from 6 to 10 feet in length is sufficient, but double doors and a free
current of air across the entrance passage are desirable. It has not
often a domed roof to cover that of the well, a common wooden roof
covered with thatch placed a few feet above the roof of the well being
sufficient; neither is it often considered necessary to have a well to
receive the water dropping from the ice. The ice-well walls may be
splayed down to the ground, with proper footings, and an uncovered piece
of ground left at the bottom. Over this is placed an open wood frame,
which supports the ice, and permits all water to drain off. When the
walls are splayed down in this form, buttresses must be added to support
them, and the weight of the ice. Every country house in America is
provided with an excellent ice-house of the simplest and most practical
kind. It consists of a deep excavation in the earth, roofed over with a
pointed thatch. These ice-houses are always well filled in the winter,
and rarely if ever quite emptied during the summer. An accurate section
of such an ice-well, with full directions for its construction, has been
lately published.[E]
_DESIGN No. 32._
A SUBURBAN VILLA.
One of the chief peculiarities in small suburban villas that have been
erected near London within the last thirty years, is that of making the
[Illustration: Elevation of principal front.]
chief room on the basement the ordinary apartment for the family. The
confined areas formerly adopted in front and back of the building are
omitted, and the earth is sloped up in form of a bank, being adorned
with flowers and shrubs so as to look pleasing from within the
apartments. There is usually a side room in the basement, with
descending steps to the entrance, which serves as an office to the
occupier of the house. If his business be chiefly in the locality,
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
this is very convenient; the chief room in the basement is used as a
dining and supper room, and indeed for all common purposes by the
family. It renders it unnecessary to have more than one, or at most, two
servants’ rooms. The drawing-room, the library, and the superior
dining-room are on the floor above.
This suburban dwelling very much resembles the same class of structure
in America, where economy of space is carried out more completely than
with us, and the residents are less dependent on servants. In the
American house, the pantry is nearly always placed between the kitchen
and the dining-room, and its chief approach is from the latter, even
when the dining-room is on the ground floor. The American
[Illustration: One-pair plan.]
house has the office, or place of business of the occupier, on the lower
floor, with its separate entrance. The Americans exhibit a compactness
of arrangement and an attention to detail that prove they are in no way
behind us in a knowledge of what is requisite for household comfort. One
peculiarity in the American building is the verandah, which is
considered to be indispensable. It is large and roomy, and often placed
on three sides of the building; the climate, warmer and drier than our
own, renders such an addition a
[Illustration: Section through front and back.]
great luxury. Our atmosphere in the winter months has often been
pronounced of leaden gravity, and it does not permit of any erection
that stops the circulation of the air, which would render it stagnant.
Another peculiarity in the houses of our American cousins, is that they
are often cased in wood. If the house be only two or three storeys in
height, an 8-in. brick wall is considered sufficient: this is “furred
off outside, and covered with clap boards,” in the ordinary
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
way followed in a wooden building. Its advantage is, that it is sure to
secure a perfectly dry wall. This mode of construction in England would
necessitate the painting of the whole of the exterior once at least in
every three or four years. One more suitable with us for a wall in a
damp situation would be the plan the author pursued in the house on
Salisbury Plain, putting quartering against the wall, and covering it
with diamond slating. The surface could be varied with coloured
encaustic tiles so as to present a pleasant
[Illustration: Front windows.]
appearance, proper ventilation being given behind the slating.
The small suburban villa represented in the plate is supposed to stand
on a plot of ground with a frontage of 50 ft.; the construction is in
brick and stucco, the small columns of the portico are of Bath stone.
