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Title: The Englishman's House
Author: Richardson, C.J. (Charles James)
Language: English
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THE
ENGLISHMAN’S HOUSE.
[Illustration: HOUSES MADE PICTURESQUE.]
THE
ENGLISHMAN’S HOUSE.
_A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR SELECTING OR
BUILDING A HOUSE._
[Illustration]
BY
C. J. RICHARDSON,
AUTHOR OF “OLD ENGLISH MANSIONS,” ETC.
THIRD EDITION, WITH NEARLY 600 ILLUSTRATIONS.
London:
CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY.
LONDON:
SAVILL, EDWARDS AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
PREFACE.
Several years ago the author of this volume published a small work on
the Warming and Ventilation of Buildings which was very favourably
received by the Public, but is now out of print. He afterwards wrote
various other works illustrating the Architecture of England during the
reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I., with one volume on Ornamental
Designs. These had an extensive sale, and are now, like the first small
volume, out of print. His last publication was a small pamphlet,
entitled, “The Smoke Nuisance and its Remedy, with remarks on Liquid
Fuel,” the subject of which, at least so far as regards an improved
construction for the domestic chimney flue, is continued in the present
volume.
The present volume consists of numerous plans, &c., for Cottages,
Villas, and small and large Mansions, most of which have been carried
into execution. They are carefully selected from a large collection of
similar subjects, the result of many years’ professional practice, and
it is hoped that they may be favourably received.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 3
DESIGN NO. 1. A GARDENER’S COTTAGE 50
“ 2. A SMALL COTTAGE OR LODGE 56
“ 3. A PICTURESQUE COTTAGE 62
“ 4. A DOUBLE COTTAGE 66
“ 5. A DOUBLE COTTAGE AND VILLAGE
SUNDAY SCHOOL 70
“ 6. A HUNTSMAN’S LODGE OR COTTAGE 78
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION FOR BUILDING
COTTAGES 82
“ 7. A GARDEN GATE 95
“ 8. A PARK LODGE 99
“ 9. A PARK LODGE 102
“ 10. AN ENTRANCE LODGE TO A PARK 104
“ 11. AN ENTRANCE LODGE AND GATEWAY
TO A PARK 112
“ 12. A STOVE FOR AN ENTRANCE HALL 120
“ 13. QUEEN’S GATE LODGE, HYDE PARK 124
ON THE FOUNDATION AND BASEMENT
WALLS OF BUILDINGS, DAMP PREVENTION,
AND FIRE-PROOF CONSTRUCTION 151
“ 14. A SMALL COUNTRY RECTORY 162
“ 15. A SMALL COUNTRY HOUSE 174
“ 16. A COUNTRY VILLA 182
“ 17. A DOUBLE SUBURBAN VILLA 192
“ 18. VILLAGE SCHOOLS AND READING ROOM 208
“ 19. A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL AND
SCHOOLS 210
“ 20. A BATH HOUSE AND SUMMER ROOM 214
“ 21. A SMALL COUNTRY VILLA 222
“ 22. A VILLA IN THE OLD ENGLISH WOODEN
STYLE 232
“ 23. A GARDEN SUMMER HOUSE 262
“ 24. A SMALL COUNTRY RETREAT, OR
FRENCH MAISONETTE 268
“ 25. AN ELIZABETHAN VILLA 280
“ 26. A SUMMER OR GARDEN VILLA 302
“ 27. A DECORATED WINDOW 336
“ 28. A SCULPTOR’S VILLA 338
“ 29. A GARDEN SEAT 361
“ 30. A GARDEN SEAT 368
“ 31. AN ICE HOUSE 370
“ 32. A SUBURBAN VILLA 373
“ 33. A SUBURBAN VILLA 382
“ 34. RIDING-HOUSE AND STABLING 389
“ 35. A BACHELOR’S HOUSE 401
THE FIREPLACE 404
“ 36. A LECTURE HALL, OR LITERARY
INSTITUTION 456
“ 37. ENCAUSTIC TILES 460
“ 38. RESTORATION OF CASTLE GUNNARSTROP,
SWEDEN 464
“ 39. SUMMER VILLA FOR THE COUNT KINSKI
AT TEPLITZ 470
“ 40. HARRINGTON HOUSE, QUEEN’S PALACE
GARDENS 476
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
ON THE PICTURESQUE IN RELATION TO ARCHITECTURE.
[Illustration: Grecian Temple.]
It has been said that a definition of the picturesque in respect to
architecture, or indeed any branch of the fine arts, is scarcely
possible. The most able writers on the subject have failed to convey an
adequate and popular idea. In fact the term has so great and extensive
an application as to forbid exact definition. The architect usually
considers that if his building look well when seen by moonlight, or
through the medium of a foggy or dull atmosphere, it is picturesque, and
he is satisfied. Blenheim Castle and Castle Howard have always been
pointed out as eminent examples of the picturesque in buildings. But
this quality varies with every change of situation and circumstance
under which it can be conceived.
The entrance to the Acropolis of Athens, with its noble equestrian
statues in the foreground, the steps between them, and the beautiful
temples rising at different heights behind, giving a varied outline, the
whole probably delicately coloured, must have been picturesque in the
highest degree. The Temple of the Winds and the Monument of Lysicrates
were equally examples of the picturesque. Yet although great efforts
were made on the publication of Athenian Stuart’s volumes to introduce
pure Grecian architecture here, it has obtained no hold with us. St.
Pancras Church, and St. Stephen’s, Camden Town, are probably the last
specimens in our metropolis. The delicate mouldings of the one are
destroyed by the roughness of the climate, and the beautiful figures of
the Caryatidæ in the other are covered with soot.
There is no doubt that the Roman temples were as picturesque and as
varied in outline as the Grecian buildings of which they were studies,
but none remain
[Illustration: Roman Temple in Ruins.]
sufficiently perfect to illustrate them. In their original, entire
state, with the surfaces and colour smooth and even, either in painting
or reality, they were beautiful; in ruins, there is no denying they are
highly picturesque. Observe the process by which time, the great author
of such changes works, first by means of weather stains, partial
incrustations, mosses, &c., which simultaneously take off the uniformity
of surface and of colour, giving a degree of roughness, and variety of
tint. Then the various accidents of weather loosen the stones
themselves: they tumble in irregular masses upon what was perhaps smooth
turf or pavement, or nicely trimmed walks and shrubberies, now mixed and
overgrown with wild plants and creepers that crawl over and shoot among
the falling ruins. Sedums, wall-flowers, and other plants that bear
drought, find nourishment in the decayed cement from which the stones
have been detached; birds convey their food into the chinks, and yew,
elder, and other berried plants project from the sides; while the ivy
mantles over other parts, and crowns the top. The even, regular lines of
the doors and windows are broken, and through their ivy-fringed openings
is displayed in a highly broken and picturesque manner that striking
image described by Virgil:
“Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patescunt
Apparent Priami et veterum penetralia regum.”
The first view given in this volume attempts to show the picturesque
effect of the Grecian Temple in its complete state, the attendants
having just retired from some display or ceremony; the second, the front
of a Roman Temple in its noble remains.
To the Greeks we owe all the general principles and forms of classic
art, but they have been modified to modern ideas and tastes, and, it may
be added, to suit also the various climates of the countries where they
have been adopted.
However much the occupations of our countrymen may partake of the
commercial character, the mental qualities requisite to such pursuits
have not been so displayed as to exclude a taste for art. Where, for
example, can be found superior specimens of art-choice than exist in
their mansions, villas, or cottage-ornées, their picture and sculpture
galleries, or the museums and other collections of those whose business
pursuits have been the cause of their prosperity.
An essential element of success in every branch of progress is involved
in tasteful selection. Without considering those classes who by
successful efforts of their ancestry have been placed beyond the pale of
want (either artificial or real), a large proportion of our population
may be ranked as having advanced morally, socially, and commercially by
that intuition which characterizes our national progress. It takes as
its basis nature and nature’s products. It eliminates from these not
only pecuniary benefits that in a commercial point of view may occur,
but associating the useful with the beautiful (the sense of the latter
having been gained during intervals of quiet thought as a relief from
the incessant requirements of business engagements), a tendency to
embody the picturesque, especially in regard to architecture, arises. We
have no hesitation in assigning to this cause the production of some of
the most picturesque architectural erections which grace our
country,--that render English homes an example, and prove that, while
the main element of our national prosperity is making money, we are not
insensible to the beneficent influences resulting from the cultivation
of refined taste.
It would be interesting as an object of careful inquiry, if there
existed sufficient data for the purpose, to trace each of the many steps
that have occurred between the birth of architecture and its present
condition. The early history of mankind had as its locality climates
which favoured the construction and use of the _crudest_ contrivances,
intended only to meet the few wants of shelter and occasional domestic
privacy. The first condition of man’s existence, either in this
primitive or modern state, is that of roving or wandering tribes.
Instances of this are found in the early inhabitants of Asia Minor, and
adjacent countries, and at the present day the same habit is maintained
in Central Asia, Arabia, and many parts of America. As soon as the
sustenance afforded for their cattle is consumed in one district a
migration is made to another. Gradually, however, centres of trade
sprung up where commodities could be bartered for live stock. Men thus
became massed together in villages and towns. Quitting a semi-savage
condition, they built permanent residences in place of the tent. At
first these, like the log-hut of the modern Canadian, were only
sufficient for the most common necessities of life. In course of time,
however, the spirit of emulation, the growth of riches, and the
germination of man’s natural taste for the beautiful, led to artificial
wants, which were soon converted into necessities of life. This called
out the study of art on the part of the few for the benefit of the many.
Systems of art in all its branches gradually developed themselves. By
the study of the beauties of nature such systems gradually progressed in
purity of style, and produced designs that eventually were appreciated
by the common people, in a greater or less degree, according to the
capabilities of each individual. Architecture and the other fine arts
thus, by slow but sure degrees, began to gain a hold on popular taste,
and step by step they arrived at the state of perfection of which we now
boast.
It will be evident that whilst the primary objects of architecture were
simply those of meeting the immediate necessities of life, its ultimate
purpose was only attained when it became an art, cultivated by refined
taste, an educated eye, and encouraged by the growth of civilization and
commerce. It thus advanced from a state of barbarism into one in which
it was connected with all the highest developments of the moral and
mental qualities of mankind, but especially with the æsthetic
aspirations of our nature.
Incidentally but necessarily connected with the general progress of
architecture is the great variety of styles that has been invented. The
whole of these are modifications of some one or more primaries. No two
individuals acquire the same mental impression by viewing one object;
each of their impressions is tinted by the mental characteristics of the
individual. It is, therefore, from this cause that so many varieties of
style have originated from one first model. An illustration of this is
afforded in the Gothic, which in different hands has been greatly
divided and modified in its details. This style, which at first was of
exclusive application only, has subsequently become most extensively in
use for purposes that at first sight it would have been judged as quite
unfit for.
The style of architecture just referred to is remarkable for its
picturesque character, and may fitly be adduced as an ensample of that
quality in the absence of an exact definition of the term.
An able writer criticising Gothic buildings, remarks that the outline of
the summit presents a great variety of forms of turrets and pinnacles,
some open, some fretted and variously enriched. But even where there is
an exact correspondence of parts, it is often disguised by an appearance
of splendid confusion and irregularity.
In the doors and windows of Gothic Churches, the pointed arch has as
much variety as any regular figure can well have; the eye, too, is less
strongly conducted than by the parallel lines in the Grecian style, from
the top of one aperture to that of another; and every person must be
struck with the extreme richness and intricacy of some of the principal
windows of our cathedrals and ruined abbeys. In these last is displayed
the triumph of the picturesque, and their charms to a painter’s eye are
often so great as to rival those which arise from the chaste ornaments
and the noble and elegant simplicity of Grecian architecture.
These remarks will explain to a certain degree the nature of the
picturesque in regard to architecture, so far at least as the general
principles are involved. But in the more minute points, other questions
and relations arise, to which the attention of the reader will be fully
drawn in the descriptive text and illustrations of this work.
The comparative value of Grecian and Gothic architecture, as practically
adopted in the erection of ornamental dwellings, is well discussed by an
eminent architect in the following remarks, slightly modified from the
original. He observes that the two are better distinguished by an
attention to their general effects, than to the minute parts peculiar to
each. It is in architecture as in painting--beauty depends on light and
shade, and they are caused by the openings or projections in the
surface. If these tend to produce horizontal lines, the building must be
deemed Grecian, however whimsically the doors and windows may be
constructed. If, on the contrary, the shadows give a preference to
perpendicular lines, the general character of the building will be
Gothic. This is evident from the large houses built in Queen Elizabeth’s
reign, where Grecian columns were introduced. Yet they are always
considered as Gothic buildings.
In our modern Grecian architecture large cornices are repeated, with
windows ranged perfectly in the same line, and these lines often more
strongly marked by a horizontal fascia. There are few breaks of any
great depth; and if there be a portico, the shadow made by the columns
is very trifling compared with that broad horizontal shadow proceeding
from the soffit (that is, the under side of the heads of apertures,
architraves, and the corona of cornices). The only ornament its roof
will admit, is either a flat pediment departing very little from the
horizontal, or a dome still rising from a horizontal base.
But in these remarks attention is chiefly drawn to the general
architectural effects of style, independent of concomitant
circumstances. Yet it is hardly necessary to do more than call on the
experience of any man of taste to show that position, adjacent scenery,
and other “accidental” or “incidental” matters will modify the special
effect of any style in regard to the picturesque, and also those of a
general character. A Gothic erection in a confined situation will lose
most of its beauties, while one of a Grecian character may be especially
suitable. In choosing, therefore, any design for the erection of a new
building, or alterations in one already in existence, respect should be
had to the natural character of the surrounding country, the aspects in
regard to the sun and prevalent winds, the extent of the estate or
grounds on which the building is to be erected, the views from the
various apartments, the character of wood, plain, or other adjacent
tree-scenery, and last, but of equal or greater importance, questions in
reference to domestic comfort and convenience, drainage and dry soil,
supply of water, and a variety of details, most of which will at once
suggest themselves. In many cases the choice of site is necessarily
fixed by previous purchase or inheritance of the land, yet in such cases
chances are left for a judicious selection in regard to some of the
conditions above mentioned. But when the purchase has to be effected,
_all_ the conditions should be kept in mind, and, if possible,
completely satisfied. Such details should form the subject of minute
inquiry, and they are here only named for the purpose of showing how the
choice of the best style, in regard either to general beauty or
picturesque effect, should be decided on with mature attention to all
the circumstances of the case.
Most of the old mansions, &c., of this country and many parts of
Continental Europe, have been erected in situations that were then
immediately, and at little cost, available for the purpose. At one time
the choice of such situation depended on careful attention to the
special circumstances of those who erected the building. Thus it is
found, generally, that the banks of the rivers, as affording ready and
cheap means of carriage by the stream, were mostly chosen. Hence our
abbeys, monasteries, &c., are frequently found in such localities.
Baronial castles were usually erected on hills, the height of which
tended to the security of the owners against sudden incursions of their
foes. From the varied character of English topography has arisen that
great variety of picturesque beauty that distinguishes the ruins which
abound in almost every county throughout the length and breadth of the
land; such ruins, architecturally considered in relation to the
surrounding circumstances of wood, vale, hill and dale, have become
subjects of study and suggestion to modern architects, and models,
constantly adopted at the present time, in certain details, for
producing new designs. In the selection of these, or of any other style,
however, Burke has laid down, in his essay on “The Sublime and
Beautiful,” an excellent rule: “A true artist should put a generous
deceit on the spectators, and effect the noblest designs by easy
methods. Designs that are vast only by their dimensions, are always the
sign of a common and low imagination. The work of art can be great but
as it deceives; to be otherwise is the prerogative of nature only.”
It will thus be seen, that to obtain the highest effect of the
picturesque in architecture requires an educated eye, a refined taste,
great experience, but especially a keen perception of all the
conditions, on the fulfilment of which the most successful result can be
obtained. In all there is a natural love of unity and effect.
Montesquieu, in his dissertation on _Taste_, observes: “Wherever
symmetry is useful to the soul, and may assist her functions, it is
agreeable to her; but wherever it is useless, it becomes distasteful,
because it takes away variety. Therefore things that are seen in
succession ought to have variety, for our soul has no difficulty in
seeing them; those on the contrary, that we see at one glance, ought to
have symmetry. Thus at one glance we see the front of a building, a
parterre, a temple. In such things there is always a symmetry which
pleases the soul by the facility it gives her of taking in the whole
object at once.”
The numerous dissertations, essays, &c., that have been produced on the
subjects that have here been treated on in a discursive manner only, are
a sufficient proof of the difficulty which exists in acquiring,
applying, and affording an accurate and ample description of all the
conditions necessary to picturesque architecture; they also in some
measure explain the reason of the grotesque, and even offensive results
that obtrude on refined taste in the productions of builders who are
utterly deficient of artistic taste and knowledge in carrying out their
objects. A general, and in part a historic view of architecture may
serve to show how success has been attained in many cases, and the evils
that should be avoided as leading to failure in effect of the general
and special features of an erection.
In the cursory view of the history of architecture already given, it has
been shown that the earliest efforts of the art were simply directed to
satisfy the simple wants of man, without any regard being had to taste.
It was not until riches began to accumulate in a few hands that taste in
architecture was developed, and by the few examples thus produced the
taste of society at large was educed, refined, and extended.
Omitting then any inquiry into the architecture of our earth’s
aborigines, which was evidently of the rudest character, reference may
first be made to early architectural attempts in Asia. It has been
ingeniously observed by M. Pair, that the Chinese imitated a tent as the
model of their system, a result that undoubtedly arose from the fact
that the first Tartar tribes were nomadic or wandering in their nature.
It has also been remarked that a bird’s-eye view of a Chinese city at
once suggests the idea of a fixed camp. In southern and south-western
Asia may be found, on the other hand, the remains of extensive
architectural productions in caves, such as that of the Pagoda
Elephanta, from which many have argued that subterraneous dwellings were
amongst the earliest; but it is evident that such could only be made in
places where stone existed in masses, as a basis of the country. In a
plain and sandy district, and in alluvial soil generally, such could not
possibly have been produced. There is not the least doubt that the
conditions of climate have in all cases determined the early character
of each national system. In both hot and cold countries caves would
naturally have been sought as affording shelter from the two extremes
of heat and cold. Recent geological discoveries have brought to light
the fact that the remains of human and quadruped bones have been found
together in such situations, the human inhabitants having most probably
been the predecessors of the beasts of prey, as also of the fowls of the
air. It has been suggested too that the forest tree having formerly
served for shelter, might have suggested the floral character of
columns, and the use of floral decoration generally at their summit.
In respect to these “natural” and consequently primitive “systems” of
architecture, Billington has made the following judicious
remarks:--“Those people or nations who lived by the chase (and in the
same class the Ichthyophagi, or fish-eaters, are included) could not for
a great length of time have built themselves shelters. The long courses
the hunters made prevented them from watching their property, which must
have comprised [but] few articles; and they found it more convenient to
make hollows in the rocks for their dwellings, or to profit by those
which nature offered them in its caverns. It was the same with those who
lived by fishing; passing a sedentary life on the sea shores, the sides
of rivers, or the borders of the lakes, they always made themselves such
abodes, or took advantage of those already formed by nature. The little
industry which this mode of life required, and the natural idleness
which followed it, was sufficient to induce them to prefer the dwellings
presented by nature, to those of art. This fact is proved by experience
at the present day, as these descriptions of persons continue to adopt
the same plan of life in countries where the arts of civilization have
not extended their beneficial influence. The pastors or shepherds, as
they were inhabitants of plains during a great portion of the year,
could not make use of the retreats hollowed and prepared in the
mountains and rocks by the hand of nature; being obliged to seek change
of pasture, and thus lead an ambulatory life, it was requisite to have
dwellings or shelters that could be carried with them wherever they
went, and hence originated the use of tents. But the active operations
of agriculture requiring a definite situation, necessity suggested the
propriety of building solid and fixed abodes. The agriculturist then,
living on his own grounds, and in the enjoyment of his property, had to
store his provisions; it was therefore necessary to have a habitation at
once commodious, safe, healthful, and extensive; and the wood hut with
its roof was soon erected.”
The same author considers that there is not the least certainty of this
primitive wooden construction, with its inclined roof, having been the
universal model of all nations, but especially in regard to Egypt and
China. The peculiarities of the early Chinese style of architecture have
been already named, and with the persistent continuity in one course yet
prevalent, that style is still preserved. But the Grecian style was
evidently founded on the rude model, and the ingenuity of that nation
eventually led to the transference of material from wood to stone.
At the present day the Orders of Grecian architecture are fundamental to
the principles of modern art in numerous varieties of detail; they have
survived the prejudices, fancies, and dicta of various schools of art,
although, as already shown, the Gothic and other systems have become
formidable competitors, and in many cases, especially in regard to the
picturesque, efficient, elegant, and ornamental substitutes. The taste
for the latter characteristic has led to an increased adoption, for
example, of the Italian style, which in many respects resembles the
Grecian, but differs from it especially in lightness of detail, with
greater variety. The author just quoted traces the origin of the Doric
Order of the Greeks to a primary adaptation of the trunks of trees as
external supports of the wooden dwelling, seeing in them the
foreshadowing of the column designative of that order. “As trees are of
greater circumference at their lower extremities, and diminish in
rising, the diminution of the column was suggested by them.... These
timbers (as supports) consisting of trunks of trees planted in the
ground, offered not as yet the idea of bases and pedestals, as is seen
in the Doric Order, which is without base. But in the course of time the
inconvenience of this method was perceived, as it exposed the wood to
rot, and to remedy this inconvenience pieces of wood were placed under
each support to give it a better foundation, and to protect it from
humidity. This practice may be traced in some of the ancient edifices in
which the columns have no other base than a block of stone. But
afterwards, the number of pieces of wood employed for the base was
increased, in order to give greater elevation to the supports, or to
effect better security against the effects of humidity. From this
multiplication of blocks as footings, sprung the _torus_ and other
mouldings of the base, an origin far more probable than that of
ligaments of iron, as imagined by Scamozzi and others. It is also more
conformable to the nature of capitals, in which it is known that the
same proceeding was employed. After beginning with a simple abacus,
several others were afterwards added, which were enlarged, as they rose,
one above another, in such a manner that as the base was to the column a
kind of footing on which it rested more solidly, so the capital made a
head more capable of receiving and supporting the weight and form of the
architrave, a large beam placed horizontally on perpendicular supports,
and destined to receive the covering of the whole edifice.”
The author goes on, in a similarly ingenious manner, to prove the
derivation, from nature, of the Orders of Grecian architecture. He
ascribes the form of the roof as having necessarily suggested that of
the pediment. On this point he quotes the remark of Cicero: “It is not
to pleasure that we are indebted for the pediment of the Capitol and
those of our temples: necessity suggested the form for the better
draining off the water; nevertheless, its beauty is so very great, and
it is become so necessary for edifices, that if a Capitol were to be
built in Olympus, where it was never known to rain, it would,
notwithstanding, be necessary to give it a pediment.”
The preceding remarks and ingenious theory amply justify the opinion
already suggested, that nature must be the foundation of every true
principle of art. Assuming, as we are compelled to do, that the Grecian
style as a whole was original, the only perfect model that could have
been selected was that afforded by natural objects, in all of which are
found the most perfect results, derived from few means but answering an
infinity of ends. It will be remembered that the construction of the
Eddystone lighthouse was based in regard to durability, and resistance
to the force of the waves, on those properties which are possessed by
any kind of tree exposed to the full force of the tempest. “Nature
ought to be the basis of all imitation.”
Proceeding from the teachings of nature, the Greeks learned gradually to
introduce new types, consistent in the main with the original mode, but
of great variety in detail. By further refinement of this, but close
adherence to the facts or the analogies of nature, the Grecian art
became developed in the invention of other Orders, the names of which
are sufficiently known to all interested in architecture. Limited space
prevents our entering into a class of analyses of the characteristics of
each. Little doubt exists of the Doric Order having been the first
produced, and following it were the Ionic, Corinthian, Composite, and
Tuscan, which constitute the five Orders in general of architecture.
Perhaps the best epoch of ancient architecture was that during which,
subsequent to the battle of Marathon, the Greeks commenced to rebuild
the remains of Persian buildings, and to re-construct Athens. The ruins
of this period yet with us, attest the advance which Grecian
architectural art had attained. The ingenuity and refinement of Greek
art gradually spread to Rome, the Romans adopting the Doric Order under
the modification known as the Tuscan. The art having been introduced
into Etruria by the Pelasgi, under the celebrated Augustus, Rome
attained that magnificence which has ever since rendered its name
famous as a seat of the arts. Amongst the great erections of this period
was the Pantheon, one of the grandest efforts of genius that the world
has yet known. Under subsequent emperors architecture also progressed,
and the name of Trajan is identified with the erection of triumphal
arches, &c., the ruins of which still receive the admiration of every
qualified judge in art.
The removal of the seat of Roman government to Byzantium led to the
decadence of art at Rome, which was completed by the incursions of the
Visigoths. Eventually the Gothic style arose, phœnix-like, from the
ruins of Grecian and Roman art, and obtained a place that has rendered
it ever since one of the most favourite styles of architecture.
Just as under the heathens, the art had been chiefly promoted by
erections for religious purposes, so when the Christians began to obtain
the ascendancy, the erection of churches led to a similar result. From
the fourth to the seventh century some magnificent buildings of this
kind were erected. At the commencement of the eleventh century the
church of St. Mark at Venice attested the wonderful progress which
architecture had made, and it continued to progress during the next two
or three centuries, being confined chiefly, however, to Italy. But the
Gothic style, suited to a northern clime, never obtained full hold
there; Italy cannot boast of a single pure Gothic edifice. Gradually the
new style spread over Europe. The Cathedral at Strasbourg, the Louvre at
Paris, suggested improvements in our own country at Windsor Castle,
Oxford, &c., all indicated the rapid extension of the Gothic style or
its modifications. But in numerous instances the taste that was
exhibited showed a decadence from the simplicity and grandeur of the
Grecian and Latin styles. In respect to the latter, indeed, the
materials of the new erections were obtained from the ruins of the
ancient edifices, the columns, &c. there found, being pressed into the
service, in any manner, of the new school of architects.
Towards the middle of the fifteenth century a revival in architectural
art took place, especially under Brunelleschi. The patronage of the
Medici added a stimulus to the progress thus initiated. Improvements
were introduced in the erection of private residences in most parts of
Western Europe, the art having in its best form been chiefly till then
directed to building edifices for religious purposes alone. In the
sixteenth century architecture in Rome attained a perfection nearly
equal to that it had formerly enjoyed under the Cæsars, especially
during the Augustan age. Private and public buildings were erected of
great magnificence, yet of simplicity of form combined with grandeur.
Under Vignola architecture attained great excellence. Michael Angelo
was appointed architect of St. Peter’s at Rome about the middle of the
sixteenth century, and the mention of his name alone is sufficient to
call to mind the extent and value of his labours in the art. In the
seventeenth century, about the year 1620, Inigo Jones was engaged in
repairing St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and subsequently produced
designs for the Royal Palace at Whitehall in the reign of Charles I.
Greenwich and Chelsea Hospitals, and other noted buildings, were
designed about this period. In France and other continental countries
architecture attained great perfection at this period, both in respect
to public and private buildings. Among the most eminent architects of a
period somewhat nearer to our own time, was Sir Christopher Wren, whose
St. Paul’s Cathedral serves as a monument to the great genius of that
eminent man. This era may, comparatively speaking, be considered as the
commencement of the modern style of English church architecture,
inasmuch as several productions of Wren are still used for the purposes
to which they were first applied, having undergone little or no change
since their completion.
Such is a brief, and necessarily very imperfect resumé of the progress
of architecture. The styles of Eastern Europe, ancient Mexico, and many
others, have not been described, because unnecessary, in this
Introduction, which has only for its object to call general attention
to the causes which have led to the present state of the art. Like all
others it has been the subject of alternating prosperity and adversity.
At one time fostered by men eminent in their profession, and by those
whose means permitted them to lavish riches on magnificent piles,
fountains, villas, &c.; and at others, degraded by its students, and
neglected by those who should have been its patrons.
In all branches of architecture direct reference should be had to the
objects for which the building is intended. An eminent architect,
already quoted, has well set forth this essential point in the following
remarks:--“The art of characterizing, that is to say, of rendering
evident by material forms the intellectual qualities and moral ideas
required to express in edifices, or to make known by the harmony and
suitableness of all the constituent parts that enter into their
composition the use for which they are intended, is perhaps of all the
secrets of architecture the most difficult to develope or to attain.
This happy talent of conceiving and of communicating the conception in
the physiognomy suitable to each edifice; this sure and delicate
discernment, which exhibits the distinguishing parts of such edifices,
that at first appear susceptible of no characteristic distinctions; this
judicious employment of the different styles which are as the tones of
architecture; this skilful application of the signs which the art
employs to affect the sight and understanding; this exquisite feeling,
which errs neither in the just disposition of the masses and employment
of the details, nor in the just dispensation of richness and simplicity,
and which is able to combine true expression of character with the
harmonious accord of all the qualities susceptible of being represented
by architecture--all this requisite talent, which study perfects, but
does not produce, is a gift possessed by few. This suitable expression
presents itself under two relations, the one appertaining to
architecture in general, and the other to edifices in particular. The
first consists in the expression of the qualities or intellectual ideas
which are the results of the art metaphysically considered; the second,
in the true indication of the uses for which edifices are designed, that
is, in considering architecture as a certain mode of expressing or
painting. This expression, according to the nature of the buildings and
edifices, may be produced by the gradation of richness and greatness
proportionate to the nature and the object for which they are erected;
by the indication of the moral qualities attached to each edifice, the
manner of expressing which is beyond the reach of rules; by the general
and particular form of architecture; by the species of the construction
and the quality of the materials that may be employed in the execution;
and lastly, by the resources of decoration.” In these remarks will be
found a highly valuable _précis_ of the excellence to which the art of
the architect should be directed, and the means that must be adopted to
obtain pleasing and successful results.
The erection of country mansions, villas, and other residences, has of
late years been greatly stimulated in our country. The enormous annually
accumulated savings of the commercial portion of the community have
induced a large amount of capital to be invested in such objects. In
regard to questions of taste and decoration, it should be borne in mind
that but very little extra cost is incurred in building a residence in a
pleasing and picturesque style than in one having not the least
pretension to architectural beauty. In our earlier remarks on the nature
of the picturesque the _general principles_ of obtaining that effect
have been pointed out. In the following pages the special details are
amply descanted on, and illustrated by designs, drawings, &c. It is the
object of every department of constructive skill at the present day, to
endeavour to obtain the best possible result by the least possible
expenditure of material, and thus taste actually causes economy rather
than increased expense. Tons of heavy and unsightly materials are now
replaced by hundredweights of decorative, and yet substantial, masonry
and iron work. A number of modern elegant erections, affording
accommodation equal in extent, but vastly superior in quality, are now
made at an expenditure of stone or brick less by one-third in quantity
than was employed in many old houses; those in High Street, Edinburgh,
by way of example. The result has been arrived at by the joint aid of
science and art, the former giving data as to the strength of the
material, and the latter directing its disposal. The peculiar character
of English scenery is exactly adapted for giving a picturesque character
to villa residences, provided the latter are designed and erected in
accordance with the principles of sound taste. Surely he who would spend
money in building a house, in which all or most of the remainder of his
days are to be spent, will not grudge making that dwelling the subject
of decoration or ornamental art, by which its aspect shall at all times
be suggestive of pleasure rather than of aversion or disgust. It has
been said that most individuals, by long association together, acquire a
mutuality of tastes and even physical resemblance. It cannot be denied
that even inanimate objects, such as our dwellings, furniture,
landscapes, gardens, and other such surroundings, have a parallel effect
on us. Hence the wisdom of using all the means which architectural art
places at our disposal. Errors in this respect often proceed from
thoughtlessness, if not from want of refined taste. An instance may
suffice to show how much such matters should be attended to in the
choice of a site and other conditions. A retired manufacturer erected a
mansion at a cost exceeding fifty thousand pounds, and had never paid
any heed to the fact that the most prominent object seen from his
dining-room window was the cemetery of the adjacent town! Soon this
became unbearable, and the house has been comparatively deserted by the
family, caused by an oversight that the least consideration would have
remedied.
The designs given in the following pages have for their object to
suggest the most approved, tasteful, and effective plans for the
mansion, the villa, or cottage, and great care has been devoted to their
production. Whilst a residence must necessarily be kept within a cost
suitable to the means of the proprietor, by judicious care of the
professional man, possessed of a competent knowledge, a little money may
go a long way in the decorative art. Many of the drawings are devoted to
the minor but not less effective portions of the house. Congruity in
detail inside the dwelling is equally required with symmetry, beauty, or
picturesque character of the exterior. Want of judgment in this point
may speedily convert the most elegant building into little better than a
repository for gewgaws selected without taste and arranged without
skill. It is impossible for _every_ man to become his own architect; but
it is possible, in most cases, for all who have the means, to select
such a design as shall best comport with their taste, leaving the
working out of details to the architect. But a remote possibility exists
of an unprofessional being able even to state what he requires, and
should he ask an architect for a design or plan, it is more than likely
that the latter would fail to please. When, however, a variety of
designs is placed before the eye of any intelligent person the act of
selection becomes easy. Although no single plan may succeed, a
combination may suggest itself, and the architect can then readily work
on something like a sound foundation, and with the hope of success. This
work is intended to supply such requirements.
Again, in building a house, or in effecting alterations in an old one,
points apparently of minor, but really of great importance, require
attention. A badly constructed chimney will make the whole house
miserable, independent of the injury done to furniture, decorations,
&c., and the destruction of paint and paperhangings. A defective
drainage may render that which was intended to be an abode of peace,
plenty, and happiness, a living charnel-house, or the door to the grave!
A question of vital importance is that of ventilation. These apparently
minor questions can therefore scarcely be exaggerated in their value,
for neglect of them will render nugatory the best external efforts of
the architect. Hence they have hereafter full attention, in their
practical details, directed to them.
On the general principles of ventilation the following remarks may be of
value to all who propose to erect new dwellings, or alter those already
inhabited. In all houses, and in fact every building divided into
stories, a ready means of ventilation may be insured, or rather always
exists. This is presented in the opening formed by the staircase. Into
this general opening communications can be made into, and from, each
apartment by apertures placed in some convenient position in each room.
