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“A Gentleman’s House” – the common phrase which we have taken leave to employ as a technical term (simply because it really is so in ordinary conversation, signifying an idea not otherwise easily expressed) – implies of course that we do not propose to deal in any The gentleman’s house 155

1 Katherine Grier, Culture and Comfort: People, Parlors and Upholstery: 1850–1930, Rochester, NY: The Strong Museum, 1988, p. 2.

2 Ian Bradley, Abide with Me: The World of Victorian Hymns, London: SCM Press, 1997, p. 118.

3 Patricia Jalland, Death in the Victorian Family, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

4 Ibid., p. 26.

5 John Marshall and Ian Willox, The Victorian House, London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1986, p.

57.

6 Miriam Bailin, The Sickroom in Victorian Fiction: The Art of Being Ill, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 6.

7 Ibid., p. 24.

8 John Tosh, “New Men’? The Bourgeois Cult of Home”, History Today 46, no. 12, 1996, 9–15.

9 Susan Casteras, Images of Victorian Womanhood in English Art, Rutherford, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987, pp. 51–2.

10 See Dennis Chapman, The Home and Social Status, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1955, chapter 13.

11 Karen Halttunen, Confidence Men and Painted Women: A Study of Middle Class Culture in America, 1830–1870, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982.

12 Ibid., p. 59.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid., p. 105.

15 Ibid.

16 Grier, Culture and Comfort, p. 1.

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 Quoted in Asa Briggs, Victorian Things, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990, p. 213.

20 Vicki Litman, “The Cottage and the Temple: Melville’s Symbolic Use of Architecture”, Amer-ican Quarterly 21, no. 3, Autumn 1969, 630–8.

21 Ibid., 632.

22 Mary Cowling, The Artist as Anthropologist: The Representation of Type and Character in Victo-rian Art, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989; Mike Hepworth, “Wrinkles of Vice and Wrinkles of Virtue’: The Moral Interpretation of Aging”, in Cornelia Hummel and Chris-tian Lalive d’Epinay (eds) Images of Aging in Western Societies, University of Geneva: Center for Interdisciplinary Gerontology, 1995.

23 Cowling, The Artist as Anthropologist, p. 5.

24 Graeme Tytler, Physiognomy in the European Novel: Faces and Fortunes, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.

25 Litman, “The Cottage and the Temple”, 630.

26 R. Laermans, “Learning to Consume: Early Department Stores and the Shaping of the Modern Consumer Culture”, Theory, Culture and Society 10, no. 4, 1993, 79–102.

27 Grier, Culture and Comfort, pp. 8–9.

way with inferior dwellings, such as Cottages, Farmhouses, and Houses of Business. But at the same time it is not necessary, or even desirable, to apply the term in any more restricted sense. No question of mere magnitude is involved; no degree of embellish-ment; no local or personal peculiarity: but there is indicated an entire class of dwellings, in which it will be found, notwithstanding infinite variety of scale, that the elements of accommodation and arrangement are always the same; being based, in fact, upon what is in a certain sense unvarying throughout the British Islands, namely, the domestic habits of refined persons. To put the case familiarly, there are houses in which the accommoda-tion is of the smallest, and the expenditure the most restricted, whose plan nevertheless is such that persons who have been accustomed to the best society find themselves at ease;

and there are others upon which ample dimensions, liberal outlay, and elaborate decora-tion have entirely failed to confer the character of a Gentleman’s House.

A scheme of classification which shall be applicable alike to houses of all degrees of importance is not perhaps easily contrived; but the following is offered as being at least practical and simple.