The plan shows a small hall _a_, the library _c_, 15 ft. by 14 ft., and
on the right with a strong closet. The dining-room _e_, is 18 ft. by 15
ft., and on the left; the drawing-room _d_, is 23 ft. by 18 ft. There is
a large commodious staircase _b_, and leading from it a small
dressing-room _i_, and closet. This dressing-room might easily be made
to contain a bath; the water for the bath in any one of the floors
should always be heated by means of a close boiler attached to an
ordinary kitchen-range. It is the most simple, economical, and efficient
arrangement for that purpose, as no more fire than that used for cooking
is required. The cold water is supplied from a cistern at the top of the
house, and a continual circulation of the water between that and the
boiler goes on, the hot water ascending, the cold descending. Pipes may
be branched off from the ascending pipe, which leaves the top of the
boiler, and taken to any part of the house, ensuring a supply of hot
water to dressing-rooms, nurseries, &c. Instead of a boiler, a coil of
iron or copper pipe is often used, rendering the circulation quicker and
more effective. The one-pair plan of the suburban villa contains three
large bedrooms, two dressing-rooms, and one invalid’s room entered from
the staircase; to this room the closet could be attached. The staircase
leads up to two large attics for the servants.
The section, p. 376, shows a portion of the front and back of the
building, with the construction of the roof, the back wall not being
carried so high as the front. This is done to give the building an
imposing appearance from the road, a mode of construction very often
carried out in suburban houses. The basement plan affords good
accommodation; _f_ is the kitchen, 18 ft. by 15 ft., _g_ the scullery,
_h_ the larder, _k_ the living room, _l_ the business office, with its
separate entrance. The closet for the servants is external; the
footman’s pantry and the wine cellar lead out of the staircase _b_; the
coal cellar is under the portico. The house thus contains seventeen
rooms; the cost of its erection would be 3260_l._ completely finished. A
detail of the windows is given on a large scale at page 378.
The following is an elevation of the vane, the constructive detail of
which is given in a former vignette. The character is Elizabethan, and
designed from an example at Oxnead Hall, Norfolk.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 33._
A SUBURBAN VILLA.
[Illustration: Elevation of principal front.]
This design is also one for a suburban villa, or a small country house,
on a rather larger scale than the preceding. This villa, dressed with a
plain Italian elevation, and of smaller dimensions as to plan, has been
erected on several sites near London. The front of the present design
was partly taken from a plate in “Nash’s Mansions,” at the request of a
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
gentleman who very much admired it, and who was anxious to have a
semi-detached villa of the same character. The villa was therefore
designed so that another could be placed by the side of it. The two
gables form the centre, the chimney stack is between them on the roof;
the front was to have a sunk area, topped by a Gothic balustrade, and
as there were no principal rooms on the basement floor in the front of
the house, this was easily given; the rooms at the back looked into the
garden, and these had the ground in front of them sloped up.
The ground plan shows an entrance hall _a_, 14 ft. by 10 ft., with a
commodious staircase _b_, 18 ft. by 12 ft., to the left. There was a
closet to the right;
[Illustration: The one-pair plan.]
a lift from the basement could easily be obtained here. The study _c_,
was about 16 ft. square, and was entered from the hall; the dining-room
_e_, had a bay window, and was in the centre of the building; it
measured 20 ft. square. The drawing-room _d_, was very large, being 31
ft. in length by 16 ft. in breadth, with a large window at each end;
this was often considered objectionable, as the occupants of the room
can always be seen from the opposite houses, but as this was intended
for a semi-detached villa, windows could not be obtained at the side.
The one-pair plan contains one large and three small bedrooms, with a
closet. Over the porch was placed a conservatory, and by its side the
tower staircase led up to the attic. This contained four good-sized
[Illustration: Attic plan.]
bedrooms, each with a fireplace; there was a housemaid’s closet, and a
place for the slate cistern to supply the lower part of the house with
water; a small cistern on a higher level was placed on the roof of the
tower. Another room could easily have been obtained on this floor, by
continuing the passage at the housemaid’s closet through the centre
room, and this was proposed, but it was objected to, as it could not be
rendered light and airy. A second staircase,
[Illustration: Section through portion of building.]
from the attic to the basement, could have been formed in the tower, the
two closets being placed in a similar position to the one on the first
floor. The staircase in the tower led on to the roof. The section shows
the height of the various rooms, there being no variation throughout the
floors. It was intended to carry out
[Illustration: The basement plan.]
the style of the exterior in the interior--a medley between the Gothic
and Elizabethan; the proprietor having a very large collection of
old-fashioned carvings of various styles and dates, picked up at sales,
or purchased in Wardour Street (at that time more celebrated for such
antiquities than at present). The walls were to be covered with gilt
leather and rich tapestries, and with this the architect did not intend
to meddle, leaving it all to the taste and skill of the owner, although
he has finished several interiors with such materials.
