Chapter IV: Part 4

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 7800_l._

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.

_DESIGN No. 18._

DESIGN FOR VILLAGE SCHOOLS, AND READING ROOM.

This building is about to be erected in the county of Norfolk. It will contain a boys’ and girls’ school, with two rooms each, forming a parlour and bedroom, for the master and mistress; _a_ is the entrance porch, _d_ and _d_ are the two school rooms, and _e_ and _e_ the living rooms. The centre of the building forms the reading, lecture, and meeting-room for the village. The small room _c_, leading out of it, is a book room for the secretary or attendant; _b_, _b_, are open yards; each master and mistress have private entrances, and yards to themselves. The construction is of the cheapest kind; on a brick foundation, quarter framing is placed, filled in with brick, and plastered inside and out. The columns in the centre are trunks of trees, standing on stone slabs, and each has a flat stone capping. This building complete should not cost more than 850_l._ It is much to be desired that every village should have a room set apart, distinct from any public-house or tavern, where newspapers and books can be provided, lectures given, and various entertainments supplied the villagers.

_DESIGN No. 19._

A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL AND SCHOOLS.

This design was made for a building intended to occupy a site leading from the High street in a

very fashionable district, immediately out of London. The ground was rather confined in area, and from its position, being behind the houses in the street, it could only be approached by a narrow avenue between two of the houses.

The plan was an endeavour to make the most of the space afforded; the entrance to the church, a small tower with an open decorated spire, was placed at the end of the avenue of approach; _a_ _a_, are the schools, which have immediate access to the space before the altar; _b_ _b_, the rooms for the teachers or priests, had staircases on each side leading to rooms above. These buildings were kept low, so that as much light as possible should enter from the window above the altar. An elevation of the front of the chapel is given in our first illustration. The section looks towards the chancel, showing the chancel arch and pulpit in front, the altar, and the decorated window over it; the latter contains a large cross formed of white embossed glass, on a richly coloured glass ground. Above is the elevation of the porch, proposed to have been placed at the entrance of the avenue of approach.

_DESIGN No. 20._

DESIGN FOR A BATH HOUSE, AND SUMMER ROOM.

This design was made for a building intended to occupy a prominent position in a park in Kent; it would have commanded an extensive view over the Weald and surrounding country. The lower ragstone foundation already existed, being portions of an ancient building which had formerly stood there, and this held a fine spring of pure cold water, which runs down into a lake at a lower level in the park. Occupying a position in which it could be well seen, it was desirable that the building should form a picturesque object, and to effect this the Old English style of wooden architecture was chosen.

The view shows the back and side of the building, with the entrances, these being here less exposed to the weather than if they had been in front facing the open country. The ground-floor plan shows the cold bath with a small dressing-room; the bath was octangular in form, and fifteen feet in diameter. A small iron circular staircase led to the upper room; this was eighteen feet in diameter, with a domed ceiling, the sides of the room having iron

casemented windows, and over them a bold ornamented plaster frieze; the fire-place was adorned with oak carving. The fine prospect from the windows of the Weald, and the lake and park scenery in front, would have made this an extremely pleasant room.

The lower story of the building above the ancient ragstone foundation was of brick, nine inches in thickness, with quarters on the outside, brick-nogged; carved oak inch plank was then to be screwed to this quartering, and the inner spaces filled with cement; this it was proposed to dust with small bits of coloured

glass. The building was intended to be strongly constructed, as it was to stand on an elevated site in the most exposed situation in the park. The entrance, of which an elevation is given above, had two carved oak columns, having iron rings fixed to them. A small shield of arms was above the entrance; the whole of the oak was to be stained and varnished. A portion of the exterior is given on a larger scale. The upper story was in quartering, brick-nogged, faced externally with carved oak planks and plaster, and plastered inside as below. The small plan, _a_, in the illustration, shows this; _b_ is an elevation of one of the carved oak trusses, and these were carried right round the structure.

An elevation of one of the small gables is shown in the next cut with its richly carved barge-board, and turned pendants and finials.

The plan of the iron casements is given, p. 220; _a_ is the frame fixed to the wood quartering, _b_ the loose frame fixed to receive the loose frame, _c d_ is the glass, and _e_ the hinge and staple; a representation of the small turn-buckle is shown, and lastly the plan of the flooring over the bath; the joists, each 9 inches by 4 inches, and 9 inches by 2½ inches, were strapped down

eight or nine inches into the wall, where necessary.

