The late Sir John Robison’s House at Edinburgh.
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 to Loudon’s Encyclopædia 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 (behind one 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 escape flue; 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 a gas-cooking apparatus. 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 from Mr. Hay, of Edinburgh, the author of a Treatise 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 and Sir 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.”