The grand law on which ventilation depends is, that hot air, being
lighter than cool air, has a universal tendency to rise, whilst cold air
takes the lowest part of a house or apartment. It hence follows, that if
a supply of cold air be admitted by an opening at the lower part of a
house, and it becomes heated within the house, it will have a tendency
to rise to the roof; and if a sufficient opening be there provided, it
will escape into the open air. Consequently a constant current may thus
be obtained in any dwelling, sufficient to give a supply of pure air and
to remove that which has been vitiated by breathing, the combustion of
fires, and other causes. The heavy atmosphere of this country requires
assistance to make this grand law operative; to cause the air of a room
to move as readily as it is required, forced ventilation becomes
necessary. The English fireplace provides this; and to that it owes,
with us, its extreme popularity. A constant current of air from the room
is heated and passed up the chimney flue, and this draws in a
corresponding supply of cold air, and proper and convenient apertures
should be left to permit this to enter. The fireplace forces attention
to the necessity; if sufficient fresh air be not provided for it the
smoke enters the room and drives the occupants out. Notwithstanding the
attention that has been paid to the stove and its flue, we are still
sadly behindhand in a proper construction of them. The flues could be so
arranged that a building might be enabled, using a figurative
expression, to breathe, whenever its principal flue, that of the kitchen
fireplace, was in action; a construction to effect this will be
illustrated in the text. In conclusion on this point, it may be added
that nothing is more essential to the health and comfort of a house than
that it should be thoroughly and constantly ventilated, and if any
portion is to be particularized, it should be the sleeping apartments.
Another question which, to a certain extent, should influence the
arrangement of a house of any pretensions in respect to size, is that of
the method of warming it. The preference, or rather prejudice, in favour
of fireplaces is so great, that a revolution of the nation in political
matters could be more easily brought about than the abolition of the
fire-grate; but it is well known that at least three-fourths of the coal
consumed is wasted in the attempt to heat the room to an equable and
pleasant temperature. But by such means the result cannot be arrived at.
In front of, and close to the fire, the temperature is excessive, while
the backs of the sitters facing in are suffering from cold. An equalized
temperature in rooms is obtained abroad. In Russia, a plan is adopted of
heating the rooms by means of the walls, the latter being double, and so
arranged that they act as flues to a furnace situated at the lower part
of the building. By this method every part of the room acquires,
simultaneously, an equable temperature. There need be no draught, simply
because the air is not drawn in one direction more than in another. From
every side a gentle current of warm air arises. This method cannot be
adopted here; it would not suit for English houses where coal is used as
fuel: the interstices of the double wall would soon be filled with soot.
The same effect is produced in a far more elegant way, by means of
warm-water pipes passed round the room; by this simple process the
staircase and passages and the sides of a room distant from the
fireplace are made of equal temperature--one, or at most two furnaces,
burning coke and making no smoke, if placed in a cellar outside an
extensive building, can render the whole interior, from attic to
ground-floor of equal temperature, and not prevent the action of the
fireplace, or its agreeable presence in our homes. In the British
Museum, where warming apparatus is used, the temperature of the whole is
kept uniformly the same, that is, 65° Fah., even throughout the most
severe weather, independent of the common fireplace. No greater change
is required in any part of our buildings than in the latter; not that it
requires to be removed, but a change to prevent its waste of heat and
its contaminating the outside air with the soot and blacks from its coal
fuel; the lower fireplaces in a building should warm or air the upper
rooms, and no soot or blacks should be allowed to leave the flues. A
construction for this purpose will be shown in the ensuing pages, as
well as one for warming an entire building and a conservatory.
An opposite effect to that of warming is frequently desirable in our
houses; and to ensure this the position of the site of the house must be
considered. It is evident that a room having a south-western aspect must
of all others be the warmest, whether in winter or summer, simply
because that aspect is most exposed to the influence of the sun’s rays.
On the other hand, rooms having a north-easterly aspect must necessarily
be the coolest, because, except during the earliest part of midsummer
mornings, say from 2 to 4 A.M., the sun’s rays cannot reach them. It
is, therefore, in the power of those who have the requisite resources,
to construct a house in such a manner that warm rooms can be provided
for winter use, and cool for alleviating the heat of summer. It is by no
means an uncommon occurrence to find a large dinner-party assembled in
the heat of summer in a room that has been exposed to the sun’s rays
during the afternoon. Frequently in such cases, owing to the number of
persons present, the heat of the viands, lights, &c., the temperature
rises above 80°, a circumstance prejudicial to health, enjoyment, and
the vivacity of social intercourse, that might have been entirely
avoided had the dining-room been placed in a northern aspect. These are
points well worthy of attention in constructing a newly-designed
dwelling. It unfortunately happens, in many cases, that the supposed
exigencies of architectural arrangement must have priority of all other
considerations. Yet the architect who wilfully opposes such
modifications of his plan for the purpose of conducing to general
comfort is shortsighted. His object ought to be to build a house _to be
lived in_, and not _to be looked at_ alone.
A few remarks on some of the general principles that should lead to a
choice of site, situation, and other matters, may not be without
advantage. Whatever inducement a plot of ground for building purposes
may possess, the great question which has first to be solved is that of
_health_. A clayey soil, bog, marsh, or stagnant water; a low level; an
undrained or badly drained surface; a moist atmosphere, or exposure to
the chill north and east winds, are all objections that a question of
price should never be pitted against. Popular knowledge on sanitary
subjects is now so extensively diffused that healthy localities are
always of ready sale, while those of an opposite character are
frequently unsold in the market, and consequently may be had at a low
price, but are really never cheap. Nothing can counterbalance the value
of a healthy locality, for in the end one of an opposite character
becomes far more costly. The timbers of the building fall rapidly into
decay, and require renewal; the decorative portion, internally and
externally, becomes faded; doors and windows cease to fit and work
accurately; the iron work becomes rusted and requires frequent renewal
of paint or other protecting coat; and the same may be remarked in
regard to the fences of the estate.
The position of the residence in regard to the sun at different periods
of the year is also an important matter. If it stands with each front
north and south, the north front will have comparatively little sun,
except during summer time; and if the position be north-east and
south-west respectively, the cold bitter winds of winter will be
severely felt, whilst from the fact that the greater portion of the year
the rainy quarter of the wind is south-west, that front or back of the
house will be continually exposed to its influence. Consequently,
frontages to the south-east and north-west are to be preferred in all
cases, when possible, as such position ensures to both sides the
greatest average of sun, heat, and light, and protection from the
north-east wind of winter or the south-west of the rainy season.
Comparatively little attention has been paid to the influence of light
on health and its effects on the mind, in the construction of modern
dwelling-houses. An excess is easily avoided by blinds and other
contrivances; but if the architectural features of the building be such
as to exclude the light, an opposite remedy is impossible. Abundant
access of light tends to set off all the internal decorations of the
house, and spreads a cheerfulness of appearance that is always highly
prized. It gives brilliancy of outline and detail to coloured
decorations, and, to use a common phrase, is the best possible “set-off”
that the architect or decorator can desire. As already pointed out, the
effect of light and shade, in regard to architecture, is a condition of
success in respect to the picturesque.
It is always desirable that a house should be placed on an eminence; it
becomes thus a prominent object, and its qualities are the more readily
perceived. A gradual ascent to the house by the walks or drive adds
much to the general effect. The walks are thus constantly drained, and
preserve longer a neat appearance, a matter which is of much importance
in setting off the advantages of situation, site, &c. In respect to
questions of health also, this is of great advantage, as the waste
matter of the household more readily falls away by its own gravity, and
is thus quickly removed; which if left stagnant would be productive of
harm to the inmates.
Abundant access of fresh air is of great importance to health in a
residence; unnecessary exposure to wind being at the same time to be
avoided. Hence to place a residence in the centre of a close array of
trees is not desirable; not only is the access of air, light, and heat
prevented, but there is always a tendency induced to dampness in the
house. In an open, airy, and well drained situation, the effects of even
long-continued wet are soon dispelled, but when all sides of a house are
surrounded closely by trees, an opposite result is induced, and, in
comparatively dry situations, many evils of a damp one ultimately ensue.
One of our earliest English writers on building, Thomas Fuller (1633),
speaking of the choice of situation for a new structure, says: “_Chiefly
choose a wholesome air_, for air is a dish one feeds on every minute,
and therefore it need be good. Wherefore, great men (who may build
where they please, as poor men where they can) if herein they prefer
their profit above their health, I refer them to their physicians to
make them pay for it accordingly.” And as to light, he continues:
“_Light (God’s eldest daughter!) is a principal beauty in a building_,
yet it shines not alike from all parts of heaven. An east window
welcomes the infant beams of the sun before they are of strength to do
any harm, and is offensive to none but a sluggard. A south window, in
summer, is a chimney with a fire in it, and needs the screen of a
curtain. In a west window, in summer time, towards night, the sun grows
low and ever familiar, with more light than delight. A north window is
best for butteries and cellars, where the beer will not be sour for the
sun’s smiling on it. Thorough lights are best for rooms of
entertainment, and windows on one side for dormitories.” And he tells
us, “_a pleasant prospect is to be respected_. A medley view, such as of
water and land at Greenwich, best entertains the eyes, refreshing the
wearied beholder with exchange of objects. Yet,” he adds, “I know a more
profitable prospect--where the owner can only see his own land round
about.”
Having thus disposed of some of the most important points that should be
kept in mind when choosing the site of a house, and of such other
conditions as affect its picturesque and sanitary character, a small
space may be devoted to the consideration of its internal decorations.
On this point there is no disputing about tastes, but to this may be
added that the absence of taste is by no means uncommon. Having fixed on
the style of house, the next question for decision, in respect to its
general effect, should be that of its internal decoration. Congruity of
design should exist between the two, for if an opposite course be
adopted, a vulgarity will be introduced that will be highly displeasing
to good taste. On the other hand, a slavish adherence to uniformity of
internal with external character might produce so severe an adherence to
system as to exclude the benefits that arise from judiciously chosen
contrast. What has before been remarked in regard to the exterior,
applies equally to the interior of a house--each should have in its
general effect an agreement in appearance to its objects. In an antique
apartment the light character of modern furniture would be evidently out
of place, and _vice versâ_.
It is evidently impossible to direct attention to more than a few
elements of success that may be arrived at in internal decoration.
Independently of this, each person has his own views on the matter, that
would be sure in the end to overrule any exact principles, or at least
greatly modify them. The following observations however, are offered
suggestively.
The facility with which the most beautiful designs in painting, &c., are
transferred to paper for paper hangings, has brought these into very
extensive use for decorative purposes. Formerly the best patterns were
produced in France alone, but of late years the British manufactures
have rivalled the Continental. The pattern in respect to size, colour,
design, &c., should be so chosen as to be in accordance with the amount
of light, the size, and other conditions of the room. A large pattern in
a small room is equally out of place with the reverse condition. A light
pattern again in a dark room, although advantageous in alleviating
sombreness, is also incongruous. The general effect of a room on a
spectator is thus largely influenced by these points, and consequently
they should be carefully attended to. Frequently paint is preferred for
covering walls of apartments, and where many pictures are introduced
this may be advantageously employed, because the paintings alleviate the
monotonous effect that would otherwise ensue. Painted walls are liable
to injury by peeling off in places, especially where likely to meet with
blows from furniture, &c. In damp weather, from the absorption of heat
they generally become not only wet, but frequently stream with water. If
the apartment is “smoky,” lines of sooty hue soon follow, and the room
acquires a dirty appearance. This is avoided by the use of paper, which
prevents the abstraction of heat and the consequent deposition of water;
Beautiful effects may be produced by graining and other devices which
are too well known to require enumeration. When flock paper on walls
becomes dirty and requires renewing, if painted it looks extremely well,
a diaper ornamental surface being produced by such means.
The mantel-piece of a room adds to or detracts from its general effect.
In a well lighted apartment, with light furniture, white marble is
decidedly preferable. Whereas serpentine, black, or coloured marbles,
grey and even red granite, may all agree in rooms but moderately
lighted.
The cornice and ceiling decorations equally require adaptation to the
character of the apartment. For these purposes beautiful designs have
been suggested and employed. The material of which they are usually made
is so plastic as to be capable of receiving and retaining the most
intricate forms conducive to elegance and beauty. In some rooms such add
greatly to the general effect, while in others, especially with painted
walls, plain mouldings seem most appropriate.
A profusion of gold or gilding displays want of taste. A glaring example
of this might be pointed out--a white marble mantel-piece supported by
gilt angels five feet high which “graces” the drawing-room of a mansion
in one part of this country. The outer room is a gorgeous display of
gold, silver, and vulgarity. It serves, however, index-like, to point
out at once the riches and “taste” of the owner. On the other hand,
paintings and engravings in gilt frames have an excellent effect in
setting off a room, provided that their size is in accordance with that
of the apartment.
Stained deals, varnished, afford a good material for panelling, and for
covering the walls of rooms. We have in our eye a dining-room thus
fitted which has an effect approaching to some of the oaken fittings of
olden times. The material is cheap and durable, whilst the surface can
always be renewed in its freshness by a new coat of varnish. It has been
largely adopted in churches for pews and other fittings, with the best
possible results.
The minor objects of decoration, such as handles, finger-plates,
bell-pulls, &c. &c., can only be here named. In many instances designs
are given in the following pages, suggesting the most suitable either
for indoor or outdoor use, according to the character of the room or
entrance for which they are intended.
So much for the picturesque exterior and tasteful interior of a house; a
few words however may be said in respect to its immediate surroundings,
such as the lawns, gardens, pleasure grounds, &c.
The most picturesque villa would be a nonentity in a wrong situation.
It would be opposed to what is usually called the “fitness of things;” a
phrase that expresses much meaning without an exact definition. Hence
“landscape gardening” has become an almost necessary adjunct to the art
of architecture. An unframed picture has possibly every merit that the
painter’s art can bestow on it, yet it lacks that finish which the
exterior confers on it. So the well laid-out garden, the vista at its
extremity, the carefully arranged parterre, the judicious management of
floral culture, especially with regard to colour; neatly arranged walks,
and many other exterior matters of detail, add to, enhance, and
occasionally become indispensable adjuncts to the picturesque.
We give two examples of picturesque accessories to garden architecture;
the first rather belongs to the secluded wood, to some sequestered spot
of sylvan shade, whence rises a spring which tradition may designate as
that of some beautiful nymph; where the limpid crystal flows in gentle,
yet ceaseless streams, conveying “health to the sick and solace to the
swain.” The last, a vignette at the end of this chapter, is the
representation of a ruined fountain, designed in 1820 by one of the best
teachers of drawing England ever possessed, the late C. J. M. Whichelo.
The architect may suggest the addition of a garden, but it is no part of
his business to supply the details; these rather belong to the
horticulturist. Yet these should not be forgotten; a complete whole is
always made up of minute parts, and by these littles an entirety of
effect is produced, just as their individual importance is not lost
sight of.
[Illustration: The Nymph’s Fountain.]
In conclusion, it has been attempted in this introductory essay to
enable the unprofessional reader to become acquainted with the general
principles, and some practical details that should guide him in the
selection of a site, and the erection of an elegant, convenient, and
pleasant house, both externally and internally. So far as architecture
and decorative art can aid such objects, the special details involved
have to be perused in the text of this work. Fundamental ideas of such
subjects have alone been here treated. A hope may be expressed that any
suggestion or advice hitherto offered may not, in all cases, be without
value. It is not given to all men to know all things. By the experience
of others we gain fresh views of old ideas, invest them with new
clothing, and in fact make out of that which is past, the material for
something new. We rest on the apparently obsolete for suggestive ideas
of improvement. Although the fashion of this world passeth away, yet as
a dissolving view it reproduces itself in other forms, which, by the
contrast of apparent novelty, and real or supposed merits, gain, either
temporarily or permanently, the applause of mankind.
[Illustration: Old English Garden Plots.]
[Illustration: Garden Fountain in Ruins.]
_DESIGN No. 1._
A GARDENER’S COTTAGE.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
[Illustration: Back elevation.]
Some examples of designs for small cottages will be first given in this
volume. There are few domestic
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
[Illustration: Plan of upper floor.]
[Illustration]
structures that have received within the last fifty years a greater
share of attention than the English Cottage, especially that designed
for the occupation of the labourer. Each detail has received much care;
thus, whether its walls should be solid or formed in two thicknesses, as
most conducive to warmth and comfort; whether they should be of thin
brick or of solid thick concrete; the best kind of roof covering, and
indeed all such questions, have been fully discussed.
[Illustration: Section through length of building.]
Besides this, the calculation of cost has been of importance; they are
required to return a rent that will pay 5 per cent. on the outlay, and
to gain their picturesque appearance has generally been sacrificed.
The cottage examples in this volume have been erected on estates where
the only aim was to render them substantial and lasting structures,
expense being a matter of minor importance. Their picturesque appearance
being in every case insisted on.
Before entering into any description of the designs, it must be pointed
out that the plans, with the exception only of a few at the end of the
volume, are all drawn to the same scale, that of 20 feet to the inch,
and that the elevations and sections are to a scale of 15 feet to the
inch.
[Illustration: Cross section.]
The details and the vignettes, one of which is mostly given between each
example, are of various scales suited to each separate subject.
[Illustration: Plan of wood casement.]
[Illustration: Section.]
The cottage design shown in the plate, and which forms the first example
in this series, was erected on a nobleman’s estate in the country, for
the use of a favourite gardener, a married man without children, and the
accommodation afforded was all that he required. It consisted of a lower
room fifteen feet by twelve, fitted with a small cottage oven; a
scullery ten feet by ten feet, and a larder; the upper floor contained
one room of the same size as the lower, and one fourteen feet by ten
feet. The building was constructed in a very superior way. It was
erected in red brick with compo dressings round the door and windows.
The illustrations represent the front and back elevations; and sections
through the length and breadth of the cottage, with details of the wood
casements, and a plan and section of the cottage oven.
[Illustration: Cottage oven.]
A view of a cottage slightly different in design but having rooms of the
same size with similar accommodation, is given. This was intended for
the same estate.
* * * * *
The vignette is an elevation of two lead pipes designed for an
Elizabethan building in the country.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 2._
A SMALL COTTAGE OR LODGE.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
[Illustration: Upper plan.]
This small building forms the outer lodge to a country park. It is
finished in all its parts so as
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
to correspond in style and details with the old family mansion, and
being a prominent object, standing in a cheerful position, each side was
made pleasing. It is
[Illustration: Side elevation.]
so placed that the sun during its daily course shines on all the
exterior walls. Cottages should have no
[Illustration: Section through length.]
dark corners, the sun should find entrance at all the windows whenever
it is bright; the interior is then warm and cheerful. If the plan of a
building is either
[Illustration: Cross section.]
a square or a parallelogram, and it is placed on the ground so that one
of its diagonal lines runs due north and south, the advantage of
sunlight at all the openings is obtained, and this has been pointed out
by several writers on the subject. The ground plan shows the general
arrangement of the interior. The parlour and kitchen are both of the
same size (14 feet by 11 feet); it has a small scullery, an open outside
porch, and a place for coals; the larder with its window
[Illustration: Section through front and back porches.]
[Illustration: Dry vault.]
is under the staircase. The latter is a cottage staircase, occupying
only half the usual space. The plan of the upper floor shows two rooms
of the same size as those on the lower floor, with the compact reduced
form of the staircase. The plate gives the front and side elevations of
the building; sections through its length and breadth, and through the
two porches back and front, and the dry vault of closet, are given.
The water from the scullery sink is discharged into the dry vault. The
staircase, of which a section is given, occupies exactly half the space
of a staircase on the ordinary plan. The width is three feet, each step
rising in two heights of 6 inches. It is necessary that such a
contrivance should have plenty of light. These staircases were first
used in France. Loudon, in his “Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa
Architecture,” gives a representation of one, and remarks that the
celebrated American, Jefferson, when
[Illustration: Section of staircase.]
[Illustration: A staircase.]
making a tour in that country, was so struck with the contrivance, that
he noted it in his journal, which was published with his
correspondence. A perspective view of one of these staircases is
annexed.
A staircase of this description, if made four feet in width, might take
up only one-third the usual space: it would be very applicable to
offices and warehouses where room cannot be spared, and where staircases
little better than ladders are used, but in such cases a baluster and
hand-rail should be placed between each second step, to prevent persons
falling.
The “Builder” of November, 1843, gave two views of an ingenious double
spiral staircase then exhibiting at a manufactory in Berners Street,
Commercial Road. It was described as extremely simple, the object being
to provide for ascent and descent without chance of meeting or
collision. It consisted of a deal or other board of suitable thickness 6
feet long and 12 inches wide, forming a double _tread_, and the _riser_
crossed, as it were from corner to corner, except as arranged to form a
_newel_ in the centre, of about five inches in diameter. The staircase
had twenty-two risers, and took one complete turn round.
[Illustration: Plaster ornament for a ceiling.]
_DESIGN No. 3._
A PICTURESQUE COTTAGE.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
[Illustration: Upper floor.]
This design for a peasant’s cottage possesses no architectural feature
beyond what could be given
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
to it by any common country village carpenter. It was made from the
recollection of one at Blaise Hamlet,
[Illustration: Side front.]
near Blaise Castle, in Gloucestershire, the seat of John I. Harford,
Esq., to whom the hamlet belonged. This was celebrated for having about
a dozen of these small picturesque structures, apparently put up by the
owner of the estate. Nearly the whole of them were provided with rustic
seats under a projecting roof, as well as with a pigeon-house at the
gable. This was called Vine Cottage; there were besides Sweet Briar
Cottage, Rose Cottage, Diamond Cottage, Dial Cottage, Jessamine Cottage,
Circular Cottage, and Oak Cottage. Views of all of them were first
published at Bristol by Mr. Western.
[Illustration: Section.]
There are numerous similar hamlets and villages in England, some having
the cottages, schoolhouses, literary meeting room, and even the village
pump, all in picturesque form, and generally architectural in character.
The plan given here is probably not like that of the cottage at the
hamlet. It illustrates one room, size 13 ft. by 12 ft., a scullery 12
ft. by 9 ft., and larder under the stairs. The latter are shown with
the double-rise step. The upper plan shows one room of the same size as
that below, and a closet. The scullery on the ground floor is large
enough to form a sleeping room for boys, or to make a small living room.
The height of the lower room is 9 feet 6 inches. The section shows the
general form and fittings of the rooms. The plate below the plans gives
an elevation of the front, showing the rustic seat and the side of the
entrance porch, the gable of the cottage formed into a pigeon-house,
together with the side front of the cottage and its entrance porch. The
small window at the side is intended to light the first steps of the
stairs; a small shed for wood or coals is placed at the back. Such a
cottage could be built and finished complete at a cost of about one
hundred and ten pounds.
[Illustration: Plaster frieze for drawing-room.]
_DESIGN No. 4._
A DOUBLE COTTAGE.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
[Illustration: Upper plan.]
These cottages were intended to be attached to some ornamental grounds
which were very carefully attended to; and as the building formed a
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
prominent object, it was rendered architectural and pleasing in
character. In plan the cottages are large
[Illustration: Section.]
and roomy, and they are of the cheapest kind. If constructed in plain
brickwork, without the ornamental gable on the porch, the pair could not
have cost more than 250_l._, and at that sum they have been estimated
for by a London builder. Each cottage has one living-room on the ground
floor, _f f_, of the size of 14 feet by 10 feet, with a scullery, _g g_,
attached, size 10 feet by 6 feet 6 inches, and a small larder and
staircase.
[Illustration]
The latter, with ten risers, leads to the upper floor, in which are one
large and one small room. The plate gives the ground plan, and the plan
of the upper floor. The closets are in the yard attached to the
cottages, but not shown in the plan.
The plate gives an elevation of one of the fronts, and a section, taken
through the living-room and scullery: a portion of the ornamental gable
is illustrated in the previous page.
* * * * *
The vignette represents an ornamental escutcheon and handle, in brass,
for an inner entrance-hall door. The drawing is one-third of the full
size.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 5._
A DOUBLE COTTAGE AND VILLAGE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
This building was intended to be placed in a village of one of the
midland counties, nearly all the buildings in the village being of
picturesque character. It was the property of a gentleman who was
erecting a large Elizabethan mansion in the neighbourhood; the design is
for a double cottage and Sunday school; the latter being under the
direction of the clergyman of the parish.
[Illustration: One-pair plan.]
The porch was decorated to give it importance, and form a shelter for
the clergyman in passing from one school to the other. One part was
intended for boys and the other for girls. The chimneys of the building
were grouped together in the centre so as to form a prominent object;
they were copied from a very fine ancient example, then existing at a
farm-house near Ashford, in Kent.
The illustration gives a view of the front, and the plans. Each of the
two principal rooms was 16 feet 6 inches by 13 feet 6 inches, with a
scullery on the side 10 feet square, and having a good oven; the larder
was under the stairs. The rooms above were
[Illustration: Section through length of building.]
of the same size as those below. One of the cottages had the centre room
below as well as that above arranged so that one had four rooms and the
other two; but this could be changed at any time, to provide each
cottage with three living rooms each. A section through the length of
the building and the chimney stack is given in the previous page, and an
elevation of the front is given above.
[Illustration: Elevation of entrance front.]
The building was to be constructed with sound stock bricks, and red
brick rusticated facing round the upper windows; the finishing of the
gables with their small pediments was of cut red bricks. Small compo
finials crowned the whole.
[Illustration: Finial.]
[Illustration: Finial.]
[Illustration: Elevation of chimney stack.]
The porch had trunks of trees for columns, the entablature and pediment
were formed of cut bricks and compo facing; the pilasters on each side
of the lower windows were of cut squared flint, peculiar to the county,
the whole resting on a plinth of rough country stone. A wooden
balustrade of simple pattern surmounted the porch, extending on each
side of the columns. These latter resting on a stone slab. The chimney
stack is shown, and its plan, on the previous page.
[Illustration: Plan.]
[Illustration: Elevation of a chimney stack at a farm-house, Ashford,
Kent.]
The old stack from Ashford, with the plan at its base, and capping, is
also illustrated.
These representations of the two chimney stacks, ancient and modern, are
drawn to the same scale, so that the difference between the present and
old mode of treatment may be seen. The large flues of the old example
permitted the then mode of sweeping, by discharging a culverin up the
flue. The occupants of the dwelling could not then have cared much for
return smoke in their rooms; which in these large flues, with coal as
fuel, must have been considerable, and could only be obviated or
prevented by the numerous cold draughts of air permitted to pass through
the interior of the building.
[Illustration: Plan of capping.]
[Illustration: Plan of base.]
The plan of this building was adapted from a very favourite one of the
late Sir John Soane. He erected it at Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire, for
the Earl of Hardwicke, in 1794. It had a very plain exterior, and the
roof was covered with thatch, a very common mode with architects at that
time, but now objected to from the serious evil of its harbouring
numerous insects--indeed at times they render the building almost
untenantable. The walls of the cottages at Wimpole were built in Pisé,
or with clay and fine gravel, properly prepared and beaten down in a
mould. Each wall was three feet in thickness, the fireplaces and
chimneys were of brick. Every opening was covered with strong wood
lintels, the whole width of the walls, and two feet longer than their
respective openings.
The walls stood on brick foundations two feet above the ground. The cost
of the construction was about 450_l._ Design No. 5 could not now be
constructed for less than 630_l._
It may be here remarked that nothing certain can be advanced about the
cost of a building until the situation and local circumstances are fully
known and considered. In the absence of these no estimates can be given
with that accuracy which every gentleman wishes for, and ought to be
possessed of, before he begins building.
_DESIGN No. 6._
A HUNTSMAN’S LODGE OR COTTAGE.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
[Illustration: Upper plan.]
This edifice was erected in the neighbourhood of some thick plantations
in a sporting district. It was constructed of brick, with a wooden
porch; the facing bricks of the walls being of a light-yellow colour,
with red bricks round the windows; and the whole of the cornices and the
four chimneys were of cut red brick. The building seen from among the
trees looks
[Illustration: Front elevation. Section.]
very pleasing. The ground plan shows a front room 13 feet square, with a
small scullery behind; the larder is under the stairs, which have the
double riser, and a window is placed both at the bottom as well as at
the upper part of the staircase, to give plenty of light. The upper plan
shows three bed-rooms, each about 10 feet by 6, and a small bed closet
for children, the closet having a ventilator in the chimney at the
angle. These chimneys, instead of being grouped together in the centre
of the structure, occupy the four corners--an expensive form of
erection, but one that gives more room in the interior. The elevation of
the front is given in the plate, and the section by its side; the small
figure below shows the different courses of cut bricks forming the
pediment and cornice.
[Illustration]
These were carefully executed, and had a good effect. The first figure
likewise illustrates the oak finial on the top of the roof. A
chimney-piece in one of the upper rooms had a quaint carving in the
centre of a fox’s head, a subject appropriate to the pursuits of the
occupant of the cottage.
[Illustration]
The chimney-piece, and the fox’s head on a larger scale, are here
represented. The gateway seen at the side of the building in the view
was formed by the workmen out of various old fragments; it leads to a
yard in which are various sheds and out-buildings.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
This vignette affords a specimen of ornamental iron railing intended for
exterior work, and suitable for any situation in which such may be
required, in consequence of the neatness of its pattern.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Rose Hill Villa.]
THE CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION FOR BUILDING COTTAGES.
Considerable pains have been taken for the last fifty years to discover
the best and cheapest method of building cottages; bricks, stones, wood,
mud, plaster, and lately straw and bitumen, have all been selected.
Sound bricks and good building stones, well incorporated with mortar of
a good and binding quality, will last for centuries; while those of mud,
clay, plaster or concrete are continually becoming out of repair, and
therefore ought never to be introduced where sound construction is
desired, and better materials can be procured. In our moist climate,
unless great pains are taken in compounding such materials as clay or
concrete, in constructing walls, and in protecting these against the
effects of the weather, they will soon decay. Mud walls, however, made
perfectly in the common manner, of clay well tempered and mixed with
sharp sand, will last very many years.
The preceding view represents Rose Hill Villa, near Stockbridge,
Hampshire. It is probably the largest and most important specimen of
such a construction in England, and comprises dining and drawing-rooms,
each 20 feet by 18 feet, morning-room, housekeeper’s-room, kitchen, back
kitchen, pantry, excellent cellars and all requisite offices; five very
superior bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a water-closet on the landing and
ground floor, and five servants’ bedrooms. It has a double coach-house,
harness-room, and stabling for four or six horses, and in the outhouses
a four-roomed cottage for the coachman.
This villa was formerly in the occupation of Fothergill Cooke, Esq.,[A]
the inventor of the Electric Telegraph, and is now the residence of Sir
Augustus Webster, Bart.
The building is constructed of chalk concrete, and has stood the test of
forty years’ exposure without any signs of decay. Mr. James Flitcroft
sent in 1843 a view of the villa to the “Builder,” and thus described
the construction of such houses in the locality:--The walls are carried
above the ground two and sometimes three feet to prevent the damp from
rising to the mud, which if wetted would scale off by the action of
frost. The kind of earth used is fine chalk, dug from the surface; if
timely notice of any building will permit, it is best dug in winter,
that the frost may act upon it. Buildings formed of this material can be
erected only in dry warm weather. The workmen in preparing this chalk
for use put about a cartload of it together, throw water over it, and
tread it with their feet, turn it over, again tread and turn it, until
it begins to bind something like loamy clay; then let it soak a little
while, when it is ready for use. The waller is able to put on a layer of
about fifteen inches; he begins at one corner and goes round the
building, putting one layer on another, taking care that the lower one
is sufficiently dry to bear the upper. In buildings of two stories high,
the walls are generally eighteen inches thick. When the walls are got up
five or six feet, and pretty dry, the quoins are plumbed, and the walls
dressed down a little, in order that the waller may see what he is
about. A small short spade is the best tool for this purpose, with short
handle and rather bent. The work is then proceeded with as before, until
it is raised up to the square of the building, when the
[Illustration: Elevation and section of a wall (see p. 86).]
walls get their general dressing, ready to receive their coating.
Mr. Flitcroft describes Rose Hill Villa as coated with stone,
lime-coloured and drawn. The columns of the villa are of brick. He
states that there are several other buildings of this kind at
Stockbridge, Winchester, and other places in the neighbourhood. He
describes a better method of constructing such walls by the use of a
moveable trough or box about 12 feet in length by 18 inches in depth.
This trough rests on bearers put across the wall, with a mortice at each
end wide enough apart to receive the sides, and the thickness of the
wall; in these are inserted uprights to prevent the sides giving way,
with others to go across the top. This mode of construction is however
very ancient, and when done on a large scale the primitive method is
still pursued.
This method is shown in the preceding engraving, which gives an
elevation and section of a wall in process of construction, with the
posts, _b b_, the moveable planking, _c c_, and cross pieces, _d_. It
will be seen that three courses of bricks are put about every five feet
in height. The figures here given are copied from a very old French work
on Architecture and Building; they also show the manner in which roof
construction was attempted with slabs of the same material, as shown in
figs. 1 and 2: the building is supposed to be square, as shown by the
dotted lines _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: Elevation.]
[Illustration: Section.]
The plan, elevation, and section given below represent a small tomb
wholly formed of concrete slabs, the door alone being excepted. This
little building forms really a solid concrete monolithic edifice.
[Illustration: The entrance door.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
A very common method of forming partitions, and even roofs in some of
the agricultural districts in Hampshire, is first to put them up with
strong wattle hurdles. They are double the size of the common hurdle,
and made of a thicker material. When in their place, they are plastered
over with concrete, and made about four inches in thickness; they very
often require repair. It is said that concrete walls are subject to
contraction and expansion, and speedily show vertical cracks at
intervals, which in our damp climate would soon permit the wet to enter.
There can be no question as to its strength as a building material, as
some experiments conducted by the Institute of British Architects gave
the following results--viz., “Concrete composed of two parts of lime,
thirty-six parts of sand, and five parts of cement, can resist a
crushing weight of four tons to the square inch, being twice the
strength of Portland stone, eight times the strength of Bath stone, and
sixteen times the strength of brickwork.”
In constructing cottages with concrete everything depends upon the
goodness of the cement and the care with which it is used. The occupiers
of these cottages are frequently their own operators; the work is
generally too speedily performed, and the consequence is that the fruits
of their labour are in most instances of but short duration.
For obvious reasons it is necessary that the greatest economy should be
observed in the construction of peasants’ cottages, and for these
reasons the apartments should always be on the ground floor, which will
render it unnecessary to build them more than eight or nine feet high.
Where mud walls are introduced, the lower they are made the better, in
which case they should be made to batir on the outside so as to resist
the pressure of the roof, the covering of which should project as much
as possible, to throw off the wet and protect the walls. The chimney
flues in these clay and concrete walls are formed of drain-pipes, which
answer admirably. These humble dwellings should be paved with
brick-on-edge paving laid on sand, which is much warmer, and more
conducive to health than any sort of rough flagging, plaster, mud, or
concrete floor. The latter, although much cheaper, can never be made to
look clean. Foundations of clay or concrete walls should be of brick a
few courses above the surface, and the walls when dry should be covered
with a thick coat of plaster consisting of lime and sand, or what is
still better, a coating of good Portland cement. This ought constantly
to be kept perfect, as everything depends upon the goodness of the work.
Concrete improperly mixed is not so strong as brickwork, but is mere
rubbish; but when perfectly done it hardens with age, becoming like
stone, impervious both to wet and frost.
