Design No. 17 — A Double Suburban Villa
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
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
The general view shows the front and side of the two houses. The elevation of the side front is given on page 198.
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.
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.
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 7800l.
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.