Design No. 26 — A Summer or Garden Villa
One of our most eminent writers on gardens, Repton, remarked that “gardening and architecture, like all the fine arts, have much in common; and the department of architecture which belongs more exclusively to gardens has especially a great affinity to gardening in its broadest principles.” In fact, there is much more relation between the two than is usually admitted—a matter already alluded to in the Introductory Essay. Architectural forms and decorations, temples and rustic bowers, seats, &c., are not, as many have observed, unfit for our climate. In western counties they certainly can be indulged in to a large extent; and the fine evergreens and the beautiful grass of this country will, in association with ornamental terraces and sculpture, impart sufficient warmth of tone to render them agreeable. The garden of Mon-plaisir at Elvaston, in Derbyshire, and the Alhambra Gardens there; those at Castle Coombe, Trentham, Alton Towers, and Bowood, sufficiently prove how attractive gardens can be architecturally made. In former years gardens were almost universal through every part of England, as is proved by the bird’s-eye view, engraved by Kipp, from drawings by Knyff in the book, “Britannia Illustrata,” and those of the gardens given in Loggan’s “Oxonia Restituta,” and the similar work on Cambridge. But gardens, like all other mundane matters, have their periods of change or retrogression; the natural style having almost obliterated the architectural garden of William and Mary. This might have been too precise, as copied from the Dutch model: they were satirized by Pope, thus—
“Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother,
And half the platform just reflects the other.”
They were called King William’s style of fortifications, surrounded with yew hedges, cut in variety of forms; those which have been suffered to outlive their original shape are really beautiful. Queen Anne’s Garden, now part of Kensington Gardens, is an example. But these gardens were very inferior to those of Italy and France, or even those in England of the Elizabethan age. It is to Italy, the garden of Europe, that we must look for the finest specimens of garden architecture. The Villa Pamphilia or de Belrespiro, situated half a mile out of Rome beyond the Gate of San Pancrazio, is celebrated for its gardens; from them could be observed the whole city of Rome, and surrounding suburbs. The gardens are nearly five miles in circumference, and occupy the site of those of the Emperor Galba. Their arrangement is varied and agreeable; being picturesque without disorder, symmetrical without monotony; and we here observe the art with which the arrangement of a regular garden is made to agree with the rural nature of which it forms a part, and the noble structure it surrounds. It is doubtless the work of the architect of the villa L’Algardi, about the year 1646. They have been ascribed to the French artist, Le Notre, but there is very little of the French style about them; they are wholly Italian, following the lines of the villa, and in the same style or spirit. These are, or were admirable; while the fountains, the cascades, grottos, basins, statues, and the antique fragments which adorn them are arranged with the skill and intelligence of genius. Illustrations are preserved to us only in a fine Italian work, by Jacobi de Rubeis, published at Rome, about the middle of the seventeenth century. The villa was destroyed by the French when they crushed the liberty of the Roman people at their onslaught on Rome against Garibaldi.
In designs of this description the house and garden should unite, and be lost in each other. Those parts of the garden most contiguous to the house should follow its outline, its walks and terraces, and be so placed that the windows and doors of the mansion could command a perfect view of them. The province of garden architecture is, primarily, to supply fitting appendages and accompaniments to the house, so that the latter may not appear alone and unsupported. If judiciously adopted it will be effective in helping to produce a good outline, carry down the lines of the house, and connect it with other buildings, which may be conservatories, ferneries, aquaria, rustic seats, temples, and arbours; and it will provide a proper basement to the house. Such arrangements afford shelter or privacy to a flower garden, extend the façade or frontage of the house, shut out back yards, stabling or offices, enrich, vary, and enliven the garden, supply conveniences, receptacles for birds, plants, sculpture, or works of art, specimens of natural history, and support for climbing plants. These points indicate refinement, wealth, and love of art, and otherwise blend the various constituents of a garden with the house, and harmonize the two by communicating an artistic tone to the garden. So says Repton, and most of the principal writers on gardening.
Some of the ancient gardens of Asia and Italy were considered among the wonders of the world. They were termed paradises, and were filled with such plants, both beautiful and useful, that the soil could produce; they were enriched with many kinds of works of art, banqueting-houses, aviaries, wells, and streams of running water, indispensable in those warm climates.
