Glossary · P
Parterre
Also called parterres, parterre à l’anglaise, water parterre
A level area of ornamental beds near a house, laid out in a pattern to be seen from above. Dézallier d’Argenville distinguishes parterres of embroidery, of compartments, English parterres of grass cut-work, and water parterres.
See also: Broderie, Knot garden
Rules that use the word
Parterres to be seen from above. Lay the parterres where they are seen from above, from the windows of the house or from a raised terrace, since their patterns are lost to someone standing among them; keep everything near them low.
The order of a royal garden. Approach the house by a wide avenue of double or quadruple rows of trees; behind it lay the parterres of embroidery, then parterres of grass, then the groves with their walks and fountains, and close the walks with perspectives that deceive the eye.
The parterre longer than it is wide. Make the parterre oblong rather than square, since figures somewhat oblong look better on the ground than square ones; later practice made it as broad as the front of the house and about twice as long.
Parterres by the house, woods beyond. Lay the parterres next to the house, low and flat so that nothing blocks the view from its windows; set bosquets and groves beyond them, and lead long allées out toward the horizon, so that the garden always seems larger than it is.
The pleasure house in its garden. Give a pleasure house a single principal storey of rooms in enfilade round a central salon that projects into the garden, open on to the parterres through tall windows, and set it where its axis continues into the garden’s allées.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Gardens and Landscape.
A feature of Italian Renaissance garden, French formal garden, Victorian garden architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Pantry · Papyriform · Parametric design · Parametricism · Parti · Passive house · Passive solar design · Patte d’oie