Chapter XVII. Of some Inventions, according to divers situations

MY intention was to speak only of those fabricks which were either compleated, or M begun, and carried on so far that one might soon expect them to be finished: but knowing that it is very often necessary to conform one’s self to the situation, as one does not always build in open places, I was afterwards persuaded that the annexing to the aforegoing designs some few inventions, made by me at the request of divers gentlemen, would not be deviating from our purpose; and which they have not executed, for those reasons which ordinarily happen; because of their difficult situations, and the method have observed in accommodating in them the rooms, and the other places, that they might have a correspondence and proportion the one to the other, may (as I imagine) be of no small utility.

The situation of the first invention is pyramidal. The base of the pyramid comes to the principal front of the house, which has three orders of columns, that is, the Dorick, the Ionick, and the Corinthian. The entrance is square, and has four columns, which support the vault, and make the height proportionable to the breadth, On the one, and on the other part, there are two rooms, one square and two thirds long, and in height according to the first method for the heights of vaults, Near each there is a small room, and stairs to go up to the mezati, At the head of the entrance I intended to make two rooms, one square and an half long, and then two small rooms in the same proportion with the flairs that should lead to the mezati; and, a little farther, the hall, one square and two thirds long, with columns equal to those of the entrance. There would have been a loggia, in the flanks of which should have been the stairs in an oval form; and a little farther the court, on the side of which wou’d have been the kitchens. The second rooms, that is, those of the second order, wou’d have had twenty feet in height, and those of the third eighteen;

but the height of each hall wou'd have been up to the roof. And these halls wound have had, even with the floor of the upper rooms, some corridors, which wou'd have served to place persons of respect in, at the time of festivals, banquetings, and such like diversions. 53. I made the following invention for a situation at Venice. The principal front has three orders of columns; the first is Ionick, the second Corinthian, and the third Com-site. The entrance advances a little outwards, and has four columns equal to, and like those in the front. The rooms that are on the flanks have the height of their vaults according to the first method for the height of vaults. Besides these there are finall rooms, closets, and the flairs that serve to the mezati. Opposite to the entrance, there is a passage, through which one goes into another smaller hall, which on one side has 2 finall court, from whence it receives light, and on the other, the principal and larger flairs, of an oval form, void in the middle, and with columns round them, that support the steps. Farther, one enters into a loggia, through a passage, the columns of which are of the Ionick order, equal to those of the entrance. This loggia has an apartment on each side, like those of the entrance; but that which is on the left lessens a little by reason of the situation. Near this there is a court, with columns round it, that form a corridor, which serve the rooms backwards, where the women were to have been; and there the kitchen should have stood. The part above is like that below, except the hall over the entrance, which has no columns, and joins in height up to the roof, and has a corridor, or balcony, even with the third rooms, that wou’d also have served to the windows above, because there wou’d have been two orders of them in this hall. The smaller hall wou’d have had the beams even with the vaults of the second rooms; and these vaults wou'd have been three and twenty feet high. The rooms of the third order wou’d have been circle, and eighteen feet high. All the doors and windows wou’d have faced, and have been over one another; and all the walls wound have had their share of the weight, The cellars, the places to wath clothes in, and the other magazines, wou'd have been accommodated under ground. s4. I made the following invention at the request of the Count France, and Count Lodovico pe Trissini, brothers, for a situation belonging to them at /7eenza; according to which, the house wou'd have had a square entrance, divided into three spaces by columns of the Corinthian order, that its vault might have had strength and proportion. On the flanks there wou'd have been two apartments, with seven rooms in each, including three mezati, to which the stairs wou'd have served that were on one side of the fall rooms. The height of the greater rooms wou'd have been seven and twenty feet, and of the nid-ding and smaller eighteen, Farther in wou'd the court have been found, encompassed with loggia’s of the Ionick order. The columns of the first order of the front wou’d have been Ionick, and equal to those of the court; and those of the second, Corinthian. The hall wou’d have been quite free, of the size of the entrance, and raised up to the roof. Even with the floor of its soffit, it wou'd have had a corridor. The greater rooms wou’d have been ceiled, and the middling and smaller vaulted. On one side of this court wou’d have been rooms for the women, kitchen, and other places; and under ground, the cellars, the places for wood, and other conveniencies.

