Chapter XI.A MODEL DWELLING-HOUSE.
The various contrivances for rendering a dwelling-house complete in all that respects the comfort of the inmates, could not perhaps be better illustrated than by taking some actual instance, and showing what has really been effected. The late Sir John Robison, an enlightened man of science at Edinburgh, erected a house in the north-west part of that city, and fitted it up with a care which has been rarely observed in other places. So much has this house been regarded as a model, that a full description of it has been given in the Supplement toLoudon’sEncyclopædia of Cottage and Villa Architecture; and we propose to give an abstract of such portions of this description as can be understood without the aid of elaborate drawings.
The distribution of the internal space of the house is so managed, that, with the exception of two partitions in the first chamber-floor, which cross the floors without resting on them, all the internal walls reach from the foundation to the roof. The two partitions here mentioned are of stone, and are supported on cast-iron beams isolated from the floors, the joists of which are supported by wooden beams placed alongside, but not connected with the iron beam. The movements of the flooring, therefore, are not communicated to the partitions, and do not consequently affect them by vibration.
The arrangement of the rooms, staircases, and passages, has especial reference to the ventilation of the whole house. While the mass of air in the rooms and passages is constantly undergoing renewal by the escape of the vitiated air above, and the admission of large supplies of fresh air from below, no currents are perceived in the apartments, which, even when crowded with company, and amply lighted, preserve a remarkable degree of freshness. Cylindrical flues of earthenware, nine inches in diameter, are built into the gables, in close proximity to the smoke flues of each room; and the lower ends of these ventilating flues open into the spaces between the ceilings of the respective rooms and the floors of those above them; and there is one or more of these exit air-flues in each room, according to its size and use. The heated and vitiated vapours pass upwards through the ceiling by a continuous opening of about one inch and a half wide (behindone of the fillets of the cornice) all round each room; and having thus passed into the space between the ceiling and the floor immediately above, they ascend by the flues in the wall, and are discharged by them into the vacant space between the ceilings of the attics and the roof, from whence they find their way through the slates to the open air. The passage for the air through the cornice is not visible from the floor of any of the rooms, an ornamental moulding being so arranged as to conceal it. The air flues are made to terminate above the ceilings of the attics, and below the roof of the house, rather than at the chimney heads, in order to prevent the possibility of smoke being over brought down by reverse currents; and an advantage is likewise gained in protecting the attic story from the cold which would otherwise be communicated from the roof during winter.
The continued supply of fresh air to the lower part of the house, to replace that which is carried off by the ventilators and by the chimneys, is brought in from the garden behind the house by a passage, the sectional area of which is eight square feet. The cold air admitted by this passage (or by another similar one from the front of the house) is made to pass over a stove in a lower chamber having a surface of nearly ninety square feet, so that a temperature of from 64° to 70° Fahr., can thus be imparted to the air. In very cold weather, 70° is occasionally given to compensate the cooling effect of the walls and glass windows, so as to preserve an equable temperature of 60° throughout the house; but the usual temperature of the air issuing from the stove is as low as 64°. The whole of this air is discharged into the well of the staircase, which forms a reservoir from whence the rooms draw the quantity required to maintain the upward currents in the chimneys and in the ventilating flues. The air in the staircase finds its way into the apartments by masked passages, of four or five inches wide, and four feet long, over the doors, and by openings an inch in width left under each door. The sectional areas of these passages are more than equal to the areas of the chimney and ventilating flues; there is, therefore, no rarefaction of the air within the rooms, nor any tendency of the external air to enter at chinks of windows or other irregular apertures. The course of the air, from the great aperture over the stove, through the staircases, over and under the doors, into the rooms, thence through the ceilings, and upwards by the escape flues, forms a continuous series, in which all the air for all the rooms comes from one central point, and is raised at that centre to the precise temperature required. The quantity of escape is regulated by hand, by means of throttle-valves at the mouth of each escapeflue; hence, by opening or shutting each throttle-valve, the rate of the ventilating current is augmented or diminished.
The kitchen is ventilated on the same principle as the upper rooms. One flue proceeds from the ceiling over the fire-place, and another from over a gas-cooking apparatus. The first of these is built in the gable, close to the smoke flue; and the second passes up near the back of the water cistern, so that the constant ascent of the warmed air may by its vicinity prevent the water in the cistern from freezing in the winter.
