Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 313, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1918 — HOME TOWN HELPS [ARTICLE]

HOME TOWN HELPS

SEEKING SITE TO FIT HOME Many People Do Not Btop to Think at Ail of the Vast Importance of, the House's "Setting. Most of the people who are saving to bnild a house —the sort they have dreamed of possessing—give so much attention to the actual plans of the dwelling that they do not stop to think at all of the vast importance ol the house’s setting. > - 1 They are joys and profits In site hunting that the average home-builder who is willing to content himself with the first strip of land In a desirable neighborhood with which his real estate dealer confronts him neveir guesses. Obviously the average city lot is the “flat, treeless, 50 by 100,” on which, of course, there Ts little possible latitude In bnilding. The house must be oblong and stand on one of Its ends about In the center of the lot, with an Inconsequential margin on either side, and a flower-trimmed square of green In front and rear. There are many streets of this type In every suburb. But In every suburb also there are odd corners that have been passed by as unsuitable. Like the neglected creed beds In the farmer’s fields, they are generally of odd shapes and wooded, the hand of the “Improver” having passed them as hopeless. In rural districts where land Is rated by Its cultivatable area, these (ire literally waste and can often be bought for very little, One of the least appreciated kind of sites for a home Is the gully or draw. Everywhere among the hills there are places where the waters have cut out a bed to the rocks and a stream splashes swiftly downward among the trees. There are few greater outdoor Joys for folk who like to plan things themselves and execute them with their own hands than the development of one of these spots. If you have a definite plan for yonr house in mind before yon have an Idea for the site, you should seek your site to-fit the home. A chateau would beout of place where a bungalow cottage would be wholly at ease. A barn might be badly misplaced on the Ideal site for a farmhouse. But site hunting untrammeled by aught save the limits of one’s imagination is great fun and a liberal education.