Billiard hall

“ The Billiard or Music-room, and the Grand Drawing-rooms, which form one continued suite, are as well-proportioned, as chastely and elegantly decorated, and as magnificently furnished, as can well be imagined, and they contain a matchless collection of works of art. In the billiard-room, from which a door opens into the gallery of the chapel, are several remarkably good paintings, the most striking of which are an admirable full-length portrait of the present Duke of Devonshire, seated, and a full-length portrait of the father of the present noble Duke. ”

“ The Billiard-room, not on account of any architectural features or of the use to which it is assigned, but from the remarkably interesting character of the collection of pictures contained within its walls, is one of the most important features of the castle. Its walls are hung with portraits of “Westmoreland Worthies,” forming a gallery of celebrities of which not only the county, but the nation may indeed well be proud, and the founding of which is a lasting honour to the House of Lowther. ”

“ In the upper lights of tho windows, of modern insertion, landscapes are introduced.
The Drawing-room, Billiard-room, and other apartments are all of equal elegance, and all filled with costly furniture and choice works of Art, among which are paintings by Beverley, Lance, Solomon, Mole, and others.
In the upper rooms of the house—not, of course, shown to visitors—is preserved the ancient tapestry which adorned the walls of the old mansion; and here, too, are many gems of Art, including examples of Wright of Derby, Wilson, Bright, and others ”

“ We dashed down the staircase, the crowd of us—white-faced and anxious—as men and women are, when suddenly aroused by shock! And as we came to the billiard room door, I was conscious that we were one short—and something told me whom we lacked. I was soon to know for sure.
For as I entered the room that held the horror that had brought us flying from our beds I could hear Sir Charles Considine’s voice rising authoritatively above the hum of excitement, “Gentlemen, gentlemen—please—whatever the trouble is—one of you stay outside and keep the ladies from entering.” ”

“ He built the fine Sutro Baths, planted the beautiful gardens on the heights above the Cliff House, established a car line that meant to the ocean for a nickel, amassed a library of twenty thousand volumes, and incidentally made a good mayor. He was a public benefactor and should be held in grateful memory.
The memories that cluster around a certain building are often impressive, both intrinsically and by reason of their variety. Platt's Hall is connected with experiences of first interest. For many years it was the place for most occasional events of every character. ”

“ The City Hall, fronting on one side of the square known as the Campus Martius, is a structure of which any city in the land might be proud. It is built of Cleveland sandstone, and faces on four streets,—being two hundred feet long on Woodward avenue and Griswold street, with a width of ninety feet on Fort street and Michigan avenue.
It is built in the style of the Italian renaissance, with Mansard roof and a tower rising from the centre of the building, adorned at its four corners with colossal figures fourteen feet high, representing "Justice," "Industry," "Arts," and "Commerce." ”

“ It was a typical gentlefolk's house of the worst period of Manhattan, and Major Belwether belonged in it as fittingly as a melodeon belongs in a west-side flat. The hall-way was made for such a man as he to patter through; the velvet-covered stairs were as peculiarly fitted for him as a runway is for a rabbit; the suave pink-and-white drawing-room, the discreet, gray reception-room, the soft, fat rugs, the intricacies of banisters and alcoves and curtained cubby-holes—all reflected his personality, all corroborated the ensemble. ”

“ The day was spent with the utmost hilarity and good humor, enlivened by appropriate toasts and songs. The mayor of the city was a guest of the society. Mechanics’ Hall is described as a building eighty by twenty-seven and a half feet. In the basement was a spacious kitchen, etc.; on the first floor a large coffee room, bar, dining room and landlady’s room; on the second floor, ceiling sixteen feel high, a large hall fifty-two by twenty-five feet, with a handsome orchestra and a drawing room twenty feet square. ”

“ Attached 85to the Hall of Liberty are large lecture-rooms, studying-rooms, and reading-rooms, and in connection with these a monster library. Outside the building are the stables, one of the wonders of London, the grooms being entirely composed of girls and women; and clustering round the mother structure like a miniature town, are the pretty cottages and dwellings of the immense staff of instructors, teachers, and lecturers connected with the institution. It is a wonderful structure, and its erection is a triumph, the magnitude of which can hardly be measured, for Hector D’Estrange. ”

“ The solid hall-door, in hot weather, is superseded by one of green lattice-work, similar to the window-shutters, which answers the purpose of keeping out every intrusive stranger, except the air,—air being at such seasons, as most strangers are at all times, especially welcome to Philadelphia, which is about the hottest place I know of in the autumn; the halls are commonly flagged with fine white marble, are spacious, lofty, and well fitted-up. ”

“ She reached the building and dashed up the steps. The door was ajar, but the shrouded guards were nowhere visible. She burst into the hall, banged the door after her, and ran up the stairs in blind terror, with no care for anybody, or anything else! ”

“ The right-hand wing only is finished, and is merely a continuation of that which we have seen in the other court. On the left hand, is the site of the new hall intended for the sittings of the Tribunate. Workmen are now employed in its construction; heaps of stones and mortar are lying about, and, the building seems to proceed with tolerable expedition. Here, in the back-ground, is a crowd of little stalls for the sale of various articles, such as prints, plays, fruit, and pastry. In front stand such carriages as remain in waiting for those who may have been set down at this end of the palace. ”