The basement plan shows the kitchen _f_, the scullery _g_, and larder
_h_; _q_ is the wine cellar, and _j_ the butler’s pantry. Then there
were two large rooms looking towards the garden, and these were
unappropriated. The butler’s small pantry had a window looking into the
side area; the servants’ door was on the staircase; the coal cellar was
placed under the steps leading to the porch.
The building was to be constructed in brick and cement, with the porch
and external balustrade in stone. The expense would have amounted to
4600_l._, or the double villa to 9000_l._
_DESIGN No. 34._
RIDING-HOUSE AND STABLING.
This collection of designs could hardly be complete without a group of
stable buildings. To make such a group picturesque is extremely
difficult,
[Illustration: Perspective view of riding-house.]
and it is very seldom attempted. Such buildings mostly form a portion of
the offices which are placed out of view, concealed by plantations or
shrubbery, and generally at some distance from the mansion to which
they appertain.
The present design, carried out in 1846 and 1848, was for some
additional stabling to a baronial park, and it formed a conspicuous
object. It stands on the
[Illustration: Plan of riding-house and stabling.]
eastern side of a quadrangle, the larger stabling being on the west, the
offices of the mansion on the north (see above), and on the south there
was a terrace-walk overlooking the park. The block of buildings as
represented in the plan, comprised a riding-house _a_, 62 ft. in length
by 32 ft. in width, a four-stall stable _e_, 30 ft. in length, a loose
box _b_, 13 ft. square, and the boiler room _d_. The dung pit _g_, into
which the liquid manure from the stable was sent, was on a very low
level, and had a cart road at its side. The coach-house between the
riding-house and stable was 40 ft. in length by 20 ft. in breadth; it
had a covered area in front 44 ft. in length, with a width of 13 ft.,
and a well and pump. The prospect tower _h_, as well as the tower _i_,
had iron staircases, which led to the stud-groom’s sleeping room, two
harness rooms, and the gallery of the riding-house.
The latter was erected first. It is in brick, with a circular-ribbed
wooden roof, on the plan introduced by Phil. de l’Orme, whose well-known
book was published in Paris in 1567. He introduced a construction for
roofing that is both cheap and efficient, and one that while plenty of
light and ventilation can be obtained, gives the largest space in the
interior of the room.
The walls of the riding-house were two bricks thick, laid English bond.
As the foundation rested on the stone no concrete was used, but the
rock, which was on a steep incline, was levelled in step-like fashion,
to receive the walls. Buttresses were placed where the circular ribs of
the roof were situate; two lines of iron-hoop bond, 1 in. by 1/16 in.,
tarred and sanded were laid in all the walls, piers, and buttresses;
there were 13 courses 2 lines in side walls, 16 courses 2 lines in gable
walls, and 7 courses 2 lines in buttresses. The walls were covered with
brick copings formed of two courses of moulded bricks cut to lengths and
mitred, and set and jointed in cement to gable ends: the flaunches of
the angle buttress were formed with stocks, the upper courses set and
pointed in cement, and the angles of parapets cut and mitred to the
same.
Ragstone moulded corbels were placed over the piers inside the building,
from these the circular ribs sprung and into which they were stubbed.
The roof was thus described in the specification:--The roof will be
formed of circular ribs placed two and two, each 7½ inches apart,
screwed and bolted together, each single rib to be in three thicknesses,
the inner one of oak and to consist of twenty-six pieces of 1¼ inch deal
and ten of 1¼ oak, each separate piece 1 foot in width, and to be as
long as the scantling of the timber will allow, the ribs to be wrought
and glued together, and at each joint to have two hard nails or ¾ inch
screws having a good thread; the top and bottom edges of rib cut fair
for linings, the side finished for paint. Cross pieces, 7½ by 2½ inches,
twelve to each pair of ribs, the whole to be bolted together. To prevent
the ribs from being at an unequal distance, the two outer ribs to be
sunk half-an-inch at the places where the purlins notch in them.
