Design No. 21 — Design for a Small Country Villa
This mansion was erected in Devonshire, for a gentleman having a numerous family. It consisted of three floors:—a basement story, ground floor, first floor, and attic. The picturesque style of the time of Henry VII. was adopted, and the construction was of brick with stone ashlar facings for the walls. The decorated portions were of stone; but red brick and stone, or red brick alone, would have been equally appropriate. The red brick with compo-dressing and enrichments would have been the cheapest. Considerable attention was given to obtain a picturesque character for the building, and the chimneys were so placed as to obtain one. The height to the top of gable was 38 feet 6 inches. The ground floor, given on page 223, contained two rooms, A and B, each 28 feet by 16 feet, without the bay. The porch was enclosed from the hall.
The upper floor had five rooms, intended merely as sleeping apartments. All had fireplaces except the centre front one, and that is shown supplied with a flue pedestal, a contrivance by which an upper room can be warmed by one of the fireplaces in a lower room, which prevents waste of heat. The attic floor had two good-sized rooms without fireplaces, for the servants.
The basement floor had good accommodation. One large room, that marked n, was for the housekeeper, with space for a bed. It could be used as a private breakfast or dining-room; b is the kitchen, 20 feet by 15 feet 6 inches, with a large space in the bay. The scullery g adjoined the kitchen; h is the larder, q the wine cellar, i the beer, and l the coal cellars.
Another design for the porch is given on page 225; this is of a more decorative character than that seen in the view. It had on it the shield of arms of the proprietor. It was to be constructed entirely of stone, the portion above the archway being richly carved. The front and side elevations of the exterior of the building, of which representations are given, show the extreme simplicity of the design.
The transverse section (page 228) shows the interior; this is taken through the kitchen and scullery in the basement, looking towards the fireplace and through the living rooms and attic above.
This design has, with various alterations, been adopted in several places for different parties, stripped entirely of its ornamental character, and merely having four walls and an overhanging roof, in plain cottage style. It forms the cheapest model that can be given for a villa. One was erected a few years back that cost considerably less than eight hundred pounds. It had the basement floor but no attic, the upper rooms being heightened by having an open collar-beam roof. One addition made to it when it had no basement was in extensive external offices, as seen in plan on page 229: f, the kitchen, is 18 feet square, with its scullery g, 18 feet by 10 feet; h is the larder, 9 feet 9 inches square, and k the dairy, of the same size, with a northern aspect. The two small rooms by the side, one marked n, were intended for a study or school-room, and a footman’s or butler’s pantry, with a separate entrance and an outlet from the house into the garden; the servants’ closet, and boot and knife cleaning place, were at a little distance away, together with the place for coals and wood. Some details of the exterior on a larger scale are given above.
The vignette shows the best proportion that can be given to stairs intended for a public building; the rise of each step being 6 inches, the tread 13 inches. In private dwellings the tread is made smaller by half an inch. When the rise can be made 5¾ inches only, much greater ease can be obtained in the ascent.