_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.

_DESIGN No. 22._

A VILLA IN THE OLD ENGLISH WOODEN STYLE.

This structure was intended to bear the resemblance, as near as possible, of a first-class old English half-timbered house, the post-and-pan dwelling of our forefathers, which seems to have been an especial favourite throughout the country. It was easily constructed at a time when timber, chiefly chestnut, was far more plentiful than at the present day. Such were the most picturesque of all our domestic buildings; the timber cottage, with its projecting windows, and highly ornamented barge-boards, is found in every village. The large houses in Cheshire and Shropshire, which still remain, prove that such constructions are as lasting as brick and stone, provided the timber is felled at the proper time, and thoroughly seasoned before it is made use of. Houses of this kind have been seen to rock and bend in severe storms, while adjoining buildings, comparatively strong erections, have been blown down, this was known to have been the case with Park Hall, near Oswestry in Shropshire. Such buildings were called by different names, as will be shortly described in detail, according to the materials of which they were composed.

The design afforded on page 234 was taken from an elevation given in “John Thorpe’s Sketch Book,” one of the richest illustrations of wooden architecture. It was to have been erected in a Kentish village, with

its front towards the road, on high ground, the road looking down to a wide extent of open country. The garden side of the house commanded a fine prospect. Advantage was taken of the steep descent of the ground to build the kitchen and scullery, with a day room for the children, apart from the main building.

The plan of the basement is given on p. 236; _a_ is the kitchen, 18 feet square, the scullery _b_, was at the side, and the larder, _c_, at its side; _d_ is the place for coals, a passage _e_, leads to the day room, _f_, for the children; _g_ is either the cook’s room, or a sleeping room for a man servant; _h_ is the passage up to the house, _i_ is the dry larder, _j_ is the butler’s pantry, with a strong room for holding plate; this was intended to be a sleeping room. _k_ is the wine cellar, _l_ the back staircase which went from the lower floor to the attic, _m_ is the principal staircase, and _n_ a place for stores. The roof of this lower building was to be formed with flat-girders, and brick and tile in cement, making a terrace-walk above; the chimneys were taken up from the lower building to the higher one, as shown in the side elevation by the dotted lines. The kitchen, and the whole of the basement, was to be paved with the best Seyssel asphalte. It is laid on a solid foundation, on a thickness of ground lime. The objection to the black and British asphalte for the interior of rooms, is that a fine dust rises from it, which in sweeping, affects the eyes of the occupants of the apartments.

The plan of the building was not intended to be in the old style, but to be arranged, as far as possible, according to modern notions, without any great hall, or stone screen within it. A noble stone porch was

placed in front, resembling slightly an ancient archway. The hall is 20 feet in length by 12 feet in breadth. The breakfast and eating rooms, _b_ and _c_, 20 feet square, are on each side; both have bay

windows, with an exterior colonnade and terrace. The drawing-room, _d_, and the library _e_, are each 18 feet square; both have bay windows, and the angular window peculiar to the Elizabethan architecture. These windows open on to the terrace. _f_ is the

gentleman’s dressing-room, _g_ is the principal staircase containing the servants’ staircase, _h_, within it; _o_ is the lift. At the back of the building is a colonnade commanding a view of the country, and beneath is the terrace, with its balustrading and steps to the garden.

The one pair floor contains only four large bed-rooms _a_, _a_, and two dressing-rooms _b_, _b_. One dressing-room, that in front, could have been converted into a pleasant morning room; each of the two principal bedrooms in the front could easily have been formed into two; a small dressing-room taken out of each. Terraces were in front of these two rooms, the small circular bow-window opening on to them; the principal staircase only led to this floor. The servants’ staircase led to the attics.

This floor contained three large servants’ rooms, with two small octagon rooms. It was proposed to form the front rooms into one, with a circular roof, covered with scroll work and flowers, in the form of a garden-bower, similar to the gallery ceiling at Burton Agnes in Yorkshire. In this ceiling there are about a dozen varieties of flowers and bunches of leaves, which were placed in a scroll-stem in various positions so as to vary the pattern. The flowers and leaves could have been painted in their natural colours. These rooms, however, could not be spared, so it was proposed to turn the two octagon rooms into what may be termed garden-bower rooms, and to attempt growing dwarf fruit-trees in them, as practised in Germany. The roofs of these rooms were to be constructed in iron and glass, and covered internally with wire trellis-work, the warming to be effected with flue pedestals, two in each room, one taking the kitchen flue and the other house flues, the corresponding pedestal in the other room to have the remaining flues in that side of the building. The illustration on page 242 shows a plan and section of one of these rooms.