Materials can be found in every locality. One of the principal
constructors using such, Mr. Tall, who works with an excellently
contrived apparatus, thus describes them:--“Clay, which may be burnt
into ballast easily and cheaply, and is a most superior material for
concrete; gravel, stone, crushed slag from furnaces, smith’s clinkers,
oyster-shells, broken glass, crockery, or any hard and durable
substance. Where sandstone or any flat stone is to be found, walls can
be built even cheaper than of gravel concrete, as a labourer can break
the stone.” He gives the proportions of materials used in houses then
being constructed at Gravesend, as follows:
£ _s._ _d._
7 yards of burrs from brickfield, at 5s. 1 15 0
7 yards of gravel stone, at 3s. 1 1 0
1 yard of Portland cement, 16 bushels to the
cubic yard, at 2s. 1 12 0
Labour, at 2s. per cube yard 1 10 0
---------
Total £5 18 0
---------
Three cubic yards of concrete will build 60 yards of 9-inch work, at a
fraction under 1_s._ 11_d._ per yard.
Concrete cottages have been built at Setting, in Kent, under Mr. Adkins,
architect, that cost only 105_l._ per pair; the ground floor contained
two rooms; with the usual larder and closets, and the upper floor three
rooms and a cupboard; these cottages had gabled fronts and were
picturesque in character. It would be an extra expense over the common
method to construct floors and roofing of concrete; the advantage to be
gained would be their fire-proof character.
In superior buildings the high tenacious power of good cement is
repeatedly, it may be said commonly taken advantage of in the
construction of roofs. These are formed by cementing plain tiles, and
they have considerable strength. Roofs of 12 feet span, constructed in
segmental form, rising three feet, and only of three plain tiles in
thickness, successfully resist great pressure, and are durable in a very
superior degree; but they require to be well tied in, and formed
between iron girders connected together with iron tie rods, otherwise
they sink and force out the walls. Roofs of cemented tiles have been
constructed from 30 to 40 feet span, and have been found to answer well;
hoop-iron bond, laid at intervals between the tiles, is a great
advantage. The tenacious power of good cement was proved in a very high
degree a few years ago by Mr. Brunel, in the construction of two
semi-arches built of brick, springing from a pier or abutment 14 feet in
height. One extended 50 feet in length, the other 38; the rise of the
arches was 10 feet, the width only 4 feet 6 inches; a weight of about 40
tons was suspended to the extremity of the shorter arch without breaking
it.
The result of this test proved that arches of 200 feet or 300 feet span,
and probably more, might be constructed in the same manner at very
moderate expense, without centering. Iron-hoop bond is said to nearly
double the strength or holding power of the cement. Flat experimental
beams have been constructed of brick and cement, with hoop-iron bond
laid horizontally between the joints or courses of the brickwork, which
have given equally extraordinary results.
Concrete for walling was extensively used in England at the beginning of
the present century; it got into bad repute through failure of a river
wall at Woolwich, where it was either badly done, some mistake was made,
or it was unsuited to the position. The wall was constructed of blocks
of concrete cast in moulds, and submitted to pressure while setting; a
coating of fine stuff being applied for the sake of appearance, ample
time having been allowed for the blocks to set and harden before use.
The blocks were 1 foot 6 inches high, the binders and stretchers in the
course being each 2 feet 6 inches long, the bed of the former being 2
feet, and of the latter 1 foot; the wall was built upon piles, its
height above the piles being 24 feet; the thickness at bottom was 9
feet, at top 5 feet with a batir in front of 3 feet in 22.
The face of the wall was composed of blocks, as described, and rough
concrete thrown in to complete its thickness, and that of the
counterforts. After a frost it was found that this wall was seriously
damaged, hardly a single block having escaped, and in many cases their
whole face had peeled off to the depth of half an inch. The discharge of
a drain from a height of 6 or 8 feet had worn away the lower courses to
the depth of some inches. On a like wall at Chatham, similar but much
more severe effects were produced.
The failure of this wall costing about 80,000_l._, was a serious matter,
and for several years after architects looked upon concrete as being so
much uneatable hasty pudding, considering that it was only beneficial
when confined in a trench for foundations. Sir Robert Smirke used it in
the foundations of the Penitentiary, Millbank, and Sir John Soane in
1830 used it in the foundations of the New State Paper Office (now
pulled down) in St. James’s Park. Here the ground had to be excavated to
a depth of 22 feet before arriving at a gravelly stratum; at each high
tide the Thames filled the trenches with water, which remained in
considerable quantity; as this was pumped out, the adjoining party walls
of the buildings in Duke-street cracked so completely that they had to
be taken down. The trenches were first filled to the height of two feet
with broken stones and bricks from the old buildings, and then dry lime
and clean river sand, with a large quantity of small broken granite
stones, were thrown in from the height above. A body of concrete 8 feet
in width by a thickness of 3 feet was thus formed; the water ceased to
enter the trenches and the building was commenced.
Mr. G. Godwin, the editor of the “Builder,” in an essay on concrete
which gained the first prize given by the Royal Institution of British
Architects, appears to have been the first to suggest its use in walls
above ground; and for these Portland cement concrete, when properly
prepared, is without question an admirable material.
_DESIGN No. 7._
[Illustration: A garden gate--plan and elevation.]
In France it is used to a very great extent, in numerous bridges, and
several miles of large sewers. A church (that at Vésinet, near Paris, of
mediæval architecture), constructed entirely with iron and this
concrete, is completely fireproof. In England a considerable length of
sewer has been constructed of concrete at Sidmouth, under the direction
of Mr. Phillips; and near London, between the Kensington and Gloucester
Road stations of the Metropolitan Railway, a very large handsome bridge,
rusticated, and in design similar to, and in every respect in appearance
a stone bridge. From some alteration required in the railway, it has
been removed.
This mode of construction is now being practically tested in the north
of England, at Church Bank, Alnmouth, in its complete form, in a cottage
built entirely of concrete, having three rooms, scullery, and other
conveniences. The material used in the building, as we are told by the
“Builder,” is Portland cement and gravel from the sea-shore. The
foundation is in sand 6 inches thick and 18 inches wide; in this there
is a base course, and above, the walls are 9 inches in thickness. Part
of the erection is two stories in height. The roofs are all flat, and
are constructed entirely of concrete and old wire rope. The ceilings are
divided into panels by ribs at right angles, and require no plastering.
A wall on the upper floor is supported by a concrete beam with a
13-feet span; and a large cistern is formed under the roof of the pantry
for rain water. The sides of the cistern forming the walls of the
bedroom will test severely the impermeability of the material. No wood
is used except for doors, and no iron except five shillings’ worth of
old wire rope. This is said to be an experiment made by the Duke of
Northumberland.
Another experimental cottage has been constructed under Mr. Edwin
Chadwick’s superintendence at East Sheen near Mortlake. In this the
walls are formed of light iron framework filled with compressed straw,
bitumen, and concrete. The thickness of each wall complete is only about
three and a half inches. The floors are of bitumen and concrete, covered
with ordinary deal boards; the roof has the same construction as the
walls. These, inside, may be either left rough or finely smoothed,
without additional cost. In the former case it is said they resemble the
ordinary “dashes” of stuccoed cottages; in the latter they appear as if
coated with Roman cement, after the fashion of villas and town houses.
If a construction of this kind can be made durable it possesses superior
advantages to every other. In England both stone and brick are great
absorbents of moisture, causing the occupants of the houses to be
afflicted by rheumatism and other undesirable ailments. Any building
material that is non-absorbent of moisture is a great desideratum yet
unsatisfied.
An elevation of a design for a garden gate and balustrade to be formed
of concrete blocks is given in Design No. 7. It was originally intended
for the entrance to an old house in Berkshire.
* * * * *
The vignette beneath is a Swiss pattern of open woodwork used by the
author as balustrading. The construction is too simple to require
explanation.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 8._
A PARK LODGE.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
The entrance lodge to a country park may be considered as a superior
kind of cottage; it is
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
often occupied by some favourite domestic or other attaché of the
family. It is usually placed in a prominent position, dressed with
surrounding trees, and with the accompanying gates, posts, and rails.
Considerable attention is always paid to the lodge.
[Illustration: Back front.]
An ugly one is an exception, and is very seldom seen. In most cases the
lodge is similar in character to the mansion to which it permits
approach: a Gothic house, hence has a Gothic lodge, and an Elizabethan
[Illustration: Section.]
house a lodge of the same character; frequently it is in the Rustic
style that would suit either. Of this the present design and the
following are examples.
This design was made for one story only, and it is placed so as to
command, or have a view of two roads by which it can be approached; the
plan shows a living room, 13 ft. by 13 ft., a scullery, _g_, 12 ft. by 9
ft, a larder, _h_, and two sleeping rooms. It has a porch, formed with
trunks of trees, enclosing a seat or bench. The back front is made of a
pleasing character, having a covered way to the closet and coal cellar,
_l_.
The section shows the height of the rooms, 11 × 6 from floor to collar
beam. The construction was to have been in the common fashion in brick,
with red brick facing, and compo dressings round the windows and top of
chimney stack, the latter in cut red brick. An erection of this kind
could not be completed under a cost of about 370_l._
[Illustration: Plaster cornice for a drawing-room.]
_DESIGN No. 9._
A PARK LODGE.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
This design was a second study for the same small building illustrated
in the previous design. It was intended for a different site, and so
placed as to command only one road of approach. It could have been seen
for nearly two miles previous to reaching it, and was placed about
twenty feet behind the entrance gates; the front had a rustic porch
intended to contain rustic seats. The plan shows a living room 18 feet
by 14, a small scullery, _g_, larder, _h_, and two sleeping rooms each
13 feet by 10 feet. The section is taken through the centre of the
building, showing the front and back porch. It could be constructed for
about 375_l._
[Illustration: Section.]
Either of these lodges could be constructed in concrete, the walls twice
the thickness, the chimney stock in brick and cement, and their cost
would be reduced.
_DESIGN No. 10._
AN ENTRANCE LODGE TO A PARK
This lodge stands within an ancient park in Kent. It occupies a
triangular piece of ground and commands three roads of approach. The
building is
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
strictly in accordance with the style of the old family mansion within
the park itself, which is a celebrated structure of the times of
Elizabeth and James I. The
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
perspective view represents the lodge as seen from the avenue of trees
within the park, the road coming
[Illustration: The front elevation.]
between. In the ground plan, p. 105, _a_ is the porch, _b_ the living
room, _c_ the scullery, and _d_ the larder; _g_ are the steps leading to
a vault under the stairs, used for coals, and _f_ is the stone cover
over the dry well. Considerable care and attention were
[Illustration: Perspective view of back and side fronts, from a
photograph.]
bestowed in working out the details of this building, which was wholly
erected by the workmen of the estate, with bricks and stone also from
the estate. The lower part or plinth of the structure is of ashlar
ragstone in random courses, the top course header faced, the joints
worked fair, and a sunk splay in the top tooled fair, the course rising
nine inches on the
[Illustration: Plan of upper floor.]
face, with an average depth in the bed of eleven inches. The string over
the lower windows is in moulded brick,
[Illustration: Plan of roof timbers.]
faced with compo,--the gables and the chimneys are constructed and
finished with cut red bricks. The
[Illustration: Side elevation.]
[Illustration: Details of entrance porch.]
finials, of which there are three, are copied from those of the old
mansion, and cost each 3_l._ The front and side elevations are here
given, together with the details of the entrance porch. The columns were
formed of trunks of trees, with an entablature and pediment of brick
tiles and compo, with iron ties securing the whole.
[Illustration: Finial.]
[Illustration: Finial.]
The brick walls were splashed externally in four colours, black, white,
red, and yellow, which gave a very pleasing tone of colour to the whole.
The plan
[Illustration: Section.]
of the upper floor shows the rooms like the lower, each of the average
length of 21 and a width of 10 feet. The staircase leads conveniently to
the two upper rooms; _a_ is a trap-door to permit furniture and large
baggage to be lifted up from below. The sections show the construction
of the roof, the timbers of which were firmly secured by iron straps, _b
b_. The chimney forms a prominent feature in the centre of the building,
the construction of which is shown in the annexed cut; _c_ are corbel
bricks, _b_ the iron strap.
[Illustration: Section.]
The last two illustrations are sections through the coal-cellar and the
dry well. The photographic view shows the small circular gable over the
staircase. There are only six of these gables, as a seventh could not be
obtained, or it might have been called the “house with the seven
gables.” The structure cost 526_l._, the cottage design No. 2, on the
same estate, 311_l._, both in full.
[Illustration: Plan and section of chimney stack.]
_DESIGN No. 11._
AN ENTRANCE LODGE AND GATEWAY TO A PARK.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
The first erection of an entrance lodge and gateway to a country park,
is often considered of sufficient importance to meet with very full and
careful
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
consideration. If the park is an ancient one, the old castellated style
for the entrance lodge will mark its character, and it is generally
chosen, although the
[Illustration: Plan of upper floor.]
building or mansion within the park itself may be of more recent style.
The family architect, in such cases, will have to make various sketches
before one is selected that gives general satisfaction. The castellated
Tudor design shown in the perspective view, was the first one made under
such circumstances, and several designs were submitted before it was put
aside, and one selected similar in style and character to the mansion
within the park, and which was soon carried out.
[Illustration: Front elevation of lodge.]
The ground plan, p. 113, shows the lodge to have very little
accommodation, one small room 15 feet by 11 feet, with a scullery
attached; indeed, one of the principal reasons for giving up the design
was that the steep character of the ground did not admit a larger
erection. The staircase of the lodge led to one upper room over the
gateway; this was 13 feet by 13 feet. The elevation of the lodge is
shown at p. 114.
[Illustration: Elevation of half gate.]
[Illustration: A]
[Illustration: B]
[Illustration: C]
[Illustration: D]
The details are plain and bold; a shield of arms with quatrefoils is
placed over the side entrance; these and the ornaments on the bay-window
are the chief enrichments.
The lodge was to have been erected with ragstone ashlar for the quoins
and red-brick facing for walls,--the bay-window and all the strings and
battlements were to be in Caen stone. The iron gates were to be of
wrought iron in the olden style. An elevation of one of the gates is
given, showing a thin ornamental pattern within a strong iron frame.
[Illustration: Elevation of second design.]
The parts, ¼ full size, are shown; _a_ is the top rail, _b_ the circular
bar, _c_ a section and elevation of the hanging rail, and _d_ the
meeting bar.
The accommodation required by the gate-keeper who was to occupy the
lodge was greater than could be well provided on the site the building
was to stand on. What he did ask for was given in a second
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
design, which, as it shows a different treatment of the elevation, is
here illustrated. In this the rooms are
[Illustration: Plan of upper floor.]
larger, as may be seen by the ground plan; _c_, the back room, is
intended to be used as a boy’s sleeping room; _h_ is the larder under
the stairs, and _l_ is a place for coals. The upper plan shows the room
over the gateway; a second room was to be added by taking up the walls
of the lodge.
[Illustration: Details of bay-window, second design.]
The elevation of this design was considered more quaint and
characteristic of the olden style than the first; its window is copied
from one at the old gatehouse to the abbey at Montacute in
Somersetshire, both as to dimensions and detail. It is rather late in
style, and not a very good example, but it is here given with a few
sections and details to a larger scale.
* * * * *
The vignette affords a plan of an old English garden with its labyrinth,
fountains, fishponds, and flower beds.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 12._
A STOVE FOR AN ENTRANCE HALL
[Illustration: Elevation of stove.]
This stove is intended to fill a recess in the hall of a Baronial
Mansion, placed on a marble pavement with groups of ancient armour,
pikes and
[Illustration: Plan of stove.]
helmets, and the other like warlike implements of ancient times,
surrounding it. The plan shows its interior to be filled with fire-clay.
It is only a
[Illustration: The front of stove, the shield or door open.]
[Illustration: Side of stove.]
[Illustration: Section of stove.]
common iron stove, but with a more artistic outline or figure than is
generally seen; the section shows the construction. A moveable box is
placed within the pedestal to receive the ashes; the smoke flue leaves
at the back; the helmet opens to receive a cup of water; the section
shows the construction. When the shield is open the fire is seen; this
could be made partly open, so as to allow the fire to be wholly closed
in.
* * * * *
The vignette is a portion of a French design for an iron balconet. In
France these balconets are regarded as necessary protections at the
window openings. In England they are used chiefly for holding flowers.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 13._
QUEEN’S GATE LODGE, HYDE PARK.
The formation of that new and important suburb of London, known as
Queen’s Gate, South Kensington, resulted, as is well known, from the
exertions of His Royal Highness the Prince Consort. It
[Illustration: First design, Gate Entrance to Hyde Park.]
promises soon to become the most fashionable and attractive portion of
the Metropolis, as the land is engaged for the purpose of applying it to
national objects connected with the Arts and Sciences, by the
[Illustration: Perspective view of Lodge, Queen’s Gate.]
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
Government. Consequently, with the beauty of the situation, this has led
to the erection of a large number of first-class mansions of the value
of from 20,000_l._ each to 3000_l._ (leaseholds.) The author of this
work, at the time of the purchase by the Government, was surveyor to the
principal estate in that locality--that of the late Charles, Earl of
Harrington;
[Illustration: Perspective view of Lodge opposite the Exhibition Road,
Hyde Park.]
and an opening to Hyde Park, for the chief new road, being granted by
Government, he had to submit designs for the new entrance lodge and
gates to the Commissioner of Public Works. The first design he had made
had previously been submitted to the Prince. It was on a large scale, an
archway being placed in the centre, with gates and lodges on each side.
But as the new entrance had to be made at the expense of the builders of
the Harrington Estate, designs of a more modest character were chosen.
[Illustration]
Lord Llanover, then Sir Benjamin Hall, was the Chief Commissioner of
Public Works, and took great interest in the designs, repeatedly
visiting the spot, and having various studies made; indeed the works
were carried out under his supervision and direction.
The opening into Hyde Park was 140 feet in length; this was filled up by
the gates and railings, a lodge being placed within the park.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
[Illustration: Side elevation.]
The view shows the lodge as it was erected by Mr. Aldin, one of the
building lessees of the Harrington estate; it cost him about 800_l._ The
iron gates and railing were put up by Mr. W. Jackson, the chief building
lessee on the same estate, at a cost which amounted to upwards of
2000_l._
[Illustration: Section through length of building.]
The lodge contains two rooms on the ground floor the front room being 17
feet by 12 feet, the back room 13 feet by 11 feet. The basement has two
rooms of the same size; with a small yard, a place for coals, and a dry
area surrounding the whole. The plans are shown under the perspective
view; the front and side elevations on page 128; the small portico has
the centre columns without rusticated blocks, so that no square edges
or projecting parts obstruct the entrance of persons into the lodge.
[Illustration: Cross section.]
The section through the length of the building shows the two upper and
the two lower rooms, with the sunk yard; it does not show clearly the
section of the ground outside the building; the level of this is 18
inches below the floor of the upper rooms. The basement is completely
buried, but as the small structure stood upon a mound and was protected
by a dry area, this was of little consequence. The cross section next
given shows the level of the outside ground correctly, with the two dry
areas. Over this cross section are given two small details of the
construction of the roof.
The building was of stone and brick, the ashlar front of the walls Bath
stone, and the cornice of Portland--this was made so as to form the
gutter.
The lodge has lately been taken down, and reconstructed on the opposite
side of the entrance gate. So completely was this done that only one
small block of stone was required to complete it, and this was only a
replacement of one broken. The structure itself has been reproduced by
the Government as a lodge opposite to the Exhibition Road. In the cut at
page 127, is given a section through the portico and a section through
the end wall.
The first design, made by the author, was intended to embody the views
of His Royal Highness Prince Albert, in regard to the arrangement of the
buildings for the purpose of Science and Art then proposed to be erected
on the newly purchased estate. They comprised one for the collection of
Pictures, at that time occupying only half the building at Trafalgar
Square; this, the New National Gallery, was to be surrounded with other
structures, affording ample accommodation for the chief learned and
Artistic Societies of London. A large central Hall of Arts and Sciences
was to be placed in their midst; the whole to form a metropolitan
institution for the promotion of scientific and artistic knowledge as
connected with industrial pursuits. It is well known that the surplus
funds of the Exhibition of 1851, amounting to the sum of 150,000_l._,
were offered by the Royal Exhibition Commissioners at the instance of
the Prince, for the purpose of carrying out this grand conception. The
report of the House of Commons’ Committee on the National Gallery
strongly recommended the offer to be accepted, and Parliament at first
assenting, voted another sum of like amount for carrying out the entire
project. The sum of 300,000_l._ was found, however, insufficient for
purchasing the whole of the ground required, and a further grant of from
25,000_l._ to 27,000_l._ was voted by Parliament, and a sum of
15,000_l._ was given by the Royal Commissioners. Mr. Cubitt was engaged
to obtain the ground, and the roads through the Harrington estate were
planned by him in conjunction with the author, who aided him to the
utmost of his power in obtaining the land requisite to complete the site
required for the various buildings proposed to occupy it. The site was
2100 feet in length, by an average breadth of 1200 feet, and consisted
of about 56 acres; the level of the ground on the north of Kensington
being about 36 feet higher than the portion at Brompton. Another block
of land, upon which the Department of Science and Art is at present
placed, made a space with an average width of 700 feet--in the whole 86
acres.
In sketching the design for the general building, of which a bird’s-eye
view is here given, the author only took the 56 acres--the view shows
only that portion of the building facing the Prince Albert’s Road, now
called Queen’s Gate. It is placed in the centre of the land, so as to
have large open grounds surrounding it. These at any time could have
been covered up for the purpose of national exhibitions similar to those
of 1851 and 1862. By putting the level of the ground floor of the new
building about ten feet above that of the Kensington Road, a
sub-basement would have been obtained, over 30 feet in height, affording
ample space for arranging and storing works of art, as well as for
receiving articles to be exhibited, or a great portion of them, from the
upper parts of the building should the latter be wanted for any special
purpose, and affording room likewise for all minor business departments.
The Hall of Arts and Sciences was to be placed in the centre of the mass
of building: a portion of the dome is seen in the view at the upper
left-hand corner. This room was to be made 300 feet in length, by 180 in
width. Two galleries for paintings, each 1000 feet in length and 80 feet
in breadth, were to be placed on each side of the Central Hall. The
sculptures from the British Museum were to be deposited in the central
smaller halls of approach. The various Societies were to occupy the
side-wings,
[Illustration: View of Queen’s Gate, Hyde Park, with the National
Gallery and other buildings, as suggested by His Royal Highness the late
Prince Consort.]
each having its meeting and lecture room, and all necessary offices and
apartments. The public were to enter at the porticoes seen in the view,
and the carriages of the professors at the gateways in front. Two roads
were proposed traversing the ground from north to south, and giving easy
access for vehicles to every part of the building.
In the small block plan attached to the view, placed on the upper
right-hand corner, _b_ is the Prince Albert’s Road, _a_ the Exhibition
Road, and _c_ and _d_ the roads north and south.
The design was placed before the Prince at one of the Architects’
meetings at the Earl de Grey’s, and it was exhibited at the Royal
Academy in the same year. The House of Commons, however, after granting
such a large sum of money for the purchase of the land, expressed its
disapproval of removing the National Gallery from the present position,
said to be the finest site in Europe, and the Fellows of the Royal
Academy were informed that the portion of the building they then
occupied would be added to that of the gallery. A view of the gates and
lodge as at present executed is here given.
[Illustration]
It cannot be supposed that a sum of 340,000_l._ would have been expended
by the nation for the purpose of giving the Horticultural Society a
perpetual lease of the best portion of the estate purchased. It is
already evident that the gardens are not well situated there. The smoke
of the district will not permit the growth of delicate plants, and their
exhibitions are supplied from the gardens at Chiswick. In much less than
fifty years their grounds will probably be the centre of London, and
consequently the noble conception of His Royal Highness has still a good
chance of being carried into effect. The Society will be smoked out when
the city bounds are extended. The present National Gallery building will
be wanted either for a Bank of England or a Royal Exchange, and my Lord
Mayor may follow the example of the India Directors, and leave the
Mansion House, to move to Whitehall. A tunnel under the Exhibition Road
takes visitors into the grounds direct from the railway, that now makes
them as easy of access from the heart of the City as Charing Cross
itself.
A few remarks may be made here on the great rise which takes place in
the value of land in any fashionable neighbourhood of London required
for the erection of buildings.
The Harrington estate at Kensington Gore, containing in the whole 93a.
3r. 27p., was the joint property of the Earl of Harrington and of the
Baron de Villars, through the right of his wife, the Baroness de
Graffenried Villars. Previous to 1848 it had been some time in Chancery.
In that year Mr. John Gaunt Lye was appointed auditor and agent to the
fifth Earl of Harrington for the whole of the property. The rental of
the Kensington Gore estate amounted at this time to 2779_l._ 9_s._ per
annum. Through Mr. Lye’s exertions, he having received a power of
attorney for the purpose, the estate was taken out of Chancery, and a
division took place on the 7th May, 1850, at Mr. Lye’s office in
Lancaster Place. For the purpose of division, one portion--that charged
with maintaining the Cromwell Almshouses--was valued at 41,996_l._, and
the other at 40,552_l._ Cards representing each portion were placed in a
hat, and the one representing the 41,996_l._, was taken out by the
Baron.
In 1851 the Earl’s portion was let to Mr. W. Jackson on a building
agreement for 99 years, at 100_l._ per acre, or 4600_l._ per annum. In
1852 the Baron de Villars sold his moiety to the Royal Commissioners for
the Exhibition of 1851 for the sum of 153,793_l._ The Commissioners only
wanted a small portion of the Earl’s property. The first offer made by
Mr. Cubitt to the surveyor of the estate was 40,800_l._ for 17 acres,
or at the rate of 2400_l._ per acre. This was declined, and after a
little negotiation the sum of 54,716_l._ was obtained. The matter was
settled on the 7th of March, 1853; Mr. Jackson the builder received
7964_l._ as compensation for the loss of so much of his building land.
More land was purchased by the Royal Commissioners to make up the site
they required; in the very middle of the latter was a field which had
only been used as a place for beating carpets. It belonged to the Smith
Charity estate, and fetched a rent of about 40_l._ per annum; this field
was obtained by giving in exchange an outlaying one on the Villars
estate, the building value of which was estimated at 800_l._ per annum.
The Royal Commissioners, after squaring the site they required, and
putting aside the portion now occupied by the Department of Science and
Art, parcelled out the remaining outlying portion into three blocks, and
let them on building leases. The first and most important of these was
secured by the author for an employer, at a rental of 1500_l._ per
annum, on condition that the fee of each house plot could be purchased
within 6 years after the lease was granted; it contained about 2 acres.
And these are now the only freeholds that can be obtained. This plot is
now covered with buildings of the selling value, as leaseholds, of
250,000_l._, and it produces an improved ground rental. For the purchase
of the whole fee, the sum to be paid was 46,500_l._, so that for a
portion of this land which the author of this work, as surveyor of the
property, sold in 1852 for little more than 3200_l._ per acre, the value
had risen, in 1860, to no less than 23,250_l._ per acre.
It is only since Hyde Park has become almost the centre of the
metropolis, instead of being in one of its rural districts, that
attention has been paid to supply it with ornamental lodges and gates.
The country was so long occupied with the importance of the war with
France, which terminated so gloriously to the honour of our country,
that the Royal Parks were left in a very neglected state; and the gates
and lodges, particularly the entrance into London by Knightsbridge, were
mean in character, and totally unworthy of the purpose.
Londoners of the present day have no notion of the wretched state of
Hyde Park as it existed fifty years ago. The side next Park Lane, now a
beautiful walk, adorned by the gardener’s utmost skill with several
varieties of flowers and shrubs, was then a narrow sunken road, which
for the most part continued, by the side of the boundary wall, all the
way from Oxford Street to Piccadilly. This, when improvement commenced,
was filled up, and laid down in grass; and a wide Mall, with two
foot-paths, was formed on the higher ground, and enclosed by handsome
iron posts and rails. Some extensive gravel pits existed in the middle
of the park; these were filled up, one only being permitted to remain.
The surface of the park was generally levelled and manured, by which the
herbage has been greatly improved. Numerous seats were placed about the
park, for the convenience of the public; clumps and avenues of trees
were planted. The Serpentine was cleansed for the first time; it is just
now recleansed. A new drive, nearly a mile in extent was made through
the most distant and beautiful part of the park, to lead to Kensington
Gardens; and generally, all the roads were macadamized, and enclosed
with posts and rails. To connect the roads north and south of the
Serpentine, a handsome bridge was erected, from the designs and under
the superintendence of Messrs. Rennie. This has much conduced to the
accommodation of pedestrians and horsemen.
About twenty years after these great improvements were effected, Queen
Anne’s garden, at the extreme termination of Kensington Gardens, was
thrown open to the public; the kitchen garden belonging to Kensington
Palace was let out on building leases, and a road formed through it
connecting the town of Kensington with Bayswater. This road, called the
Queen’s Palace Gardens Road, is now covered from end to end with
first-class mansions. The improvements continued, and are being still
carried on.
The lodges and gates, at the chief entrances into the park, were put up
at the expense of the nation. When any building operator required an
entrance into the park, for some new outlying district, he bore the
expense of the construction, working under the direction of Her
Majesty’s Chief Commissioner of Works. The Government lodges at
Cumberland Place cost 2151_l._ One of these has been lately removed to
widen Park Lane.
The two first lodges, with gates opposite Stanhope Street, cost 5062_l._
The single lodge at the end of Grosvenor Street, with the iron gates,
cost 2929_l._, and the fountain 340_l._
The grandest of all these erections, that at Hyde Park corner, adjoining
the Duke of Wellington’s mansion, cost 17,069_l._
The first lodge and entrance gates put up by a private building
contractor was the Albert Gate, erected by the late Thomas Cubitt; the
lodge is sunk, its flat roof being on a level only eight feet above the
ground, and containing two small rooms, with a little yard and scullery.
The iron railing forming the carriage gates and entrances to the
foot-paths is of the same height as the lodge, and extends about 60
feet; the stone piers have on them the old stags which formerly
decorated the stone piers at the entrance of the Ranger’s Lodge in
Piccadilly. This gate gave an entrance by Hyde Park to Belgravia, and
very much raised the value of that district.
The next lodge and gate were put up by Mr. Kelk, opposite the fine
mansions at Prince’s Gate. This is known as the Prince of Wales’s Gate.
There are two lodges in size and plan exactly similar to the lodge at
the Queen’s Gate. The gates and railings are very plain; they are 12
feet in height, and extend to a length of 77 feet.
The Queen’s Gate lodge and gates are certainly the chief of all the
erections put up by building contractors; their cost was 2800_l._, as
previously mentioned. Both in ornamentation and character they vie with
the best erections put up by the Government. The length of the iron-work
between the stone pedestals is 140 feet; the height of the common rails,
11 feet above ground; the height of the standard and lamp, 18 feet;
there are two carriage gates, each of 15 feet opening, and two entrances
for foot-passengers, each of 10 feet opening. The stone pedestals at
each end are 6 feet in width by 15 feet in height. The iron-work is
designed to represent a group of spears; the author wished to surmount
the pedestals with groups of military arms similar to those of the
trophies of
[Illustration: Design No. 13. Elevation of centre of iron-work, Queen’s
Gate.]
Marius on the balustrading in front of the Senatorial Palace, Rome.
These could have been constructed in
[Illustration: Elevation of one of the Iron Standards.]
stone, at little expense. Sir Benjamin Hall wished for marble statues,
and on Prince Albert’s suggestion models were made of two reclining
figures, by Mr.
[Illustration: Section showing construction of Standard.]
Theed, representing “Morning” and “Evening.” These would have caused
great additional expense to the builders, who wished, as the entrance
was a great improvement in the value of the Earl of Harrington’s
property at Kensington, to place, on the piers, two
[Illustration: Plans of Standard at various heights, showing
construction.]
fine antique statues of Hercules then on the gates at Elvaston in
Derbyshire, a country seat of the Earl’s. But as the statues belonged to
the estate, and were entailed property, they could not be removed, and
the Earl objected to their being taken down for the purpose of casting.
The effect of the whole is much injured by the pedestals remaining
unoccupied. The plate on page 143 represents the centre of the ironwork,
surmounted by the Royal Arms.
[Illustration: Iron block and ball latch.]
The gates and railing are of very superior construction; they are the
work of Mr. Turner, of Hinde Street, Manchester Square. They have been
pronounced by the Government officials as requiring little attention,
and that the gates open and shut better than any other gates in the
park. Page 144 gives an elevation of one of the iron standards. Each is
two feet in width; there are ten of them; four, those belonging to the
carriage entrances, being surmounted by lamps. The small size of this
volume will not allow a full illustration of the ornamentation to be
given, but it admits that important part, the construction, to be
clearly shown. Page 145 gives a section of one of the standards, _d_ is
a layer of concrete, 1 foot 6 inches in height and four feet in width,
which goes all through; _a_ is the York landing, 6 inches thick and 5
feet square; _b_ is the brickwork, this goes all through; _c c_
represent the blocks of Portland stone; and _e_ is the granite curb 8
inches by 10 inches in section, within the entrances.
[Illustration: Wheel block.]
Page 146 gives the plans of the standards at different heights, showing
the several plates given in the section; and on page 149 is a section of
the wrought-iron coupling-bar with its brass bush.
The gates move on a hardened steel socket of circular form, working
within a steel box, as shown in the section.
[Illustration: Fall-down latch.]
[Illustration: Coupling-bar.]
Iron block and ball latches are provided for each of the gates. On pages
148 and 149 are cuts of the wheel block, with the plan, elevation, and
section of the stopping-piece or fall-down latch. The stopping-piece is
keyed into the granite curb in the centre of each gateway; _a a_ is the
lower rail of gates, and by its side is a small portion of the ornament
between the rails. That the effect of the whole structure was, very
much injured by the unfinished state of the pedestals was the opinion of
Lord Llanover, who sent the following letter to the architect,
expressing his dissatisfaction:
Great Stanhope Street,
_July 11, 1859_.
SIR,
The works at the Queen’s Gate, Hyde, Park, are very well executed,
and the entrance, as completed, produces a good effect; but that
effect would be materially improved if the gates and the railings,
and the ornamental works were relieved by colour, and some of the
parts gilt as I intended they should be. The two pedestals are also
without the groups which were to form the superstructure of the
square blocks. The work so far as it is executed is very well
executed, and I am quite satisfied with it so far; but I shall not
consider it completed until the groups are placed on the pedestals,
and the best effect will not be produced so long as the iron-work
remains wholly black.
I am, Sir,
Yours faithfully,
LLANOVER.
C. J. Richardson, Esq.
ON THE FOUNDATION AND BASEMENT WALLS OF BUILDINGS, DAMP PREVENTION, AND
FIRE PROOF CONSTRUCTION.
The foundations of buildings require careful consideration. When a house
approaches completion and shows cracks in the upper walls, they arise
either from insufficient attention having been given to the solid
character of the earth forming the site, or from bad construction at the
basement. The building in fact settles down unequally. As a settlement
of every building is certain to take place upon its completion, the
greatest precaution should be taken to make it as equable as possible.
