inserted in the walls, the bronzes on small pedestals, a reclining group
is placed in a niche in front of the staircase. A marble group is placed
in the fountain in the ante-room to the conservatory, and another in the
conservatory itself. A gallery of this description permits the admission
of a large quantity of sculpture, allowing it to be seen with advantage.
The entrance of the building, partly taken from the front of one of the
Italian palaces,[C] permits a large quantity of sculpture to be placed
in advantageous positions. The plan, page 340, shows an entrance loggia
_a_, the hall _b_, 17 ft. by 16 ft., with the waiting-room _c_, to the
right, the breakfast parlour _d_, and the butler’s pantry _g_, to the
left; _f_ is the library, 28 ft. by 16 ft., entered either from the
gallery or the waiting-room. It has a large window looking into the
ante-room to the conservatory, and permits a good view of the group of
sculpture and the fountain in the centre; _e_ is the gallery, with the
principal staircase, _i_ is the dining-room opening into the picture
gallery and drawing-room _h_, _k_.
The section, page 343, shows the general arrangement, and an idea can be
formed of its grand scenic effect in summer, when the doors were
opened. The walk round the conservatory and through the whole of the
gallery would have a length of 170 ft., and round the galleries 150 ft.
more, giving ample space to place a very large collection of sculpture.
Underneath the gallery were supposed to be large cellars for wine. These
had a private entrance through the pedestal of the Amazonian group, as
shown in the plan and section to a larger scale at page 342; the
collection below was supposed to be as valuable as the one above, and
calculated to yield as much enjoyment, and one certainly that would be
more highly appreciated by a greater number of persons. The villa,
however, is on a small scale compared with some of the noble residences
in the county, and the accommodation throughout very scanty. The
servants’ offices are shown annexed to the plan; _l_ is the kitchen, 24
ft. by 22 ft., _m_ the scullery, _n_ the housekeeper’s room, _o_ a small
servants’ hall, _p_ is a serving room, and _q_ the external entrance to
the cellarage.
By the side of the principal staircase is a descent into the cellars and
basement, for the servants, _b_, plan page 342. The conservatory has a
diameter of 40 ft. and a height of 44 ft.; it is of light construction,
in decorated ironwork.
The one-pair plan shows the sleeping department, the principal
bed-rooms, _b_ _b_, each with a dressing-room,
[Illustration: Plan of one-pair.]
_d_ _d_. These are entered direct from the gallery; in the front of the
building are five smaller sleeping
[Illustration: Cross section.]
rooms. At the conservatory end the gallery opens on to the roof of the
ante-room beneath, and from this there is an entrance to a circular
gallery inside the conservatory. On the servants’ side are seen two
large sleeping rooms, and a housemaid’s closet; as this portion of the
building is kept lower than the other, it could have two or three rooms
constructed over the kitchen, or it could be carried up another story.
The plan of the principal bedchambers is taken up another floor; the
small staircase for this purpose is seen at the end of the gallery.
The cross section (page 347) shows the height of the building, and its
general construction. The whole of the principal living rooms in the
three floors are of the same height, 16 ft. 6 in. each; 37 steps were
required in the principal staircase to ascend to the first floor on one
side, and 31 on the other; the roof of the saloon was to be constructed
similar to the roof of the Riding-house shown in plate, page 389. Large
roofs can be constructed on this principle at a very cheap rate, and it
is a very strong and efficient one; the roof of the Pantheon in
Oxford-street, constructed by Mr. Sydney Smirke, is of a similar kind;
the roofs of the annexes to the Exhibition building of 1862 by Captain
Fowkes were on the same principle, but as these were only intended to
stand for a year, were very slight. The cross section shows the
ventilating flue, proposed and illustrated in a following chapter; the
small stack in the low building shows the incline necessary to meet the
back eddy of wind from the high building. It would have been better,
could it have been effected, to have placed the stack in a position
parallel to the high building, and not at right angles to it. The stack
on the latter shows two ventilating flues, each with an upward shaft;
the whole of the smoke from the fireplaces would be delivered from these
two shafts.