The tower in the centre of the back front contained a cistern for the supply of the house; the closets beneath could have Moule’s earth system applied to them, the earth to be brought up by the lift _o_, dried in the bower rooms, and deposited in an enclosure in the tower room from which it could descend to the closets.

It may be here remarked that the closets throughout the whole of these designs are in such a position that the dry-earth system could be easily applied to each. In cottages that have the flues in an external wall, and where this system is introduced, the earth deposit should be placed against the flue, and the closet adjoining.

The lift _o_, shown in the plans, connects every floor with the basement; it permits coals and other heavy articles to be lifted up, receives the speaking tubes leading to the basement and children’s day-room, and any bell wires that may be required.

The first elevation given shows the front of the building, having a length of 87 feet. Although the structure was to be an imitation wooden house, the timber was merely intended to be an appendage to the brickwork. The exterior walls were to have been two bricks and a half thick on the ground-floor, two bricks above. The wooden posts and pans were let into the external half brick, and well built in, the ornamental woodwork in inch oak screwed to the wood-quartering, the space between them filled with plaster, with an ornamental pattern-stamp on it, and the columns and entablature were of oak.

The next elevation given is that of the side front, with its gable, in the centre of which is a small circular window, opening on to a terrace over the colonnade; the scroll at the side is a construction to permit the flues from the lower portion of the basement to ascend the tower walls; flue sweeping doors could be placed there. A section of the lower part of the building is given, taken through the centre of the house, showing the principal staircase and the external steps to garden. The perspective view shows the garden front.

Wooden houses were once the chief kind of construction in England. The great fire of London would not have been so serious in its results if such constructions had not been almost universal.

In many parts of England these houses have other designations. There is a mode of building peculiar to each, and adapted to the kind of material that the districts offer. In Cambridgeshire, for instance, many of the houses are formed entirely of “Clunch,” a kind of indurated chalk marl, of which there are extensive quarries at Roach, near Burwell. Others are of gault, a local term for the blue clay which lies below the gravel of Cambridgeshire, and forms the immediate substratum in the low ground about it. This is beaten up with chopped straw, then formed into blocks of large size, and dried by the sun. A writer in the “Cambridge Portfolio,” in his remarks on what he terms the inferior style of domestic architecture, says: “Many of these houses have the lower floor formed of stone or clunch, in which a framework of wood is raised, consisting of studs and wall-plates with strong posts at intervals and some cross pieces as a tie. The joists of the upper floor are laid in the wall-plates, and project about a foot or eighteen inches beyond the wall beneath. The smaller timbers have tenons which are fitted into mortices in the larger, and secured by wooden pins. The interstices are filled either with durable boarding, double lath and plaster, clunch or bricks, laid level or obliquely. The better houses of this description have gables, with ornamented barge-boards with hip-kobs and corbels or brackets, more or less carved, under the ends of the principal timbers of the upper floors.”

The barge-board is sometimes called berge-board, verge-board, parge-board. It was a board fixed to the ends of the gables of timber houses, to hide those of the projecting timbers of the roof, and throw off the wet. They were generally richly carved and very ornamental. Occasionally some of these of the date of the 14th century are met with; those of the 15th and 16th, many of the Elizabethan character, are very common. We have few of the better class of these half-timbered houses, in which the decorative labour of our ancestors was most conspicuous, remaining in our towns and cities; but in Edinburgh, York, Chester, and Newcastle there are still a sufficient number of specimens to prove the truth of these remarks. In the towns of Normandy and the Netherlands numerous buildings, and indeed whole streets, may be seen which still exhibit the perfect counterpart of our old Cheapside, as it appeared before the great fire. Troyes, the capital of Champagne, still retains its ancient buildings, and the chestnut-timber houses of Caen, which were raised, or restored, during the period in the 15th century when it was in the hands of the English, show us what our cities once were, and, of course, the extent of our improvements. London formerly possessed the richest examples. At the corner of Chancery Lane, in Fleet Street, there once stood a five-storied house in timber, each story projecting; the whole of the timber and the gables being richly carved. In this house once lived the celebrated Isaac Walton.