No portion should settle deeper than another, and this can only be
secured by care at the foundations.
It often happens that portions of a selected site are of unequal
quality. In such cases it is necessary to excavate the worst portions
deeper to reach a good stratum, and to take the brickwork lower, no
filling up beyond the usual thickness of concrete being allowed.
There is another very serious evil, in building, to be guarded against.
Owing to the moisture of the earth rising through the foundations and
saturating the walls above, the health of the occupants of such houses
may be seriously affected by its presence in the walls. About twenty
years ago it was the universal practice in good buildings to place wide
stone landings--three times the thickness of the wall above--under the
foundations, for the purpose of preventing the damp from rising as well
as to spread the width of the wall.
[Illustration: Section of a proper foundation for a wall.]
A bed of concrete is now used as a substitute for this plan; the
engraving below shows the best method of constructing foundation walls.
A trench, three times the width of the wall is dug, at least 2 feet 6
inches in depth. Into this is thrown a quantity of concrete, which soon
dries and becomes solid. In the superior class of buildings a layer of
concrete, six inches in thickness, is placed entirely over the ground,
inside the foundation. Upon this concrete the walls are built, the
lowest footing being twice the width of the wall above. On a few courses
above the top footing a course called a “damp course” is put; this is
shown at _a_, page 152.
Two courses of slate are laid in cement; but other materials are often
used, as a thin sheet of lead, for the whole width of the wall. Zinc
might answer, but it has not yet been tried. A thin coat of asphalte, or
asphalted cloth, tar, pitch, or a plain coat of cement are also often
employed, but the two courses of slate in cement are considered
sufficient. The first course of bricks above the ground is often formed
entirely of air bricks, originated by Mr. Aldin, the builder, of
Kensington. Each brick has eight or ten perforations, ½ inch in
diameter, through its whole length; a small piece of perforated zinc is
placed upright between the bricks to prevent insects from entering. This
is shown at _b_. The timbers and stone flooring of the basement do not
enter the walls, but rest upon dwarf walls, the joists having oak
sleepers to rest on. The brick fenders of the foundations are entirely
filled with dry rubbish or ironfounder’s ashes, and the stone hearths
bedded solid either in mortar or concrete. This is the construction
shown in all the designs of this volume. To illustrate still further the
attention given in constructing foundations, the engraving below is
given, showing a section of a foundation executed several years ago at
Westminster, where the ground was uncertain. Its scale is only half that
of the previous figure, the upper wall being 3 feet in thickness
[Illustration: Section of foundation to a wall.]
instead of 1 foot 6 inches. Above the bed of concrete, which is 9 feet
in breadth, by 3 feet in thickness, are York landings, _a_, 4 inches
thick and exceeding 6 feet in width. Upon these are laid two lines of
wood sleepers, _b_, bedded in brick and cement, the size of each sleeper
being 12 by 6 inches, and in long lengths. Above this is a course of
planking, _c_, placed diagonally across the wall; each plank being 12
inches by 6 inches, and about 9 feet in length. Above this are the
footings, each two courses in height: in the return walls the landings,
sleepers, and planking are placed a course higher, so that they might be
tied together. The brickwork goes down twelve feet, and invert arches
are turned at every opening.
[Illustration]
In order to keep the walls as solid as possible in the lower part of a
building, the ground floor joisting should rest on projecting corbel
bricks as here shown,--the joists going between the cross walls rest
upon projecting bricks, the upper one being of peculiar strength; tall
piles are put between each joist against the wall, for the skirting in
cement to be formed upon it. Air bricks in open iron-work, two to each
front, are placed so as to admit air within the joisting.
This mode of construction is carried throughout the ground floor.
The stone landing of the passage by the side of the servants’ stairs, is
supported on the part next the wall by corbel bricks, and on the other
side by an iron bar let into the wall at each end; as shown above. In
the upper floor, the joisting should be reversed and go front to back,
notched on wall plates let into the wall, thus tying both walls
together.
[Illustration: Section of stone landing of passage.]
[Illustration: Section of kitchen roofing.]
The introduction of rolled iron girders into buildings renders fireproof
construction very easy. They are made of all sizes, and can be placed
over any opening, so as to carry the weight above them. Kitchens in many
London houses are constructed in the back yards, with an area between
them and the house. This confines all the smell of the cooking to the
precincts of the kitchen. As it is very important that no roofing should
interrupt the light from the back ground-windows of the house, the roof
of the kitchen is so constructed that the yard is only moved upwards; it
belongs to the ground floor and not to the basement. For this purpose,
cast iron girders, standing on brick piers, bear up rolled iron six-inch
girders, between which half-brick arches are turned. Above all these is
concrete, cement, or asphalte. The courses of tiles and cement are laid
at such a slope as will be sufficient to take the water off quickly. It
is easy to put skylights, or any kind of opening, in this construction,
and to make the whole water-tight.
This figure shows a way of supporting walls over openings, instead of
the old method of arching in brick; the iron girders or plates have
often no timber between them; they rest upon iron shoes or stone slabs,
their depth being proportioned to the opening and the weight above.
Strong large hollow bricks or tiles are placed over them, and above all
is the brickwork.
[Illustration: Support over opening.]
The upper floors of buildings are made fire-proof in a similar manner,
and for this purpose there are several excellent patented methods. The
iron girders are closed up by brick arches, or filled between with
concrete. The only objection to this mode of construction for upper
floors is the great weight, and the walls require to be made of extra
strength. Several years ago a hollow brick was used to form such arches
and roofing, _e.g._, the dome of the Rotunda, at the Bank of England, is
formed with them. The brick is somewhat similar to a flowerpot, but flat
and closed at each end. There were several varieties of these cone
bricks, as they were called; a few are preserved in the Soane Museum.
One sort was 7½ inches in height, 4⅛ by 2⅜ inches at the top, and 3-2/8
by 2 inches at the bottom. They were curved inwards with a small
opening, 1 by 2/8 inch in the centre. The edges of the brick were
slightly splayed, and the sides scored; these were as strong as the
common bricks, and very much lighter. When the East India House was
pulled down a large quantity of these bricks was obtained; they were
brought to Kensington, and the builders did not know what they were
intended for; their purpose being pointed out, they were used up in the
construction of fire-proof flooring.
_Fire-proofing._--A method of rendering buildings nearly fire-proof was
introduced about 1770 by Mr. David Hartley, M.P. for Hull. It consisted
in placing thin metal plates between the flooring boards and the joists,
so as to prevent any upward currents of air. For domestic buildings the
system was one of great value. After several successful trials it
obtained considerable notoriety, and being thought capable of an
impossibility, that of rendering a Theatre fireproof, it was applied to
the Pantheon Theatre in Oxford Street. On that structure being burnt to
the ground the plates lost their character, and went out of use. It was
clearly a mistake to apply them to such a building. Thin iron plates
hung at a short distance below the ceiling were successfully adopted by
Mr. Walter Crum, to prevent the spread of fire from one room to another
in his calico printing works, near Glasgow.
_Damp._--The damp rising from foundations is more easily guarded against
than damp coming against a building laterally. Houses in exposed
situations and subject to driving winds, are often very wet inside the
walls, the rain being driven through them. Sometimes the best
construction will not keep out wet. As a rule, a well-built wall wherein
proper material has been used, should not be damp.
A rectory, not far from Salisbury, where the author was engaged a few
years ago, was in such an exposed situation that on three of its sides
no tree or any other object in a direct line could be seen for three
miles. Clothes, if placed against the external wall of the
dressing-room, were often quite wet. The Rector had tried several
preventives himself; one was a mixture, used to water-proof cloth--a
wash of soap and alum.
The ingredients were mixed in the following proportions: ¾ lb. of
mottled soap to 1 gallon of water. This mixture, when in a boiling
state, was laid over the surface of the brickwork steadily and carefully
with a large flat brush, so as not to form a froth or lather on the
surface, and was permitted to remain twenty-four hours to become dry and
hard. Another mixture was then made in these proportions: ½ lb. of alum
to 4 gallons of water, which, after standing twelve hours, in order that
the alum should be completely dissolved, was applied in like manner with
a flat brush over the coating of soap. The coating had to be very often
renewed. The wall most exposed was made free from wet by being covered
with a coating of cement.
Walls exposed to damp should be coated with a thin layer of Portland
cement, mixed with a little plaster of Paris, and after this is
thoroughly dry, it may be hardened and rendered impervious to water by
painting it with boiled linseed oil and red lead, mixed together.
In very exposed situations all external walls should be battened, lath
and plastered within, or built with a hollow cavity in the middle, with
proper bond and a proportionate increase of thickness,--the hollow
could be filled with concrete, or the back of the bricks covered with
pitch. There are several other methods for keeping walls free from damp.
One is to saturate the walls with some kind of mastic, or a wash
composed of two or three parts of resin and one part of drying oil, to
the extent of as many washes as the wall will absorb. This must be quite
dry at the time, or be dried by means of a small portable furnace. The
plan is effectual, but it is a difficult operation to perform. A cement
composed of lime, boiled linseed oil, white lead, and sand, has been
recommended.
Besides these various compositions, there are several excellent
well-known paint and metallic cements, which have stood very severe
tests, and are largely made use of; but walls properly constructed
should not require their application.
[Illustration: Plaster ornament for a ceiling.]
_DESIGN No. 14._
A SMALL COUNTRY RECTORY.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This design was made for a country clergyman residing near Montacute, in
Somersetshire. It was arranged according to his express directions in
every particular, both as to style, and in regard to the number and size
of the rooms on each floor. Living in the immediate neighbourhood of
some of the finest
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
old English mansions, he was anxious to have a residence in the old
decorated style of wooden architecture, certainly the most picturesque
of all the styles our forefathers have left us. The timber dwelling is
found in almost every county throughout England, with their projecting
windows and highly ornamented bargeboards; several large houses in
Cheshire and Shropshire remain to satisfy us that such construction,
when properly carried out, is very lasting. The timber used requires to
be felled at the right time, and to be properly seasoned before being
placed up; which must be done on a brick or stone foundation. Dwellings
constructed in this way were anciently
[Illustration: Plan of upper floor.]
called post-and-pan houses. They have been known to rock and bend before
severe storms, and to stand intact while adjoining buildings have been
blown down. Large palaces were formerly constructed in England of wood;
the chimney flues and fireplaces alone being of brick. The sketch-book
of John Thorpe, an Elizabethan architect, a copy of which is in the
fine library of the Art Museum of South Kensington, illustrates several
of these dwellings.
With the present design it was the intention of the rector to carry out
the work himself, the necessary drawings being provided him. The
building is small and compact. When much adornment is intended, it is
necessary to confine the expense within
[Illustration: Ornament in ceiling of study.]
bounds; if a cheap large house with plenty of accommodation be required,
then four walls and an overhanging roof alone need be given. The view
shows the principal front of the building; on page 163 is the ground
plan; _a_ is a small hall having a window looking into the conservatory
on the right; the door leading to the servants’ department is on the
left; _c_ is a small study, 16 ft. by 14 ft., with a decorated ceiling,
containing the shield of arms of the owner. The drawing-room, _d_, size
28 ft. by 15 ft, has the
[Illustration: The ceiling of drawing-room.]
ornamental ceiling of bold Elizabethan character; this covers the whole
ceiling, and the effect of such ornamentation
[Illustration: Cornice of drawing-room.]
is very good. Often, in the olden times, a portion of the rib moulding
was gilt, the ground of the ceiling being of a light blue; ceilings of
this kind exist which represent foliage and flowers, giving the effect
of a garden bower. The preceding illustration shows the present ceiling.
The simple rib moulding is in plaster, with small flowers and pendants.
The section of the rib moulding to a large scale is shown in the cut;
which also gives the cornice and frieze of the room; _e_, in the ground
plan, is the dining-room, 16 ft. by 12 ft., this opens on to a terrace
paved with
[Illustration: Plan of attic. Basement plan.]
marble in black and white squares--the present ornamental tiles were not
in common use at the time the design was made; _f_ is the kitchen, _g_
the scullery, and _h_ the larder. A small enclosed servants’ yard, with
place for coals, wood, and other conveniences, is in front of the
kitchen. The yard has a separate entrance from the front. This is the
whole of the accommodation given on the ground floor. The one-pair plan
shows the five bedrooms. These are without dressing-rooms, there being
no space for them. A small turret staircase leads to the attic floor.
This gives two large bedrooms and a small one for the
[Illustration: Section through building.]
servants. The large bow-windowed room might serve as a nursery. The
tower was carried up and contained a bell. The basement plan contains a
large and small wine cellar, and one also for beer; there are four
cellars, besides an inner cellar under the stairs.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
The principal staircase is very light and cheerful, having on one side
three large windows, with a ledge or stand for flowers. It was proposed
to panel it entirely with oak, and have an ornamental ceiling similar to
that in the drawing-room, with a pendant in the centre. The section is
taken through the drawing-room, staircase, and kitchen, and shows the
form and height of the rooms above; also the stone stairs to the
cellars.
[Illustration: Details of gable ornaments.]
It will be seen that the walls rest upon a concrete foundation; the
scale is too small to show the damp course or the ventilating bricks, as
previously described (see page 159). The chimneys are shown carried up
nine inches square, excepting the kitchen chimney, that being 14 inches
by 9. The staircase was to have a plain Elizabethan iron railing, and
the whole of the wood-work to be coloured and grained oak; the roof was
to be covered with slate, these requiring a less solid base; ornamental
ironwork crowned the summit of the principal roof over the staircase. An
illustration of the front of the building is given on page 169.
[Illustration: Section and elevation of chimney.]
The figures on page 170 illustrate various kinds of treatment for the
carving of the finials and pendants, and the ornaments of the small
gables; it being usual in these structures not to have any two parts of
ornamental detail exactly alike. It has all to be carved by hand, and
requires only slight extra trouble on the part of the architect to make
separate patterns for the workmen. A section and elevation of one of the
chimneys are shown also; they are fitted with the small cap introduced
and used so extensively by the late Mr. Thomas Cubitt, at Belgravia and
Pimlico; this will
[Illustration: Knocker. Key escutcheons.]
[Illustration: Oak corbel.]
be found fully illustrated in the chapter on chimney and flue
construction. At the time this design was made, this plan was not
known. The chimney is shown with an iron funnel 2 feet in height, a
chimney-pot, in fact, let into the stone work at top, having no
projection within for soot to lodge. Two of the stone balustrades are
illustrated. Every separate balustrade in such buildings should be of a
different pattern.
[Illustration: Stone balustrades.]
The knocker on the entrance door, the key, escutcheons for the doors,
and a corbel in oak from the entrance front, are illustrated on page
172.
[Illustration: An external frieze.]
_DESIGN No. 15._
A SMALL COUNTRY HOUSE.
[Illustration: The front elevation.]
This building was intended to be only a comfortable country house for
the residence of an eminent provincial solicitor. It was directed to be
made of superior character, as the owner, being a person well known in
the county, considered that the
[Illustration: The ground plan.]
eyes of the whole neighbourhood would be upon it. The situation was on
one of the roads leading out of Maidstone, and as the land in which it
was to stand was taken on lease for 99 years, nothing beyond a superior
gentlemanly character could be given to it, as it is only in freehold
houses that any superior or expensive architectural adornment should be
indulged in. The Roman or Italian style, as being the most appropriate
and the one best understood by builders, was adopted.
[Illustration: The plan of the upper floor.]
The front of the house had no prospect, the side of the road opposite to
it showing only a high bank with boulders of ragstone, peculiar to the
county of Kent; and for this reason none of the principal windows looked
towards it. The back-front and side, however, turned towards the hills
between Maidstone and Rochester. Very precise directions were given as
to the arrangement, size, height, and number of the rooms. The study,
_c_, was to be on the left of the entrance-hall, and its size 16 feet
by 12 feet. It was made 16 feet square. The drawing-room, _d_, having
the chief prospect, was to be the principal room. This was made 20 feet
by 17 feet. The dining-room, _e_, was 20 feet by 16 feet; both rooms
looked into conservatories, _i_ _i_. The back front faced the north--a
very favourite aspect for the principal rooms with many of the noblemen
and gentlemen of Kent; the reason being that the flowers in the gardens
under the windows, turning towards the sun, present a cheerful and
agreeable appearance to the occupants of the rooms.
[Illustration: Plan of second floor.]
[Illustration: Plan of basement floor.]
The dining-room had steps leading down to the garden; the kitchen _b_,
scullery _g_, and small larder _h_, were on the right of the entrance,
the kitchen and the study having small windows by the side of the
entrance, so that all visitors coming to the house might be seen. The
servants’ door was in the small yard by the side of kitchen, with a
place for coals; _o_ is a small chaise-house, and _p_ a stable for a
pony; _l_ is the dust-hole.
[Illustration: Frieze of drawing-room.]
[Illustration: Frieze of dining-room.]
[Illustration: Section of cement skirtings.]
The upper floor had to contain five best bedrooms; these can be seen in
the plan. Their sizes were 17 feet by 12 feet, and 16 feet by 10 feet.
There were three dressing-rooms, the largest 12 feet by 10, the two
smaller each 12 feet 6 inches by 6 feet. The second floor contained two
rooms for servants, one 16 feet by 10 feet, the other 12 feet by 10
feet. The basement had a footman’s pantry, 12 feet by 9 feet 6 inches,
and a dairy of the same size. This had steps down to it in the area.
There was a wet larder with a window, a wine cellar, and a beer cellar.
[Illustration: Section through entrance-hall and dining-room.]
The interior was plainly finished, with nothing beyond the best modern
enrichments. The whole of the interior had Keen’s cement skirtings. The
staircase had a skirting flush with the wall, so as not to take away
space from the stairs; this is shown at page 178. There were ornamental
roses in the centre of the ceilings of the principal rooms. The section
of the interior is made through the principal entrance, across the
staircase and dining-room; and in the upper floor, through two of the
dressing-rooms.
[Illustration: Elevation of portico.]
The only architectural feature in the front of any importance was the
portico (see page 180). A bold and prominent effect was given to it. The
estimated expense of the building was 2151_l._, full price put down as
2250_l._
* * * * *
The vignette is an elevation of an Elizabethan balustrade, in stone,
intended to crown a cornice, and to be placed in an elevated position
against the sky line.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 16._
A COUNTRY VILLA.
[Illustration]
This villa, which has just been erected in Berkshire, in the
neighbourhood of Windsor, is intended as the country residence for a
lady of rank. The living rooms are large and noble, and the
accommodation
[Illustration: Plan of ground floor.]
for a small establishment ample. The plate (page 182) shows the garden
front, and above is the ground plan. The two principal rooms, the
drawing and dining-rooms, are respectively 25 feet by 18 feet and 21
feet by 18 feet. They are to the left of the hall; this, of moderate
size, leads to the principal staircase, which is of very easy ascent,
each step rising less than
[Illustration: Plan of upper story.]
6 inches. The second landing opens to the servants’ staircase; _b_ (see
page 183) is the kitchen, size 15 feet
[Illustration: Plan of wine cellar.]
by 14 feet, with the larder _h_, leading directly out of it,--_g_ is the
scullery, with an oven, and a shoot into the dustpit _m_, _n_ is the
housekeeper’s room, and _j_ the butler’s pantry; _c_ is the lady’s room
or study. This was enlarged, by taking down the partition, marked on
the plan by the dotted lines, to allow of a splendid oak cabinet being
placed there. A door in the room opens direct into that of the
housekeeper; _k_ is the dairy,
[Illustration: Section through drawing-room, staircase, and kitchen.]
and _l_ a place for coals. The wine cellar was at first intended to be
placed under the principal flight of stairs, descending a few steps; but
a large one, _b_ (see page 184), was afterwards made.
[Illustration: French cut pine woodwork, from the exterior.]
The plan of the upper story shows it containing two large principal
bedchambers--each with a dressing-room, and a large room with two
fireplaces serving as a nursery, but which could at any time be made
into two rooms by putting up partitions.
The servants’ sleeping apartments, the housemaid’s closet, and the
servants’ staircase, occupy the remaining portion of the plan.
The cost of erecting the carcase of the building, including the wine
cellar, was 1108_l._ The cost of finishing, putting up the principal
staircase in Portland
[Illustration: Plan and elevation of iron glazed casement to
entrance-door.]
stone, and leaving all work required to be painted with two coats, but
exclusive of papering, stoves, ironwork, marble mantelpieces,
conservatory, verandah and exterior decorations to roof, was 1550_l._
Mr. Hockley, of Kensington, was the builder. When the mansion was
finished so far, all ornamentations, &c., formed an agreeable occupation
for the lady to complete from favourite examples seen by her on the
Continent. The extra parquet flooring in the dining and drawing-rooms is
from Switzerland. This cost 148_l._ All the stone flooring of the hall,
staircase, passages, and conservatory, is covered with tiles from Italy;
these are about 8 inches square, but not so well made as the English
kind, although more artistic. Each has a small figure put in by hand,
which is different on every tile. The tiles are faced with a white
china ground and look extremely well. The common tiles cost 16_s._ per
100. The grotesque figured tiles,
[Illustration: Plan and view of remains of old house.]
of which the illustration on page 189 shows four, cost 2_l._ per 100.
They were supplied by M. Giustiniani, of Naples. The marble
chimney-pieces were to be supplied from Italy. The ironwork of the
staircases, and the panel to fill up the opening in staircase, shown
dotted in the upper plan, were supplied from Paris. It is different from
any ironwork that can be procured here, of elegant design, and covered
apparently with a thin coat of zinc. This gives it a silvery metallic
appearance, and it does not require
[Illustration: Four of the Italian figured tiles.]
painting; it is really a coating of glass, and is termed the _lavenant_
process. It it said to be a great preservative of the iron, and can be
put on in different colours. Each of the windows of the principal rooms,
and the hall, is fitted within with Price’s steel revolving shutters.
These cost 75_l._ The upper windows on the outside have iron balconets,
likewise from France, and the roof, surrounding the principal parts, is
finished with the French cut pine patterns. They were supplied by M.
Jules Millet, of 12, Boulevard du Temple. The entrance door has the two
upper panels
[Illustration: French iron staircase railing.]
filled with French castings, executed in a fashion different from the
English mode; but one quite worthy to be followed. The iron panel is
placed on the outside, with a light iron glazed casement fitted behind
it. This in warm weather can be opened, so as to admit fresh air into
the hall. The plan and elevation of the casement shown from the inside,
on page 187; by the side of it is one quarter of the external iron
casting.
It may be remarked that these French patterns, both in iron and wood,
are not finished off as clean as they would be in England. The castings
appear just as they came out of the sand, and the wood pattern exactly
as the machines or saw left them; but they are extremely elegant, and
the metallic appearance of the ironwork is very pleasing.
The former house is pulled down, except a portion, permitted to remain,
which is formed into a decorative building for the garden; the plan
(page 188) shows _a_ the old kitchen, _b_ the wine cellar made into an
ice-house, _d_ a lock-up closet, _f_ a prospect tower, _c_ a closet in a
small enclosed garden, and _e_, a garden seat.
On page 190 is a pattern sent from Paris for the staircase railing.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 17._
A DOUBLE SUBURBAN VILLA.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This building was intended for erection on a leasehold estate at a
little distance out of London. It would have been of rather plainer
character, but the view (page 192) shows the design first made. The
frontage, or width of ground for each house, was
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
60 feet, the depth 150 feet. The character of the building was of the
domestic style of the reign of Henry VII., and the accommodation it
afforded is given in the several plans. The ground plan shows two large
rooms _D_ and _E_, the drawing and dining rooms, which can easily be
opened into each other by sliding back the inner doors into the
partition; _C_ is the library, with a book-room leading out of it. _B_
is the staircase, of a size rather larger than that generally allowed in
London houses. Very often, sufficient attention is not paid to this
highly important part of our dwellings by builders, nor full space
allowed for it. A
[Illustration: One-pair plan.]
good staircase should have, at every six or seven steps, a landing of at
least 2 feet 6 inches in depth. Where winding stairs are used they
should have a good sweep; the tread, in the centre, should be 1 foot in
width, the riser never more than 6 inches in height--less even would be
better. It is also of considerable importance in a staircase that the
height of the steps in the various flights should be the same. Some of
the most costly and important of the builders’ houses in London, erected
on highly rented land, have the staircases so confined that these, an
architect’s well-known rules, are wholly put aside. Staircases with
risers of 6 inches in height from the ground to the one-pair floor,
increased to near 7 inches to the two-pair, the latter flight containing
probably 30 steps in a straight line without a landing, render a house
almost uninhabitable.
[Illustration: Attic plan.]
A servants’ staircase is a most desirable addition to a large house.
The present building was not considered of sufficient importance to have
one. It was proposed to be placed between the tower and the dining-room,
but it was rightly considered that the two staircases should be put
together so that the
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
landings of each, on every half space, should be on the same level,
separated only by a door, and giving the servant immediate access to
every floor of the house. A position between the library and staircase
would have been most proper, but there was not sufficient width; it
would have interfered with the kitchen, and would have made too
intricate a plan, which, for houses to be erected on leasehold land, is
objected to by builders unless directed by the party purchasing.
[Illustration: Section of roof to larder.]
[Illustration: Section of steps to garden.]
With a servants’ staircase follow a large housemaid’s closet, sink, &c.,
which must always be provided where possible. The plan of the one-pair
shows three large bedrooms and one dressing-room, with the tower room,
which was intended either for a morning room, a
[Illustration: The side elevation.]
school room, or a boudoir. There is a large conservatory on the
principal landing of staircase, and a closet leading out of it. A
good-sized aquarium with a regular supply of water could be easily
arranged in the centre of the conservatory. The attic plan contains
three large rooms for servants, and the tower room was to be used as a
smoking room, or as a play room for the children.
[Illustration]
The basement contains a private breakfast or dining room, _T_, with a
large store closet, having an opening one foot in height filled with
perforated zinc opposite
[Illustration: Half elevation of small library.]
the window of the passage; _N_ is the housekeeper’s or servants’ hall;
_B_ the kitchen 23 feet by 18 feet, with _G_ the scullery behind, _H_,
_H_, the larders, _S_ position for a lift, and _L_ a place for coals.
The basement stairs should have been on the side adjoining kitchen.
[Illustration]
It is a difficult thing in this class of house to confine the smell of
the cooking to the kitchen. An endeavour was made here to effect it. The
kitchen had no direct entrance to the body of the house, the servants
going through the passage, by the side of the area, from which it was
well ventilated, to get to the common staircase. This had a window at
the top, not shown in the plan. The small section on page 197 shows
[Illustration: Elevation of hall screen.]
the mode of ventilating the larder; _a_ is a slab of slate let into the
wall, _b_ a pane of perforated zinc, _c_ iron bars glazed with thick
glass, so that whatever the weather, there would be full ventilation,
the fresh air always entering and the confined air leaving the room.
This is the usual mode, in large houses, of covering the external
passage leading from the kitchen to the house.
[Illustration: Details of hall screen. (See page 206.)]
The general view shows the front and side of the two houses. The
elevation of the side front is given on page 198.
[Illustration: Plan and elevation of entrance garden-gate.]
The three small illustrations on page 199 are various details of the
exterior. One is a part section of the roof of turret, showing the
timbers and the vane at top, an elevation of one half the upper gable
window, and half of one of the small front windows; these portions of
the exterior, together with the arcade at the entrance and balustrade
over it, were to be executed in stone.
The Gothic window by the side of the arcade is an example from Berstead
Church, in Kent. The gentleman for whom the design was made caught a
sight of it in the “Architect Sketch Book,” and required it might be
introduced as a small window in his library. An elevation of one half of
it is given on page 200.
The general section (page 201) is of one of the houses taken through the
drawing room, the staircase, and the library. The staircase is well
lighted, having a conservatory and closet on the first half-space
landing. The ceiling of the staircase is finished with groining and
pendant flowers; the stairs have a plain Gothic iron-railing, painted
and lightly gilt; the section shows the party-wall between the two
houses.
[Illustration: Balustrading on garden wall.]
The entrance is divided into an inner and outer hall, divided by a
Gothic screen in carved oak, the various openings of which, together
with the upper panels of the folding doors, are filled with embossed
glass. This keeps the house warm, and prevents cold draughts from
entering; a second glazed screen separates the inner hall from the
staircase; the effect of the screens when there is plenty of light
behind is extremely pleasing. It was for such a screen that the
door-handle illustrated at an earlier page, as a vignette, was made.
[Illustration: Balustrading in front of house.]
Of the first of these screens, that in the hall, only the larger lower
and upper panels were to have white embossed glass; the smaller openings
were to be filled with richly coloured embossed glass; a small elevation
of the hall screen, and portions of its details to a larger scale, are
given on pp. 202, 203.
The chimney pieces were proposed to be of cast iron, and to be painted
and slightly gilt.
The expense of construction of the pair of villas would be nearly about
7800_l._
[Illustration: Front.]
Cut-wood canopy to a door at West Brompton, a short distance beyond the
Metropolitan District Railway. It has been constructed about twenty
years, and stands well.
[Illustration: One of the side trusses or corbels.]
_DESIGN No. 18._
DESIGN FOR VILLAGE SCHOOLS, AND READING ROOM.
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
This building is about to be erected in the county of Norfolk. It will
contain a boys’ and girls’ school, with two rooms each, forming a
parlour and bedroom, for the master and mistress; _a_ is the entrance
porch, _d_ and _d_ are the two school rooms, and _e_ and _e_ the living
rooms. The centre of the building forms the reading, lecture, and
meeting-room for the village. The small room _c_, leading out of it, is
a book room for the secretary or attendant; _b_, _b_, are open yards;
each master and mistress have private entrances, and yards to
themselves. The construction is of the cheapest kind; on a brick
foundation, quarter framing is placed, filled in with brick, and
plastered inside and out. The columns in the centre are trunks of trees,
standing on stone slabs, and each has a flat stone capping. This
building complete should not cost more than 850_l._ It is much to be
desired that every village should have a room set apart, distinct from
any public-house or tavern, where newspapers and books can be provided,
lectures given, and various entertainments supplied the villagers.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 19._
A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL AND SCHOOLS.
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
This design was made for a building intended to occupy a site leading
from the High street in a
[Illustration: Plan of chapel and schools.]
very fashionable district, immediately out of London. The ground was
rather confined in area, and from its position, being behind the houses
in the street, it could only be approached by a narrow avenue between
two of the houses.
[Illustration: Transverse section of chapel.]
The plan was an endeavour to make the most of the space afforded; the
entrance to the church, a small tower with an open decorated spire, was
placed at the end of the avenue of approach; _a_ _a_, are the schools,
which have immediate access to the space before the altar; _b_ _b_, the
rooms for the teachers or priests, had staircases on each side leading
to rooms above. These buildings were kept low, so that as much light as
possible should enter from the window above the altar. An elevation of
the front of the chapel is given in our first illustration. The section
looks towards the chancel, showing the chancel arch and pulpit in front,
the altar, and the decorated window over it; the latter contains a large
cross formed of white embossed glass, on a richly coloured glass ground.
Above is the elevation of the porch, proposed to have been placed at the
entrance of the avenue of approach.
[Illustration: Porch in the High street.]
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 20._
DESIGN FOR A BATH HOUSE, AND SUMMER ROOM.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This design was made for a building intended to occupy a prominent
position in a park in Kent; it would have commanded an extensive view
over the Weald and surrounding country. The lower ragstone foundation
already existed, being portions of an ancient building which had
formerly stood there, and this held a fine spring of pure cold water,
which runs down into a lake at a lower level in the park. Occupying a
position in which it could be well seen, it was desirable that the
building should form a picturesque object, and to effect this the Old
English style of wooden architecture was chosen.
[Illustration: One-pair plan. Ground-floor plan.]
The view shows the back and side of the building, with the entrances,
these being here less exposed to the weather than if they had been in
front facing the open country. The ground-floor plan shows the cold bath
with a small dressing-room; the bath was octangular in form, and
fifteen feet in diameter. A small iron circular staircase led to the
upper room; this was eighteen feet in diameter, with a domed ceiling,
the sides of the room having iron
[Illustration: Side elevation.]
casemented windows, and over them a bold ornamented plaster frieze; the
fire-place was adorned with oak carving. The fine prospect from the
windows of the Weald, and the lake and park scenery in front, would
have made this an extremely pleasant room.
[Illustration: Section.]
The lower story of the building above the ancient ragstone foundation
was of brick, nine inches in thickness, with quarters on the outside,
brick-nogged; carved oak inch plank was then to be screwed to this
quartering, and the inner spaces filled with cement; this it was
proposed to dust with small bits of coloured
[Illustration: Entrance.]
glass. The building was intended to be strongly constructed, as it was
to stand on an elevated site in the most exposed situation in the park.
The entrance, of which an elevation is given above, had two carved oak
columns, having iron rings fixed to them. A small shield of arms was
above the entrance; the whole of the oak was to be stained and
varnished. A portion of the exterior is given on a larger scale. The
upper story was in quartering, brick-nogged, faced externally with
carved oak planks and plaster, and plastered inside as below. The small
plan, _a_, in the illustration, shows this; _b_ is an elevation of one
of the carved oak trusses, and these were carried right round the
structure.
[Illustration: Portion of exterior.]
An elevation of one of the small gables is shown in the next cut with
its richly carved barge-board, and turned pendants and finials.
The plan of the iron casements is given, p. 220; _a_ is the frame fixed
to the wood quartering, _b_ the loose frame fixed to receive the loose
frame, _c d_ is the glass, and _e_ the hinge and staple; a
representation of the small turn-buckle is shown, and lastly the plan
of the flooring over the bath; the joists, each 9 inches by 4 inches,
and 9 inches by 2½ inches, were strapped down
[Illustration: Elevation of one of the small gables.]
[Illustration: Plan of iron casement.]
eight or nine inches into the wall, where necessary.
[Illustration: Turn-buckle.]
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 21._
DESIGN FOR A SMALL COUNTRY VILLA.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This mansion was erected in Devonshire, for a gentleman having a
numerous family. It consisted of three floors:--a basement story, ground
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
floor, first floor, and attic. The picturesque style of the time of
Henry VII. was adopted, and the construction
[Illustration: Plan of first floor.]
was of brick with stone ashlar facings for the walls. The decorated
portions were of stone; but red
[Illustration: The attic floor.]
brick and stone, or red brick alone, would have been equally
appropriate. The red brick with compo-dressing
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
and enrichments would have been the cheapest. Considerable attention was
given to obtain a picturesque character for the building, and the
chimneys were so placed as to obtain one. The height to the top of gable
was 38 feet 6 inches. The ground floor, given on page 223, contained two
rooms, _A_ and _B_, each 28 feet by 16 feet, without the bay. The porch
was enclosed from the hall.
[Illustration: View of entrance porch.]
The upper floor had five rooms, intended merely as sleeping apartments.
All had fireplaces except the centre front one, and that is shown
supplied with a flue pedestal, a contrivance by which an upper room
[Illustration: The front elevation.]
can be warmed by one of the fireplaces in a lower room, which prevents
waste of heat. The attic floor had two good-sized rooms without
fireplaces, for the servants.