The house is lighted by gas in every part; but no offensive vapour or inconvenience of any kind appears ever to be felt from it. The distribution pipes are of greater diameter than are generally employed, and the pressure or current is thereby so equalized, that no sinkings or flutterings of the flame are caused by the opening and shutting of doors. The forms and proportions of the Argand burners and glass chimneys are also so arranged as to effect nearly a maximum development of light (of an agreeable hue) from the gas, and to prevent any disengagement of sooty vapour; and the white and gold ceilings of the drawing-room are said to attest the complete success with which this latter object has been attained. The mirrors over the chimney-pieces have statuary marble frames, and each chimney-piece has two gas lights. But the use of gas in the kitchen is perhaps the most remarkable. Here there is agas-cookingapparatus. In the application of gas for cooking, the arrangements are generally as follow:—A metallic ring, pierced on its upper side with a great number of holes of very small size, is attached to the pipe communicating with the gas main, and is placed within a double drum or cylinder of iron, raised an inch or two from the floor on short legs. This double cylinder is so constructed as to leave a space between the inner and the outer cylinder of about two inches; and in this space near to the bottom, the pierced ring is fixed. A stop-cock in the pipe connecting the pierced ring with the gas main shuts off the supply of gas when the stove is not in use. On opening the cock, and applying the gas to the pierced ring, a brilliant ring of flame is immediately produced, which soon heats both cylinders. The air within the inner cylinder ascends into the room, which it helps to warm; the outer surface of the outer cylinder also performs a similar service; while the space between the two cylinders contains the products of combustion, which are allowed to escape into the room, if the heating power of the whole is required; but which are carried off by an inclosed channel, if it be wished to protect the air of the room from deleterious mixture.
In this house, the gas-cooking stoves are eight in number, the mouth of each being four inches in diameter, a size which experience has shown to be the most useful. The kitchen fire-place is no larger than is requisite for roasting; all the other processes being performed either in the oven, the steaming vessels, or at the gas stoves. These stoves are placed in the bay of a large window, thus giving the cook the advantage of a good light above the level of the pans. A close boiler at the back of the grate affords steam for the cooking utensils and for a hot closet; it also contains a coil of iron tubing, through which the water of a bath, placed in a dressing-room on the chamber floor, is made to circulate when a hot bath is wanted.
The flues for carrying off heated vapours, &c., are of two kinds. It has already been stated, that the vitiated air of the rooms is convoyed by apertures just below the ceiling into pipes which find an exit at the top of the house. These flues are made of cylinders of red earthenware, eight or nine inches in diameter. Those by which the smoke of the fires is carried away, are cylinders of fire-brick clay, from two to three inches thick, and from seven to ten inches in diameter. In each fire-place, where the throat of the chimney is contracted over the grate, there is a valve made of rolled iron plate, which fits into a cast-iron seat fixed in the brick-work; when this valve is in its seat, neither soot nor smoke can pass; and when it is thrown back, the passage to the flue is unobstructed.
After describing the mortise locks for the doors, and the arrangements of some French windows for opening into a balcony, both of which exhibit ingenious and novel features,Mr.Loudon quotes a letter fromMr.Hay, of Edinburgh, the author of aTreatise on Harmonious Colouring, and who superintended the interior decorations of the house. The drawing-rooms are first spoken of thus:—The walls have been prepared with several coats of white lead, grained to imitate morocco leather; on this a pattern of gilded rosettes has been laid, and the whole varnished with copal. Another pattern has then been superadded in flat white, so that the whole has been compared in appearance to a lace-dress over satin and spangles.Mr.Hay says: “There is nothing very much out of my usual practice in the painting done in Sir John Robison’s house in Randolph Crescent, except the walls of the drawing-rooms and staircase. The bed-rooms were done in the usual way; namely, ceilings sized on two coats of oil paint; walls papered with a white embossed satin-ground paper, with small brown sprigs; and the wood-work painted white, and finished with copal varnish. The dining-room andSir John’s own room were both done in imitation of wainscot, with white ceilings, varnished. The staircase ceilings and cornices painted white and flatted; and the walls and wood-work painted also white, and varnished with copal. The drawing-rooms and ante-rooms were all painted white; the ceilings and cornices, as well as the wood-work, being finished flat, and heightened with gilding. The walls are, as I have already said, rather peculiar in their style of painting. The ground work is rendered regularly uneven by being granulated—by working it over with the point of a dry brush, immediately applying the two last coats of paint. This is partly varnished and partly flat, the flat parts forming large rosettes. Between these rosettes are smaller ones, gilded, not in the base-metal used upon paper-hangings, but in sterling gold leaf. This style of decorative painting, from the great body of paint employed in producing the granulated surface, the copal varnish, and the gold leaf, must be of the most durable description. I may here mention, that during the last two or three years, I have painted a very great number of drawing-rooms in various styles, some with rich borders, others in my patent imitation of damask, and a few in styles similar to that employed upon Sir J. Robison’s; and have papered very few. I feel very sure, that as the advantages of painting over papering, especially in the public rooms of a mansion, become generally known, the latter style of decoration will be entirely given up. As to the colouring of ceilings, that must be left in a great measure to the taste of the proprietor; as some like pure white, others delicate tints, and a few go the length of the most intense colours, or polychrome. With this last class I myself agree; but I am at the same time aware, that if this be not done with the most strict attention to the laws of harmonious colouring, the effect must be bad; it would be like a person unacquainted with the science of music, running his fingers at random over the keys of a powerful organ. In the one case, white, or a light tint, is better than colours; and in the other, silence better than such an attempt at music.”