An architectural garden, as illustrated in the design at page 302, should have a picturesque outline, a marked boldness and prominence of parts, rather than a mere ornamental detail; a picturesque effect by changes of level in the ground, by diversity of height of the different terraces, and by an arrangement in plan that would produce depth of shade. Every object admitted should fit into its proper place. This villa was designed to cover a fine spring of cold water, and thus insure a deep cold plunging bath. It was to be merely a place for temporary occupation and retirement, to renovate the health of the owner. The gardens and fountains externally were only ornamental accessories; the plan at page 306 illustrates these. The villa was approached by two roads d d; there was a circle of open lawn between the house and the terraced gardens in front. The latter were approached by descending flights of steps. A basin of water and a large fountain, rising from a group of sculpture in the centre, are there shown. By the side are two smaller basins with smaller groups of sculpture, representing sea-horses, cupids, and dolphins. This terrace is paved with ornamental encaustic tiles. At the head of the two side gardens b b, are grottos g g, with seats on a raised terrace on each side of their entrances. The steps descend to a lower level, and have sea-horses and cupids on their pedestals, with five falls of water from griffins’ heads, filling a basin below. A wide walk, and a running stream by its side, were thus gained.
The author at the time he made the design was effecting some additions to a country house, which admitted such a garden to be formed in front of it: he published his design for it at the time (1850) in the Builder.
This villa may be considered a casine, or a retired dwelling on a rather larger scale, similar to the picturesque house at Wothorp, in Northamptonshire, which was erected by one of the Earls of Burleigh, as a place to retire to, while his “great house at Burghley was sweeping.” Wothorp was a large building: it was fully illustrated in one of the author’s works, from original drawings lent him by the late Marquis of Exeter. The casine, only one size larger than a cottage, was the fashion of the preceding age. Whenever the proprietor of an estate wished to turn hermit, he retired to the casine, a small temple erected in a portion of his grounds, where the finest views could be obtained, and the most perfect repose secured. In earlier times such buildings afforded secret meeting-places wherein to hatch political plots; such a one was the triangular lodge in a secluded part of the wood at Rushton in Northamptonshire, the seat of Sir Thomas Tresham, where the gunpowder conspirators assembled. The casine of more modern times was not so small, but it contained all the requirements of good living. One example, is the casine of Marino, near Dublin, built by Sir William Chambers for the Earl of Charlemont.
It was square in plan, surrounded by twelve columns, two projecting flat porticoes in front and back, and pedimented porticoes at the sides. The entrance was approached by a noble flight of steps, the pedestals of which were decorated with carvings, and supported crouching lions. Statues and vases adorned the roof. A print of it, from a drawing of Wheatly, was published in 1783. The building contained a small hall or vestibule, a saloon or living-room, 20 feet in length by 15 feet in width. Leading out of this were two small rooms; one a study, the other a bedroom and closet. The basement contained a large and well-fitted kitchen, a scullery and larder, a butler’s pantry, and servants’ hall, and cellars for ale and wine. Retired buildings of this kind, of larger character and of more importance, were often erected in private grounds of noblemen and gentry. One, very similar to the present design, was constructed by the late Robert Adam, for a salt-water bath, at Mistley, the seat of the Right Hon. Richard Rigby. Mr. Adam and Sir William Chambers erected a large number of such ornamental structures. One of the most elegant examples, by Mr. Robert Adam, was the rout-house or pavilion erected for a fête champêtre in the gardens of the Earl of Derby, at the Oaks, in Surrey, in 1774. The building was internally of the most ornamental character; there was an octangular vestibule, a hall 30 feet in diameter; this opened into a grand ball-room, 72 feet by 35 feet within the columns, and 86 feet by 56 feet within the walls. The supper-room, surrounding the ball-room, measured 200 feet from one end to the other, and 20 feet in width. It was exposed in its full splendour on the curtains being drawn; and at the end of the ball-room there were two tea-rooms, each 20 feet square, on each side of the entrance saloon. The author gives these details in order that he may not be considered too venturesome in submitting to public notice, in these economical times, such an ornamental design as the present. Similar structures of a more expensive character were once very common; but the small retired casine has now gone out of fashion. The ladies consider such secluded buildings as only fit for laundries, and not preferring themselves lives of perfect retirement and quiet, have brought in the small villa where a whole family can dwell, and no selfish thoughts or gloomy contemplations find place.