[Illustration: The side elevation.]
The basement floor had good accommodation. One large room, that marked
_n_, was for the housekeeper, with space for a bed. It could be used as
a private breakfast or dining-room; _b_ is the kitchen, 20 feet by 15
feet 6 inches, with a large space in the bay. The scullery _g_ adjoined
the kitchen; _h_ is the larder, _q_ the wine cellar, _i_ the beer, and
_l_ the coal cellars.
[Illustration: Transverse section.]
Another design for the porch is given on page 225; this is of a more
decorative character than that seen in the view. It had on it the shield
of arms of the proprietor. It was to be constructed entirely of stone,
the portion above the archway being richly carved. The front and side
elevations of the exterior of the building, of which representations are
given, show the extreme simplicity of the design.
The transverse section (page 228) shows the interior; this is taken
through the kitchen and scullery in the basement, looking towards the
fireplace and through the living rooms and attic above.
[Illustration: Plan of additional offices.]
This design has, with various alterations, been adopted in several
places for different parties, stripped entirely of its ornamental
character, and merely having four walls and an overhanging roof, in
plain cottage style. It forms the cheapest model that can be given for a
villa. One was erected a few years back that cost considerably less than
eight hundred pounds. It had the basement floor but no attic, the upper
rooms being heightened by having an open collar-beam roof. One addition
made to it when it had no basement was in extensive external offices, as
[Illustration: Elevation and section of external balustrade and angle
buttress.]
seen in plan on page 229: _f_, the kitchen, is 18 feet square, with its
scullery _g_, 18 feet by 10 feet; _h_ is the larder, 9 feet 9 inches
square, and _k_ the dairy, of the same size, with a northern aspect. The
two small rooms by the side, one marked _n_, were intended for a study
or school-room, and a footman’s or butler’s pantry, with a separate
entrance and an outlet from the house into the garden; the servants’
closet, and boot and knife cleaning place, were at a little distance
away, together with the place for coals and wood. Some details of the
exterior on a larger scale are given above.
* * * * *
The vignette shows the best proportion that can be given to stairs
intended for a public building; the rise of each step being 6 inches,
the tread 13 inches. In private dwellings the tread is made smaller by
half an inch. When the rise can be made 5¾ inches only, much greater
ease can be obtained in the ascent.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 22._
A VILLA IN THE OLD ENGLISH WOODEN STYLE.
[Illustration: Perspective view, garden side.]
This structure was intended to bear the resemblance, as near as
possible, of a first-class old English half-timbered house, the
post-and-pan dwelling of our forefathers, which seems to have been an
especial favourite throughout the country. It was easily constructed at
a time when timber, chiefly chestnut, was far more plentiful than at the
present day. Such were the most picturesque of all our domestic
buildings; the timber cottage, with its projecting windows, and highly
ornamented barge-boards, is found in every village. The large houses in
Cheshire and Shropshire, which still remain, prove that such
constructions are as lasting as brick and stone, provided the timber is
felled at the proper time, and thoroughly seasoned before it is made use
of. Houses of this kind have been seen to rock and bend in severe
storms, while adjoining buildings, comparatively strong erections, have
been blown down, this was known to have been the case with Park Hall,
near Oswestry in Shropshire. Such buildings were called by different
names, as will be shortly described in detail, according to the
materials of which they were composed.
The design afforded on page 234 was taken from an elevation given in
“John Thorpe’s Sketch Book,” one of the richest illustrations of wooden
architecture. It was to have been erected in a Kentish village, with
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
its front towards the road, on high ground, the road looking down to a
wide extent of open country. The garden side of the house commanded a
fine prospect. Advantage was taken of the steep descent of the ground to
build the kitchen and scullery, with a day room for the children, apart
from the main building.
The plan of the basement is given on p. 236; _a_ is the kitchen, 18 feet
square, the scullery _b_, was at the side, and the larder, _c_, at its
side; _d_ is the place for coals, a passage _e_, leads to the day room,
_f_, for the children; _g_ is either the cook’s room, or a sleeping room
for a man servant; _h_ is the passage up to the house, _i_ is the dry
larder, _j_ is the butler’s pantry, with a strong room for holding
plate; this was intended to be a sleeping room. _k_ is the wine cellar,
_l_ the back staircase which went from the lower floor to the attic, _m_
is the principal staircase, and _n_ a place for stores. The roof of this
lower building was to be formed with flat-girders, and brick and tile in
cement, making a terrace-walk above; the chimneys were taken up from the
lower building to the higher one, as shown in the side elevation by the
dotted lines. The kitchen, and the whole of the basement, was to be
paved with the best Seyssel asphalte. It is laid on a solid foundation,
on a thickness of ground lime. The objection to the black and British
asphalte for the interior of rooms, is that a fine dust rises from it,
which in sweeping, affects the eyes of the occupants of the apartments.
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
The plan of the building was not intended to be in the old style, but to
be arranged, as far as possible, according to modern notions, without
any great hall, or stone screen within it. A noble stone porch was
[Illustration: The ground plan.]
placed in front, resembling slightly an ancient archway. The hall is 20
feet in length by 12 feet in breadth. The breakfast and eating rooms,
_b_ and _c_, 20 feet square, are on each side; both have bay
[Illustration: The first floor.]
windows, with an exterior colonnade and terrace. The drawing-room, _d_,
and the library _e_, are each 18 feet square; both have bay windows, and
the angular window peculiar to the Elizabethan architecture. These
windows open on to the terrace. _f_ is the
[Illustration: The attic floor.]
gentleman’s dressing-room, _g_ is the principal staircase containing the
servants’ staircase, _h_, within it; _o_ is the lift. At the back of the
building is a colonnade commanding a view of the country, and beneath
is the terrace, with its balustrading and steps to the garden.
The one pair floor contains only four large bed-rooms _a_, _a_, and two
dressing-rooms _b_, _b_. One dressing-room, that in front, could have
been converted into a pleasant morning room; each of the two principal
bedrooms in the front could easily have been formed into two; a small
dressing-room taken out of each. Terraces were in front of these two
rooms, the small circular bow-window opening on to them; the principal
staircase only led to this floor. The servants’ staircase led to the
attics.
This floor contained three large servants’ rooms, with two small octagon
rooms. It was proposed to form the front rooms into one, with a circular
roof, covered with scroll work and flowers, in the form of a
garden-bower, similar to the gallery ceiling at Burton Agnes in
Yorkshire. In this ceiling there are about a dozen varieties of flowers
and bunches of leaves, which were placed in a scroll-stem in various
positions so as to vary the pattern. The flowers and leaves could have
been painted in their natural colours. These rooms, however, could not
be spared, so it was proposed to turn the two octagon rooms into what
may be termed garden-bower rooms, and to attempt growing dwarf
fruit-trees in them, as practised in Germany. The roofs of these rooms
were to be constructed in iron and glass, and covered internally with
wire trellis-work, the warming to be effected with flue pedestals, two
in each room, one taking the kitchen flue and the other house flues, the
corresponding pedestal in the other room to have the remaining flues in
that side of the building. The illustration on page 242 shows a plan and
section of one of these rooms.
The tower in the centre of the back front contained a cistern for the
supply of the house; the closets beneath could have Moule’s earth system
applied to them, the earth to be brought up by the lift _o_, dried in
the bower rooms, and deposited in an enclosure in the tower room from
which it could descend to the closets.
It may be here remarked that the closets throughout the whole of these
designs are in such a position that the dry-earth system could be easily
applied to each. In cottages that have the flues in an external wall,
and where this system is introduced, the earth deposit should be placed
against the flue, and the closet adjoining.
The lift _o_, shown in the plans, connects every floor with the
basement; it permits coals and other heavy articles to be lifted up,
receives the speaking tubes leading to the basement and children’s
day-room, and any bell wires that may be required.
[Illustration: Plan and section of garden bower-rooms.]
[Illustration: Side front.]
[Illustration: Section through lower part of building.]
The first elevation given shows the front of the building, having a
length of 87 feet. Although the structure was to be an imitation wooden
house, the timber was merely intended to be an appendage to the
brickwork. The exterior walls were to have been two bricks and a half
thick on the ground-floor, two bricks above. The wooden posts and pans
were let into the external half brick, and well built in, the ornamental
woodwork in inch oak screwed to the wood-quartering, the space between
them filled with plaster, with an ornamental pattern-stamp on it, and
the columns and entablature were of oak.
The next elevation given is that of the side front, with its gable, in
the centre of which is a small circular window, opening on to a terrace
over the colonnade; the scroll at the side is a construction to permit
the flues from the lower portion of the basement to ascend the tower
walls; flue sweeping doors could be placed there. A section of the lower
part of the building is given, taken through the centre of the house,
showing the principal staircase and the external steps to garden. The
perspective view shows the garden front.
Wooden houses were once the chief kind of construction in England. The
great fire of London would not have been so serious in its results if
such constructions had not been almost universal.
In many parts of England these houses have other designations. There is
a mode of building peculiar to each, and adapted to the kind of material
that the districts offer. In Cambridgeshire, for instance, many of the
houses are formed entirely of “Clunch,” a kind of indurated chalk marl,
of which there are extensive quarries at Roach, near Burwell. Others are
of gault, a local term for the blue clay which lies below the gravel of
Cambridgeshire, and forms the immediate substratum in the low ground
about it. This is beaten up with chopped straw, then formed into blocks
of large size, and dried by the sun. A writer in the “Cambridge
Portfolio,” in his remarks on what he terms the inferior style of
domestic architecture, says: “Many of these houses have the lower floor
formed of stone or clunch, in which a framework of wood is raised,
consisting of studs and wall-plates with strong posts at intervals and
some cross pieces as a tie. The joists of the upper floor are laid in
the wall-plates, and project about a foot or eighteen inches beyond the
wall beneath. The smaller timbers have tenons which are fitted into
mortices in the larger, and secured by wooden pins. The interstices are
filled either with durable boarding, double lath and plaster, clunch or
bricks, laid level or obliquely. The better houses of this description
have gables, with ornamented barge-boards with hip-kobs and corbels or
brackets, more or less carved, under the ends of the principal timbers
of the upper floors.”
The barge-board is sometimes called berge-board, verge-board,
parge-board. It was a board fixed to the ends of the gables of timber
houses, to hide those of the projecting timbers of the roof, and throw
off the wet. They were generally richly carved and very ornamental.
Occasionally some of these of the date of the 14th century are met with;
those of the 15th and 16th, many of the Elizabethan character, are very
common. We have few of the better class of these half-timbered houses,
in which the decorative labour of our ancestors was most conspicuous,
remaining in our towns and cities; but in Edinburgh, York, Chester, and
Newcastle there are still a sufficient number of specimens to prove the
truth of these remarks. In the towns of Normandy and the Netherlands
numerous buildings, and indeed whole streets, may be seen which still
exhibit the perfect counterpart of our old Cheapside, as it appeared
before the great fire. Troyes, the capital of Champagne, still retains
its ancient buildings, and the chestnut-timber houses of Caen, which
were raised, or restored, during the period in the 15th century when it
was in the hands of the English, show us what our cities once were, and,
of course, the extent of our improvements. London formerly possessed the
richest examples. At the corner of Chancery Lane, in Fleet Street,
there once stood a five-storied house in timber, each story projecting;
the whole of the timber and the gables being richly carved. In this
house once lived the celebrated Isaac Walton.
The other most common application of this kind of house is
“half-timbered.” In some counties the woodwork is not in patterns. It
appears that when a greater degree of elegance was required the uprights
and beams were carved, or the houses were pargetted, that is, coated
thickly with plaster, in which embossed or indented ornaments were used.
This kind is very common in nearly all the English counties. The origin
of the word _parget_ appears to be doubtful. We find _parget_,
substantive, and _pargetting_, _pergetting_, and _pergining_, verb, in
old writings, of various kinds of plaster work, used inside and outside
of houses, particularly about the time of Elizabeth; the word _parget_
was used as far back as 1450.
The half-timbered houses generally had the woodwork (studs and posts)
painted black or tarred, with the intermediate spaces of brickwork
whitewashed. Many of these houses have been plastered over in modern
days. In London several of them have been refronted, and we lose sight
of the woodwork, and imagine we see fresh-built houses.
In some parts of the country we see numbers of cottages built of mud
mixed with chopped “haum.” This is commonly barley stubble. The word
appears of foreign derivation; in High and Low German, Dutch, Danish,
Swedish, halm; Ang.-Sax., healm; Icelandic, halmr, stubble.
The haum is used to give the mud strength. These houses, previously
described in connexion with concrete erections, were built about a yard
in height at a time; each part was allowed to dry before further
addition was made. The openings for windows and doors were cut when the
wall became firmer; the walls were then smoothed off a little, and
whitewashed. These houses are said to be very strong, and to last for
many years. In the Midland Counties they seldom exceed one story in
height, but in Devon, Somersetshire, and Hampshire, this composition is
a common material for gentlemen’s houses two and three stories in
height. It is there called _cob_, the derivation of which word remains
in obscurity, unless it is a short term for _cobble_, or a coarse clumsy
performance. A cob-wall was one composed of straw and clay beaten up
together.
In Kent, the half-timbered houses are called wood-noggin houses, because
the pieces of timber were called wood-nogs. Nog is properly a wooden
brick, which is inserted into walls to hold the joiners’ work; nogging
is the term for the brick-filling partitions between the quartering.
Sometimes, but very rarely, there is no projection of the upper story
over the lower one. These openings in the windows are common, and all
have richly carved barge-boards.
In some of the Kentish villages there are several noggin houses
plastered over, with a ground in which flowers and patterns are worked
in another colour. Some have a red ground and white flowers, others a
black ground and white flowers. The wooden frame is always built on a
substructure of brick or stone, called the “under-pinning.” Numbers of
the houses in Kent are covered at the sides with weather tiles; here the
brickwork is carried up to the first floor, in which the wooden
framework is placed, and laths nailed across, in which the tiles are
hung; the shape of the tile varies. Some are diamond-shape, and others
finish with circular ends.
In Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire, we meet with
half-timbered houses, which are there called brick pane houses, but very
few of them are worked in patterns.
In Northamptonshire the half-timbered houses are commonly called studded
or framed houses, because the framework is put up before the spaces are
filled up. The studs are upright between the posts, which are larger
than the studs. There are also “wattle,” and “dab-houses,” and sheds,
which are constructed of studs, sills, and wall-plates. Between or into
the studs are laid, horizontally, plaited or wattled strong hazel twigs,
or other underwood, and on both of these a thick coat of plaster or mud
is laid or dabbed. A wattle is a hurdle made of four or five upright
stakes, and hazel branches woven closely and horizontally into the
stakes--Anglo-Saxon, _watel_, a hurdle or covering of twigs; in some
counties they are called “flakes,” merely from their being thin and
flat. In Sussex and Devonshire, and in the South of England, wattled
hurdles are called “Raddles.” In a little Dictionary for children of the
date of 1608, we find “a hartheled wall or ratheled with hasile rods or
wands.” The word _hartheled_ is the same as hardilled, and the
Dictionary spells hurdill _hardill_, Ang.-Sax., _hyrdel_, Low Germ.,
_hoidt_, Dutch, _horde_. Germ., _hurde_. _Ratheled_ is from the same
derivation as _raddled_. What in one county is “wattle and dab,” is in
another “raddle and dab.” _Dab_ is here used as a substantive, but it is
properly a verb--to dab on, to sprinkle, or bespatter. In French,
_dawber_, or _dober_, to smear, hence “to daub.” These mud cottages are
very common even in the richest counties of England. In South
Northamptonshire are red sandstone houses frequently possessing stone
mullions in the windows, and dripstones.
Further northwards, as in Shropshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, we find
a better description of the half-timbered houses in many of the manor
houses built there. Lord Liverpool’s seat at Pitchford, near Shrewsbury,
illustrated by Habershon, is a fine and a very large example, although
the pattern is not so elegant as many of them. Joseph Nash and other
artists have made the best of these familiar to us by their
publications. Cheshire is the county most abounding in them. In the
southern part of the county of Lancashire they are called “post-and-pan
houses.” Post is an upright piece of timber, used in various ways, such
as gate-post, door-post, a jamb-lining. The word “post” is found in many
languages, commonly meaning an upright. In Ang.-Sax., _post_, a post,
Frisic, _post_, a beam, German, _pfost_, French, _poste_, Latin,
_postis_, a post.
“Pan,” in Lancashire, certainly means a beam, and is the common name for
it (beam not being used), although we do not find the word _pan_, a
beam, noticed in most of the glossaries as it deserves. In the Craven
Glossary, “_post_ and _pan_” a building of wood and plaster alternately.
_Pan_, totally to fit: “Weal and woman cannot pan, but woe and woman
can,” is the complete old English proverb, in which the word pan is
used. In the glossary of Tim Bobbin, “Pan” means to join or agree. In
Hunter’s Hallamshire Glossary “pan,” properly in building, is the
wall-plate--the piece of timber that lies on the tops of the posts, and
on which the balks rest, and the sparfoot also. _To pan_, to apply to
closely. In Brockett’s North Country work, _pan_ means to match, agree.
The idea of a pan for a beam would seem to be a shortened word for span,
but it comes, it is said, from the old word _pan_, denoting to close or
join together, to match, fit, apply, agree. From this, or the origin of
which, came pane, or panel of wood, or wainscot, pane of glass.
Ang.-Sax., _pan_, a piece, hem, plait; pan hose, patched hose, because
pieces are fitted into them.
In Warwickshire and Oxfordshire they call a post-and-pan house a
brick-_pane_ house, because the wood-work divides the building into
rectangular spaces, filled with _panes_ of brickwork.
In Forby’s Suffolk Vocabulary _pane_ is a division of work in husbandry,
also strips of cloth. The slits in Elizabethan dresses are called
_panes_. Du Cange, in his _Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis_, has
_panna_, a carpenter’s word, signifying a square piece of wood of 6 or 7
fingers on a side, which being placed on the rafters of the roof, and
retained by wooden supports, carries the asseres. The “Glossary of
Architecture” construes a pan as a lathe; but of this there seems some
doubt.
There is a remarkable example of the word _Panna_ in the Close Rolls of
the 9th of Henry 3rd, membrane 5, page 65, though the word in the
printed copy is erroneously spelt _pauna_.
[Sidenote: De postibus et pannis datis.]
Mandatum est Hugoni de Neville quod habere faciat Baldivinium de Veer
duos postes et duos _pannas_ in bosco nostro in Deresle, de dono nostro
ad se habergandum apud Thrapston. Teste rege apud Westmonasterium XV die
Octobris, anno nono.--That is: The King orders Hugh de Neville to give
Baldwin de Veer two _posts_ and two _pans_ out of the Royal forest of
Deresley to build a house at Thrapstone.--“Habergandum” is from
_habergo_, to build a house, which seems to be derived from the old
German _habe_, goods and possessions, and _bergen_; in Ang.-Sax.,
_boergan_, to defend, keep, and protect. _Habe_, goods, is from the
German _haben_, Ang.-Sax., _habban_, to have and possess. In Du Cange we
find “Habergagium vel habergamentum, domicilium domus,” that is, a place
to keep goods in. This account is given us by the writer in the
“Cambridge Portfolio,” who adds, “That it is probable the house alluded
to in Thrapstone was merely a shed.” He gives a great many derivations
from the word _pan_ in French. He says that _pan_ or _post_ is a _post_
and _pan_ wall, perhaps with boarding in the panes instead of brick or
stone. A post-and-pan house therefore signifies one formed of uprights
and cross-pieces, and this appears to be the most rational name for
them. The patterns of the woodwork are sometimes extremely elegant; at
Park Hall in Shropshire, one represents balustrading intermingled with
quatre-foiling, while the plaster ceilings inside the building are of
excessively rich character. In many of the old post-and-pan houses, the
windows are between every post, running the whole length of the house in
each story, rendering a remark of Lord Bacon’s true, that in such houses
you did not know where to become to get out of the sun or the cold. They
are now sometimes called “bird-cage houses,” from the effect at a
distance. Some of these old mansions had the hall extending to the roof,
and this was carried down to a very late period. At Kirby in
Northamptonshire, a seat of the Lord Chancellor Hatton, built by the
architect, John Thorpe, Inigo Jones altered the timbers of the hall roof
and gave them an Italianized character. He was, previous to his visit to
Italy, one of the chief and most celebrated masters of the then
fashionable Elizabethan style, which was carried down to a later period
than is generally supposed.
The superior class of wooden houses were for the gentry, the wattle and
dab houses for the hind. This cottage, then, must have been little
better than a miserable shed. Cottages still exist in the north of
England, amid the northern counties, that are bad at the very best. The
tenants have to bring everything with them, partitions, window-frames,
fixtures of all kinds, grates, and a substitute for a ceiling. Certainly
the improved concrete cottage, if it could be erected at a small
expense, would be a great advantage to them. Its partitions, and even
its roof, the latter covered with slate, might be securely formed of
strong hurdles, and a cistern for water easily placed just below it. The
walls, if covered with a good Portland cement face, will last for many
years, and, if the roof be so formed as to protect them, for warmth,
comfort, and cleanliness such cottages are unsurpassed.
It is to be regretted that the combination of workmen forming the
various Trades’ Unions, has so raised the price of labour that it has
reacted against themselves, and the workmen’s houses, roomy, and formed
of sound, lasting materials can no longer be constructed at a cost that
would allow a fair percentage on outlay.
Lord Bacon paid particular attention to building, and he had several
fine mansions. He received his Sovereign at one, _Gorhambury_, who on
her remarking its great size, said, “It was not that the house was too
big, but that her Grace had made him too big to inhabit it.” His essay
on building gives such a complete picture of what the nobleman’s house
was in those days, that it is here quoted.
“First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace, except you
have two several sides: a side for the banquet, as is spoken of in the
book of Esther, and a side for the household; the one for feasts and
triumphs, and the other for dwelling.
“I understand both these sides to be not only returns, but parts of the
front; and to be uniform without, though severally partitioned within;
and to be on both sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the
front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either hand. I would
have, on the side of the banquet in front, one only goodly room, above
stairs, of some forty feet high: and under it a room for a dressing or
preparing place, at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is the
household side, I wish it divided, at the first, into a hall and chapel
(with a partition between), both of good state and bigness; and those
not to go all the length, but to have at the farther end a winter and
summer parlour, both fair; and under these rooms a fair and large cellar
sunk under ground, and likewise some privy kitchens, with butteries and
pantries, and the like. As for the tower I would have it two stories, of
eighteen foot high apiece above the two wings; and goodly leads upon the
top, railed with statues interposed; and the same tower to be divided
into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs likewise to the upper
rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel, and finely railed in with
images of wood cast into a brass colour; and a very fair landing-place
at the top. But this to be, if you do not point any of the lower rooms
for a dining-place of servants; for otherwise, you shall have the
servants’ dinner after your own; for the steam of it will come up as in
a tunnel; and so much for the front; only I understand the height of the
first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is the height of the lower room.
“Beyond the front is there to be a fair court, but three sides of it of
a far lower building than the front; and in all the four corners of that
court fair staircases, cast into turrets on the outside, and not within
the row of buildings themselves; but those towers are not to be of the
height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower buildings.
Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer
and much cold in winter; but only some side alleys with a cross, and the
quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of
return on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries: in which
galleries let there be three or five fine cupolas in the length of it,
placed at equal distance; and fine coloured windows of several works: on
the household side, chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments,
with some bedchambers; and let all three sides be a double house,
without thorough lights in the sides, that you may have rooms from the
sun both for forenoon and afternoon:--cast it also that you may have
rooms both for summer and winter; shade for summer, and warm for winter.
You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass that one cannot
tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold. For embowed windows,
I hold them of good use (in cities indeed, upright do better, in respect
of the uniformity towards the street); for they be pretty retiring
places for conference, and besides they keep both the wind and sun off;
for that which would strike almost through the room doth scarce pass the
window; but let them be but few, four in the court, on the sides only.
“Beyond this court, let there be an inward court of the same square and
height, which is to be environed with the garden on all sides; and in
the inside, cloistered on all sides upon decent and beautiful arches as
high as the first story; on the under story, towards the garden, let it
be turned to a grotto, or place of shade, or estivation; and only have
opening and windows toward the garden, and be level upon the floor, no
whit sunk under ground, to avoid all dampishness: let there be a
fountain or some fair work of statues in the midst of this court, and to
be paved as the other court was. These buildings to be for privy
lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galleries; whereof you
must foresee that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any
special person should be sick, with chambers, bedchamber, ante-camera,
and recamera, joining to it; this upon the second story.
“Upon the ground story, a fair gallery, open, upon pillars, and upon the
third story likewise, an open gallery upon pillars, to take the prospect
and freshness of the garden.
“At both corners of the farther side, by way of return, let there be two
delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged, glazed with
crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst; and all other
elegancy that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery too, I wish that
there may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in
divers places from the wall, with some fine avoidances. And thus much
for the model of the palace; save that you must have, before you come to
the front, three courts, a green court plain, with a wall about it; a
second court of the same, but more garnished with little turrets, or
rather embellishments upon the wall; and a third court, to make a square
with the front, but not to be built nor yet enclosed with a naked wall,
but enclosed with terraces leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on the
three sides; and cloistered on the inside with pillars, and not with
arches below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some low
galleries to pass from them to the palace itself.”
* * * * *
The vignette is an elevation, with enlarged details, of a design for a
weathercock or wind vane. In buildings where there are many on the roof,
they are sometimes seen pointing different ways, and it is of importance
they should be properly constructed. The construction necessary to
prevent these differences is shown in the two sections on each side the
elevation; _a_ is a gun-metal rod, in which is fixed the small steel rod
_b_; this moves in a piece of agate fixed in a small block of copper
_c_; the agate is marked black in the left-hand section.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 23._
A GARDEN SUMMER-HOUSE.
[Illustration: Perspective view and plan.]
This small circular erection was designed from the express directions,
as to style, size, form, and plan, of the gentleman for whom it was
made, and who had it constructed. It was of wood, standing on a brick
foundation, with a quaint room in the centre, completely lined with
match-boarding, stained oak and varnished, the ceiling having hanging
pendants. The lead lights of the sashes were glazed with various
specimens of old coloured glass.
[Illustration: Elevation.]
The view and plan are illustrated at page 262; the plan shows the
general arrangements; the porch had seats on each side, and the back
portion of the
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Detail showing construction.]
summer-house was enclosed for a single seat. The elevation given on page
263 shows, as well as the view, flower-pots on supports in the roof.
These were
[Illustration: Gate to a flower-garden.]
omitted in execution. The section shows the building as constructed; it
is taken through the porch. The interior room and the enclosed seat
behind the illustration gives the detail of a portion of the
construction.
[Illustration: Elevation.]
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
The building had no fireplace, being merely intended for summer use; it
was placed on an elevated site, and commanded a fine view.
No small structure can be made too expensive in construction if it is to
be placed in a beautiful flower-garden. However pretty its ornaments may
be, they are sure to pale by the side of the natural objects surrounding
it. The small gateway shown in view on page 265 was constructed entirely
in oak with a slab-slated roof. It stood at some distance from the
dwelling, to which it formed a conspicuous object, and it was the
entrance to an enclosed flower-garden. An elevation, section, and plan
of it are given on page 266.
* * * * *
The vignette represents an open ironwork console or holder for a
meat-jack for the kitchen fireplace: it is of French design.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 24._
A SMALL COUNTRY RETREAT, OR FRENCH MAISONETTE.
[Illustration: The front elevation.]
This is a study for a small villa in the modern French style, one which
has lately been introduced into several buildings of domestic character
in England, the woodwork being sent from France. The
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
chief feature of the style is the machine-cut ornamental wood; it is of
common deal, about an inch or a little more in thickness. When placed
up, and coloured a light fawn colour or plain yellow, it is extremely
pleasing, and has the merit of being very cheap.
The design has an ornamental iron verandah completely round two sides
of the building, with small upright standards taken through its roof,
which are
[Illustration: Section through length of building.]
connected together with zinc wire-work; the intention being to permit
flowering plants to grow over it, so that the front should be crowned
with flowers. The villa is only intended for summer use, being confined
in its accommodation. The ground plan, given on page 269, shows _d_ and
_e_, the drawing and dining
[Illustration: Transverse section.]
rooms, divided one from the other by curtains hanging on a glazed
screen; the length of the two rooms is 42 feet, their breadth 15 feet.
They are decorated gaily in French style; the room _c_ can be used as a
study, but it is intended for a sleeping room; the kitchen _f_ has a
large larder _h_, but it would be desirable if the kitchen was formed a
short distance away from the building, and connected with it by a
passage; the rooms _f_ and _g_ could then be made into a bed and
dressing-room. The wine cellar is at g, and a conservatory _i_, is
placed at the end of the building.
[Illustration: Plan of one-pair.]
The elevation of the front of the building and the two sections show the
general construction of the upper part of the house. This was in timber,
the flues alone being of brick.
The plan of the upper floor shows four rooms; each of the flues is
supplied with its pedestal, so that should the house be occupied in
winter, these upper apartments could be kept well aired by the fires in
the lower apartments, without any attention from the servants. The
framing of the upper portion is correctly shown in the section copied
from the working drawing.
[Illustration: Portion of verandah.]
All elevation of a small portion of the verandah, showing its iron work,
is given; and an illustration to a large scale shows its ornamental zinc
guttering, and the carved wood French ornament, a section showing how
they are fastened on; and the zinc gutter placed in front is likewise
given.
[Illustration: Elevation of zinc gutter, and cut woodwork.]
[Illustration: Section of the same.]
The following is a design in purely French taste for the circular top
over the entrance porch on the upper floor.
[Illustration: Cut woodwork.]
The roofs of buildings in this style should be covered with zinc. The
French are as much before us in their use of this metal as they are
with their cut woodwork.
Roofs covered with zinc could be made flatter, and have a covering or
floor of boards, each board ½ an inch apart. An illustration is given of
such a construction; it has a light iron railing with a scroll
[Illustration: Design for roofing.]
against the brick parapet; and supports a stand for flowers. With the
absence of offensive smoke, and with the use of the flue pedestal to
supply warmth, the upper parts of our houses could easily be formed into
conservatories.
The interior of the building was intended to be as profusely decorated
with the cut woodwork as the exterior. The staircase balusters were of a
rich pattern, the whole being stained after some ornamental wood, and
varnished.
[Illustration: Staircase balusters.]
The expense of constructing such a building would be 2450_l._
In this style cut-wood decoration the French certainly excel us. Some
English examples, very common in our railway stations, are shown below.
The most ornamental is a pattern used by the author some few years ago;
a rose is introduced to cover the fastening of the cut pattern to the
fascia behind.
[Illustration]
We have in England a carving-machine, known as Irving’s patent, that was
a few years since much worked at a manufactory in Pimlico by Mr. Pratt
of Bond Street. At one time it bid fair to exert a most important
influence upon the production of this kind of cut-wood decoration. It
could make such carvings with the greatest ease and rapidity, whether in
stone or wood. The machine was a simple drill in a moveable arm, worked
either by steam or a hand-wheel, on a moveable table; the combined
motion rendered it capable of carving any form, however intricate, from
the largest Gothic window-head, to the smallest screen. At Pimlico it
was under the architectural superintendence of R. W. Billings. It is
still used, together with Jordan’s patent for carving, at Lambeth.
* * * * *
The vignette gives a pattern for cut-wood balustrading.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 25._
AN ELIZABETHAN VILLA.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
This design was made a few years ago for a gentleman who was a great
admirer of our old English architecture, and who desired to have a
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
dwelling with its chief characteristics, both internally as well as
externally, but with all modern arrangements. He intended to purchase a
piece of land in the neighbourhood of London for the purpose of
erecting the structure upon it. Producing the design was a labour of
love to us both, and many a pleasant evening we
[Illustration: Balustrading of staircase.]
spent together in studying the details as to what we should like to have
in each room, without troubling ourselves about what the expense would
be; unhappily he did not live to carry out his intention, and the
drawings were laid aside.
[Illustration: Section of hall.]
The exterior is a study from the celebrated building, Rushton Hall in
Northamptonshire, erected in the
[Illustration]
reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Tresham. On the estate in the forest,
about a mile from the house, is that curious and unique building, the
Triangular Lodge,[B] which served as a secret place of meeting for the
conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot.
The ground plan shows only a small and single staircase _b_;
considerable discussion took place upon this; the great staircase was
first planned in the hall _a_, but a billiard-table was imperative, and
the hall alone
[Illustration: Elevation of hall fireplace.]
could receive it. The smaller staircase was made ornamental, with carved
oak balustrades having a
[Illustration: Details of hall fireplace.]
small brass ornament between, for the children to lay hold of in getting
upstairs.
The hall was to be wainscoted all round; the illustration on page 283
shows one side, with the entrance into the dining-room; a section of the
moulding of the panels is given on page 283 of full size. A gilt
decoration was to have been put in each panel, as shown. An ornamental
plaster frieze, containing shields of arms
[Illustration: Hall stove.]
which were to be emblazoned, came over the panelling. An elevation of
the fireplace, to have been made in Caen stone, with its details on a
large scale, is given in cuts on pp. 284, 285.
[Illustration: Portion of hall ceiling.]
The fireplace is shown with fire-dogs to burn wood, with its iron
fire-back; but this was objected to, and
[Illustration: Section.]
the stove was selected; my friend having great interest in coal,
preferred it to wood.
[Illustration: Dining-room ceiling.]
The illustration on page 286 is a portion of the hall ceiling, copied
from a celebrated example of the time of Henry VIII. To illustrate every
room or give only one-third of the drawings made for this design would
far exceed the limits the present volume allows. Each of the three rooms
on the ground floor had
[Illustration: Pendant.]
decorated chimney-pieces, and carved architraves and panels to the
doors. The section shows the height of the rooms. The dining-room _e_
(see ground-plan) was
[Illustration: Pendant and centre ornaments.]
22 ft. by 20 ft.; the library _c_, 17 ft. by 15 ft., and the
drawing-room _d_, 24 ft. by 17 ft., with a large bay window opening on
to a terrace--their height 12 ft. 9 in.; _f_ is the lift and _g_ the
closet. Each of these rooms was to have ornamental flat plaster ceilings
with
[Illustration: Drawing-room ceiling.]
pendant ornaments. These are shown in illustrations on page 289.
The staircase led to a gallery in the middle of the building on the
first floor, dimly lighted at each end by the staircase and passage
windows. The first floor (page 292) contained a morning room, _a_, in
the centre, 15 ft. by 12 ft., with a bow window; and three bedrooms _b_,
_b_, _b_, with two dressing-rooms _c_, _c_, one with a bath and a
closet.
[Illustration: Library ceiling.]
The attic plan (page 292) contained three large rooms for the servants,
_b_, _b_, _b_; a housemaid’s closet _e_, and in the recessed space by
the side a large slate cistern for water. The basement (page 293)
contained considerable accommodation: _d_ was intended for a private
room for the family, _a_ the kitchen, _c_ larder, _b_ the scullery, _i_
beer-cellar, _g_ butler’s sleeping-room, _e_ butler’s pantry, _h_
wine-cellar, _l_ place for cleaning
[Illustration: Plan (page 291).]