The work from which the above has been derived, viz.,Loudon’sEncyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture, contains a chapter contributed by an anonymous writer, but devoted to a singular and interesting subject. The object is to lay down rules for the construction and furnishing of a villa which should be thebeau-ideal—the standard of excellence—of this class of dwelling-house. He describesthe characteristics of the old English country-house; and, taking that as his model, shows how modern improvements may be brought to bear on the general arrangements of the building. The description is too long to be given here in full, even if it were right so to do; but we will condense into a few paragraphs those details which relate to the construction and fittings of the house, omitting all those matters which relate only to furniture.
The residence here described, or rather imagined, is the country house of an English gentleman of ample means, but partaking much more of themanorialthan of the palatial character. The termvillais not perhaps so fixed in meaning as to convey to every one the same idea of the kind of building alluded to. The word was originally used by the Romans to denote a farm-house, with the offices requisite for the accommodation of a husbandman. Afterwards, when luxury increased, the termvillawas applied to the country residence of an opulent Roman citizen. It is in a somewhat similar style that the word is here to be used.
The villa being a place of agreeable retirement, but not one of seclusion from the world, it should be situated within reach of a public road, at an easy distance from the metropolis. “I should prefer a situation removed about a mile from the great public road, and about ninety miles or a day’s journey from the metropolis. Here I would inclose a park of 100 or 150 acres; bounded on the north and west sides by lofty wooded hills; on another side by a road; and elsewhere by the inclosed country of the district; the surface of the park varied, but gently inclining to the south, with a rapid stream of water passing through it at no great distance from the site of the house.”
A villa (the writer proceeds to say) should always form part of a village, and be placed if possible on rather higher ground. The old English style of architecture is preferred; as being more picturesque and ornamental; as according best with rural scenery; as, by admitting great irregularity of form, it affords space for the various offices and conveniences necessary in a country house; and as being better suited to our climate than the Grecian style, which, by requiring porticoes, projecting cornices, and windows of rather small size, tends to intercept the light and make the house gloomy. The old style also allows more variety of ornament upon the roof, such as the stacks of chimneys, gables, pinnacles, turrets, and other appendages to the general effect of a building when seen at a distance; whereas in the Grecian style, which requires perfect symmetry of form, and the prevalence of straight lines, these arrangements could not be admissible.For these reasons an old English or “Elizabethan” house is selected. The front of the house would present a centre and two projecting wings. The centre would contain the hall and dining-room, with a gallery and staircase behind them. One wing would be occupied by the drawing-room and library, with the saloon between them. The other wing might contain a sitting-room, and superior offices for servants; the inferior offices being on the basement, or in a separate building in the kitchen-court. The principal part should be highly ornamented, and form a symmetrical whole. In the centre would be the porch of two stories, with its rich gable, small pillars, escutcheons, &c.; the wall on either side (broken into compartments by pilasters, or handsome buttresses, and proper string-courses) would contain large mullioned windows; the whole supporting a battlement or parapet, with its appropriate ornaments. The ends of the projecting windows would present each a bay window of two stories, square or semicircular in form, with balustrade or stone covering above; the gables of the wings corresponding with that of the porch. The high and steep roof should be varied by ornamental chimneys of different patterns, placed in their proper situations; and, rising above them, the tower, containing the grand staircase, appearing at a short distance behind the porch; its waving cupola roof terminating in a rich lantern, and supporting a weathercock or dwarf spire.
