Daily life in the Edwardian England

Produced by : Baltii Simona-Elena Pintea Oana-Mihaela

The Edwardian is named after the reign of King Edward VII, and is technically between the years 1901 - 1910. Stylistically, however, the changes began in the early 1890 s and ended at the beginning of the XXI Towards the end of the 19th century, people began to tire of the excess ornamentation, public display, and rigid rules of conduct both inside and outside the home that society demanded. What did not change so quickly were the Victorian ideals of home, and family. A home was, as it is today, a refuge from daily stress. It was the responsibility of the woman of the house to create this effect and the myriad of magazines and books on interior decoration that exploded on the market in the first decade of the 20th century were there to guide her.

Compared to the homes during the height of the Victorian era, those of the early 20th century were very different. Advances in science and technology influenced the Edwardian way of life significantly. Improvements in medicine, and hygiene cut infant mortality rates, and extended life expectancy. Home design changed to incorporate the new building technologies, heating by furnace, plumbing, and electricity, while still integrating the symbols of hearth and home

ARCHITECTURE:

Architects tended to work primarily on the more imposing homes, and for those who could afford their services. Early examples in the province of Alberta attest to their penchant for recreating homes in the style of a medieval manor house, or Elizabethan / Gothic revival styles. Arts and Crafts bungalows, the modern style of the time also appealed to them. For the rest of the population, plan books were consulted by contractors and builders. Four Square houses, so named because the homes were essentially composed of four square rooms on two levels, were immensely popular. Today, many examples of this style still exist throughout the province.

INTERIORS - Layout
During the Victorian era, rooms were accessible through a central hallway, and broken up according to specific uses : dining room, parlor, bedroom. Larger homes had more single use rooms such as dens, libraries, pool rooms, sewing rooms, or nurseries. The Edwardian era saw more of an open plan. Dining rooms opened into living rooms, and living rooms were accessed through open vestibules or entrances. The efficient kitchen of the time was based on the model of a factory, and keeping it small meant the cook had to make fewer steps to get the work done. Electricity, for those who could afford it, was of additional benefit, even if this meant a bare 25 watt bulb hanging from a nine foot ceiling - very low light conditions by our standards today. Bathrooms became smaller in response to the ideals of efficiency. However, the well appointed bathroom of the era was anything but spartan with its heated towel bars, mosaic floors, shower, hip bath, bathtub and toilet in a separate closed off area

There are several other developments in home design that came out of this Edwardian idea of efficiency in home design that we take for granted today: the closet by the front door, the broom closet in the kitchen, the linen closet in the upstairs hall, and the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

INTERIORS - Decoration

In the years before XXI, the revival of old European and American styles in furniture gave the public many choices . Factory production made this much more possible than the handcrafted system of a century earlier. Accurate reproductions were the most expensive. For the masses, Golden Oak furniture, so named because of its high gloss finish of pigmented shellac, offered only a bare suggestion of the styles of the past. Arts and Crafts oak furniture with its simple straight lines and waxed or oiled finish was also popular. Metal furniture especially in bedsteads became desirable

Gone was the wallpaper that covered every wall, including the ceiling of every room. Painted ceilings and walls could be cleaned. If wallpaper was still desired, it was varnished to keep it washable. Gone were the dark colors associated with the late Victorian era, and hello to our love affair with white. Dark woodwork was painted white. As electricity became more commonly available and affordable, this need was relaxed. However even today, in spite of our advanced cleaning technologies, a thorough spring cleaning is still considered a must. This era in decorating gives the homeowner great scope in collecting accessories. Choose from late Victorian accessories, or Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styled pieces for a wonderful eclectic look that is truly the trademark of this transitional era in our decorating history.

The corsets have been an important article of underclothing that has helped

shape and achieve the fashions of many centuries. It has gone through many evolutions as fashion trends have changed. Women, as well as men, have for centuries us the corset as a mean to shape their bodies into, what they believed at the time, the perfect shape.

The straight-front corset, also known as the swan-bill corset, the S-bend corset or the health corset, was worn from circa 1900 to the early 1910s. Its name is derived from the very rigid, straight busk inserted in the center front of the corset. This corset forced the torso forward and made the hips protrude. The straight-front corset was popularised by Inez Gaches-Sarraute, a corsetiere with a degree in medicine. It was intended to be less injurious to wearers' health than other corsets in that it exerted less pressure on the stomach area. However, any benefits to the stomach were more than counterbalanced by the unnatural posture that it forced upon its wearer

Hats during the Edwardian period were not as universally wide as is sometimes thought. The new century began with a continuation of art nouveau influence in fashion and as skirts swirled around the feet of women forming in fans like bell flowers, so did the hats swirl and swoop around the head

Food and Cooking

The Edwardian era saw the beginning of the modern American food industry, largely due to inventions such as the steam tractor, which transformed farming into a grand-scale operation. The United States passed its Food and Drug Act, giving the government increased control in regulating food quality in the marketplace. Self-service grocery stores and supermarket chains opened for the first time in history. A host of brandname foods emerged in these newfangled grocery stores, including Crisco oil, Oreo cookies, and Kellogg's cereal. Finally, the invention of the refrigerator, pyrex dishware, and toaster oven brought time-saving convenience and efficiency to the modern kitchen.

Fashion

Music
At the dawn of the century, Ragtime music popularized by Scott Joplin became the rage in North America. Ragtime is a style of lively, syncopated music filled with counterpoint and harmonic contrasts. Typically, the bass notes establish the beat and the the melodic notes fall unexpectedly on and off beat, creating an energetic and original sound. Even before the Edwardian era, ragtime had begun to sweep across the Mississippi Valley in the late 1890s, predominantly driven by African American pianists such as Theodore Northrup known affectionately as the "King of Ragtime", borrowed from the classic styles of composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Louis Moreau Gottschalk to create a renowned musical tradition that reached its height of popularity in the late 1910s. Joplin's most popular rags are titled "The Entertainer" and "The Maple Leaf Rag."