Primarily the House of an English gentleman is divisible into two departments;

namely, that ofTHE FAMILY,and that ofTHE SERVANTS.In dwellings of inferior class, such as Farmhouses and the houses of tradesmen, this separation is not so distinct; but in the smallest establishment of the kind with which we have here to deal this element of character must be considered essential; and as the importance of the family increases the distinction is widened, – each department becoming more and more amplified and elabo-rated in a direction contrary to that of the other. […]

The qualities which an English gentleman of the present day values in his house are comprehensively these:

Quiet comfort for his family and guests, — Thorough convenience for his domestics, — Elegance and importance without ostentation. […]

Privacy

The idea here implied has already been suggested; being, indeed, the basis of our primary classification. It is a first principle with the better classes of English people that the Family Rooms shall be essentially private, and as much as possible the Family Thoroughfares. It becomes the foremost of all maxims, therefore, however small the establishment, that the Servants’ Department shall be separated from the Main House, so that what passes on either side of the boundary shall be both invisible and inaudible on the other. The best illustrations of the want of proper attention to this rule must necessarily be obtained from houses of the smaller sort; and here cases more or less striking are unfortunately by no means rare. Not to mention that most unrefined arrangement whereby at one sole entrance-door the visitors rub shoulders with the trades people, how objectionable it is we need scarcely say when a thin partition transmits the sounds of the Scullery or Coal-cellar to the Dining-room or Study; or when a Kitchen window forms in summer weather a trap to catch the conversation at the casement of the Drawing-room; or when a Kitchen doorway in the Vestibule or Staircase exposes to view the dresser or the cooking-range, and fills the house with unwelcome odors …

On the same principle of privacy, as we advance in scale and style of living, a separate Staircase becomes necessary for the servants’ use; then the privacy of Corridors and 156 Robert Kerr

Passages becomes a problem, and the lines of traffic of the servants and family respec-tively have to be kept clear of each other by recognized precautions; again, in the Mansions of the nobility and wealthy gentry, where personal attendants must be continu-ally passing to and fro, it becomes desirable once more to dispose the routes of even this traffic so that privacy may be maintained under difficulties. In short, whether in a small house or a large one, let the family have free passage-way without encountering the servants unexpectedly; and let the servants have access to all their duties without coming unexpectedly upon the family or visitors. On both sides this privacy is highly valued.

It is matter also for the architect’s care that the outdoor work of the domestics shall not be visible from the house or grounds, or the windows of their Offices overlooked. At the same time it is equally important that the walks of the family shall not be open to view from the Servants’ Department. The Sleeping-rooms of the domestics, also, have to be separated both internally and externally from those of the family, and indeed separately approached.

The idea which underlies all is simply this. The family constitute one community: the servants another. Whatever may be their mutual regard and confidence as dwellers under the same roof, each class is entitled to shut its door upon the other and be alone.

When the question of the privacy of Rooms comes into notice more properly, in our examination of the apartments in detail, the development of the principle at large will further appear. We may, however, here refer to one point at least of general application, namely, the comparative merits of Italian and Elizabethan plan in respect of the privacy of Thoroughfares. In the Classic model, privacy is certainly less. The Principal Staircase especially is almost invariably an instance of this; so also are the various forms of Cortile, Central Hall, and Saloon; all are in a manner public places. But in the Medieval model, privacy is never difficult of accomplishment. The Staircase, for example, is generally secluded; and even a Gallery, if properly planned, becomes almost a Family-room. In other words, it may be said that the open central lines of thoroughfare in Italian plan must necessarily favor publicity, whilst the indirect routes of the Medieval arrangement must equally favor privacy. Or it may be put thus: the Italian model, legitimately descended from the Roman, still suggests its origin in the open-air habits of a Southern climate; whilst the old English model, the growth of Northern soil, displays a character of domestic seclusion which seems to be more natural to the indoor habits of a Northern home …

Comfort

What we call in England a comfortable house is a thing so intimately identified with English customs as to make us apt to say that in no other country but our own is this element of comfort fully understood; or at all events that the comfort of any other nation is not the comfort of this. The peculiarities of our climate, the domesticated habits of almost all classes, our family reserve, and our large share of the means and appliances of easy living, all combine to make what is called a comfortable home perhaps the most cherished possession of an Englishman. […]

