A MODEL DWELLING-HOUSE.
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.”
A Beau-ideal English Villa.
The work from which the above has been derived, viz., LOUDON’S
_Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture_, contains
a chapter contributed by an anonymous writer, but devoted to a
singular and interesting subject. The object is to lay down rules
for the construction and furnishing of a villa which should be
the _beau-ideal_--the standard of excellence--of this class of
dwelling-house. He describes the characteristics of the old English
country-house; and, taking that as his model, shows how modern
improvements may be brought to bear on the general arrangements of the
building. The description is too long to be given here in full, even
if it were right so to do; but we will condense into a few paragraphs
those details which relate to the construction and fittings of the
house, omitting all those matters which relate only to furniture.
The residence here described, or rather imagined, is the country house
of an English gentleman of ample means, but partaking much more of the
_manorial_ than of the palatial character. The term _villa_ is not
perhaps so fixed in meaning as to convey to every one the same idea
of the kind of building alluded to. The word was originally used by
the Romans to denote a farm-house, with the offices requisite for the
accommodation of a husbandman. Afterwards, when luxury increased, the
term _villa_ was applied to the country residence of an opulent Roman
citizen. It is in a somewhat similar style that the word is here to be
used.
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.
The kitchen, as being one of the most important rooms in a hospitable
mansion, is treated with due importance. The writer describes the
arrangements in the kitchen of a mansion in Warwickshire, as being
fitted to serve as a model. “The kitchen, scullery, larder, &c., formed
a range of building on one side of the kitchen-court, separate from
the house, but there was a covered way between them. The building was
of two stories, the kitchen occupying the centre. It was a large lofty
room, of good proportions, as high as two stories of the building. You
entered it at one end, by large folding-doors, from a passage through
the building; at the opposite end was the fire-place, with the screen
before it; on one side of which was the door to the scullery and
bakehouse, on the other a range of set coppers of different sizes. On
one side of the room were two rows of windows, and under the lower row
a range of charcoal stoves and hot plates: the latter to keep things
warm. The other side had only the upper row of windows, and against the
wall was a dresser, above which the copper cooking utensils, &c., were
ranged in a very ornamental way. A long table was in the centre of the
room, and over the door a dial-clock. The ceiling had a very handsome
cornice, and a boss in the centre, from which hung a brass lamp.
Opposite the entrance door another door admitted you to a passage, on
one side of which were the larders, on the other salting-rooms, &c.;
and at the end a staircase led to the cook’s apartment over. There
was a sort of turret in the centre of the roof, containing a capital
clock, which struck upon the dinner bell. The other offices were in
the basement of the house, and the kitchen was detached, to prevent
the annoyance of the smell of cooking, which commonly ascends from
a kitchen beneath the house. I thought the arrangement particularly
convenient, and the kitchen was really an elegant apartment. As, in a
large establishment, there is cooking going on through the whole day,
it is of importance to the comfort of the family, to place the kitchen
in such a situation that the smell of cooking, which is particularly
offensive, may not be an annoyance to the principal apartments. A house
with the kitchen in the basement story is generally subject to this
inconvenience, and it is usually avoided by having the kitchen and
offices in a separate building adjoining the house.”
The writer continues his remarks and descriptions in a similar manner,
treating of all the various parts of the building in succession; then
of the riding-house, the stable-yard, the coach-houses, the harness
and saddle rooms, and the dog-kennel; then of the kitchen garden,
the pleasure garden, the dairy, the farm buildings for a “gentleman
farmer;” and, lastly, of the village and the village church, so far
as regards the relation between them and the mansion. In short, this
writer seems to have proposed to himself this question--“What are the
excellencies to be desired and attained in the mansion of an English
country gentleman?” and he appears to have solved it by putting
together the scattered fragments of his experience in various quarters,
and building up an ideal mansion therefrom.