The other most common application of this kind of house is “half-timbered.” In some counties the woodwork is not in patterns. It appears that when a greater degree of elegance was required the uprights and beams were carved, or the houses were pargetted, that is, coated thickly with plaster, in which embossed or indented ornaments were used. This kind is very common in nearly all the English counties. The origin of the word _parget_ appears to be doubtful. We find _parget_, substantive, and _pargetting_, _pergetting_, and _pergining_, verb, in old writings, of various kinds of plaster work, used inside and outside of houses, particularly about the time of Elizabeth; the word _parget_ was used as far back as 1450.

The half-timbered houses generally had the woodwork (studs and posts) painted black or tarred, with the intermediate spaces of brickwork whitewashed. Many of these houses have been plastered over in modern days. In London several of them have been refronted, and we lose sight of the woodwork, and imagine we see fresh-built houses.

In some parts of the country we see numbers of cottages built of mud mixed with chopped “haum.” This is commonly barley stubble. The word appears of foreign derivation; in High and Low German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, halm; Ang.-Sax., healm; Icelandic, halmr, stubble.

The haum is used to give the mud strength. These houses, previously described in connexion with concrete erections, were built about a yard in height at a time; each part was allowed to dry before further addition was made. The openings for windows and doors were cut when the wall became firmer; the walls were then smoothed off a little, and whitewashed. These houses are said to be very strong, and to last for many years. In the Midland Counties they seldom exceed one story in height, but in Devon, Somersetshire, and Hampshire, this composition is a common material for gentlemen’s houses two and three stories in height. It is there called _cob_, the derivation of which word remains in obscurity, unless it is a short term for _cobble_, or a coarse clumsy performance. A cob-wall was one composed of straw and clay beaten up together.

In Kent, the half-timbered houses are called wood-noggin houses, because the pieces of timber were called wood-nogs. Nog is properly a wooden brick, which is inserted into walls to hold the joiners’ work; nogging is the term for the brick-filling partitions between the quartering.

Sometimes, but very rarely, there is no projection of the upper story over the lower one. These openings in the windows are common, and all have richly carved barge-boards.

In some of the Kentish villages there are several noggin houses plastered over, with a ground in which flowers and patterns are worked in another colour. Some have a red ground and white flowers, others a black ground and white flowers. The wooden frame is always built on a substructure of brick or stone, called the “under-pinning.” Numbers of the houses in Kent are covered at the sides with weather tiles; here the brickwork is carried up to the first floor, in which the wooden framework is placed, and laths nailed across, in which the tiles are hung; the shape of the tile varies. Some are diamond-shape, and others finish with circular ends.

In Warwickshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire, we meet with half-timbered houses, which are there called brick pane houses, but very few of them are worked in patterns.

In Northamptonshire the half-timbered houses are commonly called studded or framed houses, because the framework is put up before the spaces are filled up. The studs are upright between the posts, which are larger than the studs. There are also “wattle,” and “dab-houses,” and sheds, which are constructed of studs, sills, and wall-plates. Between or into the studs are laid, horizontally, plaited or wattled strong hazel twigs, or other underwood, and on both of these a thick coat of plaster or mud is laid or dabbed. A wattle is a hurdle made of four or five upright stakes, and hazel branches woven closely and horizontally into the stakes--Anglo-Saxon, _watel_, a hurdle or covering of twigs; in some counties they are called “flakes,” merely from their being thin and flat. In Sussex and Devonshire, and in the South of England, wattled hurdles are called “Raddles.” In a little Dictionary for children of the date of 1608, we find “a hartheled wall or ratheled with hasile rods or wands.” The word _hartheled_ is the same as hardilled, and the Dictionary spells hurdill _hardill_, Ang.-Sax., _hyrdel_, Low Germ., _hoidt_, Dutch, _horde_. Germ., _hurde_. _Ratheled_ is from the same derivation as _raddled_. What in one county is “wattle and dab,” is in another “raddle and dab.” _Dab_ is here used as a substantive, but it is properly a verb--to dab on, to sprinkle, or bespatter. In French, _dawber_, or _dober_, to smear, hence “to daub.” These mud cottages are very common even in the richest counties of England. In South Northamptonshire are red sandstone houses frequently possessing stone mullions in the windows, and dripstones.