It only remains to illustrate the system of warming proposed to have
been introduced. This was by a combination of two entirely different
systems of warm water circulation through iron pipes.
The various apparatus of warming buildings by the circulation of hot
water, may be roughly stated to be of two kinds, each acting on the
opposite principle to the other. The first, or more modern one, is the
_closed system_. This has always been preferred by the author, it being
more conveniently introduced into a building, less expensive, and giving
less trouble than any other, and more certain in its action. In it the
water circulates with great rapidity, completely under pressure, the
pipes being closed, and the whole of the air expelled from them. The
older system is that in which the tubes are not closed, but are
connected with a cistern, into which the water is allowed to flow and
re-flow; the two may very properly be called the high and low
temperature systems, and by these terms they are here designated. With
the first, the tubes can be made to reach a higher degree of heat if
necessary, by placing a larger proportion of them than is usual in the
furnace; but with the second, a temperature of 180 degrees can alone be
reached. With the latter, its greater or less efficiency depends upon
the position of its open cistern, which regulates the amount of pressure
in the tubes, according as its situation is high or low. It was
introduced into this country about 1818; the open cistern was placed in
the upper part of the house, the boiler being below in the kitchen, thus
allowing a considerable pressure in the tubes, and securing a quick
circulation of the water. The high temperature system was introduced by
A. M. Perkins, Esq., about the year 1832; in its simplest form it
consisted of a continuous or endless tube of wrought iron of one inch
external diameter, filled with water, and closed in all parts; a portion
of the tubing was formed into a coil and placed in a furnace of wrought
iron, the fire being enclosed in fire-brick. When it was first
introduced a larger amount of tubing was placed in the furnace than is
now usually done; with the proper amount, one-tenth or one-eleventh only
of the full quantity is necessary, and then it must be obvious that no
overheating of the tubes can take place. In practice it is more usual to
find objections made to the apparatus not giving sufficient heat, than
to its giving too much. The quantity of feet in pipes necessary to raise
rooms of a certain size to a given temperature, must be proportioned to
their cubical contents, and this depends equally on the situation and
aspect of the building, the number of doors, and windows or skylights;
no rule can consequently be given which would be applicable to all
places with any degree of certainty.
The pipes being only five-eighths of an inch internal diameter, a very
small quantity of water is required to fill the apparatus. A tube called
the expansion tube is placed above the highest level of the circulating
pipes, and is generally of larger diameter. The object of this tube is
to allow for the expansion of the water as it becomes heated; a tube is
also placed at the highest level, in order to fill the apparatus, so as
to leave the expansion tube empty.
The tubes are provided with screw plugs, so as to be conveniently opened
when it is required to fill the pipes with water, and closed again after
being filled. This can be done with facility by a servant. The
circulation of the water is produced by the application of heat to the
coil in the furnace; and as the small size of the pipes admits of
presenting the largest possible amount of surface to the action of the
fire, it is clear that a greater economy of fuel is effected by it than
by the ordinary system of boilers. As the water becomes heated it rises
immediately to the highest level of the circulating pipes, and thus
forms a column of heated water, specifically lighter than the colder
water, which descends to the lower part of the coil. Thus a circulation
is effected throughout the whole course of the pipes,[D] which
eventually become heated, and the whole may be regulated exactly to that
degree of temperature which is most conducive to a beneficial effect.
To regulate the degree of heat to be given to the tubes, without
requiring the necessity of an attendant, advantage has been taken of the
expansive property of the iron pipe when heated. There are three
multiplying levers fixed in a box, and so placed that the short arm of
one of the levers rests upon a regulating screw attached to the flow
pipe. On the other end of the series of levers a rod so rests that upon
the slightest movement of the levers, the damper in the flue, which is
attached to the rod, is opened or closed, as the case may be. The box of
levers is suspended from the hot pipe, so as to leave about two feet in
length between the point of suspension and the point of contact with the
short arm of the lever.
