It may strike the reader that the house just described has a lavish
appropriation of veranda, and a needless side-front, which latter may
detract from the _precise_ architectural keeping that a dwelling of this
pretension should maintain. In regard to the first, it may be remarked,
that no feature of the house in a southern climate can be more
expressive of easy, comfortable enjoyment, than a spacious veranda. The
habits of southern life demand it as a place of exercise in wet weather,
and the cooler seasons of the year, as well as a place of recreation and
social intercourse during the fervid heats of the summer. Indeed, many
southern people almost live under the shade of their verandas. It is a
delightful place to take their meals, to receive their visitors and
friends; and the veranda gives to a dwelling the very expression of
hospitality, so far as any one feature of a dwelling can do it. No equal
amount of accommodation can be provided for the same cost. It adds
infinitely to the _room_ of the house itself, and is, in fact,
indispensable to the full enjoyment of a southern house.
The side front in this design is simply a matter of convenience to the
owner and occupant of the estate, who has usually much office business
in its management; and in the almost daily use of his library, where
such business may be done, a side door and front is both appropriate and
convenient. The _chief_ front entrance belongs to his family and guests,
and should be devoted to their exclusive use; and as a light fence may
be thrown off from the extreme end of the side porch, separating the
front lawn from the rear approach to the house, the veranda on that side
may be reached from its rear end, for business purposes, without
intruding upon the lawn at all. So we would arrange it.
Objections may be made to the _sameness_ of plan, in the arrangement of
the lower rooms of the several designs which we have submitted, such as
having the nursery, or family sleeping-room, on the main floor of the
house, and the uniformity, in location, of the others; and that there
are no _new_ and _striking_ features in them. The answer to these may
be, that the room appropriated for the nursery, or bedroom, may be used
for other purposes, equally as well; that when a mode of accommodation
is already as convenient as may be, it is poorly worth while to make it
less convenient, merely for the sake of variety; and, that utility and
convenience are the main objects to be attained in any well-ordered
dwelling. These two requisites, utility and convenience, attained, the
third and principal one--comfort--is secured. Cellar kitchens--the most
abominable nuisances that ever crept into a country dwelling--might have
been adopted, no doubt, to the especial delight of some who know nothing
of the experimental duties of housekeeping; but the recommendation of
these is an offence which we have no stomach to answer for hereafter.
Steep, winding, and complicated staircases might have given a new
feature to one or another of the designs; dark closets, intricate
passages, unique cubby-holes, and all sorts of inside gimcrackery might
have amused our pencil; but we have avoided them, as well as everything
which would stand in the way of the simplest, cheapest, and most direct
mode of reaching the object in view: a convenient, comfortably-arranged
dwelling within, having a respectable, dignified appearance without--and
such, we trust, have been thus far presented in our designs.