[Illustration: Attic plan (see page 291).]
knives. The housekeeper’s room _f_, and servants’ hall are in the front,
and _j_ is the lift for dishes to ground floor, _k_ the coal-cellar. An
open area was made on two sides of the building.
[Illustration: Basement plan (see page 291).]
It was intended to construct the basement fireproof, and to have the
flooring chiefly of asphalte, laid on brick and concrete, solid with the
earth; having a width of stone at the fireplaces. Small openings into
the areas were to be made for water to run off, so that the floors could
be at any time flooded from a
[Illustration: Front elevation.]
[Illustration: Back elevation.]
[Illustration: Elevation of side.]
hose. The skirtings for eighteen inches above the floor were to be in
asphalte, so that no beetles or other vermin should find their way in.
It was a
[Illustration: Ironwork on terrace.]
subject of discussion whether all the other floors and skirting should
not be of a similar description. The three elevations of the building
are given: they were
[Illustration: Ironwork on bay-window.]
to have been in red brick with compo dressings, and the balustrades in
artificial stone. One peculiar portion of the exterior decoration was
the ironwork in lieu of stone balustrading. The bay window and the
terrace were surmounted with this ironwork; that on the terrace was to
be formed so as to sustain heavy
[Illustration: Small finial.]
[Illustration: Portion of front.]
earthenware pots of flowering shrubs:--an elevation of the two examples
is given on page 297.
The mouldings on the exterior of the building were small and simple;
this is shown in illustrations on page 298. Various designs were made
for the
[Illustration: Balustrades for first floor.]
balustrading; three of these, with the ornament containing a shield of
arms in the centre of the side gables, are likewise given.
The expense of constructing this design with all the ornamentation
shown, would have been great. A
[Illustration: Lower balustrade.]
considerable portion of it, when it came to be estimated and the
specification and working drawings were made
[Illustration: Ornament in side gable.]
for the builder, would have been left out, and the whole made more
simple. The design would not have materially suffered for such
deductions; all the general forms or the simple outline of the exterior
would have been preserved. The chief deduction would have been made in
the ornaments of the interior, or these might have been only partly
done. Such a design, with a moderate amount of decoration only, would
cost about 4700_l._
* * * * *
The vignette shows French and English cut-wood patterns for blind
ornaments.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 26._
A SUMMER OR GARDEN VILLA.
[Illustration: Perspective view.]
One of our most eminent writers on gardens, Repton, remarked that
“gardening and architecture, like all the fine arts, have much in
common; and the department of architecture which belongs more
exclusively to gardens has especially a great affinity to gardening in
its broadest principles.” In fact, there is much more relation between
the two than is usually admitted--a matter already alluded to in the
Introductory Essay. Architectural forms and decorations, temples and
rustic bowers, seats, &c., are not, as many have observed, unfit for our
climate. In western counties they certainly can be indulged in to a
large extent; and the fine evergreens and the beautiful grass of this
country will, in association with ornamental terraces and sculpture,
impart sufficient warmth of tone to render them agreeable. The garden of
_Mon-plaisir_ at Elvaston, in Derbyshire, and the Alhambra Gardens
there; those at Castle Coombe, Trentham, Alton Towers, and Bowood,
sufficiently prove how attractive gardens can be architecturally made.
In former years gardens were almost universal through every part of
England, as is proved by the bird’s-eye view, engraved by Kipp, from
drawings by Knyff in the book, “Britannia Illustrata,” and those of the
gardens given in Loggan’s “Oxonia Restituta,” and the similar work on
Cambridge. But gardens, like all other mundane matters, have their
periods of change or retrogression; the natural style having almost
obliterated the architectural garden of William and Mary. This might
have been too precise, as
[Illustration: Ground plan of villa.]
copied from the Dutch model: they were satirized by Pope, thus--
“Grove nods at grove, each alley has a brother,
And half the platform just reflects the other.”
They were called King William’s style of fortifications, surrounded
with yew hedges, cut in variety of forms; those which have been suffered
to outlive their original shape are really beautiful. Queen Anne’s
Garden, now part of Kensington Gardens, is an example. But these gardens
were very inferior to those of Italy and France, or even those in
England of the Elizabethan age. It is to Italy, the garden of Europe,
that we must look for the finest specimens of garden architecture. The
Villa Pamphilia or de Belrespiro, situated half a mile out of Rome
beyond the Gate of San Pancrazio, is celebrated for its gardens; from
them could be observed the whole city of Rome, and surrounding suburbs.
The gardens are nearly five miles in circumference, and occupy the site
of those of the Emperor Galba. Their arrangement is varied and
agreeable; being picturesque without disorder, symmetrical without
monotony; and we here observe the art with which the arrangement of a
regular garden is made to agree with the rural nature of which it forms
a part, and the noble structure it surrounds. It is doubtless the work
of the architect of the villa L’Algardi, about the year 1646. They have
been ascribed to the French artist, Le Notre, but there is very little
of the French style about them; they are wholly Italian, following the
lines of the villa, and in the same style or spirit. These are, or were
admirable; while the fountains,
[Illustration: Ground plan of garden and villa.]
the cascades, grottos, basins, statues, and the antique fragments which
adorn them are arranged with the
[Illustration: Small group in centre of side left-hand basin.]
skill and intelligence of genius. Illustrations are preserved to us only
in a fine Italian work, by Jacobi de Rubeis, published at Rome, about
the middle of
[Illustration: Small group in centre of right-hand basin.]
the seventeenth century. The villa was destroyed by the French when they
crushed the liberty of the Roman people at their onslaught on Rome
against Garibaldi.
In designs of this description the house and garden should unite, and be
lost in each other. Those parts of the garden most contiguous to the
house should follow its outline, its walks and terraces, and be so
[Illustration: Fountain ornaments.]
placed that the windows and doors of the mansion could command a perfect
view of them. The province of garden architecture is, primarily, to
supply fitting appendages and accompaniments to the house, so that the
latter may not appear alone and unsupported. If judiciously adopted it
will be effective in helping to produce a good outline, carry down the
lines of the
[Illustration: Elevation of front.]
[Illustration: Section through centre of building.]
house, and connect it with other buildings, which may be conservatories,
ferneries, aquaria, rustic seats, temples, and arbours; and it will
provide a
[Illustration: Portion of saloon.]
proper basement to the house. Such arrangements afford shelter or
privacy to a flower garden, extend the façade or frontage of the house,
shut out back yards, stabling or offices, enrich, vary, and enliven the
garden, supply conveniences, receptacles for birds, plants, sculpture,
or works of art, specimens of natural history, and support for climbing
plants. These points indicate refinement, wealth, and love of art, and
otherwise blend the various constituents of a garden with the house, and
harmonize the two by communicating an artistic tone to the garden. So
says Repton, and most of the principal writers on gardening.
[Illustration: Cap in saloon.]
Some of the ancient gardens of Asia and Italy were considered among the
wonders of the world. They were termed paradises, and were filled with
such plants, both beautiful and useful, that the soil could produce;
they were enriched with many kinds of works of art, banqueting-houses,
aviaries, wells, and streams of running water, indispensable in those
warm climates.
[Illustration: Section of part of saloon ceiling.]
An architectural garden, as illustrated in the design at page 302,
should have a picturesque outline, a
[Illustration: Plan of the same.]
marked boldness and prominence of parts, rather than a mere ornamental
detail; a picturesque effect by changes of level in the ground, by
diversity of height
[Illustration: Portion of centre panel.]
of the different terraces, and by an arrangement in plan that would
produce depth of shade. Every object admitted should fit into its proper
place. This
[Illustration: Panel of ceiling.]
villa was designed to cover a fine spring of cold water, and thus insure
a deep cold plunging bath. It was to be merely a place for temporary
occupation and retirement, to renovate the health of the owner. The
gardens and fountains externally were only ornamental accessories; the
plan at page 306 illustrates these. The villa was approached by two
roads _d_ _d_; there was a circle of open lawn between the house and the
terraced gardens in front. The latter were approached
[Illustration: Section and plan of one of centre pendants.]
by descending flights of steps. A basin of water and a large fountain,
rising from a group of sculpture in the centre, are there shown. By the
side are two smaller basins with smaller groups of sculpture,
representing sea-horses, cupids, and dolphins. This terrace is paved
with ornamental encaustic tiles. At the head of the two side gardens
_b_ _b_, are grottos _g_ _g_, with seats on a raised terrace on each
side of their entrances. The steps descend to a lower level, and have
sea-horses and cupids on their pedestals, with five falls of water from
griffins’ heads, filling a basin below. A
[Illustration: Bedroom ceiling.]
wide walk, and a running stream by its side, were thus gained.
The author at the time he made the design was effecting some additions
to a country house, which admitted such a garden to be formed in front
of it: he published his design for it at the time (1850) in the
_Builder_.
[Illustration: Drawing-room ceiling.]
This villa may be considered a casine, or a retired dwelling on a rather
larger scale, similar to the picturesque house at Wothorp, in
Northamptonshire, which was erected by one of the Earls of Burleigh, as
a place to retire to, while his “great house at Burghley was sweeping.”
Wothorp was a large building: it was fully illustrated in one of the
[Illustration: Sections of moulding of ceiling.]
author’s works, from original drawings lent him by the late Marquis of
Exeter. The casine, only one size larger than a cottage, was the fashion
of the preceding age. Whenever the proprietor of an estate wished to
turn hermit, he retired to the casine, a small temple erected in a
portion of his grounds, where the finest views could be obtained, and
the most perfect repose secured. In earlier times such buildings
[Illustration: Drawing-room chimney-piece.]
afforded secret meeting-places wherein to hatch political plots; such a
one was the triangular lodge in a secluded part of the wood at Rushton
in Northamptonshire,
[Illustration]
the seat of Sir Thomas Tresham, where the gunpowder conspirators
assembled. The casine of more modern times was not so small, but it
contained all the requirements of good living. One example, is the
casine of Marino, near Dublin, built by Sir William Chambers for the
Earl of Charlemont.
[Illustration]
It was square in plan, surrounded by twelve columns, two projecting flat
porticoes in front and back, and pedimented porticoes at the sides. The
entrance was approached by a noble flight of steps, the pedestals of
which were decorated with carvings, and supported crouching lions.
Statues and vases adorned the roof. A print of it, from a drawing of
Wheatly, was published in 1783. The building contained a small hall or
vestibule, a saloon or living-room, 20 feet in length by 15 feet in
width. Leading out of this were
[Illustration: Plan of mezzanine floor.]
two small rooms; one a study, the other a bedroom and closet. The
basement contained a large and well-fitted kitchen, a scullery and
larder, a butler’s pantry, and servants’ hall, and cellars for ale and
wine. Retired buildings of this kind, of larger character and of more
importance, were often erected in private grounds of noblemen and
gentry. One, very similar to the present design, was constructed by the
late Robert Adam, for a salt-water bath, at Mistley, the seat of the
Right Hon. Richard Rigby. Mr. Adam and Sir William Chambers erected a
large number of such ornamental structures. One of the most elegant
[Illustration: Plan of upper story.]
examples, by Mr. Robert Adam, was the rout-house or pavilion erected for
a _fête champêtre_ in the gardens of the Earl of Derby, at the Oaks, in
Surrey, in 1774. The building was internally of the most ornamental
character; there was an octangular vestibule, a hall 30 feet in
diameter; this opened into a grand ball-room, 72 feet by 35 feet within
the columns, and 86 feet by 56 feet within the walls. The supper-room,
surrounding the ball-room, measured 200 feet from one end to the other,
and 20 feet in width. It was exposed in its full splendour on the
curtains being drawn; and at the end of the ball-room there were
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
two tea-rooms, each 20 feet square, on each side of the entrance saloon.
The author gives these details in order that he may not be considered
too venturesome in submitting to public notice, in these economical
times, such an ornamental design as the
[Illustration: Elevation of back front.]
present. Similar structures of a more expensive character were once very
common; but the small
[Illustration: Elevation of top of pedestal.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
retired casine has now gone out of fashion. The ladies consider such
secluded buildings as only fit for laundries, and not preferring
themselves lives of perfect retirement and quiet, have brought in the
small
[Illustration: Ornament terminating pedestal on attic.]
villa where a whole family can dwell, and no selfish thoughts or gloomy
contemplations find place.
In referring to the plan of the villa at page 304, of which the plate
page 302 shows the elevation, _e_ is the
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
small hall 8 feet square, _g_ the gun room or waiting room is on the
right, the serving room with a lift from the basement on the left. The
saloon is a highly decorated apartment, 20 feet in diameter. This is
seen in the section through the centre of the building given at page
310; _h_ is the sleeping room, 13 feet square, with an ornamental
ceiling. The saloon serves as a dining-room and place for meals. The
drawing-room, _d_, or music room, 22 feet by 14 feet, is on
[Illustration: Termination of attic pedestal.]
the left, _b_ is the principal staircase leading to the upper rooms;
this serves also for servants. The small iron staircase _j_, is for
passage to the cold bath below, _i_ is a room for a warm bath. The cold
bath, as shown in the section, is ventilated through a domed ceiling,
but the scale is too small to show this perfectly.
A portion of the saloon is shown at page 311, with a few of its details
in the six cuts following it.
[Illustration: Chimney-pot elevation and section.]
The bedroom ceiling (page 316) supposes the covering of a tent, upheld
by spears and ropes. The colour of the drapery is of a light fawn, the
ground a deep ultramarine blue. In the centre of the ceiling is a small
Cupid on a red or gilt ground, a light blue circle surrounding it. The
spears, roses, ropes, and tassels are gilt and coloured.
[Illustration: Iron balconet to window.]
The drawing-room ceiling is decorated plaster work in white and gold.
Its plan is shown at page 317, and three of its details on page 318.
Among other decorations of these rooms may be considered the
chimney-pieces. The cuts (page 319) give an elevation of the
drawing-room chimney-piece, the plan of its shelf above, and a portion
of its details to a larger scale beneath. This chimney-piece in the
finest statuary marble would cost 80_l._ to execute. Several have been
done for the author at that price. They look very well in execution. Two
fire-places of less pretensions are shown in the illustrations at pp.
320 and 321; the first was in rouge royal, costing 25_l._; the last are
of marble with slate panels covered with imitation of Brocatelli
marbles, these costing 19_l._ 10_s._ each. The illustration of the whole
of the details of internal decoration of such a structure would fill a
much larger volume than the present; but it is the sole object of the
author to give such illustrations of the several designs, that a portion
of each part of the building only shall be shown; _k_, in the ground
plan (page 304), is an open portico with steps to the garden or park in
front of it.
The next plan (page 322) is that of the mezzanine. This shows two of the
female servants’ sleeping rooms, _a_, _a_, with a closet; the decorated
ceilings of the saloon, drawing-room, and bed-room, are also shown; the
bath-room should have some slight decoration, but this has been omitted.
The female servants’ sleeping rooms are each 17 feet in length by 8 in
width.
The plan of the upper story (page 323) gives a smoking room _a_, with an
open terrace _c c_, front and back, a closet _d_, and a cistern room
_b_.
[Illustration: Section of window sill and iron balconet.]
The basement plan (page 324) shows the cold bath in the centre, with its
staircase; the kitchen _b_, the scullery _g_, _h_ _h_ the larders, _c_
is the lift, and _d_ _d_ are men’s sleeping rooms; the servants’ hall
_t_, and housekeeper’s room _j_, are on the left, _q_ is the wine
cellar, and _s_ the beer cellar.
The elevation of the back front is at page 325; it has a circular
portico and steps down to the garden. An attempt has been made to
introduce an original termination for the pedestals on the attics,
instead of using the almost universal Soanic bulbous ornament so
repeatedly seen in nearly every public building in
[Illustration]
London and the country, and of which the author’s late master, Sir John
Soane, was so fond. These attempts are given in the figures pp. 326-328;
and an attempt is made to give an ornamental chimney-pot on page 330.
It will be seen in the figure that the ornamental cement pot or vase
contains an iron, or it might be a zinc, lining; this would be kept
warm, and a security for the smoke passing out.
The exterior of the building is ornamented with statues and vases, and
the windows have iron balconets.
The last remaining illustration to be given is the arcade on each side
of the villa, dividing the front and back gardens. The chief portion of
this in stone, with statues between the columns and vases over them; at
the back of the columns is another front of ornamental trellis work in
wood, with scroll stands for flowers--this is supported or upheld by the
stone screen; an elevation of each, with a section, is given at page
334.
* * * * *
The vignette gives French and English patterns for cover to external
sunblinds.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 27._
A DECORATED WINDOW.
[Illustration]
This design was sketched with the intention of making Italian forms
rival the tracery of the Decorated Gothic window, and to obtain a rich
and variegated mass of painted and coloured glass, without any stiff
mannerism or formality. The window was 11 ft. in height with a width of
7 ft.; it served as a screen in one of the principal staircases in a
house at Queen’s Gate, Kensington; immediately behind it is the
servants’ staircase, having a large window and skylight. The lower
portion of this window is divided into three lights by two pilasters
acting as mullions. The circle above the transome is filled with a
richly painted subject, representing a basket of flowers and scrollwork
on a ruby ground. The basket is formed of emerald glass, the ground of
the surrounding portions is richly embossed glass, the chief portions
white, the small portions ruby, yellow and blue, the latter with white
ornaments upon it. The three lights between the pilasters are filled
with embossed glass, and the whole is surrounded by borders of
scrollwork richly embossed, stained and painted; the ruby ground is
shown in the drawing by vertical lines, the yellow by oblique lines, and
the blue by horizontal lines. The expense, including the zinc-work for
fixing the glass to the upper portion or fan-light, was 22_l._ 6_s._;
the lower portion cost 8_l._ 10_s._ It was the work of Messrs. Baillie
and Co. of Wardour Street.
_DESIGN No. 28._
A SCULPTOR’S VILLA.
[Illustration]
During the year 1850 the author, in conjunction with the late Mr. John
Britton, F.S.A., was engaged in making some topographical sketches in
one of the western counties of England. He became for a short time the
guest of one of its principal residents--a gentleman who had succeeded
to the possession of more than a million of money, the result of a
relative’s gains as a merchant in the City. He had filled the small
house he was then inhabiting with a very fine collection of antique
bronzes: also with ancient and modern statuary. The house was occupied
in every corner with these valuable and beautiful works of art. He was
then having another house of larger dimensions erected to receive them.
Considerable discussion took place at his table between himself and his
visitors, among whom were two or three distinguished men of taste, as to
the best method of introducing sculpture into a dwelling of moderate
capacity. It was the general opinion that to properly exhibit classic
sculpture, a villa the size of those of the ancients, such as are
described by Pliny in the account of his villas at Laurentinum and
Tusculum, would be required, and that no other would suffice. On his
return home, the author, as a matter of amusement, without any thought
that his ideas would ever be carried out, made the present design; it
was a subject that pleased him, as he had only a few years previously
[Illustration: Plan of ground floor.]
superintended the construction of a small sculpture gallery for the late
Sir Francis Chantrey at Pimlico.
The ground plan of this design shows a gallery of sculpture in the
centre of the building, a small
[Illustration: Section of staircase.]
“Museo Chiaramonti.” The principal group at the end, representing the
capture of the Queen of the Amazons, is so placed that the staircase
winding round it forms its base; the group can be seen from the
staircase, and from the galleries at the side, in every point of view.
This being a large building, the scale upon which the plans, elevation,
and sections are drawn is smaller than the scale previously used in this
volume. The gallery, including that portion which forms the ante-room to
the conservatory, is 80 ft. in length by 20 ft. in width, which is a
poor
[Illustration: Plan of principal staircase.]
imitation of the gallery at the Vatican--the Museo Chiaramonti. This is
280 ft. in length, with a breadth of 20 ft.
But the possession of only a million of money gives a moderate income
compared with that of the sovereign popes at the time the Vatican was
erected. The
[Illustration: Section through gallery and conservatory.]
sculpture is arranged on each side of the gallery, the bas-reliefs
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.
These ice-wells have not often so long a passage of approach; one only
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.
When flues are carefully constructed, with the best modern improvements,
and a due supply of air is admitted into the stove, a smoky chimney is
an exception; still the flue forms only a simple open funnel for the
passage of the smoke, and failures will inevitably often happen. A
construction on a good principle should render these defects as trifling
as possible. In our best houses--those constructed within the last
twenty or thirty years--two kinds of the common brick flue are mostly in
use. One is of the old-fashioned kind, having a section of 14 by 9 in.,
which was made originally of that size for the accommodation of the poor
sweeping-boys. This is now retained only for the kitchen fire, which
makes a large quantity of smoke, and for the rest of the fireplaces the
flue known as “Cubitt’s” flue is employed, which has a diameter each way
of 9 in. The author prefers the small flue, and always uses it in the
buildings he has constructed. There are many persons who still maintain
that the old-fashioned flue is the correct one, and it is still very
generally used. There is an old saying about the proof of the pudding.
In Belgrave Square, all the houses first designed and erected have the
old-fashioned flue, and there are scarcely a dozen of the old
chimney-pots left; all have been changed for tall-boys and other similar
contrivances; one house has about 24 in one stack. No. 49, built by
Cubitt about 35 years ago, and having the descending or sweeping flue,
has the stacks exactly as at first constructed, with the exception only
of a little doctoring to the kitchen flue. In the house opposite, No.
48, one of the first, the external stack alone, next the street, has no
less than 17 tall-boys, two of which appear to be broken off. On the
opposite side of the Square, in Chesham Place, is No. 38, built by
Cubitt about 30 years; it has all the original stacks untouched.
The Cubitt flue can be recognised by the small peculiar cap on the
chimney-pot, and several of these stacks remain in their original state.
In Eaton Place and Eccleston Square, where this flue is used, the roofs
tell the same story. In the first buildings erected by the author he
used the large flue, and he now finds several specimens of
chimney-doctoring on the roofs. In some large houses he lately erected
at Queen’s Gate, in which the sweeping flue is used, there are several
houses together without any disfigurement at all on the roof. He
considers that the appearance of a tall-boy on one of them would be
rather a proof that there was something wrong about the servants’
management of the fires, than an error in the construction of his flues.
A representation of this flue, and the manner of introducing it into a
building, is here given. Fig. 1
[Illustration: Flue construction.]
represents a portion of the chimney-flue construction of a first-rate
house; the lower chimney opening is in the basement, and above it are
two others, one on the ground floor, and one on the first floor. It will
be seen that there are three flues descending or taken down to the
basement. The third flue belongs to the room on the second floor. The
wall is two bricks thick, the flue 9 in. in diameter, and contained
within the wall with no chimney-breast projecting. Fig. 2 is a plan of
the flues on the ground floor, and fig. 3 of those on the first floor.
Fig. 4 is a section of the fireplace opening; this is 3 ft. in height
from the floor-line, the brickwork at top is splayed, and supported by
an iron bar; these openings are always filled up with 4½ straight joint
work, to be taken out when the mantelpiece is fixed. Fig. 5 is the
chimney-pot and its cap, the latter opening at top 7 in. by 9 in. only;
fig. 6 shows one of the sweeping doors, in which there are two to each
descending flue. The latter three figures are twice the scale of the
former. A plan and section of the chimney complete, with its marble
mantel and stove, is given in figs. 7 and 8. The flue passes completely
down at the back of the stove, the front is closed by an iron plate to a
height of 2 ft. On this is fixed the moveable door or register, shut
fully or partly over the flue when the stove is in use, and closed over
the stove when the flue has to be swept. The arrows show the mode of
admission of air to the front of the fire; it is brought through the
[Illustration: Fig. 7.--Plan of stove.]
floor and two openings in the back hearth from the outside of the house.
This is generally kept concealed,
[Illustration: Fig. 8.--Section.]
and in order to ensure a supply of air to the stove the room should be
kept completely closed.
To cause as full and perfect a combustion of the fuel as possible, a
draught or current of the external air should be always admitted to the
stove, and it could easily be placed under open management, so as to
admit either a large or small supply of air, as required. Numerous
patent processes to effect this are in use, but the most effective way
of doing it is that shown in figs. 7 and 8: it is too simple for a
patent.
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
Fig. 9 shows a method of admitting air above the architrave of the
entrance door of the room. The opening is made about 2 ft. in length;
this, after a little time, becomes marked by the blacklets coming in
from the passage. The sweeping flue when the fire is lighted becomes
very hot; the smoke ascends speedily and soon leaves it. The flue
requires the stove to be formed expressly for it. Mr. Cubitt made the
stoves only for his own houses, and the author had some difficulty at
Queen’s Gate, in procuring stoves of the right pattern, for
manufacturers prefer their own shop patterns, and some of these would
have covered up half the descending flue. Those he used were supplied by
Messrs. Feetham of Clifford Street, who are well acquainted with the use
of the flue and stove. The flue is considered an excellent one; it is a
builder’s flue, constructed solely of brick, and is certainly the best
of the brick flues. The same attention was paid to it as was given to
every part of Mr. Cubitt’s buildings. It may be asked, “Are there no
other kinds of flues constructed of superior materials?” Yes, certainly
there are; particular attention has often been paid to the flue. There
is Hiort’s circular flue, formed in each course of four wedge-formed
bricks. Mr. Hiort held a very important position; he was Treasurer of
the office of Works at Whitehall, and his flue was extensively used in
some of the Government buildings and the houses in Carlton Gardens. It
did not bond well with the brickwork, so we have Mr. Moon’s improvement
upon it. This was considered not sufficient, and another patent was
taken out in 1844 by Messrs. Clark and Reed for its further improvement.
The flue was an excellent one, but on Mr. Hiort’s retirement from the
Government Board, it went out of use.
There is Seth Smith’s metallic chimney lining, which makes an excellent
flue; the lining is a pipe of from 5 to 10 in. in diameter, built in the
brickwork. About 150 of these flues are at the Pantechnicon. Mr. Smith
announced his determination of never building any house above the value
of 30_l._ per annum, without using them. They could be introduced, to
form perfect linings to chimneys in buildings already erected, and allow
the stack to be reduced in height, without having the unsightly
appearance of contractions made above them. The drawback to the use of
these tubes by builders was the price. Without any royalty, the 9 in.
tube cost 3_s._ 4_d._ per ft. run, the curved tubes 4_s._ 3_d._, the
starting tube 3_s._ 8_d._ The tubes were of the exact form of drain
pipes, and they were cheaper, and as effectual.
If Mr. Smith’s metal tubes had been introduced into a large brick flue,
they would have rendered the latter an efficient shaft for ventilating
every room in its upward course, openings being made for the purpose at
the upper part of the rooms. This mode of ventilation was applied to
hospitals on a large scale by the late Mr. Jacob Perkins several years
ago, with perfect success.
Denley’s flue, introduced in 1843, is believed to have been the
precursor of that used by the late Mr. Thos. Cubitt at Belgravia and
Pimlico, and there is a great resemblance between the two; but Mr.
Denley’s flue has nothing like the simplicity nor ease of construction
of Mr. Cubitt’s. The downward flues were merged into one at the
basement, and all the soot and cinders were collected or thrown down
into a fire-proof box, which must have stood out in the lower rooms,
from which they had to be removed. The flues were swept from the roof,
the register doors of the stoves being closed, and there was no
provision for sweeping the flues between the basement and the stoves.
Joined to his system for sweeping, was one of air flues which brought a
current of air direct from the exterior of the house to each fireplace.
We have several flue systems which have ventilating flues in connexion
with them. Boyd’s flue forms the wythes, or half-brick spaces between
the flues, of iron plates, and the open spaces thus gained make
ventilating passages. Mr. Doulton’s combined smoke and air flues are
manufactured in terra-cotta, in three sizes; the air flues follow the
line of the smoke flue, the passages being quite distinct, as in Mr.
Boyd’s. The heat from the smoke flue causes a current in the air-flue
which carries off the vitiated air admitted by openings near the
ceiling. The common drain pipes and the glazed fire-clay pipes make good
flues; the use of these pipe-flues has greatly increased during the last
few years; they improve the draught, and clean easily. Flues for
ventilation from rooms should, like Arnott’s ventilator, enter into the
smoke or a hot ventilating flue. Arnott’s ventilator requires careful
adjustment, to be balanced in such a way that it should stand closed on
a calm day.
The superior patented flues, as they are of considerable cost, and take
extra time in construction, are only used in the better class of
buildings, or in those erected under the express direction of the
owner. In speculative buildings they are never used. The time required
for their construction beyond that of the common brick flue, being
regarded by the builder as so much money lost.
The great desideratum in a flue is to make it pass off its smoke
quickly, and this the small size flue effects more certainly than the
larger one, as it warms sooner and keeps its heat longer.
An enthusiastic admirer of the descending or sweeping flue once told the
author that with a good fire in the grate, if a kettle of water could be
placed on the top of the chimney-cap the water would soon boil, even if
the flue were fifty feet high. The flues constructed of metallic or
earthenware casings retain also the heat longer, and keep hotter. It may
be imagined that with these flues, and the large quantity of gas lamps
in the streets, why the temperature of London should be always some
degrees higher than that of the country. In winter snow may be seen in
the suburban fields, but none is found in town.
Architects have often been blamed for not inventing a good system of
flue-construction, not only for the prevention of smoke in our
dwellings, but for the hindrance of its presence in the atmosphere.
Several, and most excellent attempts, have been made for the former, but
very few for the latter, which is one of far greater difficulty. Yet
this is one that admits of a cure, great as the evil is. The chimney
flue might be so improved as to effect a more certain and larger
ventilation of our houses, without any addition of ventilation flues.
The introduction of the French Mansard roof with us, one from a country
where coal fires are not in use, renders it almost imperative for the
chimneys belonging to such buildings to have a different construction,
for chimneys when placed against a building or roof that overtops them,
are sure, as they are at present made, to become smoky: the wind
returning owing to the high construction, and descending in the flues.
The following few designs are offered to cure these various evils.
Accepting as a fact that tall-boys, and the other iron and zinc
constructions, are useful appendages, there can be no reason why they
should be so used as to disfigure our buildings. Some of the finest
specimens of architecture in the Metropolis serve only as pedestals to
an ugly collection of cowls.
The author proposes to form the upper part of the flues in a building,
for a length of about 15 to 20 feet, entirely of iron or other tubing,
in square, round, or oblong sections, of a less diameter than the brick
flues to which they are attached. This tubing is gathered up in groups,
and carried out at an angle of 45° towards a centre stack: the tubes in
direct contact with each other, having no brick wyths, except one or
two to strengthen the stack.
It is obvious that if only one of the flues be in use, it would
moderately warm those next to it; and if the whole of the flues of a
building were constructed on this plan, and two or three were in use,
such a power would be obtained as would effectually ventilate every
room; the action would be continuous and imperceptible, and a fire could
be lighted in any one without the risk of return smoke from a cold or
damp flue.
Thus the heat now wasted in the atmosphere by the action of the common
flue, would be partly retained and turned to use, and the draught of the
flue very much improved.
This tubing could be readily introduced into either old or new
buildings, as the introduction does not involve taking down more than
twelve feet of the brickwork, measuring from the top of the coping. The
tubes could never become sufficiently heated to be dangerous, and less
brickwork would be required.
They might be made either of zinc or earthenware; cast-iron would be
objectionable on account of its weight. It will be seen that they admit
a better mode of sweeping than that now practised, and they could easily
have some kind of capping to prevent down-draughts.
These “stack flues” should commence from the attic or upper storey of a
building, at about six feet from the floor; sweeping doors should be
placed beneath them, so as to give the sweep command of the flue beneath
as well as above.
Each flue should be composed of three separate forms of tubing, by which
the various directions and turns necessary for the construction might be
obtained.
Fig. 10 gives the representation of the three forms; 1, is the first;
this is placed directly over the brick
[Illustration: Fig. 10.]
flue, and gathers it up to a size having an internal dimension of 6 +
4½. It is 21 inches in height. 2, the second piece, is on a curve; the
top and bottom lines, if carried on, would form an angle of 45°; it is
about 18 inches in height, and internal size 6 + 4½. The third, 3, is a
straight piece, internal size 6 + 4½, the lengths various. Fig. 11
gives a plan of four flues and an elevation of the commencement of two.
The sweeping doors are shown below. The flue without a door is the
ventilating flue for the basement. The ease with which this tubing can
be grouped is shown in fig. 12. The stack consists of five flues; the
tube, 2, connects them together below, and
[Illustration: Fig. 11.]
separates them above. The stack above the roof is 4 feet 9 inches in
length.
Fig. 13 shows, in the upper plan, how the flue wall could be reduced in
thickness, made a brick and a half only, with a two-brick block at each
end; it contains coupled and tripled sets of tubes.
The middle plan shows nine flues grouped together, the centre being that
belonging to the kitchen. The last plan shows a group of six in a
two-and-a-half-brick wall; by the side of this are two flues of the
common construction, 14 inches by 9, made of this
[Illustration: Fig. 12.]
size to enable a boy to get up to the top and place his head out of the
chimney-pot.
The tube 1, fig. 12, can have its position reversed, as shown in fig.
14; six flues can thus be grouped together, as shown in the third plan,
fig. 13. The elevation of this stack is given in fig. 15.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
For a covering to these tubes figs. 16 to 20 show ornamental pots and
their sections. The only merit
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
in these may be that they are of a more ornamental character than any
that have ever been introduced; they are formed of zinc, supported by a
stout dwarf iron railing. The intention is to permit the smoke to escape
in any direction, either upwards, sideways, or downwards, sheltering it
as far as possible from any action of the wind, and rendering of little
consequence whether the stack is high, low, unsheltered or
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
otherwise. If any sudden gust of wind take place and the smoke be driven
back, the capping provides larger outlets for its escape than the small
aperture of the flue itself; in other words, it is easier for the smoke
to pass in any direction rather than return down the flue.
The stack flues are only, in fact, tall-boys boxed up and not put out in
the cold, and it is presumed they would be sufficiently powerful, from
their warmth, to ensure a good passing off of the smoke, and secure
ventilation to the building.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.]
[Illustration: Fig. 17.]
A forced ventilation to our dwellings, in ever so slight a degree, is a
matter of importance. By the proper construction of these proposed stack
flues it is presumed that any amount of ventilating power, self-acting
and continuous, could be obtained. Their introduction alone would be
beneficial; combined with the flue pedestal, to be described, the tubes
could be led into one general upward shaft; by either plan we should
have some command over the smoke, while the roofs of our buildings might
be made ornamental and picturesque. It would be a treatment of
bituminous coal alike artistic and novel, surprising to foreigners and
creditable to ourselves.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
It remains to show how the open character of the flue could be taken
away (this forms its chief evil), and how a chimney-stack may be formed
without chimney-pots. The late Lord Palmerston, when Home Secretary,
proposed the abolition of chimney-stacks, and the use of only one
chimney-stalk for each separate dwelling. In 1856, a commission was
appointed to inquire into the best modes of warming and ventilating the
apartments of dwelling-houses and barracks. Their report, given to the
General Board of Health, was published in 1857, and it afforded a
section illustrating “the principle on which it was proposed to
construct dwelling-houses.” There was only to be
[Illustration: Fig. 19.]
one flue, and this of metal 10 inches in diameter, enclosed in a large
brick flue, which was to serve for ventilation. In the metal flue were
to be inserted the flues of the several fireplaces; these were placed
back to back, and if the register doors of the stoves were open, a
person in one room might both see and converse with another in the
next; the music of a pianoforte in one room could be heard in them all;
this construction was taken up through four storeys, there being eight
fireplaces. For one fireplace alone it would have been perfect, but the
smoke from the two kitchen fires would have been sufficient to have
choked
[Illustration: Fig. 20.]
the flue and caused the smoke to enter into the whole of the eight
rooms.