After giving his reasons for thinking that a country residence in the Elizabethan style should have a kind of rich framework of courts and gateways, balustraded terraces, and architectural gardens, the writer proceeds to describe the interior of his supposed edifice, beginning with theporch. This should be ascended by a flight of stone steps; it should be floored with stone; and the ceiling, the door, and the door-way, highly enriched.
The entrance-hall, which succeeds the porch, would vary in its character according to the size of the house. In the large old English mansions it was formerly the dining-room and place of rendezvous for the servants and retainers; but in a smaller house, such as might be termed a villa, and especially under the altered habits of English society, a smaller hall, and one more nearly resembling a mere entrance, would be fitting. An English hall admits of much picturesque embellishment, such as a carved oak roof or ceiling, either flat or semicircular, enriched with highly-wrought bosses or coats of arms; a music gallery across the end, supported by pillars or a carved screen; a chimney-piece reaching to the cornice of the roof; and a carved wainscot covering half the height of the walls.
Having entered the porch-door, and crossed the lower endof the hall, entrance would be gained to thegallery, a sort of an in-door promenade, between the hall and the staircase; having one door leading to the saloon, another to the billiard-room, and another to the domestic offices. “The staircase is an important convenience in every house; and it should always be a striking feature in a mansion of any elegance. The tower, which I suppose to contain the staircase, would be square, as high as the ceiling of the upper floor, where it would take a sort of octagon form; the roof coned, and ending in a lantern: in the centre of the lantern a boss would support a lamp. In the side, opposite to the arch by which you enter, would be a tall mullioned window filled with stained glass. Advancing a few steps, you would reach the first flight in the middle of the tower, and ascend to the first landing-place; you would find a flight of stairs on the right and left leading to the second landing, in the centre of which is the upper gallery door, immediately over the arch below. As the house is to be in the old English style, the stairs might be either of oak or stone; but the balusters must be of oak handsomely carved, and rather heavy. They might begin at the foot of the stairs with a richly-carved sort of pedestal, and the same at each corner as they ascend. In old staircases there was frequently an animal of some sort sculptured in wood, supporting the family arms, placed on these pedestals, especially at the foot of the stairs; or the animal had a substitute in a ball or pine-apple.”
The chief apartments on the ground floor are described as being the saloon, the drawing-room, the library, the dining-room, and the study. The saloon is generally a sort of vestibule to the dining-rooms; and, supposing it to be such in this case, and of a parallelogram form, its arrangement is thus sketched:—The entrance door is in the centre of the side next the gallery; in the centre of the end on the right hand would be the drawing-room door, and in the centre of the other end the library door. On the other side should be two windows, with a glass door between them opening to the terrace and garden. The drawing-room would be larger than the saloon. On entering from the saloon the opposite end would present a square or circular bay-window, commanding a view of the park and the distant country beyond it. On the right side would be the fire-place, and on the opposite side two windows looking over the terrace.
Crossing the saloon from the drawing-room we should arrive at the library. This would be about the same size as the drawing-room, and would, like it, have a bay window opposite the entrance, and two other windows opposite the fire-place. This room, it is supposed, would be the familysitting-room when there is no company in the house; and would be the forenoon resort of the gentlemen when guests are stopping at the house; and hence arises a very minute and curious detail of the manner in which the library should be fitted up, in order to answer this double purpose. These, however, we cannot enter upon; but the following will give an idea of the manner in which this imaginative house-builder fills up the rooms of his villa:—“As to the smaller ornaments to be placed around the room, they should be curious and interesting, and on no account frivolous. Handsome silver inkstands, a few curious fossils, or models of celebrated buildings; all sorts of writing-cases and implements, taper stands of silver, boxes of coins, old china in large jars, and anything of these kinds, with handsome books, might decorate the tables; and, as nothing gives a room a more dismal effect than an appearance of idleness, everything should be so arranged, both here and in the drawing-room, as if the persons using the rooms had been employed in some way or other. This effect would be produced by the daily papers, and some periodical works, and open letters received in the morning, on the principal tables; and, on other tables, some of the blotting-books might be open; the inkstands not thoroughly in order, with some unfinished writing and open books or portfolios, would give at least the appearance of industry. I do not recommend such foolish tricks, which are, I know, often used by idle people, who have sense enough to feel the bad taste of indolence; and in a sensible family, who spent their time rationally, this would be, in fact, the usual state of the room, at least during the morning.”