The operation of this arrangement is obvious, for the instant the pipe
becomes heated, it expands and presses the short arm of the lever; and
as the fulcrum within the box cannot move, by reason of the rod which
suspends it being cold, it follows that the lever must be depressed, by
which action a sufficient motion is given to the damper, to close it at
any given temperature at which it may be originally fixed.
The great advantage in the use of this apparatus is the saving of time
in obtaining the requisite degree of heat. It often happens that the
time occupied in heating the water of an ordinary hot-water apparatus
completely defeats the object of getting warmth in any reasonable time,
particularly in greenhouses, where it is frequently desirable to get up
the heat quickly, to prevent the effect of frost. It has been said that
this property of generating the heat rapidly has the disadvantage of not
being able to retain it: this, however, is not the case, for, on the
contrary, an equal temperature may be maintained for any length of time
that may be desired. It is only necessary to make the fireplace
sufficiently large to contain fuel enough to last the time the heat is
required to be continued, and the damper will regulate the combustion of
the fuel and the heat of the pipes, so that there will be no variation
for twelve hours together.
There being no boiler to the apparatus, it is free from the ordinary
danger of explosion; if a pipe by possibility should burst, no harm
ensues, for the water escapes from so small an aperture that it becomes
absolutely cool by its expansion and mixture with atmospheric air.
So little fear of fire exists with the apparatus, that the directors of
the principal fire offices readily accept, at the lowest rate of
premium, all proposals for the insurance of buildings in which the
system is adopted, not requiring even the customary inspection.
The author made drawings of one of these apparatus put up in an
ornamental greenhouse in Kew Gardens in 1844; and fourteen years after,
the director of the garden, Sir W. J. Hooker, publicly allowed it to be
stated in print that no hot-water apparatus in any of their houses had
given so much satisfaction; that the heat was given out after lighting
the fires more rapidly than in any other of their houses, and steadily
maintained at any degree of temperature required. The two systems of the
high and low temperature can readily be combined, and the temperature of
both large and small tubes nearly equalized. This may be done by using
one furnace. A diagram given by Dr. Arnott in a lecture delivered by him
at the Royal Institution in March, 1836, with his explanation, will show
the principle upon which the combination is effected. Suppose A, fig.
1, is a cistern full of cold water, and B a cistern full of hot water:
if the two cocks _c_ _c_ are unturned, it is a fact that the water at
_d_ will be one degree of warmth only above the water at
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
A, and the water at e will be of one degree less temperature than the
water in B. If, therefore, on this principle, some of the pipes of the
high-temperature system are passed through the large tubing of the low
temperature one, the desired effect is obtained: the large pipes or
tablets of one apparatus remain at their full heat, while an additional
quantity of inch pipe of sufficiently warm temperature is obtained, that
can be carried into rooms and placed in situations into which the
warming surfaces of the low-temperature system could not be made to
approach.
As regards the low temperature apparatus, if the large pipes belonging
to it are laid in sufficient quantity, they doubtless have the effect of
producing a moderate degree of heat.
The best way of introducing them into a dwelling-house is to sink them
in channels in the floor, with perforated ironwork over them: they are
more usually introduced into hothouses, factories, and workshops, where
their appearance is not objectionable. A feeling exists in favour of
their use in conservatories; in order to show how they can be retained
for that purpose, the combined systems are introduced in the plan of the
villa here described.
The ground plan shows the entrance hall, the gallery or sculpture saloon
in the centre, the principal staircase, the picture room and the
servants’ staircase, all warmed by the inch pipes; the larger pipes are
introduced into the conservatory. In the picture room--that between the
drawing-room and the dining-room--and in the hall, the pipes are sunk in
trenches in the floor. They are close to the walls, and lined with brick
with an inside covering of zinc. These trenches have over them
perforated ornamental ironwork; _a´_ _a´_ are pedestals containing coils
of pipe; _b´_ _b´_ are pipes behind the skirting, likewise perforated.