In its more ordinary sense the comfortableness of a house indicates exemption from all such evils as draughts, smoky chimneys, kitchen smells, damp, vermin, noise, and dust; summer sultriness and winter cold; dark corners, blind passages and musty rooms.¹But in its larger sense comfort includes the idea that every room in the house, according to its purpose, shall be for that purpose satisfactorily contrived, so as to be The gentleman’s house 157

free from perversities of its own, – so planned, in short, considered by itself, as to be in every respect a comfortable room of its kind. […]

Drawing-room

This is the Lady’s Apartment essentially, being the modern form of the Lady’s With-drawing-room, otherwise the Parlor, or perfected Chamber of Medieval Plan. If a Morning-room be not provided, it is properly the only Sitting-room of the family. In it also in any case the ladies receive calls throughout the day, and the family and their guests assemble before dinner. After dinner the ladies withdraw to it, and are joined by the gentlemen for the evening. It is also the Reception-room for evening parties. There is only one kind of Drawing-room as regards purpose: there is little difference, except in size and evidence of opulence, between that of the duchess and that of the simplest gentlewoman in the neighborhood. Consequently, although in most respects the chief room of the house, it is, perhaps, the most easily reduced to system of any.

The character to be always aimed at in a Drawing-room is especial cheerfulness, refine-ment of elegance, and what is called lightness as opposed to massiveness. Decoration and furniture ought therefore to be comparatively delicate; in short, the rule in everything is this – if the expression may be used – to be entirely ladylike. The comparison of Dining-room and Drawing-room, therefore, is in almost every way one of contrast.

The proper Aspect for a Drawing-room must, of course, be such as to meet sunshine and mild weather, so that the ladies may enjoy the most free and direct communication with the open air. Southward will consequently be the general tendency; and the precise point of the compass which is most eligible will be determined by an avoidance on the one hand of the bitter and unhealthy East winds, and on the other of the quarter of wet winds and sultry sunshine. […]

Prospect is generally held to be the most important of all considerations in the disposi-tion of a Drawing-room; and certainly it must always be matter for regret if this room cannot be made to look out upon the very best view that the house commands. But let it never be forgotten that here especially aspect also is of the greatest moment; and if, when all the resources of end-windows and bay-windows are exhausted, the desired prospect is not obtained, the effort, in all but very exceptional cases, ought scarcely to go further.

The prospect may probably be turned to account in some other way; but the discomfort of a Drawing-room which presents itself unfavorably to the weather or the sun will never cease to make itself felt.

In their general scheme the internal arrangements of a Drawing-room have several times been alluded to as those of the sitting-room or Parlor. This scheme starts with the principles (speaking of a very common room), first, that the door should be far from both the fire and the window, on account of the draught; secondly, that the window should be near the fire, for the sake of light at the fireside and warmth at the window;

thirdly, that the door should not come between the fire and the window; fourthly, that the window should light both sides of the fire; and fifthly, that the fire should have a central position in the room. Accordingly the fireplace, in ordinary cases, is best situated in the middle of one side …, and opposite the windows. […]

The Furniture of a Drawing-room is not such as to require any special arrangements of the architect’s plan; provided the desire to render the room graceful and light has not induced him to give window-space in such excess as to occasion an embarrassing defi-ciency of wall space. In a small room there will be probably a center table, perhaps with 158 Robert Kerr

chandelier over, the usual chairs and couch, occasional table, sofa-table, or writing-table, occasional chairs, a chiffonier generally, or one or more fancy cabinets, perhaps one or more pier-tables, a whatnot or the like, one or more mirrors, and a cabinet pianoforte. If there be sufficient space there may be an ottoman settee; perhaps a pair of wall settees also. In a large room the principle of furnishing is still the same; everything becomes doubled in number or more; varieties of chairs, lounges, tables, cabinets, and so on, are multiplied; the pianoforte becomes a grand; sculptures are perhaps introduced; instead of a single chandelier there are two (although one is still preferable generally), and acces-sory lights are added at the walls; but nevertheless the comparatively simple idea of a Parlor or Sitting-room is always preserved.

