urban palaces

[Tundra]

Ok, so i've got a palace that is in the middle of a small city. (really small). At least, I think it's in the middle. I might put it on the edge, because it might be too big and just generally clutter things up in the city centre.
I might just put the town hall in the middle.
But anyway, urban palace in a fantasy, mountaineous kind of setting. Can they have gardens? Would it be possible to have a courtyard that's a kind of garden thing? Would it be possible to have a rooftop garden of some sort? (it's not a turretted kind of palace) If i put a garden on the roof, that'd muck up the conventional idea that servants (who aren't personal servants) live up in the top floor?
Where would the carriages and horses be kept/living?
Would it be feasible that there'd be a main kitchen, near or underneath the main dining room/royal dining room where the banquets/royal meals are held, and then small 'kitchenette' kind of things on other floors, or even in apartments of people so that they can eat their meals in their apartments without the medieval problem of having cold food?
opinions?

[Aimless]

Anything's possible, I dunno how many of those ideas would be good design features but they should be workable at least :)

[Elski]

But anyway, urban palace in a fantasy, mountaineous kind of setting. Can they have gardens? Would it be possible to have a courtyard that's a kind of garden thing?

Ooh, ooh! *feels all helpfull* Yes, they could have that. I stayed in a monestary-like thingy in some mountains in Guatemala and they had a *huge* courtyard in the middle that we pretty much lived in for a whole month, with gardens and fountains and everything.

Where would the carriages and horses be kept/living?

Presuably in a seperate building a short distance away. Horses smell somewhat (although personally I don't mind, but I may be the only one) and carriges are big and bulky, not something you'd want in your palace. Plus to well look after horses you need a bit of pasture, don't you? Otherwise they're more expensive to feed, harder to keep clean and harder to exercise... still possible, from what I uderstand, but more difficult. Then again, I'm no expert on horses. I've just been to a barn or two.

Sorry, I don't really know about your other questions. Um, I'd guess the garden-on-the-roof would be possible, if it was in pots and things not growing in piles of dirt on the ground (wouldn't roots and things become a problem?) and the servants could still sleep on the upper floor, puts them closer to the garden to tend it, right Unless you're talking about having the servants sleep on the roof, then it might be different... as for the kitchen thing, I have no idea.

[Tundra]

^ the problem is this palace is in the middle of a really quite small city. So, it's the city that's in a mountainous region, not just the palace.

[Aimless]

Mountain-horses: quarter horse, three quarters mountain-goat. Or replace them with llamas.

[Sulis]

Llamas are good. Or they might be using sturdy ponies instead of horses. Mountains and hills are pretty stressful for horses... I remember reading somewhere that the average lifespan for a cart horse in San Fransisco around 1900 was like 7 years, because of all the hills.

As for the rooftop garden, it's entirely possible. There are several people that theorize that the Hanging gardens of Babylon were actually a series of rooftop gardens. Also, if it's a mountainous city, they may have terraced the area to make it easier to build and farm.And I don't see why putting the garden up there would muck up the idea of servants living on the top floor. After all, they're going to be the ones tending the gardens, after all. Though, you do need to give some thought to the climate in the region. Part of the reason people have peaks on their roofs is to shed snow and rain. If you're going to have a roof flat enough for gardens, it should be in a region that's pretty dry, doesn't get much snow or rain (the Andes mountains in South America come to mind). Otherwise, the weather would just wash away everything, even if it's just in pots. Also, the weight of too much snow can make a roof collapse if it's too flat. You'll notice that the more snow an area gets, the more sharply-peaked the roof wil be.

The "kitchenette" sounds plausible, but I suspect as far as most people would go in their apartments is maybe reheating things that were already cooked on some sort of brazier.

Also, I don't know if you've thought about this, but... Why is the capitol city in the mountains? Is the entire region pretty mountainous? Because if not, there are 2 main reasons people go to the mountains: defense, and resources. Either they're trying to get away from some sort of outside threat, in an easily defensible position, which means the palace would probably be on the highest point in the city, be that off to one side or in the middle; Or, they're there because of some phenomenally-valuable resource, gold or metal ores or some such, and then the palace would be in the center.

[Tundra]

ok sorry... it's more like it's in a hilly area, with mountains behind it.
I meant more... if a palace is in a area surrounded by housing or shops... where in the palace structure would stables or carriages go?

[MichaelB]

what about wall gardens? Gardens where the plants grow on a dirt fixture on the side of a wall, or in pots that are fixed to the wall...