The dining-room of thebeau-idealvilla is contiguous to the hall, whence entrance is obtained by double doors. The walls are covered with old oak wainscot. The fire-place should be very large, reaching nearly to the ceiling, and all the fittings and arrangements of a massive, solid, and handsome kind. The gentleman’s study, or business room, would be a smaller, plainer, and more strictly private room, on the same floor, and used for writing, reading, and transacting business.
Having disposed of the principal apartments, the writer proceeds to describe the rooms on the next floor above, occupied chiefly as bed-rooms. The grand staircase leads up to a second gallery, over the lower one; and in this gallery are the doors of all the best sleeping-rooms. The sitting and sleeping nurseries are also on this floor; as is likewise the governess’s sitting-room, “in a quiet part of the house.” The bed-rooms for the servants are on the upper floor, approached by the back staircase.
Then we descend to the basement of the house, where the various servants’ rooms are situated. The housekeeper’s room should be a spacious comfortable room, furnished as a respectable parlour; and so situated that the other offices may be overlooked by the housekeeper. A door in this room should open into the still-room, which is the common sitting-room of the under female servants, and where portions of the ordinary operations are carried on. A store-closet opens conveniently into the still-room, and has conveniences for arranging the stores and provisions as they are unpacked. The butler’s pantry, being the room in which the plate is lodged, should be placed in a part secluded from the back entrance to the house, and should have strong doors and window-shutters to prevent depredation. The servants’ hall would be near the back entrance to the house, and easy of access. Here all the under servants would dine, and it would be the common sitting-room for the males. The larders, if the house were large, would be four in number; the wet larder for undressed meat, the dry larder for cold meat, the game larder, and the pastry.
The kitchen, as being one of the most important rooms in a hospitable mansion, is treated with due importance. The writer describes the arrangements in the kitchen of a mansion in Warwickshire, as being fitted to serve as a model. “The kitchen, scullery, larder, &c., formed a range of building on one side of the kitchen-court, separate from the house, but there was a covered way between them. The building was of two stories, the kitchen occupying the centre. It was a large lofty room, of good proportions, as high as two stories of the building. You entered it at one end, by large folding-doors, from a passage through the building; at the opposite end was the fire-place, with the screen before it; on one side of which was the door to the scullery and bakehouse, on the other a range of set coppers of different sizes. On one side of the room were two rows of windows, and under the lower row a range of charcoal stoves and hot plates: the latter to keep things warm. The other side had only the upper row of windows, and against the wall was a dresser, above which the copper cooking utensils, &c., were ranged in a very ornamental way. A long table was in the centre of the room, and over the door a dial-clock. The ceiling had a very handsome cornice, and a boss in the centre, from which hung a brass lamp. Opposite the entrance door another door admitted you to a passage, on one side of which were the larders, on the other salting-rooms, &c.; and at the end a staircase led to the cook’s apartment over. There was a sort of turret in thecentre of the roof, containing a capital clock, which struck upon the dinner bell. The other offices were in the basement of the house, and the kitchen was detached, to prevent the annoyance of the smell of cooking, which commonly ascends from a kitchen beneath the house. I thought the arrangement particularly convenient, and the kitchen was really an elegant apartment. As, in a large establishment, there is cooking going on through the whole day, it is of importance to the comfort of the family, to place the kitchen in such a situation that the smell of cooking, which is particularly offensive, may not be an annoyance to the principal apartments. A house with the kitchen in the basement story is generally subject to this inconvenience, and it is usually avoided by having the kitchen and offices in a separate building adjoining the house.”
The writer continues his remarks and descriptions in a similar manner, treating of all the various parts of the building in succession; then of the riding-house, the stable-yard, the coach-houses, the harness and saddle rooms, and the dog-kennel; then of the kitchen garden, the pleasure garden, the dairy, the farm buildings for a “gentleman farmer;” and, lastly, of the village and the village church, so far as regards the relation between them and the mansion. In short, this writer seems to have proposed to himself this question—“What are the excellencies to be desired and attained in the mansion of an English country gentleman?” and he appears to have solved it by putting together the scattered fragments of his experience in various quarters, and building up an ideal mansion therefrom.