Further northwards, as in Shropshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire, we find a better description of the half-timbered houses in many of the manor houses built there. Lord Liverpool’s seat at Pitchford, near Shrewsbury, illustrated by Habershon, is a fine and a very large example, although the pattern is not so elegant as many of them. Joseph Nash and other artists have made the best of these familiar to us by their publications. Cheshire is the county most abounding in them. In the southern part of the county of Lancashire they are called “post-and-pan houses.” Post is an upright piece of timber, used in various ways, such as gate-post, door-post, a jamb-lining. The word “post” is found in many languages, commonly meaning an upright. In Ang.-Sax., _post_, a post, Frisic, _post_, a beam, German, _pfost_, French, _poste_, Latin, _postis_, a post.

“Pan,” in Lancashire, certainly means a beam, and is the common name for it (beam not being used), although we do not find the word _pan_, a beam, noticed in most of the glossaries as it deserves. In the Craven Glossary, “_post_ and _pan_” a building of wood and plaster alternately. _Pan_, totally to fit: “Weal and woman cannot pan, but woe and woman can,” is the complete old English proverb, in which the word pan is used. In the glossary of Tim Bobbin, “Pan” means to join or agree. In Hunter’s Hallamshire Glossary “pan,” properly in building, is the wall-plate--the piece of timber that lies on the tops of the posts, and on which the balks rest, and the sparfoot also. _To pan_, to apply to closely. In Brockett’s North Country work, _pan_ means to match, agree. The idea of a pan for a beam would seem to be a shortened word for span, but it comes, it is said, from the old word _pan_, denoting to close or join together, to match, fit, apply, agree. From this, or the origin of which, came pane, or panel of wood, or wainscot, pane of glass. Ang.-Sax., _pan_, a piece, hem, plait; pan hose, patched hose, because pieces are fitted into them.

In Warwickshire and Oxfordshire they call a post-and-pan house a brick-_pane_ house, because the wood-work divides the building into rectangular spaces, filled with _panes_ of brickwork.

In Forby’s Suffolk Vocabulary _pane_ is a division of work in husbandry, also strips of cloth. The slits in Elizabethan dresses are called _panes_. Du Cange, in his _Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis_, has _panna_, a carpenter’s word, signifying a square piece of wood of 6 or 7 fingers on a side, which being placed on the rafters of the roof, and retained by wooden supports, carries the asseres. The “Glossary of Architecture” construes a pan as a lathe; but of this there seems some doubt.

There is a remarkable example of the word _Panna_ in the Close Rolls of the 9th of Henry 3rd, membrane 5, page 65, though the word in the printed copy is erroneously spelt _pauna_.

[Sidenote: De postibus et pannis datis.]

Mandatum est Hugoni de Neville quod habere faciat Baldivinium de Veer duos postes et duos _pannas_ in bosco nostro in Deresle, de dono nostro ad se habergandum apud Thrapston. Teste rege apud Westmonasterium XV die Octobris, anno nono.--That is: The King orders Hugh de Neville to give Baldwin de Veer two _posts_ and two _pans_ out of the Royal forest of Deresley to build a house at Thrapstone.--“Habergandum” is from _habergo_, to build a house, which seems to be derived from the old German _habe_, goods and possessions, and _bergen_; in Ang.-Sax., _boergan_, to defend, keep, and protect. _Habe_, goods, is from the German _haben_, Ang.-Sax., _habban_, to have and possess. In Du Cange we find “Habergagium vel habergamentum, domicilium domus,” that is, a place to keep goods in. This account is given us by the writer in the “Cambridge Portfolio,” who adds, “That it is probable the house alluded to in Thrapstone was merely a shed.” He gives a great many derivations from the word _pan_ in French. He says that _pan_ or _post_ is a _post_ and _pan_ wall, perhaps with boarding in the panes instead of brick or stone. A post-and-pan house therefore signifies one formed of uprights and cross-pieces, and this appears to be the most rational name for them. The patterns of the woodwork are sometimes extremely elegant; at Park Hall in Shropshire, one represents balustrading intermingled with quatre-foiling, while the plaster ceilings inside the building are of excessively rich character. In many of the old post-and-pan houses, the windows are between every post, running the whole length of the house in each story, rendering a remark of Lord Bacon’s true, that in such houses you did not know where to become to get out of the sun or the cold. They are now sometimes called “bird-cage houses,” from the effect at a distance. Some of these old mansions had the hall extending to the roof, and this was carried down to a very late period. At Kirby in Northamptonshire, a seat of the Lord Chancellor Hatton, built by the architect, John Thorpe, Inigo Jones altered the timbers of the hall roof and gave them an Italianized character. He was, previous to his visit to Italy, one of the chief and most celebrated masters of the then fashionable Elizabethan style, which was carried down to a later period than is generally supposed.

