholder the most pleasing ideas of health and comfort, and of all those various enjoyments which render life delightful; every particular object which is gratifying to the eye of taste will be seen to advantage, and from the surrounding country the effect of the whole will be impressive and lasting. Such a situation by nature possesses great advantages, and the application of the decorative parts of landscape-gardening should be in conformity with the beauty and grandeur of the surrounding scenery one offensive object, one deviation from the true character of this enchanting spot in any accessory, would destroy that general unity of effect which should be attentively studied and carefully preserved. That the precepts here inculcated, which are so important in the choice of a situation for a beautiful, cheerful, and healthful residence, may be clearly understood, Plate LV., which is an illustration, is introduced, showing the four principal exemplars of rural mansions, seated in the situations, and accompanied by their appropriate scenery alluded to in this Essay. In reference to these scenic views, which are here brought into one plate, it *The situation which was always chosen by the Romans, who invaded England under Julius Cæsar, (a.c. 55, and continued till A.D. 449,) where they could obtain it, was the gentle declivity of a hill near a river, and facing the meridian sun. (Henry's History of Great Britain, vol. ii. p. 480.) + The seat of Earl Fortescue in Devonshire. C |