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THE EFFECTIVE USE OF COBBLESTONES AS A LINK
BETWEEN HOUSE AND LANDSCAPE
J N the building of modern country homes
     there seems to be no end to the adapta-
     bility of cobblestones and boulders  in
     connection with  the sturdier  kinds of
huilding material, for, if rightly placed with
regard to the structure and the surroundings,
they can he hrought into harmony with nearly
every style of architecture that has about it
any semhlance of ruggedness, especially if the
surrounding country be hilly and uneven in
contour and blessed<or cursed<with a plen-
tiful crop of stones.
   We have never specially advocated the use
of cobblestones in the building of Craftsman
houses, for as a rule we have found that the
best effects from a structural point of view
can be obtained by using the split stones in-
stead of the smaller round cobbles.  Splitting
the stone brings into prominence all the inter-
esting colors that are to be found    in field
rubble and it is astonishing what a variety and
richness of coloring is revealed when the stone
is split apart so that the inner markings ap-
pear.   Also a better structural line can be
obtained when foundation and pillars are clear-
ly  defined instead of having somewhat   the
effect of a loose pile of stones.   Very few
houses that are possible for modern civilized
life<outside of the mountain camp~are suf-
ficiently rough and primitive in construction
to be exactly in harmony with the use of cob-
bles, and always there is a slight sense of
effort when they are brought into close rela-
tion with finished strticture.
  Nevertheless the popularity of cobblestones
and boulders for foundations, pillars, chimneys
and even for such interior use as chimney-
pieces, is unquestione(l and in many cases the
effect is very interesting.  There is growing
tip in this country, especially on the Pacific
Coast, a style of house that seems to come
naturally into harmony with this sort of stone
work, and there is no denying that when the
big rough stones and cobbles are used with
taste an(1 discrimination, they not only give
great interest to the construction, but serve
to connect the building very closely \vith the
surrounding landscape.
  The fact that we have found the best ex-
amples of this natural use of boulders and
cobbles in California seems to be (lue largely
to the influence of Japanese architecture over
CEMENT PAVED TERRAcE OF A CALIFORNIA HOUSE, SHOWING EFFECT OF COBBLESTONES
IN  WALLS AND PILLARS,
AND THE WAY THEY HARMONIZE WITH THE ROUGH SHINGLE AND TIMBER CONSTRUCTION.
I fl~