184.—House formerly in North Street, Exeter.
The houses built in towns followed much the same lines as those erected elsewhere in general treatment, but the plan was of course restricted by the situation of the house, and by the fact that it could not derive light from the sides. The fronts were often constructed of wood and plaster, and the upper floors were corbelled out over those beneath in the same fashion as had been customary for many years. Owing to the nature of their materials most of these houses have disappeared through fire or decay. Others have been swept away in the improvements which inevitably accompany prosperity in a town; others have been altered to suit the changes and development of trades. There are not many examples, therefore, to be found except in out-ofthe-way places, or in districts of large towns from which the main stream of business has been diverted. There are a few examples in the older parts of Bristol and York, for instance, but they have been much mutilated and altered. Some years ago there was an unusually good specimen in North Street, Exeter (Fig. [184]), but it has now disappeared. Here the columns on the storey above the bays were particularly good both in proportion and in general effect, and there was an unusual amount of richness bestowed upon the carving of the corbels and the strings and cornices. Towns near the coast seem to have been richer in houses of this kind than those further inland. The Butter-market at Dartmouth is a good specimen; the first floor is carried on columns, thus forming a covered walk; the bay windows are supported by boldly-carved corbels fashioned, some like fabulous animals, some like human figures. Ipswich has some excellent examples of carved strings and beams; it was customary to enrich the faces of the large beams which carried the projecting storeys, and a considerable amount of fancy in design and dexterity of execution were expended upon them. In the eastern counties generally there is some capital work to be found, both in wood and in modelled plaster. Canterbury has a few remains, one of which, of somewhat late date, is shown in Fig. [185]. The general treatment of the windows on the first floor is in accordance with Jacobean methods, but the handling of the boldly-modelled plaster-work above them points towards the latter half of the seventeenth century as the time of its execution. Two of the objects aimed at in these street fronts seem to have been to get plenty of light and to introduce bay windows. In the example from Canterbury, the whole front of the first floor is occupied with windows, and there are two bays introduced in the range which serve as large corbels to the straight front above them. Another example, from Oxford (Plate [LXXIX].), also shows the whole front of two floors occupied by window space. But this front is gabled, and has one large bay window in the centre, which is covered by a broken pediment embracing a kind of dormer, all enclosed within the lines of the gable itself, which, however, has undergone some alteration since it was first erected. The difference in the treatment of the arched lights in the several floors should be noticed. Another variety is to be seen in a house in Stratford-on-Avon (Plate [LXXIX].), where the general disposition is rather simple, but all the woodwork is highly ornamented. The main beams which carry the projecting storeys are carved in the manner already mentioned as being prevalent at Ipswich. Here, again, there is a bay window on the first floor helping to carry the storey above it, and another projecting window on the top floor, the upper corners of which are hidden behind the barge-boards. The same general treatment is to be seen in an old house in the High Town at Hereford (Fig. [186]), where the excellent effect is produced by very simple means. The woodwork of the framing is all straight, but it is massive, and not much less in width than the plaster panels. The upper storey projects far enough to give good shadow, which is varied by the shallow bays just beneath it. The gables have heavy carved barge-boards, and in each of them is a bay window, the top of which, unlike the example from Stratford, is free from interference by the barge-board. The pendants between the bays on the first floor are of the ordinary pierced pattern. In considering these specimens from busy towns, it should be remembered that they have all been more or less restored.
185.—House in the High Street, Canterbury.
186.—Old House, High Town, Hereford.
Plate LXXIXa.
House in the High Street, Oxford.
Plate LXXIXb.