The Useful Arts Employed in the Construction of Dwelling Houses. Second Edition

by Anonymous

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 the porch. 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 end of the hall, entrance would be gained to the gallery, 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 family sitting-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 the beau-ideal villa 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.