The superior class of wooden houses were for the gentry, the wattle and dab houses for the hind. This cottage, then, must have been little better than a miserable shed. Cottages still exist in the north of England, amid the northern counties, that are bad at the very best. The tenants have to bring everything with them, partitions, window-frames, fixtures of all kinds, grates, and a substitute for a ceiling. Certainly the improved concrete cottage, if it could be erected at a small expense, would be a great advantage to them. Its partitions, and even its roof, the latter covered with slate, might be securely formed of strong hurdles, and a cistern for water easily placed just below it. The walls, if covered with a good Portland cement face, will last for many years, and, if the roof be so formed as to protect them, for warmth, comfort, and cleanliness such cottages are unsurpassed.

It is to be regretted that the combination of workmen forming the various Trades’ Unions, has so raised the price of labour that it has reacted against themselves, and the workmen’s houses, roomy, and formed of sound, lasting materials can no longer be constructed at a cost that would allow a fair percentage on outlay.

Lord Bacon paid particular attention to building, and he had several fine mansions. He received his Sovereign at one, _Gorhambury_, who on her remarking its great size, said, “It was not that the house was too big, but that her Grace had made him too big to inhabit it.” His essay on building gives such a complete picture of what the nobleman’s house was in those days, that it is here quoted.

“First, therefore, I say you cannot have a perfect palace, except you have two several sides: a side for the banquet, as is spoken of in the book of Esther, and a side for the household; the one for feasts and triumphs, and the other for dwelling.

“I understand both these sides to be not only returns, but parts of the front; and to be uniform without, though severally partitioned within; and to be on both sides of a great and stately tower in the midst of the front, that, as it were, joineth them together on either hand. I would have, on the side of the banquet in front, one only goodly room, above stairs, of some forty feet high: and under it a room for a dressing or preparing place, at times of triumphs. On the other side, which is the household side, I wish it divided, at the first, into a hall and chapel (with a partition between), both of good state and bigness; and those not to go all the length, but to have at the farther end a winter and summer parlour, both fair; and under these rooms a fair and large cellar sunk under ground, and likewise some privy kitchens, with butteries and pantries, and the like. As for the tower I would have it two stories, of eighteen foot high apiece above the two wings; and goodly leads upon the top, railed with statues interposed; and the same tower to be divided into rooms, as shall be thought fit. The stairs likewise to the upper rooms, let them be upon a fair open newel, and finely railed in with images of wood cast into a brass colour; and a very fair landing-place at the top. But this to be, if you do not point any of the lower rooms for a dining-place of servants; for otherwise, you shall have the servants’ dinner after your own; for the steam of it will come up as in a tunnel; and so much for the front; only I understand the height of the first stairs to be sixteen foot, which is the height of the lower room.

“Beyond the front is there to be a fair court, but three sides of it of a far lower building than the front; and in all the four corners of that court fair staircases, cast into turrets on the outside, and not within the row of buildings themselves; but those towers are not to be of the height of the front, but rather proportionable to the lower buildings. Let the court not be paved, for that striketh up a great heat in summer and much cold in winter; but only some side alleys with a cross, and the quarters to graze, being kept shorn, but not too near shorn. The row of return on the banquet side, let it be all stately galleries: in which galleries let there be three or five fine cupolas in the length of it, placed at equal distance; and fine coloured windows of several works: on the household side, chambers of presence and ordinary entertainments, with some bedchambers; and let all three sides be a double house, without thorough lights in the sides, that you may have rooms from the sun both for forenoon and afternoon:--cast it also that you may have rooms both for summer and winter; shade for summer, and warm for winter. You shall have sometimes fair houses so full of glass that one cannot tell where to become to be out of the sun or cold. For embowed windows, I hold them of good use (in cities indeed, upright do better, in respect of the uniformity towards the street); for they be pretty retiring places for conference, and besides they keep both the wind and sun off; for that which would strike almost through the room doth scarce pass the window; but let them be but few, four in the court, on the sides only.