The purlins, eight in number, to run the whole length of roof, notching
in the rib arches. The purlins to be placed in pairs and to have small
cross struts either notched into them or securely nailed to prevent them
from buckling or twisting.
All the horizontal timbers of roof, such as the purlins, poll plate,
sill, and heads of skylight, to run 9 inches in end walls, and to be
cogged on template. Each purlin, if not in one piece, to be properly
scarfed. An oak wall-plate, 9 in. by 6 in., was laid the whole length
and width of the building, running 6 in. in the wall at angles, where it
was pinned and lapped. The plate in the arch over the entrance formed
the upper part of the railing in the gallery.
This plate served as the abutment for twenty-four oak braces or struts,
each 7 in. by 4 in., placed in the lower portions of the roof on each
side, each strut to be sub-tenoned either into purlin or cross piece
between rib, and the whole to be securely fixed.
The framing to support curb or sill of skylights to be in one piece, to
run over the wood arches, and to be securely fixed to purlin.
Each pair of circular ribs moneyed out 22_l._ 4_s._ 6_d._ The more
modern French style of forming this kind of roof would have been by bent
ribs composed of three ten-inch planks, 12 inches by 3, cut true at the
saw-mill, jointed with glue, planed all round, chamfered to edges, with
20 half-inch bolts. These would have cost only 13_l._ 16_s._ 8_d._ each,
but they would have caused considerable lateral pressure against the
side walls.
The roof of the riding-house is correctly shown in the small view, p.
389, which serves also to show the section. Fig. 1 of the accompanying
cut shows one
[Illustration: _Fig 1._]
[Illustration: _Fig. 2._]
[Illustration: _Fig. 3._]
of the circular ribs, fig. 2 the section of the pair joined together,
and fig. 3 the section of the more modern French method of bent ribs. A
roof in this latter construction was put up by Mr. Charles Fowler,
architect, at the sale-room, St. Paul’s Churchyard. The circular ribs of
the roof were formed in three thicknesses of 1¼ deal, footed into iron
sockets or corbels let into stone templates. As a precaution until the
perfect set and settlement of the work, three of the roof-frames had
iron tie-rods, which were removed when all fear of lateral thrust was
over. A print of the room was given in the _Builder_.
The first construction described could be much improved, strengthened,
and lightened by introducing an iron bar in lieu of the oak rib; and
this has been done in several instances, resulting in the roofs standing
well.
The chief portion of the bricks used in the construction of the
riding-house were provided from the estate, and were carted on the
ground for the use of the builder. His account came to 920_l._
The elevation of the stable shows the entrance to the coachhouse in the
centre, between coupled columns. These were in iron, of slightly
Elizabethan character as to style. Two gabled windows are on each side,
one forming the entrance to the riding-house, the whole flanked by two
towers; that on the left contained the staircase leading to the gallery
of the riding-house seen in the view, the other is the prospect tower,
overlooking the park. These buildings were commenced and finished in
1848. The builder had to take down the old coachhouse and stabling which
stood upon the site, and was permitted to use the old materials as far
as they would go; one roof was re-used. The cost of the new building was
1107_l._ The whole length was 95 ft. One of its principal features was
the prospect tower, a view of which and
[Illustration: Elevation of stable.]
a representation of the back front is on p. 398; this was 60 ft. in
height above the foundations.
An iron staircase led up to the small tower, which had a staircase
leading to the roof or lead flat, upon which was a seat and flagstaff.
The battlements of
[Illustration: Cap of iron column.]
this small tower and its doorway were constructed of ragstone. This
turret was corbelled out from the building as seen in the view; its plan
and that of the corbelling is given on p. 399. The corbels were two
bricks in height, each course; the arch is covered with
[Illustration: Perspective view of prospect tower.]
a stone landing upon which the small turret stands. It has a lightning
conductor. This, the three iron staircases, and the columns, cost
200_l._, which, however,
[Illustration]
was included in the previously stated amount of 1107_l._
It was proposed to give the terrace-walk an ornamental stone. The
balustrading and one of the bays of this balustrading are illustrated
below.
