READING to get information on the major architectural features of the 18th and 19th

century family house.

Text 3: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Family Houses

In the eighteenth century the increased role of the Prime Minister and government led to the
emerging of a wealth of ideas and improvements in farming methods. New enclosures were
needed, but the poor were forced off the land. The newly set up factories attracted them, and
the cottage industry1 suffered a dramatic blow. Instead, rows of small, cheaply built houses
appeared and established the pattern for the much denser concentrations of the following
century. Nonetheless, the eighteenth century was notable for the greater care bestowed upon
the planning and design of houses and streets. So, the town was no longer viewed as a
collection of parts but as a unity. The classical tradition of the seventeenth century further
evolved and dominated the building style. Concomitantly, books on architecture were
published that described and facilitated the spread of the Renaissance ideal. The major
material was brick, which came to be directly associated with the Georgian style, but other
local materials were used as well. For instance, the Cotswold style’s2 great advantage was
the easy access to the worked stone of that region, while the shale and granite slabs of
Cumberland and Cornwall gave to the buildings in those regions a quite distinctive
appearance.
The smaller houses followed the Renaissance pattern, being marked by a symmetrically
disposed system of fenestration. The sash window was used in small cottages by the middle
of the century. Some of these houses had their rooms arranged under a hipped roof.
Fireplaces were set against the outside walls. These fireplaces and their chimneys projected
into the room and resulting into recessed areas flanking the chimney breasts were frequently
treated as arched alcoves for the display of chinaware, in which the owner took such pride.
In the town houses, the kitchen was often placed in a narrow semi-basement lit by an
area light, while the main floor was raised some few feet above pavement level. Terraced
houses of this type contained their rooms on one side of the entrance hall; the symmetry was
maintained by the treatment of the terrace, with a unifying cornice and parapeted facade,
which sometimes rose to a pediment over the central house or pair of houses. The roof was
pitched low so that the straight skyline provided by the projecting cornice, or the parapet

1
Cottage industry refers to rural manufactures.
2
The name refers to the range of hills in Gloucestershire, noted for their sheep pastures and for a breed of
long-woolen sheep. The Cotswold style became the model for the members of Garden City Movement who,
among other things, insisted on the greeny cities and the use of natural materials.
above should not be broken.
The plan of the eighteenth century contained rooms of nearly equal size, and thus the
house suffered from the absence of a larger room. To make up for it, sometimes the front and
back parlours were combined to form a long room extending from front to rear. In these
rooms the fashionable meetings of the period were held.
The widespread use of white paint did much to underline the delicacy and grace of the
eighteenth-century architecture. The imported softwoods used in external woodwork were
protected from weather by a coating of white lead paint. Similarly, brick buildings were often
coated with stucco and painted. Interior walls were usually faced with plaster and the chair-
rail was introduced to protect it from the back of the chairs, which replaced at all levels of
society the benches and stools of former times.

In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century the confusion
introduced by Romanticism, fed on natural reaction to the severity of pure classicism, found
expression in a variety of non-classical styles, among which Chinese, Indian, Swiss, and
Egyptian, as well as Romanesque and Gothic. However, the Gothic Revival found favour
with some of the most prominent architects of the day and proved to be a serious challenge.
The contest between Gothic and Renaissance styles, though chiefly fought in the field
of public buildings, had many repercussions on the domestic building level. A wide range of
medieval features began to appear on the scene. False timbering, unnecessary brick nogging
leaded lights, towering ornamental Tudor-type chimneys and ornate barge-boards gratified
the spurious antiquarianism of the period. It was the suburban villa that proved a fertile
ground for such whimsicalities.
The characteristic nineteenth century villa was a detached house built in the suburbs
within easy reach of the working place. Its design was very compact and most of the ground
floor rooms were interconnected. The kitchen and other offices were often built in a self-
contained wing.
Some features were assigned to these villas, such as large, glazed areas, French
windows, hinged like doors opening onto the first floor balconies. Floors were of polished
wood, while the heavy iron-cast balustrades with mahogany handrails flanked the main
staircase. The high lath and plaster ceilings were finished with ornate central roses, from
which depending gasoliers. Most of the interior woodwork was painted to imitate more
expensive woods. In addition to that, the Gothicized wall papers and heavy curtains struck a
somber note.
The working population increased sharply after 1860, which delayed the improvement
of their living conditions. Rows of dingy back-to-back houses, one room wide and one room
deep, were densely packed in the industrialized areas. Many families shared water points and
sanitary installations. However, the housing of the poorest worker was a little better than that
which his medieval counterpart had been able to create with his own hands.