The chimney-stack might possibly be lowered, and it certainly could be
constructed without chimney-pots, but each separate flue must have its
own outlet. A design for this, one that should take away the open
character of the flue, and fit the stack, possibly for the Mansard roof,
is here given.
In fig. 21, _a_ _a_ are the flues, delivering their smoke into a large
ventilating flue, _b_. The warm smoke would induce a current of air to
enter at _c_: any current will have a tendency to draw another with it,
so that the smoke leaving the flues _c_ _c_ would be taken out at _d_ by
the current of air at _c_.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--The ventilating flue.]
This is the principle upon which all the best ventilating chimney-pots,
tall-boys, and cowls are made, and it is a very sure one. The jet of
steam in the funnel of the locomotive, drawing the smoke from the fire,
and creating a draught, is adopted on the same principle.
In scientific language, the established law both of pneumatics and
hydraulics is that when two currents of fluid matter passing in the same
direction, but in separate channels, arrive at any point of confluence,
the stronger current draws the other along in its course, and with a
considerable portion of its own velocity. Thus the force of the wind,
which checks in other instances the action of a chimney-draught, is made
to produce a stronger draught, exactly in proportion to the violence
with which it blows.
Returning to fig. 21, a current of air, instead of coming in at the
opening _c_, might come in at _d_. It would then have a tendency to blow
down the flues _a_ _a_: to prevent this, the opening _d_ could be
closed, and an upright stalk placed at _e_,--this should have a downward
shaft, a place for soot, and a sweeping door.
There is still another mode of treatment; fig. 22 represents the flues
grouped, each with a separate ventilating flue, the smoke delivered
being at the side of each.
The stack might be covered with zinc in the ornamental style with which
that metal is now treated.
It is probable that if a stack on this principle was placed parallel to
the side of one of these Mansard roofs, it would be secure from the
ill-effects of any wind returning against it. The author will not vouch
for its success, but it is offered here to the attention of architects
and builders as an experiment worthy of trial.
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Elevation.]
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Plan.]
It has been affirmed that the smoke of towns, however disagreeable it
may be to the inhabitants, neutralizes the poisonous effect of the gases
caused by sewers, &c. If it was possible wholly to remove carbon
evolved by smoke, our towns would almost be uninhabitable, and they
represent that any scheme for getting rid of smoke must be combined with
one for getting rid of the exhalations from sewers at the same time. If
the two evils were brought together, they would neutralize each other,
and both could then be got rid of at one operation. The best scheme for
this is a matter of important consideration, but few have been proposed.
It may be asked, what has a work on Picturesque Architecture to do with
either smoke or sewer gases? The author in reply considers that
buildings never will look picturesque while they are covered with great
patches of soot. An eminent sculptor once affirmed that the statues of
London were improved by their soot covering, because it made them stand
boldly out against the sky. But those beautiful decorated smoke towers
which stand on the roof of the Houses of Parliament, and which are as
black as Erebus, look anything but pleasing, standing amidst the whiter
front of the rest of the building. Besides, tall-boys are beginning to
make their appearance on the roof under the Victoria tower, and these
certainly form no part of the architecture, but appear monstrously ugly;
consequently smoke and its abolition are clearly questions to be
considered in relation to Picturesque Architecture.
A plan for removing smoke from the atmosphere of towns, and at the same
time ventilating buildings and sewers, was proposed in 1849 by Mr.
Flockton, surveyor to the town trustees of Sheffield,[F] a town as much
begrimed with sooty smoke, only in a smaller way, as the Metropolis.
The proposal was, that under the footways along the side of every street
and lane, flues should be constructed of sufficient capacity to carry
off all the smoke and other atmospheric impurities, these flues all
converging, upon a general plan, to tall shafts or chimneys at some
distance from the town, and supplied with furnaces. These, when the
fires were once ignited, would give a fire produced by the combustion of
the inflammable gases accompanying the smoke, and which would burn
spontaneously in a similar manner to the combustion of foul air from old
shafts connected with coal mines. The combustion might be assisted by
jets of coal gas, in a fire of coke.
In very large towns it would be necessary, Mr. Flockton added, to divide
the whole into districts, and to erect towers in the centre of each, to
which all the flues should converge. He published a plate, showing two
large dwelling-houses, with a street between, the common sewer in the
middle of the carriage way, and the smoke flues on each side under the
footpaths, also showing the connexion between the sewer and flue. The
alteration proposed to houses already erected consisted in converting
ascending into descending flues; turning the smoke from the chimney-top
into the latter, and from thence into the street flue. This operation
would have necessitated the pulling down and rebuilding of the flue
walls. The street smoke flues, in order to carry off the smoke from a
few thousand chimneys, would require to have been made of a size even
larger than the sewer itself. Provision must have been made for clearing
out the soot, for the smoke would have been cooled and the soot would
accumulate in large quantities in them.
The same scheme, with similar constructions, was proposed by a foreign
gentleman, who took out a patent for it in 1850 (No. 13,061). His plan
was a very grand one; he did not propose alterations in existing
buildings, but pulled them down and gave designs for a new city.
A more practical plan was proposed about 1851 by Mr. Devey, a surveyor
of Furnival’s Inn. A model of his invention was in the Great Exhibition
of 1851, and it is described and an engraving given of it in the
illustrated volumes published by the Royal Exhibition Commissioners at
the close of the Exhibition. The model is now in the Museum at South
Kensington. Mr. Devey’s plan was to make only one descending flue to
each building, to which the flues at the top could be either connected
or not, at pleasure; the descending flue was carried to the sewer in the
middle of the street, and the action of this was to be assisted by the
heat of the kitchen fire. He says, “The smoke would be drawn down by the
current produced by exhaustion in the sewer, the action being assisted
by the kitchen fire.” Mr. Devey did not propose to have furnace shafts,
but depended entirely upon the sewer acting as an exhaust.
In this scheme the objections were, that one descending flue was not
sufficient to carry off the smoke from several chimneys, and the sewer
certainly would not act as an exhaust without its being connected with
upright furnaces. Our sewers generally have ventilating openings which
permit their odours to ascend into our streets. Soot would no doubt
neutralize these odours--this, a paper in a late _Quarterly Review_
(April, 1866) admits. First, speaking of the sewer gases, the reviewer
says: “These offensive gases have often engendered formidable diseases,
and have, in several instances of late, been clearly shown to have
caused the outbreak both of typhoid fever and cholera.” Of this the
author has had proof during the outbreak of cholera in London in 1849.
He was superintending the construction of a mass of buildings in one of
the worst dwelling districts in London. This builder, who had just
finished the erection of Harrington House, a description of which is
given in this volume, died the first night of the outbreak in the
greatest agony; he was a strong robust man; from one to three deaths
took place in every house in the locality; a black flag was put up in
the streets, and the foul fiend reigned for a while supreme. A large
mass of the worst buildings have been cleared away, and model
lodging-houses erected, but a considerable portion of the rotten old
structures remain, the sewers are untouched, and the visitation of the
cholera forgotten.
The _Quarterly Review_ says there is no reason why ordinary sewers
should not be made to serve the double purpose of carrying off smoke and
sewage at the same time, provided they were connected here and there
with high shafts rendered powerfully expansive by furnaces; and adds,
“sewage would be improved for agricultural purposes by admixture with
soot, which is an excellent manure, and the noxious qualities of the
sewer gases would be destroyed.” Whether soot would increase the value
of sewage or decrease it, is a question for chemists to decide; a
generally increasing opinion is, that our method of using sewage by
liquefaction and sending it away, is a mistake, and renders it quite
worthless, and that the system of dry earth-closets is more conformable
to Nature’s laws.
The subject was taken up in 1857 by Mr. Peter Spence, of Manchester, a
large alum manufacturer.[G] This gentleman states that the “blacks,” the
horror of the Londoner, are guiltless of any deleterious effect to human
health, as carbon is one of the most anti-putrescent of bodies, and
while floating in the atmosphere over everything, arrest and destroy
noxious and miasmatic vapours. Perfect freedom from smoke would, if
accomplished, only increase the evil arising from the purely gaseous
results of combustion. He proposed a system of _atmospheric_ or _gaseous
sewage_, and the complete removal of all their gases to a safe distance
from our towns. He would combine this gaseous sewage in such a form with
town drainage as would bring all the liquid sewage into contact with the
gases from our furnaces and house fires, the liquid sewage being kept
from all surface drainage. The same liquid and fœtid mass of sewage he
would concentrate in an innoxious form, to be converted, in a convenient
place, where it might with perfect safety be manufactured into manure
more valuable than the richest guano.
For effecting this all the gases from our coal combustion would have to
be conveyed along the same tunnel with the sewage to centralizing
conduits converging to a point, where an immense chimney, 600 ft. high,
should be erected, to discharge these gases into the atmosphere, the
ascensive power being obtained either from the retained heat of the
gases, which would probably be found quite sufficient, or if not,
artificial heat could then be applied to effect the object. The chimney
should be of the internal diameter of 100 ft. at the top, and 140 ft.
external diameter at the bottom. This would take the smoke from 500
chimneys and every particle of foul emanation from the sewer, and every
leak or opening to the upward air from these sewers would not then emit
foul gases, but draw in fresh air with a pressure or suction of three
and a half pounds per foot, and with a velocity of 40 feet per second.
This gentleman says: “It is idle to talk of trapping, and thus confining
gases evolved under ground; exit they must and will have, and when you
imagine you have secured them in one place, you will find them pouring
out in another.” He makes this plain by an illustration. He took an
old-fashioned detached house; after entering into possession he found
frequently very disagreeable smells, especially after rain, a change of
wind, or a fall of the barometer; it may be remarked here that it was
not necessary to take an old-fashioned house to find out this; in more
modern built houses in London, after a fall in the barometer or rain,
such a thing is repeatedly occurring. Mr. Spence, to cure the evil in
his old mansion, exhausted all the remedies which the philosophy of
London schemes acknowledges; he trapped all the exits from the sewer
with the most approved patent girds; all slopstone pipes were cut and
water-luted. But this was of no use, the smell came through the very
walls and floors, and one bedroom on the first floor, which showed no
connexion with the sewer, was quite uninhabitable. He adopted a plan
which succeeded: a branch from the main sewer was brought right under
the kitchen grate, from that a pipe of cast iron, four inches in
diameter, was carried up through the brickwork, and the open top
projected into the chimney a yard and a half behind the kitchen fire,
above the fire. When this fire was again lighted, in a few hours the
house was perfectly sweet, and the distant bedroom, uninhabitable
before, has been slept in ever since. When this nuisance occurs in a
London house the only remedy is to open the doors and windows to get rid
of it, as we are not allowed to meddle with the sewers. Disagreeable
effluvia in dwellings often occur, and baffle every endeavour to trace
from where they proceed; in every case it is from choked-up drains or
the sewer, and the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter therein
retained.
As for Mr. Spence’s scheme, its grandeur almost stops its execution. It
is well known that in all large manufactories, and in gas works, a tall
chimney serves to draw out the smoke from the numerous fires, and it
forms a smoke-outlet for them all. In most of these places the fuel is
used up so completely that it is only the gases of combustion that are
drawn away. Mr. Spence’s scheme has been successfully tried in its
application to private residences, and also on a large scale to the new
Assize Courts in Manchester. It was adopted by one of the architects in
the competitive designs for the New Law Courts in London.
If these tall shafts and furnaces were applied in London, it may be
questioned whether the smoke in cooling would not deposit the soot in
the sewer, and this must be removed, if not run off by water. The flues
connecting the house fires with the sewer would be partly horizontal,
and these would certainly fill with soot, and no machines we have at
present in use could clean out these flues from above. The operation
must be performed from within the sewer, and then these flues being
unsupplied with drain-eyes at their entrance to the sewer, would form so
many open channels for the passage of the sewer gases into the houses.
This would be the case in a very great degree where there were no fires
in the stoves and their register doors were open. It would require an
immense consumption of fuel in the high stalks to cause a current to
prevent it, and the furnaces must be close together to lessen the
cooling effects of cold currents of air from flues not in use.
As to the mere ventilation of the sewer itself, it could easily be
effected by single drain pipes 6 inches in diameter, placed at
intervals, from the sewer to the ash-pit of any neighbouring furnace. It
would be probably to the advantage of the furnace itself, as even the
tall stalks must sometimes make black smoke. A legislative enactment
should require their owners to let them perform this service. It might
require strong furnaces and plenty of them to effect it. A suggestion
for getting rid of that “monster nuisance, London smoke” was made known
in the _Builder_ about 1859, by Messrs. Bruce Neil. It is thus
described: “The plan consists in placing small tanks containing water
over the chimney (the chimney-pots being fixed inside the tanks, and
made of a spiral and bent form). The chill of the water gradually
condenses the smoke, which becomes decomposed and destroyed, being
precipitated at the bottom of the tank in the form of mineral tar. The
water is turned on and off daily. It will be here observed that in the
event of a fire in the chimney the flames cannot spread, as they are
immediately quenched by the water in the tank. According to Mr. Bruce
Neil’s calculation, the smoke of 80 tons of coal, if collected, will
yield upwards of 28 barrels of tar, of 2½ cwt. each. He proposes that
the Legislature, or the Society of Arts, should offer a premium to the
person who will undertake to rid us of this monster nuisance and convert
the smoke into tar, so as to make it applicable to commercial purposes.
In the adoption of the above plan a slight alteration in the mode of
ventilating our apartments is all that is required, he tells us.
As to the possibility of converting smoke into tar by such means as are
above described, some doubts might be expressed if it could really be
done; the remedy would be worse even than the disease, every household
using yearly 20 tons of coal would have in that time to remove 7 barrels
or 17½ cwt. of tar from their roof. The _Builder_, in publishing this
suggestion, did not give any diagram or sketch showing how the process
was to be effected. Mr. Bruce Neil no doubt made one, as he speaks of
the alteration required in the ventilation of our apartments; a drawing
would at least have explained how the water was to collect the soot, and
how it was to have access to the flue in case of its being on fire.
The suggestion of collecting soot at the chimney-top by means of water
was a valuable one, and there is no doubt it could be done to some
extent, but not by encircling the pots with cold water, which would
chill the smoke and prevent the soot from rising. A
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Water chimney-vase for collecting soot.
Half elevation. Half section.]
design is here given, fig. 23, to show how it could be effected.
It will be seen that the chimney-pot or funnel has a zinc cover carried
by stout ironwork surrounding it; _a_ is the water, _b_ the pipe to
convey it away; it would be self-acting, and being washed by every
shower would not be likely to get out of order. The rain-water must be
looked for as to supply--to pay for high service for the roof of our
houses to the water companies would not do.
Our climate is more damp than cold, and a considerable quantity of rain
falls on our roofs. The zinc cover is spread out, so as to retain as
large a portion as possible of the rain-fall. In winter, when there is
most smoke, there is most water, with little or no evaporation. A pool
of water could be thus collected, and the smoke projected over it would
lose some portion of its soot, which could be floated away by the pipe
into a receptacle provided for it in the back yard. The water might be
sent into the drain and the soot left; or it could be sent into the
drain as well.
The arrows in the diagram show the direction of the smoke, and the cover
is so spread out and curved as to render it unlikely for any violent
wind to flow out both water and soot into the street beneath.
Certainly coal smoke is a great nuisance; it is yearly pointed out as
such by our paper the _Times_, in one, probably two, very excellently
written leaders. Even the youngest member of the press, the _Echo_, in
one of the common London fogs occurring in April, 1868, thus remarks:
“The most sad and remarkable circumstance about the fog of yesterday was
that the newspapers and people in the streets spoke of it as a
‘visitation,’ as a ‘gigantic pall,’ as if, indeed, the black darkness
was something as strange and unaccountable as a fall of frogs or fishes
from the sky. Of course it was nothing but our own familiar coal smoke
which stopped the way of the sunlight. It is most lamentable that
Londoners are becoming so used to this filthy nuisance that nothing more
than a passing exclamation is uttered when it is forced down upon them
in such volumes as to produce almost the darkness of midnight at midday.
If ‘cleanliness is next to godliness,’ then the people of London must
have been yesterday the most ungodly people in the world, for nothing
would remain clean which was exposed to the fog of that morning. A
plague of locusts would not create more terror and sense of ruin in any
foreign capital, where every article of dress and furniture and house
decoration, both external and internal, would have been regarded as
spoiled by the loss of freshness. But London received its coat of dirt
yesterday, and to-day only wonders with the remark ‘how dark it was!’
Will nothing move us to abate the nuisance? Is there no hope but that
distant one of the exhaustion of our coal-beds? Must we inhale
coal-blacks, and always contemplate dirty houses and grimy furniture? Is
it not possible by smoke sewers, or some contrivance or machinery, to
relieve us of this plague?” It is very possible it could be done with
the greatest ease, but at some first expense; and in some generation or
other it will be written that it found London foul and left it sweet,
and there will be a time when this will be appreciated; and the man who
gives the city the pure atmosphere of a small country town will receive
all due honour and acknowledgment, that is, when he is in his grave and
securely buried.
The public have so long been accustomed to be choked with smoke, and
their health affected by deleterious gases, that they look upon the
proposal of any scheme to secure pure air as the hallucinations of
dreamy philosophers or inexperienced Utopians.
None of our present flues can, in the very slightest degree, stop these
aqueous vapours from ascending into the atmosphere, neither can they
effect any purification of the smoke, or retain the blacks for any
useful purpose; and it is of no use disguising the fact that any
contrivance or appliance, to effect either of these most desirable
objects, must consist of an additional construction to the flue, which
will be attended with additional expense, and require extra attention.
Therefore any such appliance, if introduced, should be effectual, and
repay such additional cost to its owner, by a saving, or at least a more
economical use of fuel.
The appliance to the flue the author has to recommend, he considers will
not only cause an economical use of the fuel by not permitting the
present waste of heat, but it will purify the smoke, and retain the
blacks for any useful object to which they can be applied.
The principle of the best-constructed flue at present is to get rid of
all vapour, smoke, and soot as soon as possible, without the slightest
consideration for the people outside. That the smoke should not return
to annoy the occupants within the house is the aim of the constructors,
and to secure this, the waste of heat in the chimney, and the consequent
waste of fuel, is considered of no importance, for is it not the hot
smoke that carries up the soot and ventilates the apartment?
This operation of the flue could be taken advantage of. In the
construction of chimney-flues in a wall they are often turned at an
angle to the right or left to pass an obstruction, such as a fireplace
or timber placed within or against the wall. A flue could easily be
taken out of the wall and returned, and if the part so taken out was
formed in cast iron with a small cistern of water at top, it would
become a warm-water pedestal, and could moderately warm or air an
apartment in which it was placed; the author calls this the flue
pedestal, and it is represented in the following cut.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.--The flue pedestal.]
It is about three feet six in height, not much higher than a small
cabinet. The door could open, and a small tap supplying warm water for
domestic use would be seen. Thus the upper rooms of a house could be
warmed or aired by the fires below in perfect safety, and the present
waste of heat in the flues prevented. This would be economical, as in
most cases no fires would be necessary in the upper rooms.
The flue thus brought out in iron could contain a fine spray of water,
that would draw up the smoke, and take down its vapours and soot at the
same time into the sewer.
Fig. 25 shows a section of the flue thus brought out. The wall is two
bricks thick, the flue _a_, is 9 inches in diameter, _d_ is the
cast-iron flue, and another, _e_, shaped like a funnel, is placed behind
it, to collect the soot and water, and pass it off through the pipe _h_.
The cistern is partly within the walls and partly covering the two
flues. It is not necessary that the water in the cistern should supply
the spray: that might be done by a separate pipe with a tap to turn off
and on as desirable; _b_ is the moveable pedestal covering the whole.
The adaptation of this simple contrivance to any kind of domestic
chimney-flue is not a very difficult operation. It is only necessary to
take out the brickwork in front of a flue of a height of 4 to 5 feet,
and then introduce the iron flue, gathering up the brickwork beneath it;
the section, fig. 25, supposes the iron flues to be in an external wall;
should it be required in a party wall the soot goes off at _g_ _g_, to
be conveyed outside the building in the nearest way; doors are provided
for the purpose of sweeping; any down
[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Section of the flue pedestal.]
draught of air in the chimney might expend itself in the soot flue, and
the smoke having passed the spray could not return. The spray of water
should be equal to the whole width of the flue, and proportioned in
strength to the work it has to do; the smoke from a whole group of flues
might be conducted to one powerful spray, one upper flue or chimney
would then suffice for the roof, while the soot and flues in any number
might be formed into one before passing to the sewer.
The pipe _h_, shown in fig. 25, would not form an open communication
with the sewer; it would be supplied with a flap-cover or drain-eye,
like the common house drain at its extremity. This would open only when
sufficient water and soot was behind it, and close when it was passed.
It would not require sweeping, the water keeping it clear. It should
have another kind of drain-eye to that at present in use, the lid, or
flap of which is hinged from the top, the soot floating on the surface
of the water, would require the flap to open from below. Fig. 26 shows
the kind of drain-eye that would be required.
If it was not for the difficulty of the present form of drain-eye to our
houses, the soot flue might discharge its contents into the house drains
at once, below the trappings; there is probably no absolute necessity at
all for drain-eyes at the termination of house drains, their use is to
make precaution doubly sure, to prevent the rising of the gases from the
sewer, and to keep out the rats, to prevent them, by getting through the
traps, from entering the house.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Drain-eye.]
Experiments were made with a shower of water in Mr. Cubitt’s descending
flue. It will be seen by inspecting the figures 1 to 8 that these flues
could easily be formed into one, and taken into the drain; the
experiment did not succeed, as none will, that brings heavy smoke in
opposition to a water-fall. The smoke must go with the current or
water-shower, and not against it.
The flue pedestal, with its water-spray, is the whole of the contrivance
by which the author believes the smoke of the domestic hearth could be
got rid of, or rendered inoffensive. What the action of the water would
be on the gases that escape from the fuel he cannot say, but he presumes
it could not be other than beneficial.
He experimented on the subject a few years ago, and had a stove and flue
erected about ten feet in height; the lower part of the stove was of
brick, the upper part with the cistern of zinc. The coal fire was
lighted, and as soon as black smoke appeared at the chimney-top, the
water-valve was lifted and about 16 fine jets of water were sprayed
against a piece of loose perforated zinc, suspended in the flue; this
zinc is shown in fig. 25; in the second flue _e_ (it should have been
marked _f_, but by a mistake in the cutting it is made _d_), the smoke
had to pass through under this perforated zinc to get to the chimney
above. On the instant the water was applied, the smoke appeared at the
chimney-top of a light colour, and it came out of the soot receptacle,
placed a little height above the ground, nearly as much as it did at
top, and of a similar light vapourish character,[H] a sure sign that it
was drawn down by the current of water. Soot in large quantities was
soon seen in the receptacle; the author has not ascertained the quantity
of soot which would be obtained by this process from a ton of coals, but
he believes it would be very considerable, possibly two sacks or more.
As clean unmixed soot is worth in London 2_s._ 6_d._ per sack, if this
soot were retained it would pay for the extra expense of the water, and
the retaining of it, and to carry off the water would be an easy
operation.
The “blacks” are good things at present in their wrong place; they could
in the way proposed be very easily got rid of, and if it were possible
to cut into all the chimneys of London and apply the remedy, the whole
of the soot, which at present escapes into the atmosphere, might be
caught and passed into the drains; it would there probably fully
deodorize them. It is certainly not possible, from the herculean nature
of the task, to disturb the whole of the chimneys of London, but the
worst only might be operated upon, such as the chief kitchen flues of
the great establishments, which are continually sending out black smoke.
Among the chief offenders are our bakers, nearly twenty of them being
fined weekly for this by the magistrates, and for fires occurring in
their chimneys. It appears that the Smoke Nuisance Act bears hardly upon
them; the smoke-consuming apparatus forced upon them by the Act has
utterly failed in its purpose, and it is impossible for them to comply
with the requirements of the Act, and carry on their business in a
satisfactory manner either to themselves or the public. They have
applied to the Home Secretary for relief, and a bill to repeal so much
of the Act 16 and 17 Vict. that relates to bakehouses has been in
contemplation.
There would be no difficulty in placing a flue pedestal in their flues
at any height above their oven fires; it would not only relieve their
neighbours from the annoyance of black smoke from their chimneys, but it
would secure the chimneys themselves from taking fire. The water need
only be turned on when required, when black smoke was being made, and if
they chose to collect the soot the expense of the operation would be
trifling, if anything, beyond the first expense of the flue pedestal, in
the end.
In large country houses the flue pedestal would warm the upper rooms or
passages, and cause a more equal temperature in the building; this,
together with the practicability of collecting the soot for agricultural
purposes, might be an inducement to its introduction. Water could be
lifted to the roof of a country mansion by that ingenious contrivance
the hydraulic ram, and passed off to its original source when done with,
the soot being left behind.
The beautiful self-acting machine, known as Gwynne and Co.’s improved
hydraulic ram, is peculiarly adapted for raising or lifting water to any
required elevation. It is necessary to have a fall of water to work it,
and the greater the height of the fall, the more effective will be the
machine. In favourable cases it will raise water thirty times higher
than the fall working it. The greater the height of the lift, of course
the less will be the quantity raised in a given time. This machine can
be made to deliver comparatively large quantities of water, either in
tanks on the roofs of houses, or in farmyards for filling ponds. It will
work day and night without any attendance or expense after it is once
fixed. Two or more rams may be used to force through the same pipe, or
rising main. Where a continuous stream of water to work the machine
cannot be obtained, a spring, or even rainfall, or drainage may be
stored up in a reservoir or dam, and made to work the ram.
The expense of these machines is not excessive, as the following table
will show:--
+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+-------------------------+
|Diameter of|Diameter of| Approximate Number of |Price of Ram, complete, |
|Feed Pipe. | Delivery |Gallons of Water raised|with all the accessories,|
| | Pipe. | in a day of 24 hours. | but exclusive of Pipes. |
+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+-------------------------+
|Inches. |Inches. | | £ |
| 2 | 1 | 800 to 1150 | 12 |
| 3 | 2 | 3000 to 4000 | 24 |
| 4 | 2 | 4000 to 5000 | 34 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------------------+-------------------------+
A small room or enclosure must be erected to contain the machine.
The question of how far the removal of smoke from the atmosphere would
affect the various gases of combustion floating therein is a question
for the chemist. The plan that has been here proposed is founded on the
supposition that Nature’s law, relative to the diffusion of gases,
permits only carbonic acid gas, the chief product of combustion, to
remain in the proportion of 1 in 2000. The introduction of so much water
in the sewer, where its presence already is considered an injury to the
sewage, is an objection, but the present system of drainage requires a
plentiful supply of water, to prevent stoppages or choking. Should the
dry earth system ever be generally introduced, the present sewers would
serve to remove liquid sewage and all products of combustion. The
operation of the sewer in any way in receiving this smoke and soot,
would permit the full and cheering light of the sun to shine alike in
country and town.
_DESIGN No. 36._
A LECTURE HALL, OR LITERARY INSTITUTION.
[Illustration: Elevation.]
This design was made to refront an old chapel in the country which had
been purchased for the purpose of forming a Literary Institute. The
interior
[Illustration: Tablet in front.]
was one large room, the lecturer’s table at the back, a recess and
fireplace behind, a large gallery in front, under which were formed two
small rooms, with a
[Illustration: Elevation of entrance-door.]
passage from the grand entrance between. The entrance-door with a bust
of Socrates over it, under the arch, was made large, to give an
important character to the front. A section of the niche over the
doorway is given, some details of the angle rustication, together with
an elevation of the entrance-door.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 37._
ENCAUSTIC TILES.
A slight digression from the subject-matter of the preceding pages may
serve to break monotony, and introduce to the notice of the reader an
ornamental object--the encaustic tile. They are
[Illustration: Design for a floor encaustic tile.]
now of universal use, both for floor and wall decoration, and have
become general favourites for such purposes. A few suggestions,
therefore, for the purpose of making them more artistic and pleasing
will not be out of place.
The present patterns are almost entirely of a conventional kind, or
according to strict geometric forms. The same pattern is repeated all
over the surface, without variation, and however excellent the pattern
may be, it is designed on the same principle as that of a printed wall
paper.
The design just given puts all geometric forms aside, and introduces a
free-hand treatment, allowing the pattern to be varied on every surface
laid down.
[Illustration: Design for wall encaustic tile.]
The first tile shows eight points in which the stem of the pattern
(suppose that of a flower design) meets in them all. The second tile
shows the stem; the third and fourth the flower pattern varied. One tile
might have more flowers than leaves, another all leaves or buds, and as
all the tiles would fall in their right places, they depend only on the
care of the workmen who place them; the pattern might be varied
according to the number of tiles of different pattern.
For wall linings a trellis work might be shown on the tile, having a
blue ground; some tiles might be without either leaves, stems, or
flowers, and the design would show a flowered trellis against the sky.
The figure given on page 461 shows this.
These tiles are beginning to be used on columns. Some good examples are
to be seen in the South Kensington Museum Galleries. In columns with
trellis work a white marble ground with leaves and roses twined round it
naturally, would look a great deal better than formal lines of stiff
ornaments.
Some of our latest Gothic architects who were at the same time artists,
did not trouble themselves to draw out according to rule the geometric
lines for the foliation of their Gothic windows. They knew the
principles thoroughly, but merely made the vertical lines correct, and
then sketched in the foliation with a free hand. This gave an outline
greatly superior to the usual stiff conventional forms. Some examples of
this may be seen in one of the author’s books, now in the Fine Art
Library of the South Kensington Museum, in which the free-hand designs
(rubbings) are placed by the side of the same patterns drawn out
geometrically.
The vignette shows foreign cut-wood patterns for roof ornament; the
section the method of forming the zinc gutter.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 38._--RESTORATION OF CASTLE GUNNARSTROP, SWEDEN.
[Illustration]
It has been remarked in the Introduction, that the localities in which a
residence can be placed greatly affect their picturesque appearance. The
north and west Highlands of Scotland, in our own country, and a similar
class of scenery in Sweden and Norway, greatly aid by their natural
beauties the best effects of the architect, and generally in northern
Europe, including Denmark with the above-named countries, those
accessories can be largely taken advantage of. An instance of this can
be found in the design now under consideration. In this castle the
gables are carried up to a greater height, and made more ornamental and
of greater importance than with us. In the year 1852 the author was
making a design for a villa for the Count de Bark, a Swedish nobleman.
It was to be erected on the heights bordering the Sound near Copenhagen,
and was seen from the sea in passing, peering above the trees. The upper
part of the villa was made as picturesque as possible, with a tower,
battlements, and turrets. The lower part of the building was very plain,
and the plan merely contained a few living rooms and servants’
apartments; it was much unlike our style, and is therefore not given
here: only the view from the vignette is afforded in this description.
The Count’s uncle occupied the old castle, the Vrams Gunnarstrop in
Sweden, then very much out of repair and unfitted for the requirements
of modern domestic life.
It was planned originally on a grand scale; the fronts had high
triangular gables in steps, and decorated with cut granite ornaments,
but the whole was
[Illustration: The one-pair plan.]
very plain. The north front was in two floors, and the angle towers of
the building had only two floors. The portions between one storey--that
of the ground floor--thus had to be raised. The ground floor was given
to the servants, and the southern portion of the building was to remain
for a time in its then existing state. The plan shows _a_, the grand
staircase, adorned with columns supporting the upper landing. It was 27
ft. in length by 26 ft. in width, and led up to an ante-room _b_, in the
centre of the building, 26 ft. in length by 12 ft. in breadth. It opened
into the first and second drawing-rooms, _c_ and _d_: one 30 ft. in
length, the other 40 ft., and both of a width of 26 ft.
[Illustration: Perspective view of the Count de Bark’s villa.]
The dining-room _e_, entered from the chief drawing-room, was 40 ft. in
length, with a width of 22 ft.; _f_ shows the gallery or library filled
with book-cases, and leading to the day-room _h_; the chief bedroom is
shown at _i_ adjoining, _k_ is the lady’s dressing-room, _l_ the
gentleman’s dressing-room and bath; _m_ is the nursery, with a
servants’ staircase and closet adjoining; _g_ is the servants’
serving-place at the entrance of dining-room. The light portions of the
plan show the additions made; the black, the old portions of the castle.
The two towers contained staircases to the attics which were formed in
the high roofs.
The principal elevation faced the west. The perspective view of this
front is given. Its length is 130 ft., and the height of the principal
entrance from the ground to the top of the gable is 60 ft.
The south and west sides were of an equally picturesque character, but
neither had any central gable. The south had triple dormer windows
joined in the centre with one dormer window at each side. The two towers
were seen rising above the roof, and a wide terrace with open stone
Elizabethan balustrading extending the entire front, with steps down to
the garden in the centre below. The terrace was 130 ft. in length. The
west side had the two gables, one at each end, with three tall dormer
windows in the roof; these were connected by wood balustrading, and a
window with three lights was placed below each. The granite-stone
ornaments in the old fronts were replaced in the new fronts.
The vignette gives a view of a small garden fountain, designed from one
in the old garden at Blickling in Norfolk. The plinth is hexangular in
plan, with the scrolls projecting on the three sides. To the top of the
jet its height is about 9 feet.
[Illustration]
_DESIGN No. 39._
SUMMER VILLA FOR THE COUNT KINSKI, AT TEPLITZ.
[Illustration: Perspective view of Count Kinski’s summer villa.]
This villa was designed about the year 1852, for an Austrian nobleman,
who wished to have a villa in the English Elizabethan character. The
plan was arranged after his own figured sketches, and it is given here
as showing the requirements considered desirable for such a building in
a summer place of
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
retirement, or palace for a foreign nobleman’s occupation. The porch was
approached on four sides by flights of steps 12 ft. 6 in. in diameter;
it opened into a hall _b_, 20 ft. in length by 14 ft. in width. The
drawing-room _c_, of noble size, with two bay windows, was 36 ft. in
length by 22 in width. The dining-room _d_, in the opposite side of the
hall, was 28 ft. in length by 18 ft. in width. The butler’s pantry _k_,
and the servants’ offices and kitchen _g_, with a large store-closet
_h_, and scullery _i_, adjoined. A bread-room is shown at _j_, _l_ is
the servants’ hall, _m_ a china-closet, _n_ a store-room, and _o_ the
servants’ staircase, _q q_ are the servants’ entrances, and _r r_ the
closets.