“Beyond this court, let there be an inward court of the same square and height, which is to be environed with the garden on all sides; and in the inside, cloistered on all sides upon decent and beautiful arches as high as the first story; on the under story, towards the garden, let it be turned to a grotto, or place of shade, or estivation; and only have opening and windows toward the garden, and be level upon the floor, no whit sunk under ground, to avoid all dampishness: let there be a fountain or some fair work of statues in the midst of this court, and to be paved as the other court was. These buildings to be for privy lodgings on both sides, and the end for privy galleries; whereof you must foresee that one of them be for an infirmary, if the prince or any special person should be sick, with chambers, bedchamber, ante-camera, and recamera, joining to it; this upon the second story.

“Upon the ground story, a fair gallery, open, upon pillars, and upon the third story likewise, an open gallery upon pillars, to take the prospect and freshness of the garden.

“At both corners of the farther side, by way of return, let there be two delicate or rich cabinets, daintily paved, richly hanged, glazed with crystalline glass, and a rich cupola in the midst; and all other elegancy that may be thought upon. In the upper gallery too, I wish that there may be, if the place will yield it, some fountains running in divers places from the wall, with some fine avoidances. And thus much for the model of the palace; save that you must have, before you come to the front, three courts, a green court plain, with a wall about it; a second court of the same, but more garnished with little turrets, or rather embellishments upon the wall; and a third court, to make a square with the front, but not to be built nor yet enclosed with a naked wall, but enclosed with terraces leaded aloft, and fairly garnished on the three sides; and cloistered on the inside with pillars, and not with arches below. As for offices, let them stand at distance, with some low galleries to pass from them to the palace itself.”

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The vignette is an elevation, with enlarged details, of a design for a weathercock or wind vane. In buildings where there are many on the roof, they are sometimes seen pointing different ways, and it is of importance they should be properly constructed. The construction necessary to prevent these differences is shown in the two sections on each side the elevation; _a_ is a gun-metal rod, in which is fixed the small steel rod _b_; this moves in a piece of agate fixed in a small block of copper _c_; the agate is marked black in the left-hand section.

_DESIGN No. 23._

A GARDEN SUMMER-HOUSE.

This small circular erection was designed from the express directions, as to style, size, form, and plan, of the gentleman for whom it was made, and who had it constructed. It was of wood, standing on a brick foundation, with a quaint room in the centre, completely lined with match-boarding, stained oak and varnished, the ceiling having hanging pendants. The lead lights of the sashes were glazed with various specimens of old coloured glass.

The view and plan are illustrated at page 262; the plan shows the general arrangements; the porch had seats on each side, and the back portion of the

summer-house was enclosed for a single seat. The elevation given on page 263 shows, as well as the view, flower-pots on supports in the roof. These were

omitted in execution. The section shows the building as constructed; it is taken through the porch. The interior room and the enclosed seat behind the illustration gives the detail of a portion of the construction.

The building had no fireplace, being merely intended for summer use; it was placed on an elevated site, and commanded a fine view.

No small structure can be made too expensive in construction if it is to be placed in a beautiful flower-garden. However pretty its ornaments may be, they are sure to pale by the side of the natural objects surrounding it. The small gateway shown in view on page 265 was constructed entirely in oak with a slab-slated roof. It stood at some distance from the dwelling, to which it formed a conspicuous object, and it was the entrance to an enclosed flower-garden. An elevation, section, and plan of it are given on page 266.

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The vignette represents an open ironwork console or holder for a meat-jack for the kitchen fireplace: it is of French design.

_DESIGN No. 24._

A SMALL COUNTRY RETREAT, OR FRENCH MAISONETTE.

This is a study for a small villa in the modern French style, one which has lately been introduced into several buildings of domestic character in England, the woodwork being sent from France. The

chief feature of the style is the machine-cut ornamental wood; it is of common deal, about an inch or a little more in thickness. When placed up, and coloured a light fawn colour or plain yellow, it is extremely pleasing, and has the merit of being very cheap.