Where these pipes pass the doorways they are sunk in the floor. In the
conservatory _d´_ _d´_ are the large pipes; _f_ is an open cistern,
through which the circulation of water in the pipes flows; at _g_ are
placed the expansion and filling tubes.
Fig. 2 is an isometrical view of the pipes, furnace, and cisterns
complete to a small scale; _e_ is the furnace placed in the basement;
_f_ is a cistern of cold water through which the flow and return pipes
from the furnace pass: the water becoming heated in the cistern flows
out, and returns in the direction shown by the arrows. The flow pipe,
leaving this cistern, passes up to the expansion tube _g_, whence the
tubes run through the building in the manner shown, returning to the
furnace. The pipes _d_, are two other flow and return pipes, furnished
with a stop-cock, by means of which the circulation can be confined
either to the house or to the conservatory. The furnace
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
should in reality contain two coils of pipe, having two flows and two
returns, the whole of which should go through the cistern _f_, but the
small scale of the plate allows one circulation only to be shown.
Dr. Arnott’s principle of nearly equalizing temperatures was applied by
him for room ventilation. Its mode of application is explained in the
following extract from his report on “Warming and Ventilating
Infirmaries, Workhouses, Factories, and Domestic Apartments,” given in
the appendix to the Second Annual Report of the Poor Law
Commissioners:--“In rooms where the mechanical mode of ventilation
already described (by means of fanners) and now common in factories, has
been adopted, an addition might be made to the apparatus for extracting
the impure air, which would drive fresh air in, and which, by causing
the two currents to pass each other in contact for a certain distance in
very thin metallic tubes, would cause the fresh air entering to absorb
nearly the whole heat from the impure air going out, and would thus
render it at once both pure and warm, and would consequently save, after
the room was once warmed, any further expense of fuel for the day, and
would avoid, how rapid soever the ventilation, all the danger from
draught and unequal heating.”
The above idea is extremely ingenious, but as to its practical
efficiency, some doubt might be expressed. The temperature of a warm
room, even if it was 65°, would be much too low to produce the action
described.
A very ingenious application of the small-tube system of warming has
been introduced into his dwelling by Mr. Babbage. He placed the furnace
in the basement, and divided the whole length of piping by means of a
multiple cock into four circulations, any one of which he could turn off
or on at pleasure; one circulation warmed the bath, which, when the
cistern that supplied it was once up to 160 degrees (and this it took an
hour to obtain), remained sufficiently warm for a bath during 24 hours.
The whole quantity of pipe in the building was 891 feet, and the
quantity in the furnace 135. The thermometer in the smoke-flue was
seldom higher than 212 degrees, when that in the flow-pipe was 240
degrees. Any two or three, or all four of the circulations could be
worked together, by simply turning an index provided for the purpose.
The tool-room was always kept at a temperature of from 50° to 54°. In
winter the hat-room received a portion of piping, so that coats and
gloves, even in the dampest weather, were always kept dry. One
circulation was sent through the dining-room a short time before it was
used; it was after a certain time turned off and sent through the
bedrooms and dressing-rooms. The various rooms in the winter were kept
at different temperatures, the dressing-rooms were a few degrees warmer
than were the bed-rooms: an inducement for early rising. The linen was
aired, and warm water provided in the dressing-rooms and for the use of
the servants. The apparatus saved labour in cleaning and lighting of
fires, and it was economical, the consumption of fuel during the six
winter months being about a bushel of coke in 24 hours. The supply of
air, and the consequent combustion and quantity of fuel, was regulated
by the fire itself. This was never suffered to go out after it had been
once lighted, except when necessary to remove the clinkers, and this
occurred about once a fortnight. In the morning, about seven o’clock,
the fire was well shaken by means of a lever attached to the bars of the
grate. Coal or coke was supplied, and the air valve opened. The
stop-cock was then turned on to supply the coils for the library and
stairs. At about eight o’clock in the evening the stop-cock was turned
to heat the coil of the bath, and at eleven o’clock, fuel having been
supplied, the air valve was completely closed, and the damper also if
necessary. By these means the fire burned very slowly during the whole
of the night, and the bath cistern received the warmth thus generated.