[Illustration: Elevation of the balustrade.]
_DESIGN No. 35._
A BACHELOR’S HOUSE.
This building was intended to have been erected on an estate in the
neighbourhood of London, for the solicitor acting for the lessee, a
builder who was erecting numerous first-class houses upon the property,
and who required his solicitor to be often with him. The gentleman was a
bachelor, and this was, for a time, to have been his private town
dwelling. It was only to consist of a basement and ground floor, but the
walls were to be made sufficiently thick to enable the structure to be
carried upwards when the estate was fully covered, and the house would
be required for a family.
The plan was arranged after the legal gentleman’s own directions: _a_ is
the small entrance hall, leading to the inner hall, from which the
living room _b_, and the picture gallery _f_, are gained; the gallery
contained a choice collection of cabinet pictures, hunting subjects by a
celebrated painter; _c_ is a small bedroom, which could be enclosed or
shut off from the living room by a lifting-screen, worked somewhat
similar to a lifting shutter. The screen was to be covered on the side
next the living room with paintings; _d_ is the bath
[Illustration: Plan.]
room, _e_ the closet, _h_ is the dining-room with its lift, _i_, from
the pantry in the basement; _j_ was a small iron staircase leading down
to the stable, where some valuable hunters were to be kept. Under the
dining-room was the coachhouse; no rooms were over the stabling. The
servants’ entrance was in the area. The exterior of the building had a
plain Gothic Tudor front.
* * * * *
The vignette shows a corbel in the French cut-wood style.
[Illustration]
THE FIREPLACE.
FLUE CONSTRUCTION AND SMOKE PREVENTION.
An especial love for home comfort has always been an English
characteristic. It has formed a species of national taste and pride even
among our working classes. The constant changes of our climate are
injurious to every class; the chief point of attraction in the English
dwellings, during winter’s wet, cold, and fog, is centred in the
fireplace. This has long been deemed the favoured spot where
“Social mirth
Exults and glows before the blazing hearth.”
The fireplace suits our climate; it is cheerful and attractive, but it
gives its heat only by radiation. We are warmed on one side and chilled
on the other, but neither the warmth nor the chill is too great to bear,
and the occupant of the room can move into any temperature that suits
him. In more northern climates the use of the fireplace would not be
tolerated; there the cold is so excessive that an equal warmth must be
diffused throughout the apartments, and flues in hollow walls, and
closed stoves either in iron or brick are in the ascendant, as already
mentioned in an earlier part of this work. But such means, by which the
air is heated, and not merely warmed--and there is a great difference
between warmed air and heated--would not be tolerated here. A puff of
air from a closed stove caused by a back draught is not pleasant, and is
very different from the honest puff of smoke from an English fireplace,
that gives as a natural product of combustion, carbonic acid gas. But
not one of these stoves, nor those that are called “smoke-consuming
stoves,” make a good companionable fire--and this is not liked.
The common open fireplace has held its own, and will continue to hold
its own, against the best-contrived stove that can be introduced in lieu
of it. But it still remains to find such a construction as will remedy
its serious defects. These are chiefly such as pertain to the flue; it
is not to the stove that these belong, for that, thanks to our excellent
makers, is quite perfect.
In our sluggish winter atmosphere the smoke leaves the open flue with
tolerable certainty unless the flue is foul with soot; but when high
winds prevail and the atmosphere is anything but sluggish, it teaches us
the faults of the open flue, and volumes of smoke descend into our
apartments. There are few occurrences in domestic life more vexatious
and annoying than this; the numerous unsightly appendages in the form
of cowls, turncaps, and windguards which appear alike on our houses,
churches, and palaces, whilst they exhibit the ingenuity of our builders
and workmen in remedying the trouble of smoky chimneys, demonstrate also
the frequency of the misfortune.