Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/667

1869.] Comfort Considered in Building. 541 COMFORT CONSIDERED IN BUILDING. IX Domestic Architecture, there is nothing which calls forth the skill of a designer more, than that necessary adaptiveness, of ever}- part of his plan, to the wants of the family to be accommo- dated ; and, in this, we include all those 1 Utle details of convenience, which go to make np a really comfortable house. A judicious distribution of rooms, with easy access to each, is the essential re- quired in a plan. There is, also, a per- emptory necessity for an arrangement, by which the Kitchen, Dining-room, and Pantries, shall be within easy reach ; for there is nothing more repugnant to domestic comfort, than a mal-arrange- ment of these features of a plan. As to bed-chambers, the first object should be ventilation, and the next an appropriate space for the bedstead, matters too often neglected. Many times have we seen chambers, where the bedstead was, of necessity, placed across, or half across, a window. This is an unpardonable fault, in a design ; and should be care- full} r avoided. Dressing-rooms are re- quisites of the first importance ; and wardrobes should be provided, of suffi- cient size, and judiciously located. The staircase, being the great means of access, is of course a matter of the first consideration, as to capacity and convenience. It must be wide enough ; and should be so placed, as to connect the respective floors, in such a manner, as to give as little trouble as possible, in reaching all the rooms it leads to. In fact, to unite the requisites, which a good staircase requires, namely : convenience in situation and form, with a sufficiency of light, affords one of the strongest proofs of an Architect's skill. In large houses, where the breadth will admit of the hall being in the centre, the stairs can be easily managed, by double returns, to give easy access to any side. Nothing presents a finer ap- pearance, on entering a hall, than an elegant, easy stair of two returns, capa- cious and well lighted. Here the Archi- tect has ample opportunity for a display of skill, in the sweep or curve of the flight. And, in this development of effect, he should manage to have a hall of commensurate size ; if possible, open to the roof, and having elegant galleries on each floor : the whole lighted from a dome of stained glass. In this hall, there should be locations for statuary, &c. The times of the Tudor line of mon- archs were remarkable for halls ; but they were then more than mere stair- chambers. The famity dined in them ; and public feasts were held there. Early in the Sixteenth century, how- ever, the change of manners gradually led to the withdrawal of the famity from the hall ; and to the introduction of the dining-room, further from the entrance of the house. In the Aubery MSS., a rich old legacy to modern English anti- quaries, the following quaint account is given of the ancient hall, and the mode of their serving at meals : " The lords of manors did eate, in their great Gothic hall, at the higher table or oreile ; the folks at the side table ; the meat was served up, by watch- word ; Jacks being but an invention of the other daye, the poor boys did turne the spit, and lick the dripping-pan, and grew to be great lusty knaves. The body of the servants were in the great hall, as now in the guard-chamber, privy chamber, &c. The hearth was com- monly in the midst, as at colleges, whence the saying, ' Round about our fire.' Here, in the halls, were the Mummings, Cob- loaf-stealing, and great number of old Christmas plays performed. In great houses were Lords of Misrule, during the twelve dayes after Christmas. The halls of justices of the peace were dread- ful to behold ; the screens were garnished