The architect ought never to allow himself, unless in extraordinary cases, and with a very clear understanding of the case, to make unusual provisions for furniture. Even as regards mirrors, for example, although there are instances when an architectural effect may be aimed at, the architect must not venture to reckon without in the first place his client, and in the second his client’s upholsterer. At the same time it must be admitted that if architect and upholsterer can be made to work together intelligently and artisti-cally, very charming effects can be realized; the architect’s decorations bearing to the hangings, mirrors, and the rest, the relations of a framework whose own integrity is left untouched, and the work of the tradesman serving to fill up all gaps of design, and give richness to the architectural arrangements.

A door of intercommunication is admissible in a Drawing-room when opening to the Boudoir, if any, the Library, or the Morning-room. For a small room such a door is never to be too readily accepted; but that the ladies find it to be occasionally of service, espe-cially in large establishments, cannot be disputed. Its general purpose, however, being less for mere intercommunication than for private exit or escape, the connection in this way of the Drawing-room with the Morning-room or its equivalent is perhaps all that is necessary in the house. To correct the disturbance of privacy which a door of intercom-munication appears to involve, a small intervening lobby and two doors, or even a set of double doors, may often be judiciously employed. By this means at least the chance of one’s conversation being overheard is done away with …

In respect of external position the Drawing-room must face upon open Lawn or Flower-garden, or, what is perhaps best, a combination of both. In superior houses a Terrace is frequently formed along the Drawing-room front, an admirable feature in land-scape-gardening, as well as in architectural design; but in massive Classic compositions it sometimes interposes a barrier to that communication between the Drawing-room and the Lawn, which is so much valued as matter of domestic enjoyment; and this must always be taken into account. […]

The internal position of the Drawing-room ought to be such as to afford an easy, but never-theless sufficiently stately, access from the Entrance door. The route from Drawing-room to Dining-room must also be similarly contrived …

It is plain that we have been considering the Drawing-room all this time as a Ground-floor apartment; and so it ought always, if possible, to be. In town, however, the First-floor Drawing-room must be accepted, simply for want of area. All that can then be done is to carry out the spirit of the foregoing rules as circumstances best permit. […]

A closing observation under the head of the Drawing-room may refer to the fact that it is generally the Music-room of the house, and that it is well therefore to construct it accordingly; but this question we leave to be treated of under the head of Music-room in the sequel …

The gentleman’s house 159

Boudoir

The proper character of a Boudoir is that of a Private Parlor for the mistress of the house.

It is the Lady’s Bower of the olden time. In this light it does not serve in any way to relieve the Drawing-room; nor is it even supplementary or accessory to that apartment; but as the personal retreat of the lady, it leaves the Drawing-room – and the Morning-room if any – still occupied by the family and guests.

In some cases, however, what is called the Boudoir is simply a secondary and smaller Drawing-room. It is then generally turned to account in the way of ordinary use, espe-cially in a small family, so as to preserve the Drawing-room for occasions of more impor-tance. When the Drawing-room itself is very large, this arrangement may have its advantages; but it is manifest that such a Boudoir is really a Morning-room.

The Boudoir in any case follows, in respect of situation, aspect, plan, furniture, etc., the ordinary regulations for a small Drawing-room; that is to say, it is to be a Sitting-room, and to open if possible from the principal Corridor of the house. It may, however, be somewhat retired in situation; although such retirement ought not to prejudice free

The Boudoir in any case follows, in respect of situation, aspect, plan, furniture, etc., the ordinary regulations for a small Drawing-room; that is to say, it is to be a Sitting-room, and to open if possible from the principal Corridor of the house. It may, however, be somewhat retired in situation; although such retirement ought not to prejudice free