The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-10
THE BIT Of GARDEN.

n new YORK capitalist VINO recently VS.
tied London was so impressed with the
suburbs of that city in which the middle
classes live, with their little parks and
separate residences surrounded by small
gardens, that he has purchased ffty-five
acres on Long island, on which he is 60
ing to lay out such a suburb. There is
little doubt that he will find his venture
successful and that people will buy his
lots. In cities like New York, where
ground becomes more and more valuable,
it is impossible for people of moderate in
comes TO own, or even to occupy, separate
houses, and those who can afford to enjoy
the privilege do not have the gardens
Apartment houses and fat buildings, where,
some one has expressed it, the occu-
pants live in layers, have developed as a
substitute for the traditional house and
lot" with it's front and back yard, which
an earlier generation knew even in New
York and which probably two-thirds OF the
American-born residents OF the present
were familiar with in the smaller cities and
towns from whence they came The apart
has its advantages for those who are COM
PEELED to live in a crowded district, but
it is probable that a majority of the oc-
cupants cherish a vision of a separate
house with lawn and garden attached as
the ideal dwelling place.
Indianapolis has retained the detached
residence TO a remarkable extent for so
large a city. Flats in the center of the
town have had recently a certain vogue
and meet the needs of class Of popula-
ton, mostly transient, or at least unsettled
and migratory in character. Nevertheless
little disposition is shown to build, even
on high-priced ground, long, close rows
of houses. Builders have an instructive
knowledge that such structures would be
uncertain investments in view of the pre-
vailing preference for the front yard"
and the exclusive verandas. All the new
streets and extensions Of the old thorough
fares follow the fashion that makes this
city so distinctive and gives each house a
space large enough to set it apart from
it's neighbors. But the same spirit which
or in a domicile crowded between others
and only distinguishable from the whole
streetful by its number, to wish for more
space, a bit of green grass and unbroken
glimpse of blue sky animates not few
residents of this city. The fifty-foot or
enough. He longs for still more room
and longs for it the more ardently as he
travels over the suburban and interurban
trolley lines and notes the ideal building
spots visible IN every direction-the groves
and forests, the streams. the rich farming
lands, the fair outlook wherever his eye
turns. Men who can afford it have bought
farms a few miles from the city for sum-
mer residence, and il is TO be noted that
their summers" now grow longer each
year. But the average citizen who is at
tracted to the country or the suburbs can
not afford a separate summer home and
does not want a farm-at least in the West
ern sense of that term. In New England
they speak of five or ten acres as a farm,
and this amount of ground is about what
/
little further away from neighbors. No
doubt many such purchases will be made
within the next few years and the inter-
urban lines be built up on each side with
comfortable semi-rural, semi-urban homes
| The country around indianapolis is very
attractive in every direction-never, by the
way. was it more beautiful than this sea
son-and closely connected as it is with the
city by trolley. rural mail delivery and
| telephones, living in it no longer means
isolation or loneliness. but rather luxury
/ of an enticing kind and that yet does not
! need great wealth 10 secure. The suburban
| district Of Indianapolis is likely to com
prise large territory within the next ter
years, and to be extremely attractive.