[Illustration: One-pair plan.]
Returning to the principal portion of the building, the chief staircase,
_v_, opens from the entrance hall, _e e e_ are nurseries, and _f_ is the
library. On the first floor, _a_ is the balcony over the porch; this was
to be used for smoking, &c., _b_ is the best bed-chamber, and _c_ the
boudoir to the same, _d_ is the second best bedchamber, and _e_ its
boudoir, _f_ is the third best bedchamber, and _g_ its boudoir, _h_ is a
bedroom without any boudoir, _i_ is the housekeeper’s bedroom, _k k k_
the men’s sleeping room, _i_ housemaid’s closet, _j j_ closets, _l l_
linen-closets, _m_ a closet or bath-room, _n_ the principal staircase,
and _o_ the servants’ staircase.
The attic plan was devoted to the sleeping rooms, _b b b_, of the female
servants. Here plans are made
[Illustration: Attic plan.]
(the building being so large) on a smaller scale than the other plans in
this volume.
The perspective view merely exhibits the common forms of Elizabethan
character. The tower which formed the entrance was 70 ft. in height from
the foundation to the top of its roof, the height of the ground-floor
rooms was 14 ft. 3 in. They had rich plaster friezes, and the staircase
had carved oak Elizabethan balustrading. The second-floor rooms were 12
ft. 3 in. in height, and were very plain in character. The upper floor
of the tower was open, but could be closed by sashes; this was intended
for a smoking retreat. A small detail of one of the gabled windows in
front is given below. Altogether, the design had a most picturesque
effect, and its style met with approval. It combined utility with
elegance,
[Illustration: Gable window.]
and completely answered the objects for which it was constructed.
Another villa was designed for an Austrian nobleman, the Prince Clary: a
view of it is given in the first illustration of this volume, through
the window of the architect’s study. It was intended as a summer retreat
for the Prince and his friends when engaged in a fishing-excursion on
the noble river the Elbe, on the banks of which it was placed. It
contained a large centre dining-room, 48 ft. by 22, with a saloon or
drawing-room, 40 ft. by 20 ft., and extensive accommodation for the
kitchen and servants’ departments. The upper storey contained 14 best
bedrooms, each with an ante or dressing-room, besides bath-room and the
sleeping apartments for the domestics.
_DESIGN No. 40._
HARRINGTON HOUSE, QUEEN’S PALACE GARDENS.
[Illustration: Perspective view of exterior.]
This building, with which the present collection of designs closes, is
probably the most unpicturesque example in the volume. Its exterior has
been frequently criticised; whatever its merits or demerits may be, it
certainly is wholly unlike, while at the same time it is not inferior,
to the strange style at present so popular with the younger branch of
architectural professors, which appears to be a
[Illustration: Elevation of principal staircase.]
mixture of the Byzantine and Romanesque styles, joined with the Roman
Gothic. Some call it the Missal style, others the Northern Italian. The
sole recommendation of it is that it comes more expensive to carry out
than any other. This house has at least the reputation of being a very
comfortable one, and as more than usually adapted to receive large
assemblies and fashionable parties. Indeed the noble Earl who erected
it was so pleased with it, that on entering, on its completion, he
addressed the following note to the author:--
H. H., Kensington Palace Gardens,
_31 May, 1854_.
My dear Sir,--
I take this opportunity of expressing to you my thanks for having
constructed a house, in my humble judgment, _without a fault_.
Believe me most sincerely yours,
(Signed) HARRINGTON.
To C. J. Richardson, Esq.
And after having resided in it nine months, he again
wrote as follows:--
H. H., Palace Gardens, Kensington,
_2nd February, 1855_.
My dear Sir,--
I pray you to accept my cordial thanks for your most able
architectural skill in the construction of my house. I have lived
in it one season, and have not discovered in it a single fault.
Believe me most truly yours,
(Signed) HARRINGTON.
To C. J. Richardson, Esq.
The site upon which the house stands was taken by the Earl from the
Commissioners of Her Majesty’s
[Illustration: Ground plan.]
Woods and Forests, and it certainly is, or was, one of the best sites
for building in the metropolis. It adjoins Kensington Gardens, looking
on the old winter garden of Queen Anne. Agreeable and admirable a
[Illustration: One-pair plan of staircase.]
site for building as this was, in 1853, it remained for some time
utterly neglected. The first speculator had been ruined, and only one or
two of his houses (one erected by Mr. Owen Jones, the architect) were
[Illustration: Ground-floor plan.]
standing in the road. Soon after the Earl of Harrington acquired the
land, and erected this building, the whole of the road, on each side,
was covered with first-class mansions.
The terms of the agreement were, that the Earl should take plot No. 9
and the northern portion of plot No. 10, having a frontage of 196 ft. to
the Queen’s Road, and a depth of about 260 ft., for a period of 91¼
years, from the 5th July, 1851, at a peppercorn rent for the first year,
of 73_l._ 10_s._ for the second year, and of 147_l._ a year for the
remainder of the term, also a rent of 5_s._ a year in lieu of land-tax
for every year except the first.
The Earl was to expend a sum of not less than 6000_l._ in erecting upon
the ground a dwelling-house of the first-class style of building. The
house was to be insured in the sum of 6000_l._, and the Earl was to pay
jointly, with the adjacent occupiers, the expense of lighting and
keeping up the road, which was a private one, and to pay the gatekeepers
at the lodge. The rest of the covenants of the agreement were such as
are usually found in such documents.
The house was, until the present year, the only Gothic one in the
district, the Earl insisting upon having this, his favourite style,
admitted. It stands in the centre of the road at the highest level, and
is well up out of the ground. The principal floor is 7 ft. above the
outside road of approach, and 14 ft. above the level of the public road.
The whole of the walls stand on a basement of concrete, and the lower
flooring is 5 ft. above the level of the foundations. The basement
story is 14 ft. in height, and of entirely fireproof construction. The
best rooms on the ground-floor are 17 ft. 6 in. in height, the secondary
rooms are 15 ft. high. All the principal staircases are of stone; the
ground plan on page 479 shows the
[Illustration: Section of principal staircase.]
entrance hall, _a_, approached by 12 steps; it is 30 ft. in length, by
21 ft. in width; _b_ is the principal staircase, situated on one side of
the saloon in the centre of the building; the latter is 41 ft. long by
21 ft. wide. The dining-room _e_, and the library _c_, on each side of
the hall, are respectively 30 ft. by 22 ft. The great room, with the bay
window, entered from the saloon, is the picture gallery _f_. This room
is 41 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, without the bay. The drawing-rooms _d_,
_d_, on each side, are each 25 ft. by 20 ft.; _g_, the conservatory,
measures 40 ft. by 21 ft.; this, with the two drawing-rooms and the
picture gallery, can in less than half an hour be thrown into one by the
removal of the large folding-doors in the picture
[Illustration: Ornament for stairs.]
gallery, which can be taken away, frames complete, by simply removing a
few screws. A length of drawing-room is then gained of 125 ft.
The principal staircase is shown in elevation on page 477; the plans are
here given to a larger scale.
The lower plan shows a portion of the first flight and the servants’
passage, _a_, under the first landing; _b_ is their staircase down to
the basement, this should have been shown on the left-hand side. It is
the footman’s staircase, adapted for him to ascend and
[Illustration: Iron railing on staircase.]
descend readily from or to the basement, and the passage _a_ permits
him to enter either side of the house without being seen. The upper plan
shows the two flights, right and left, rising from the principal
landing. Each of these has 22 steps. Three more in the centre lead up to
the gallery round the saloon; the section of the staircase, given on p.
482, clearly shows this arrangement. The staircase front is in Bath
stone. The only ornaments are the decorated corbels supporting the small
angular projections or buttresses necessary to receive the iron
standards of the railing above. One of the corbels and a panel of the
iron railing is given. This is carried up the stairs on both sides and
round the gallery, and is richly coloured and gilt. The only remaining
portions of the ground plan to be described are the secondary rooms. A
side entrance is at _j_, and the waiting room, _i_, is also at the side;
_h_ is the servants’ staircase, going from the basement to the attic. On
the other side of the building _o_ is the Earl’s dressing-room, with a
study or writing room by its side. This has a lift, _n_, from the
kitchen, enabling it to be used as a serving room. The picture gallery
has a flight of steps descending to a large ornamented garden at the
back of the house, _n n_ is the stable yard, and _k k k_ rooms over the
stable.
The section through the complete building, given on page 486, shows the
general character of the interior. The rooms are wholly without
ornament; all have plain cornices formed of running Gothic mouldings.
The
[Illustration]
only decorated portion is the saloon (_inf._), the coved ceiling of
which has the shields of painted and gilt coats of arms of family
connexions, together with
[Illustration]
mottoes and monograms. The skylight is filled with richly coloured
embossed glass, every pane having a shield of arms, its ceiling being
panelled with painted enrichments on a blue ground. A view of the saloon
is given on p. 487; it contains in the centre a statue
[Illustration: Half-section of roof of conservatory.]
by Theed, of Lady Chandos Pole, the eldest daughter of the Earl. The
statues are shown in the plan by the letters _m m_. The ground floor is
supplied with warm-water pipes; these are shown by the dotted lines.
They are sunk in the brickwork forming the substructure of the
flooring, and covered with open ornamental ironwork. The hall has two
warm-water pedestals. The whole of the rooms and conservatory are so
warmed.
The latter part of the interior resembles in some respects a small
chapel. A half-section of a portion
[Illustration: Plan of one-pair.]
of its roof is given on p. 488; it measures 22 ft. from the floor to the
collar-beam. The corbels, from which the roof springs, are decorated
with shields of arms, surrounded by a garland of strawberry leaves.
In the plan of the one-pair floor _a_ is the boudoir or morning room;
_b b b_ are bedrooms; _c c c_ dressing-rooms, and _d_ is the bath-room.
The gallery is shown as completely going round the saloon; its ceiling
is of ground glass arranged in panels, each of which is
[Illustration]
moveable, with a skylight over the whole. There is plenty of light
therefore afforded for the paintings with which the walls are covered.
The small attic plan shows these skylights on three sides only,
likewise the sleeping-rooms _b b_, and the housemaid’s closet _c_. Under
this plan is that of the upper room in the tower with its two slate
cisterns, each capable of containing 800 gallons of water. They are
supported by strong trussed girders fixed in the walls. This upper room
is approached by a
[Illustration: Staircase to lower rooms.]
cottage staircase, the plan of which, with its 22 risers, is shown in
cut on p. 490. It enables the room to be approached without any
structural appearance being seen from without. A half elevation of the
exterior, and another of its section is given above. It is well supplied
with light.
[Illustration: Basement plan.]
[Illustration: Elevation of bay window.]
[Illustration: Section.]
[Illustration: Plan.]
The building contains upwards of forty rooms; the basement is very
large, and contains considerable accommodation. The mere enumeration of
these would require every letter in the alphabet to point them out in an
engraving, but as it is desirable to show how closely a large
establishment of servants can be packed together, the basement plan is
given. _a_ is the kitchen, _b_ the scullery, and _c_ the larder. The
kitchen is provided with a lift _f_, and a small service window; _d_ is
the pastry-room, and _e_ the still-room, with the lift; _g_ is the
dairy, _h_ the washhouse, _i_ the laundry, _j_ the butler’s pantry, _k_
the steward’s room with its strong closet; _l_ is the housekeeper’s,
with the cook’s room between it and the still-room, _m_ is the servants’
hall, _n_ the men’s sleeping room; _o o_ are wine-cellars, _p_ the
butler’s wine-cellar, _q_ the footman’s stairs under the principal
staircase, _r_ the warm-water furnace, by the steward’s room, placed at
the back of his strong closet; _s_ is the stable, containing eight
stalls, one loose box, and a harness-room; _t t t_ are cart-sheds, _u_
is the cowhouse, _v_ the dung-pit, _w_ the coach-house, _x x_ two of the
three coal-cellars, _y_ the dust-pit, and _z z z_ are the closets. The
carriage-road to the side entrance is formed over the cart-sheds and
coal-cellars. These are arched over in brick and covered with a thick
layer of Brown’s metallic lava, and are provided with proper drainage.
The boot-cleaning place and that for lamps are between the coach-house
and the cart-sheds.
The exterior of the building has been censured on account of the Gothic
outline being too flat, the roofs too low, and all the windows having
common sash
[Illustration]
frames. With regard to the latter, it may be considered very probable
that if the Gothic race of architects had continued with us to the
present day, they would have adopted plate glass for their windows, and
put aside their lead-lights and small panes of common glass. One of the
greatest improvements that could be made in our cathedrals, not
excepting even St. Paul’s, would be the reglazing the windows in the
modern style.
[Illustration: Half-elevation and section of bell-turret.]
As a specimen of the architectural style of the building, the centre
bay-window of the principal front is given, with its section and plan.
It is 9 ft. 6 in. across, and 21 ft. 4 in. high, and stands directly
over the chief entrance. The construction of a projecting bay-window
coming over an archway requires a short description.
The three diagrams on page 495 show the manner in which such windows are
corbelled out. The upper
[Illustration: Plan of turret.]
one is a plan of the bottom stone course, immediately over the key-stone
of the arch; it shows also the centre stone of the second course upon
it. The middle diagram shows the two courses from the back. It will be
seen that the middle stone of the first course does not bear upon the
arch, but is supported by the two end stones let into the wall. The last
diagram is a plan of the upper course at top. Slate dowels were used,
and an iron bar, shown in plan under elevation _a_, 3 in. by ¾ in., was
placed across the course tailing into the walls on each side; and two
bars _p p_, each 2½ by ¾ in. and 12 ft. in length, tied it to the
flooring of the room. This is shown likewise in the plan, the dotted
lines dividing the length of flooring; _d_ is the upper course of
stones, and _c_ one of the principal beams of the floor.
[Illustration: Balustrading on top of building.]
The bell-turret stands 20 ft. above the roof. This is carved in oak; an
elevation, section, and plan is given. Only those parts of the building
are intended to be here illustrated which have some peculiarity of
design or construction.
A building of this size would require about 150 working drawings to be
made for it, and a considerable number to be given to show its
construction.
It was completed in about two years, at an expense of 14,814_l._; but
this did not include the price of the warming apparatus, nor that of the
lightning conductor fixed to the bell-turret.
[Illustration: Front. Side.
Pedestal to steps.]
Whatever opinions may be expressed in regard to the architectural
details of this erection, the author at least can plead, as its owner
stated in the letters, copies of which have been given, that the
essentials of a house, convenience, comfort, and complete suitability
for all domestic purposes, were accomplished. These objects being
attained, any real or imaginary faults perceived by professional critics
may be palliated if not forgotten.
INDEX.
PAGE
Introduction, 3-48
“Albert Hall of Arts”, 131
Architectural history, 16
Architectural orders, 20 _et seq._
Architecture and gardening, 46, 312
Architecture, English, 25
Architecture, Grecian, &c., 11
Architecture, Mexican, &c., 26
Architecture, origin of, 8
Architecture, principles of, 27
Architecture, Roman, 23
Architecture, Suburban, 29
Architectural symmetry, &c., 31
Arnott’s, Dr., system of warming, 357
Arnott’s ventilator, 414
Aspect of a house, 36
Asphalte as a paving, 235
Atmosphere, the, and smoke, 431
Bacon, Lord, on house construction, 256
Balconet, an iron, 331
Balconet, design for a, 123
Balusters for a staircase, 277
Balustrade, a garden, 363 _et seq._
Balustrade, Elizabethan, 181
Balustrade for a staircase, 282
Balustrades, stone, 247
Balustrading, cut wood, 279
Balustrading, designs for iron, &c., 299
Balustrading, house and garden, 204 _et seq._
Barge-board, 247
Bath-house, design for a, 214
Bower, garden, rooms, 242
Boyd’s flue, 414
Bricks, ventilating, 157, 170
Buildings, foundation of, 151
Carving by machinery, 278
Casements, iron, 220
Castle, Gunnarstrop, Sweden, 464
Ceiling, a dining-room, 288
Ceiling and cornices, 44
Ceiling, drawing-room and library, 290, 291
Ceiling for a drawing-room, 166
Ceiling for a hall, 286
Ceiling, ornament for a, 61
Ceilings, ornamental, various, 313 _et seq._
Ceilings, plaster ornament for, 161
Chalk concrete, 83
Chapel, design for a Roman Catholic, 210
Cheshire wooden houses, 233
Chimney-piece, ancient, at Enfield, 228
Chimney-pieces, designs for, 80, 81, 319
Chimney-pot, ornamented, 329, 330, 423
Chimney stack, ancient, 74
Churches, concrete, 96
Clunch, 246
Concrete as a foundation, 152
Concrete, chalk, 83
Concrete churches, 96
Concrete construction, 82
Concrete cottages, 83
Concrete, nature, cost, &c., of, 91
Concrete, remarks on, 93
Concrete sewers, 96
Concrete walls, 92
Construction, fire-proof, 156
Construction, concrete, 82
Corbels, 172
Corbel, French cut-wood, 403
Corbels, ragstone, 392
Cornice and ceiling, 44
Cornice, design for a plaster drawing-room, 101
Cornice for a drawing-room, 166
Cottage, design for a picturesque, 62
Cottage, double, design for a, 66, 72
Cottage, gardener’s, 50
Cottages, Hampshire, Kentish, &c., 88 _et seq._
Cottage or lodge, design for a small, 58
Cottage or lodge, design for a huntsman’s, 78
Country house, design for a small, 174
Country villa, design for a, 182
Cubitt’s flues, 407
Dab houses, 251
Damp walls, 152
Damp, wash to prevent, in walls, 159
Deals, stained, 45
Decoration external and internal, 42
Denley’s flue, 413
Door, entrance for a hall, 458
Door ornaments, 69
Doric order, 20
Drain-eye, 450
Egyptian architecture, 19
Elizabethan balustrades, 181
Elizabethan villa, 280
Encaustic tiles, 460
English architecture, 25
Escutcheon, design of an, 69
Escutcheon, key, 172
Finials, 109
Finials, roof, 80
Fireplace for a hall, 284
Fireplace, the, 404
Fire-proof construction, 156
Fire-proofing, 158
Flue construction, 405 _et seq._
Flue pedestal, the, 446
Flues, Cubitt’s, 407
Flues, various, 405 _et seq._
Fogs, London, and smoke, 443
Foundations, concrete, 152
Foundations of buildings, 151
Fountain, an ancient nymph’s, 47
Fountain, garden, 49
Fountain, garden, design for a, 469
Fountains, various designs for, 307
French villas, roofs, zinc work, &c., 273
Frieze, external, 173
Frieze for dining and drawing-room, 178
Frieze, plaster, for a drawing-room, 65
Gable, ornamental, 170, 220, 300
Gardens, ancient, 312
Gardens and architecture, 45
Garden, architectural, 313
Garden bower rooms, 242
Gardener’s cottage, 50
Garden fountain, 49
Garden gate, a, 204
Garden gate, design for a, 95
Garden, gate to a flower, 265
Garden or summer villa, 302
Garden summer house, 262
Garden steps, 197
Garden seat, design for a, 361
Garden, vignette plan of an Old English, 119
Gate, a garden, 265
Gates, iron, in Hyde Park, 128
Gate lodge, Hyde Park, 125
Gates, Park, 149
Gates of London Parks, 139
Gothic, modern, 24
Gothic screen, 205
Gothic style, 10
Gothic window, 204
Grecian architecture, 11
Gunnarstrop castle, Sweden, 464
Half-Timbered houses, 248
Hall ceiling, 286
Hall fireplace, 284
Hall, lecture, design for a, 456
“Hall of Arts and Sciences,” Kensington, 133
Hall stove, 285
Hall, stove for entrance of a, 120
Hampshire cottages, 88
Handle, design for a door, 69
Harrington estate, the, 136
Harrington House, Queen’s Palace Gardens, 476
Houses, foundations of, 151
Haum as a building material, 249
Hiort’s flue, 412
Hot-water apparatus, 349
House, a bachelor’s, 401
House, a garden summer, 262
Houses, aspect of, 36
Houses, dab and wattle, 251
House construction, Lord Bacon on, 256
House, design for a small country, 174
Houses, heating of, 34
Houses in Kent, 249
Houses, noggin, &c., 249
Houses, post-and-pan, 252
Houses, site, &c. of, 351
Houses, warming of, 351
Hyde Park, Queen’s Gate, entrance to, 139
Hyde Park Corner Gate, 140
Ice-house, design for a, 370
Kensington Gardens, 140
Kent ragstone, 176
Kentish cottages, 91
Kentish village houses, 249
Key escutcheons, 172
Knocker, 172
Library, elevation of a small, 200
Literary Institution, design for a, 456
Lodge, a park, 102
Lodge and gateway, design for, 112
Lodges of London Parks, 142
Lodge or cottage, a huntsman’s, 78
Lodge or cottage, design for a small, 56
Lodge, park entrance, 104
Lodge, Queen’s Gate, Hyde Park, 125
Machine-carving, 278
Mantel-pieces, 44
Maisonette, a French, 268
Meat-jack, design for a, 267
Moule’s earth system, 241
Moon’s flue, 412
Mud walls, 90
Noggin houses, 249
Orders of architecture, 20 _et seq._
Origin of architecture, 8
Paper hangings, 42
Parge-boards, 247
Pargetting, &c., 248
Park, entrance lodge and gateway, 112
Park lodge, design for a, 99
Park lodge entrance, 104
Parks, history of the London, 139
Parks, the Royal, 139
Pedestals, ornamental, 326
Pedestal, the flue, 446
Pendants, &c., 289
Perkins’ hot-water apparatus, 350
Picturesque cottage, design for a, 62
Picturesque defined, 5
Pipes, elevation of Elizabethan lead-water, 55
Plaster frieze for a drawing-room, 65
Plaster ornament for a ceiling, 161
Porch, design for an entrance, 225
Portico, elevation of, 180
Post-and-pan houses, 252
Pots, ornamental chimney, 423
Prevention of damp, 151
Queen Anne’s garden, 140
Queen’s Gate, iron-work of, 143
Queen’s Gate Lodge, 125, 142
Ragstone, Kentish, 176
Railing, French, in iron, 190
Railing, park, 147
Railing, ornamental, 81
Riding-house and stabling, 389
Reading-room, design for a, 208
Rectory, design for a small country, 162
Retreat, a small country, 268
Roman Architecture, 23
Roman Temple, 5
Roof, French style of, 275
Roofs, iron, 348
Roof ornaments, design for wood, 463
Rose Hill Villa, 82
Rotunda at Bank of England, 158
Rushton Hall, 283
Schools, design for, 208
School, design for a village Sunday, 70
School, village, 208
Screen, Gothic, 205
Screen, hall, 206
Sculptor’s villa, 338
Serpentine, the, 140
Sewers, a receptacle for soot, 438
Sewer gases in houses, 436
Sewers, concrete, 96
Situation of a house, 38
Smith’s, Seth, flue, 412
Smoke Nuisance Act, 452
Smoke Prevention, 405
Smoke purified, by a spray of water, from soot, 441
Smoky chimneys, 427
Soot and the sewers, 436
Soot, prevention of, 428
Soot, removal of, from smoke, 433
Soot, value of, 451
Spiral staircase, 61
Stabling and riding-houses, 389
Stack flues, 417
Stair, best proportions of a, 231
Staircase balustrade, 277, 282
Staircases, construction of, 194
Staircase railing, French, in iron, 190
Staircase, spiral, 61
Steps, garden, 197
Stone balustrades, 173
Stove, design for an entrance hall, 120
Stove for a hall, 285
Styles of architecture, 10
Style, Gothic, 10
Summer house, or garden, 262
Summer or garden villa, 302
Summer room, design for a, 214
Sunday school, village, design for a, 70
Tall-boys, 416
Taste in architecture, 15
Terrace, ironwork, 297
Tiles, design for ornamental, 189
Tiles, encaustic, 460
Tiles, ornamental, 187
Turn-buckle, 221
Ventilation, general principles of, 32
Ventilation, 411
Verandahs, 375
Verge-board, 247
Villa, a sculptor’s, 338
Villa, design for a country, 182
Villa, design for a small country, 222
Villa, double suburban, 192
Villa, Elizabethan, 280
Villa, French, 268
Villa, old English wooden, 232
Villa, suburban, design for a, 382
Villa, suburban, design for a, 373
Villa, summer or garden, 302
Villa, summer, for Count Kinski, 470
Village schools, 208
Wainscoting, 285
Walls, concrete, 92
Walls, damp, 152
Walls, how to cure damp, 160
Warming houses, 34, 351
Water, for removing soot from smoke, 440
Wattle houses, 251
Weathercock, design for a, 261, 381
Window, design for a decorated, 336
Window, Gothic, 204
Window, ironwork for, 297
Wooden villa, old English, 232
Wood-noggin houses, 249
Woodwork, French, pine, 186
Woodwork, French, 275
Zinc, French ornamental work in, 274
THE END.
* * * * *
[_Post-Office Orders payable
at Piccadilly Circus._] [NOVEMBER, 1874.
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[Illustration]
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[Illustration]
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[_Preparing._
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SEVENTH EDITION OF
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10,000 most outrageous Puns, and is one of the most Popular Books
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[Illustration]
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=More Puniana.= By the Hon. HUGH ROWLEY. Containing nearly 100
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[Illustration]
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=Practical Assayer=: A Guide to Miners and Explorers. By OLIVER
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⁂ _This book gives directions, in the simplest form, for assaying
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=Signboards=: Their History. With Anecdotes of Famous Taverns and
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SEVENTH EDITION. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7_s._ 6_d._
[Illustration: HELP ME THROUGH THIS WORLD!]
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⁂ _Nearly 100 most curious illustrations on ‘wood are given,
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HANDBOOK OF COLLOQUIALISMS.
=The Slang Dictionary=: Etymological, Historical, and Anecdotal. An
ENTIRELY NEW EDITION, revised throughout, and considerably
Enlarged, containing upwards of a thousand more words than the last
edition. Crown 8vo, with Curious Illustrations, cloth extra, 6_s._
6_d._
[Illustration: THE WEDGE AND THE WOODEN SPOON.]
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WEST-END LIFE AND DOINGS.
=Story of the London Parks.= By JACOB LARWOOD. With numerous
Illustrations, Coloured and Plain. In One thick Volume, crown 8vo,
cloth extra, gilt, 7_s._ 6_d._
⁂ _A most interesting work, giving a complete History of these
favourite out-of-door resorts, from the earliest period to the
present time._
A KEEPSAKE FOR SMOKERS.
=Smoker’s Text-Book.= By J. HAMER, F.R.S.L. Exquisitely printed from
“silver-faced” type, cloth, very neat, gilt edges, 2_s._ 6_d._,
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CHARMING NEW TRAVEL-BOOK.
[Illustration: “It may be we shall touch the happy isles.”]
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cloth, extra gilt, 7_s._ 6_d._
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the South Seas with Mr. Stoddard in his prettily illustrated and
amusingly written little book.”--_Vanity Fair._
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=Syntax’s (Dr.) Three Tours.= With the whole of ROWLANDSON’S very
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The Three Series Complete, with a Life of the Author by JOHN CAMDEN
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=Theseus: A Greek Fairy Legend.= Illustrated, in a series of Designs
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=Theodore Hook’s Choice Humorous Works=, with his Ludicrous
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[Illustration: THEODORE HOOK’S HOUSE, NEAR PUTNEY]
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MR. SWINBURNE’S WORKS.
SECOND EDITION NOW READY OF
=Bothwell=: A Tragedy. By ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE. Crown 8vo,
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ground.”--_Saturday Review._
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and given us a poem upon which his fame may safely rest. He no
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wealth of imagery and colour, which gave rhythm and splendour to
some of his works, but would have been out of place in a grand
historical poem; we have now a fair opportunity of judging what the
poet can do when deprived of such adventitious aid,--and the
verdict is, that he must henceforth rank amongst the first of
British authors.”--_Graphic._
“The whole drama flames and rings with high passions and great
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to any that he has yet achieved. It will confirm and increase the
reputation which his daring genius has already won. He has handled
a difficult subject with a mastery of art which is a true
intellectual triumph.”--_Hour._
=Chastelard=: A Tragedy. Foolscap 8vo, 7_s._
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THE THACKERAY SKETCH-BOOK.
THACKERAYANA.
_Notes and Anecdotes_,
Illustrated by about Six Hundred Sketches by WILLIAM MAKEPEACE
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[Illustration]
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=Timbs’ Clubs and Club Life in London.= With ANECDOTES of its FAMOUS
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Edition, with NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, drawn expressly. Crown 8vo,
cloth extra, 600 pages, 7_s._ 6_d._
[Illustration: THE SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKES’S.]
⁂ _A Companion to “The History of Sign-Boards.”_ _It abounds in
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Hood, Mohocks, Scriblerus, One o’Clock, the Civil, _and hundreds of
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time.”--_Morning Post._
=Timbs’ English Eccentrics and Eccentricities.= Stories of Wealth and
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Letters, &c. By JOHN TIMBS, F.S.A. An entirely New Edition, with
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=Taylor’s History of Playing Cards.= With Sixty curious
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6_d._
[Illustration]
⁂ _Ancient and Modern Games, Conjuring, Fortune-Telling, and Card
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of London; with Portraits of the most remarkable, drawn from the Life by
JOHN THOMAS SMITH, late Keeper of the Prints in the British Museum. With
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“LES MISÉRABLES.” Complete in Three Parts.
=Victor Hugo’s Fantine.= Now first published in an English
Translation, complete and unabridged, with the exception of a few
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Hall-mark of genius and the loving patience and conscientious
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=Victor Hugo’s Cosette and Marius.= Translated into English,
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=Victor Hugo’s Saint Denis and Jean Valjean.= Translated into
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=Vyner’s Notitia Venatica=: A Treatise on Fox-Hunting, the General
Management of Hounds, and the Diseases of Dogs; Distemper and
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VYNER. WITH SPIRITED ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURS, BY ALKEN, OF
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=Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.= The Complete Work, precisely as
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=Walton and Cotton, Illustrated.--The Complete Angler=; or, the
Contemplative Man’s Recreation; being a Discourse of Rivers,
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Instructions how to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a clear
Stream, by CHARLES COTTON. With Original Memoirs and Notes by Sir
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=Waterford Roll (The).--Illuminated Charter-Roll of Waterford=, Temp.
Richard II.
⁂ _Amongst the Corporation Muniments of the City of Waterford is
preserved an ancient Illuminated Roll, of great interest and
beauty, comprising all the early Charters and Grants to the City of
Waterford, from the time of Henry II. to Richard II. A full-length
Portrait of each King, ‘whose Charter is given--including Edward
III., when young, and again at an advanced age--adorns the margin.
These Portraits, with the exception of four which are smaller, and
on one sheet of vellum, vary from eight to nine inches in
length--some in armour; and some in robes of state. In addition to
these are Portraits of an Archbishop in full canonicals, of a
Chancellor, and of many of the chief Burgesses of the City of
Waterford, as well as singularly curious Portraits of the Mayors of
Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork, figured for the most part in
the quaint bipartite costume of the Second Richard’s reign, though
partaking of many of the peculiarities of that of Edward III.
Altogether this ancient work of art is unique of its kind in
Ireland, and deserves to be rescued from oblivion, by the
publication of the unedited Charters, and of fac-similes of all the
Illuminations. The production of such a work would throw much light
on the question of the art and social habits of the Anglo-Norman
settlers in Ireland at the close of the fourteenth century. The
Charters are, many of them, highly important from an historic point
of view._
_The Illuminations have been accurately traced and coloured for the
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print will be edited by the Rev. James Graves, A.B., M.R.I.A., Hon.
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Society._
_The Work will be brought out in the best manner, with embossed
cover and characteristic title-page; and it will be put to press as
soon as 250 subscribers are obtained. The price, in imperial 4to,
is 20s. to subscribers, or 30s. to non-subscribers._
=Wonderful Characters=: Memoirs and Anecdotes of Remarkable and
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WILSON and JAMES CAULFIELD. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, with Sixty-one
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⁂ _There are so many curious matters discussed in this volume, that
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has read it through. The Introduction is almost entirely devoted to
a consideration of Pig-Faced Ladies, and the various stories
concerning them._
=Wright’s (Andrew) Court-Hand Restored=; or, Student’s Assistant in
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⁂ _The best guide to the reading of old Records, &c._
=Wright’s Caricature History of the Georges= (House of Hanover). With
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By THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.A., F.S.A. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 7_s._
6_d._
[Illustration]
“A set of caricatures such as we have in Mr. Wright’s volume brings
the surface of the age before us with a vividness that no prose
writer, even of the highest power, could emulate. Macaulay’s most
brilliant sentence is weak by the side of the little woodcut from
Gillray, which gives us Burke and Fox.”--_Saturday Review._
“A more amusing work of its kind was never issued.”--_Art Journal._
“It is emphatically one of the liveliest of books, as also one of
the most interesting. It has the twofold merit of being at once
amusing and edifying.”--_Morning Post._
=Yankee Drolleries.= Edited by G. A. SALA. Containing ARTEMUS WARD’S
BOOK; BIGLOW PAPERS; ORPHEUS C. KERR; JACK DOWNING; and NASBY
PAPERS. 700 pp., 3_s._ 6_d._
=More Yankee Drolleries.= Containing ARTEMUS WARD’S TRAVELS; HANS
BREITMANN; PROFESSOR AT BREAKFAST TABLE; BIGLOW PAPERS, Part II.;
and JOSH BILLINGS; with Introduction by G. A. SALA. 700 pp., cloth,
3_s._ 6_d._
=A Third Supply of Yankee Drolleries.= Containing ARTEMUS WARD’S
FENIANS; AUTOCRAT OF BREAKFAST TABLE; BRET HARTE’S STORIES;
INNOCENTS ABROAD; and NEW PILGRIM’S PROGRESS; with an Introduction
by G. A. SALA. 700 pp., cloth, 3_s._ 6_d._
_74 & 75, PICCADILLY, LONDON, W._
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Now Sir William Fothergill Cooke--October, 1869.
[B] First illustrated by the author in his work, “Architectural Remains
of the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I.”
[C] The garden entrance to the ancient palace of the Grand Duke of
Tuscany, alla Trinita de’ Monti. The architecture of Annibale Lippi.
[D] This subject is fully treated and illustrated with plates in the
Author’s treatise on “The Warming and Ventilation Buildings,” published
in 1837 and 1856.
[E] “Cheap Ice Well.” (Atchley & Co.)
[F] “Plan for Purifying the Atmosphere of Towns.” (Hamilton, Adams, &
Co.)
[G] “Coke, Smoke, and Sewage.” (Cave and Sever, Manchester.)
[H] A print of the stove is given in the author’s pamphlet entitled
“The Smoke Nuisance, and its Remedy; with Remarks on Liquid Fuel.”
Price 1_s._ (Atchley & Co.)
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Englishman's House" ***
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