The invention here placed, was made for the Count Giacomo Angarano, for a site Plate of his in the same city. The columns of the front are of the Composite order. The rooms near the entrance are one square and two thirds long. Next to them is a closet, and over that a mezato. One then passes into a court compassed with portico’s. The columns are six and thirty feet long, and have behind them some pilasters, by Vitruvius called Parastatice, that support the pavement of the second loggia; over which there is another uncover'd, even with the floor of the last ceiling of the house, and has corridors round it. Farther one finds another court, encompassed likewise with portico’s, The first order of the columns is Dorick, the second Ionick, and in this the stairs are placed. In the opposite part to the stairs, there are the stables, and the kitchens might be made there, and the places for servants. As to the part above, the hall wou’d have been without columns, and its ceiling wou’d have reached up to the roof. The rooms wou’d have been as high as they are broad; and there wou’d have been closets and mezati, as they are in the lower part. Over the columns in the front a corridor might have been made, which on several occasions would have been very commodious.

In Verona, at the Portion, vulgarly called Della Bra, a most notable situation, the Count Plate Gro. Battista della Torre, sometime since intended to make the under placed fabrick, which wou’d have had gardens, and all those parts required in a commodious and delightful place. The first rooms wou'd have been vaulted, and over all the small ones there wou'd have been mezati; to which the small stairs wou’d have served. The second rooms, that is, those above, wou'd have been deled. The height of the hall wou’d have reached up to the roof; and even with the plane of the soffit, there wou’d have been a corridor or balcony; and from the loggia, and the windows placed in the flanks, it wou’d have received light.

I made also the following Invention for the Cavalier Battista GARZADORE, a /7- Plate containe gentleman, in which are two loggia’s, one forwards, and the other backwards, of the Corinthian order. These loggia’s have soffits, as also the ground hall; which is the inmost part of the house, that it may be cool in the summer, and has two orders of windows. The four columns that appear, support the soffit, and make the pavement of the hall above strong and secure; which is square, and without columns, and as high as it is broad, and as much as the thickness of the cornice more. The height of the vaults of the greater rooms is according to the third manner for the height of vaults. The vaults of the closets are sixteen foot high. The rooms above are circle. The columns of the second loggia's are of the Composite order, the fifth part less than those underneath. The loggia’s have frontispieces, which (as I have said,) give no small grandeur to the fabrick; making it more elevated in the middle, than it is in the flanks, and serve to place the ensigns.

I made the following invention at the request of the Clarissimo Cavalier il Sig. Lonardo Moceni1co, for a site of his upon the Brenta. Four loggia’s, which like arms tend to the circumference, seem to receive those that come near the house. Near these loggia’s are the stables, in the part forwards that looks over the river; and on the part backwards, the kitchens, and the places for the steward, and the farmer. The loggia in the middle of the front is thick of columns, which, because they are forty foot high, have behind them some pilasters two feet wide, and one foot and a quarter thick, that support the floor of the second loggia. And farther in, one finds the court encompassed with loggia’s of the Ionick order. ‘The portico’s are as wide as the columns are long; one diameter of the column excepted. The loggia’s and the rooms that look over the gardens, are also of the same breadth, that the wall which divides one member from the other, may be placed in the middle to sustain the weight of the roof. The first rooms wou’d have been very convenient to eat in, when great number of persons should happen to have been there, and are in a double proportion. Those of the angles are square, and have their vaults a schiff'o, as high up to the impost as the room is broad, and are cover'd one third of the breadth. The hall two squares and an half long. The columns are put there to proportion the length and breadth to the height; and those columns wou’d have been in the ground hall only, that the hall above might have been quite free. The columns of the upper loggia’s over the court are one fifth less than those underneath them, and are of the Corinthian order. The rooms above are as high as they are broad, The stairs are at the end of the court, and ascend one opposite to the other,

And with this invention, praise be to God, I have put an end to these two books; in which, with as much brevity as possible, I have endeavoured to put together, and teach easily, with words and figures, all these things that seemed to me most necessary, and most important for building well; and particularly for building private houses, that they may in themselves contain beauty, and be of credit and conveniency to the owners.

The END of the SECOND BOOK.

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