These conveniences and luxuries might be more generally applied than
they are at present in the dwellings of this country.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 29._
GARDEN SEAT.
This small ornamental structure was designed for a garden in Wiltshire,
on an estate near Chippenham. The garden, which is very extensive,
rises
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
in steep terraces up the combe or hill by the side of the mansion, which
lies down in the valley. The structure was to be on the highest part of
the garden,
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
commanding an extensive view of the valley, the village, and adjacent
country. As the house is in the neighbourhood of several fine old
Elizabethan mansions, the design partook of that character. The view
represents
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Side elevation.]
[Illustration: Balustrade.]
the structure in its complete state, with the terrace overlooking the
valley. The turret on the tower of the village church is seen in the
distance. The latter
[Illustration: Portion of exterior front.]
[Illustration: Portion of the entrance front.]
[Illustration: Balustrade (2nd example).]
is an agreeable object in the view, being an extremely fine specimen of
Decorated English Gothic, and in good preservation.
The plan is beneath the view, and the elevation of the building is
likewise given. The whole of it was to have been constructed in stone;
the vases were intended to receive flower-pots, so that a constant
change of flowers could be placed in them by the pots being changed as
often as was desired. A section through the centre and a side elevation
are given; the balustrade is from an ancient example, it is five inches
in thickness. The mouldings of the exterior are of plain Roman
character, without any admixture of Gothic forms. The best examples of
our Elizabethan architecture are pure Italian, but possessing a bolder
and more picturesque outline, suited to our northern climate, than that
shown by the elegant Italian model.
The second balustrade, p. 365, was an after-suggestion, it being
considered more appropriate to the design than the first one. Another
elevation was made for the same structure; this is shown as Design No.
30; it was to occupy the same site, and to have been constructed wholly
in stone.
* * * * *
Opposite is a drawing of an ancient chimney-piece at Enfield, bearing
the inscription--
Sola salus servire Deo,
Sunt cætera fravdes.
[Illustration: Ancient chimney-piece in the Palace School, Enfield.
(Formerly in the occupation of Queen Elizabeth.)]
_DESIGN No. 30._
A GARDEN SEAT.
[Illustration]
The turret of the village church is seen through the centre opening;
this was proposed to be filled with plain and coloured glass; the detail
of the ornament above the cornice is copied from that on
[Illustration: Plan (2nd design).]
the gables of Charlton House, Wiltshire, from which the author had just
returned, having visited it for the purpose of making drawings and fully
illustrating it in one of his publications.
_DESIGN No. 31._
AN ICE-HOUSE.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Section.]
This design represents an old-fashioned ice-house, such as were
constructed in the country several years ago, and still are so, where
large quantities of ice are required to be stored. This small structure,
embosomed amidst trees, impervious to the sun, was formed with the stone
of the district, and arched and domed over with bricks. The well _a_,
sunk in the earth, is 10 feet in diameter, _b_ is a cesspool to receive
the water that drops from the ice, and _c_ is the drain
[Illustration: Plan.]
to convey it to the well _d_; the ice is thrown in from the top, the
earth _e_, and the two stone slabs and the straw between them, being
removed.
As an additional precaution against warmth, the structure was buried in
a mound of earth. This, as it quite destroyed any picturesque effect it
would otherwise have had amidst the trees, is not shown in the view.