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.
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.
SOME examples of designs for small cottages will be first given in this volume. There are few domestic
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.
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.
The details and the vignettes, one of which is mostly given between each example, are of various scales suited to each separate subject.
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.
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.
THIS small building forms the outer lodge to a country park. It is finished in all its parts so as
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
so placed that the sun during its daily course shines on all the exterior walls. Cottages should have no
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
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
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
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.
THIS design for a peasant’s cottage possesses no architectural feature beyond what could be given
to it by any common country village carpenter. It was made from the recollection of one at Blaise Hamlet,
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.
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.
THESE cottages were intended to be attached to some ornamental grounds which were very carefully attended to; and as the building formed a
prominent object, it was rendered architectural and pleasing in character. In plan the cottages are large
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 250l., 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 450l. Design No. 5 could not now be constructed for less than 630l.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.