In referring to the plan of the villa at page 304, of which the plate page 302 shows the elevation, e is the small hall 8 feet square, g the gun room or waiting room is on the right, the serving room with a lift from the basement on the left. The saloon is a highly decorated apartment, 20 feet in diameter. This is seen in the section through the centre of the building given at page 310; h is the sleeping room, 13 feet square, with an ornamental ceiling. The saloon serves as a dining-room and place for meals. The drawing-room, d, or music room, 22 feet by 14 feet, is on the left, b is the principal staircase leading to the upper rooms; this serves also for servants. The small iron staircase j, is for passage to the cold bath below, i is a room for a warm bath. The cold bath, as shown in the section, is ventilated through a domed ceiling, but the scale is too small to show this perfectly.
A portion of the saloon is shown at page 311, with a few of its details in the six cuts following it.
The bedroom ceiling (page 316) supposes the covering of a tent, upheld by spears and ropes. The colour of the drapery is of a light fawn, the ground a deep ultramarine blue. In the centre of the ceiling is a small Cupid on a red or gilt ground, a light blue circle surrounding it. The spears, roses, ropes, and tassels are gilt and coloured.
The drawing-room ceiling is decorated plaster work in white and gold. Its plan is shown at page 317, and three of its details on page 318. Among other decorations of these rooms may be considered the chimney-pieces. The cuts (page 319) give an elevation of the drawing-room chimney-piece, the plan of its shelf above, and a portion of its details to a larger scale beneath. This chimney-piece in the finest statuary marble would cost 80l. to execute. Several have been done for the author at that price. They look very well in execution. Two fire-places of less pretensions are shown in the illustrations at pp. 320 and 321; the first was in rouge royal, costing 25l.; the last are of marble with slate panels covered with imitation of Brocatelli marbles, these costing 19l. 10s. each. The illustration of the whole of the details of internal decoration of such a structure would fill a much larger volume than the present; but it is the sole object of the author to give such illustrations of the several designs, that a portion of each part of the building only shall be shown; k, in the ground plan (page 304), is an open portico with steps to the garden or park in front of it.
The next plan (page 322) is that of the mezzanine. This shows two of the female servants’ sleeping rooms, a, a, with a closet; the decorated ceilings of the saloon, drawing-room, and bed-room, are also shown; the bath-room should have some slight decoration, but this has been omitted. The female servants’ sleeping rooms are each 17 feet in length by 8 in width.
The plan of the upper story (page 323) gives a smoking room a, with an open terrace c c, front and back, a closet d, and a cistern room b.
The basement plan (page 324) shows the cold bath in the centre, with its staircase; the kitchen b, the scullery g, h h the larders, c is the lift, and d d are men’s sleeping rooms; the servants’ hall t, and housekeeper’s room j, are on the left, q is the wine cellar, and s the beer cellar.
The elevation of the back front is at page 325; it has a circular portico and steps down to the garden. An attempt has been made to introduce an original termination for the pedestals on the attics, instead of using the almost universal Soanic bulbous ornament so repeatedly seen in nearly every public building in London and the country, and of which the author’s late master, Sir John Soane, was so fond. These attempts are given in the figures pp. 326-328; and an attempt is made to give an ornamental chimney-pot on page 330. It will be seen in the figure that the ornamental cement pot or vase contains an iron, or it might be a zinc, lining; this would be kept warm, and a security for the smoke passing out.
The exterior of the building is ornamented with statues and vases, and the windows have iron balconets.
The last remaining illustration to be given is the arcade on each side of the villa, dividing the front and back gardens. The chief portion of this in stone, with statues between the columns and vases over them; at the back of the columns is another front of ornamental trellis work in wood, with scroll stands for flowers—this is supported or upheld by the stone screen; an elevation of each, with a section, is given at page 334.
The vignette gives French and English patterns for cover to external sunblinds.