Rural Architecture | Page 9

of
expenditure in building will fail to give that completeness and
perfection of character which every homestead should command. Thus
the tawdry erections in imitation of a cast-off feudalism in Europe, or a
copying of the massive piles of more recent date abroad, although in
miniature, both in extent and cost, is the sheerest affectation, in which
no sensible man should ever indulge. It is out of all keeping, or
propriety with other things, as we in this country have them, and the
indulgence of all such fancies is sooner or later regretted. Substance,
convenience, purpose, harmony--all, perhaps, better summed up in the
term EXPRESSION--these are the objects which should govern the
construction of our dwellings and out-buildings, and in their
observance we can hardly err in the acquisition of what will promote
the highest enjoyment which a dwelling can bestow.

POSITION.
The site of a dwelling should be an important study with every country
builder; for on this depends much of its utility, and in addition to that, a
large share of the enjoyment which its occupation will afford. Custom,
in many parts of the United States, in the location of the farm buildings,
gives advantages which are denied in others. In the south, and in the
slave states generally, the planter builds, regardless of roads, on the
most convenient site his plantation presents; the farmer of German
descent, in Pennsylvania and some other states, does the same: while
the Yankee, be he settled where he will, either in the east, north, or
west, inexorably huddles himself immediately upon the highway,
whether his possessions embrace both sides of it or not, disregarding

the facilities of access to his fields, the convenience of tilling his crops,
or the character of the ground which his buildings may occupy,
seeming to have no other object than proximity to the road--as if his
chief business was upon that, instead of its being simply a convenience
to his occupation. To the last, but little choice is left; and so long as a
close connection with the thoroughfare is to control, he is obliged to
conform to accident in what should be a matter of deliberate choice and
judgment. Still, there are right and wrong positions for a house, which
it is necessary to discuss, regardless of conventional rules, and they
should be considered in the light of propriety alone.
A fitness to the purposes for which the dwelling is constructed should,
unquestionably, be the governing point in determining its position. The
site should be dry, and slightly declining, if possible, on every side; but
if the surface be level, or where water occasionally flows from
contiguous grounds, or on a soil naturally damp, it should be
thoroughly drained of all superfluous moisture. That is indispensable to
the preservation of the house itself, and the health of its inmates. The
house should so stand as to present an agreeable aspect from the main
points at which it is seen, or the thoroughfares by which it is
approached. It should be so arranged as to afford protection from wind
and storm, to that part most usually occupied, as well as be easy of
access to the out-buildings appended to it. It should have an
unmistakable front, sides, and rear; and the uses to which its various
parts are applied, should distinctly appear in its outward character. It
should combine all the advantages of soil, cultivation, water, shade, and
shelter, which the most liberal gratification, consistent with the
circumstances of the owner, may demand. If a site on the estate
command a prospect of singular beauty, other things equal, the
dwelling should embrace it; if the luxury of a stream, or a sheet of
water in repose, present itself, it should, if possible, be enjoyed; if the
shade and protection of a grove be near, its benefits should be included;
in fine, any object in itself desirable, and not embarrassing to the main
purposes of the dwelling and its appendages, should be turned to the
best account, and appropriated in such manner as to combine all that is
desirable both in beauty and effect, as well as in utility, to make up a
perfect whole in the family residence.

Attached to the building site should be considered the quality of the soil,
as affording cultivation and growth to shrubbery and trees,--at once the
ornament most effective to all domestic buildings, grateful to the eye
always, as objects of admiration and beauty--delightful in the repose
they offer in hours of lassitude or weariness; and to them, that
indispensable feature in a perfect arrangement, the garden, both fruit
and vegetable, should be added. Happily for the American, our soils are
so universally adapted to the growth of vegetation in all its varieties,
that hardly a farm of considerable size can