The design has an ornamental iron verandah completely round two sides of the building, with small upright standards taken through its roof, which are

connected together with zinc wire-work; the intention being to permit flowering plants to grow over it, so that the front should be crowned with flowers. The villa is only intended for summer use, being confined in its accommodation. The ground plan, given on page 269, shows _d_ and _e_, the drawing and dining

rooms, divided one from the other by curtains hanging on a glazed screen; the length of the two rooms is 42 feet, their breadth 15 feet. They are decorated gaily in French style; the room _c_ can be used as a study, but it is intended for a sleeping room; the kitchen _f_ has a large larder _h_, but it would be desirable if the kitchen was formed a short distance away from the building, and connected with it by a passage; the rooms _f_ and _g_ could then be made into a bed and dressing-room. The wine cellar is at g, and a conservatory _i_, is placed at the end of the building.

The elevation of the front of the building and the two sections show the general construction of the upper part of the house. This was in timber, the flues alone being of brick.

The plan of the upper floor shows four rooms; each of the flues is supplied with its pedestal, so that should the house be occupied in winter, these upper apartments could be kept well aired by the fires in the lower apartments, without any attention from the servants. The framing of the upper portion is correctly shown in the section copied from the working drawing.

All elevation of a small portion of the verandah, showing its iron work, is given; and an illustration to a large scale shows its ornamental zinc guttering, and the carved wood French ornament, a section showing how they are fastened on; and the zinc gutter placed in front is likewise given.

The following is a design in purely French taste for the circular top over the entrance porch on the upper floor.

The roofs of buildings in this style should be covered with zinc. The French are as much before us in their use of this metal as they are with their cut woodwork.

Roofs covered with zinc could be made flatter, and have a covering or floor of boards, each board ½ an inch apart. An illustration is given of such a construction; it has a light iron railing with a scroll

against the brick parapet; and supports a stand for flowers. With the absence of offensive smoke, and with the use of the flue pedestal to supply warmth, the upper parts of our houses could easily be formed into conservatories.

The interior of the building was intended to be as profusely decorated with the cut woodwork as the exterior. The staircase balusters were of a rich pattern, the whole being stained after some ornamental wood, and varnished.

The expense of constructing such a building would be 2450_l._

In this style cut-wood decoration the French certainly excel us. Some English examples, very common in our railway stations, are shown below. The most ornamental is a pattern used by the author some few years ago; a rose is introduced to cover the fastening of the cut pattern to the fascia behind.

We have in England a carving-machine, known as Irving’s patent, that was a few years since much worked at a manufactory in Pimlico by Mr. Pratt of Bond Street. At one time it bid fair to exert a most important influence upon the production of this kind of cut-wood decoration. It could make such carvings with the greatest ease and rapidity, whether in stone or wood. The machine was a simple drill in a moveable arm, worked either by steam or a hand-wheel, on a moveable table; the combined motion rendered it capable of carving any form, however intricate, from the largest Gothic window-head, to the smallest screen. At Pimlico it was under the architectural superintendence of R. W. Billings. It is still used, together with Jordan’s patent for carving, at Lambeth.

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The vignette gives a pattern for cut-wood balustrading.

_DESIGN No. 25._

AN ELIZABETHAN VILLA.

This design was made a few years ago for a gentleman who was a great admirer of our old English architecture, and who desired to have a

dwelling with its chief characteristics, both internally as well as externally, but with all modern arrangements. He intended to purchase a piece of land in the neighbourhood of London for the purpose of erecting the structure upon it. Producing the design was a labour of love to us both, and many a pleasant evening we

spent together in studying the details as to what we should like to have in each room, without troubling ourselves about what the expense would be; unhappily he did not live to carry out his intention, and the drawings were laid aside.

The exterior is a study from the celebrated building, Rushton Hall in Northamptonshire, erected in the

reign of Elizabeth, by Sir Thomas Tresham. On the estate in the forest, about a mile from the house, is that curious and unique building, the Triangular Lodge,[B] which served as a secret place of meeting for the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot.

The ground plan shows only a small and single staircase _b_; considerable discussion took place upon this; the great staircase was first planned in the hall _a_, but a billiard-table was imperative, and the hall alone

could receive it. The smaller staircase was made ornamental, with carved oak balustrades having a

small brass ornament between, for the children to lay hold of in getting upstairs.

The hall was to be wainscoted all round; the illustration on page 283 shows one side, with the entrance into the dining-room; a section of the moulding of the panels is given on page 283 of full size. A gilt decoration was to have been put in each panel, as shown. An ornamental plaster frieze, containing shields of arms