“ Bingley Hall—Takes its name from Bingley House, on the site of which it is built. It was erected in 1850 by Messrs. Branson and Gwyther, at a cost of about £6,000, the proprietary shares being £100 each. In form it is nearly a square, the admeasurements being 224 ft. by 212 ft., giving an area of nearly one acre and a half. There are ten entrance doors, five in King Edward's Place, and five in King Alfred's Place, and the building may be easily divided into five separate compartments. The Hall will hold from 20,000 to 25,000 people, and is principally used for Exhibitions and Cattle Shows ”

“ It at first consisted of a single saloon with two ranges of galleries, beneath which, in the basement, was a lecture room to accommodate five hundred people. The value of the premises at the corner of Twelfth and Sansom Streets had appreciated and the property was sold to William E. Hanson for $10,950. The means for the erection of the new hall were, however, chiefly derived from William Maclure who subscribed toward the object $20,000. The building fund was largely augmented by liberal subscriptions from members and others interested in science. ”

“ Nevertheless, at the dais end of the hall, where there is a fall of several feet in the ground, there are considerable remains of buildings on the lower level; and it is possible that the first kitchen buildings may have been planned at this end. The position, with easy access to the large cellar, and, by a stair which still partly remains, to the hall, would not have been inconvenient, and expense in building would have been saved by this reversal of the usual arrangement, which placed the more costly great chamber block on level foundations, although at the far end of the hall. ”

“ This was a large building at the bottom of Old Burlington Street, apparently a factory or warehouse. “Few persons living,” says an agreeable reminiscent, writing in February, 1887, “can recollect the old Western Exchange, which in 1820 was one of the sights of London. It ran parallel with the Burlington Arcade, the entrance being from 10, Old Bond Street, to which house it is still attached, and was at one time the grand banqueting hall. This hall is 170 feet by 105 feet, is very lofty, and has spacious galleries all round, supported by handsome Doric columns, highly decorated. ”

“ Our bedrooms were on the second floor—seven of them in a row along a long corridor that ran the length of the house. All the men were together. Jack was in the biggest—the first—that night he was sharing with Anthony—then came in order, Daventry and Robertson together in No. 2, Hornby, Prescott, Tennant, myself, and Barker last. On the first floor was the billiard room, directly facing the stairs as you ascended, and the bedrooms of the other members of the family. ”

“ The wide hall is so generous in its proportions that it made a perfect ballroom, its hardwood floor reflecting the charming pageant above its polished surface. Even the delights of dancing paled before the alluring opportunities for tete-a-tetes that invited the soul to loaf in the long library before the baronial fireplace, or in the drawing-room with its deep comfy armchairs, its shaded lamps just made for a sly whisper of pretty nothings all a deux ”

“ There was no ugly Court House or even uglier Post Office to block the view from the Mayor's office up and down Broadway. New Yorkers were proud of their City Hall then—and good cause had they for their pride. It is one of the best bits of architecture in all America. And an even century of hard usage and countless "restorations" has only brought to it the charm of serene old age.
But the City Hall long since was outgrown. The municipal government of New York is a vast and somewhat unwieldy machine that can hardly be housed within a dozen giant structures. ”

“ Supper was over then and the girls all rose ind strolled out of the room in parties. Ruth and Helen made their way quietly to the exit and looked for the office of the Preceptress. The large building with the tower—the original Briarwood Hall—was partly given up to recitations and lecture rooms and partly to the uses of the Tellinghams and the teachers. ”

“ It is intended that the Hall shall do its utmost to secure for its residents opportunities for religious and social work, and for the study of social problems, such as are possessed by the residents at Toynbee Hall or those at Oxford House. There will be a certain number of rooms in the Hall which can be used for social purposes, for lectures, for recreative and continuation classes and so on. Though the Hall itself is in one of the West Central Squares, it is surrounded on three sides by districts crowded with poor. ”

“ On the first floor, the partition between dining-room and kitchen was removed, and the whole space made into a court-room. On the second floor, the space formerly divided into five bedrooms was transformed into a council-chamber, the garret floor overhead being removed. The new city hall of Yonkers leaves the old manor-house less necessary for public purposes. May the old parlors, where the besilked and bepowdered gentry of the province used to dance the minuet before the change of things, not be given over to baser uses than they have already served. ”

“ This change is quite apparent in the last plan of the series, that of Aston Hall, in Warwickshire (1618-35) . The hall is still central, the kitchen is in one wing, the family rooms in the other, supplemented by a row at the back of the hall (Fig. 53) . But the hall itself is now merely an entrance—it has ceased to be a living-room; it is entered from the middle of the side, no longer at the end, where indeed the fireplace now [71] finds itself: there is no daïs and no bay window. ”

“ By shutting out external surroundings the hall is rendered self-contained. No mean neighbours, murky atmosphere, nor curling smoke distract the attention, which is left free to concentrate itself [172] upon the life within the building itself. In a word, it will be quite possible for a visitor to imagine himself far from the squalor of the East End of London, from the moment he enters the Great Assembly Hall. ”

“ The last public trial in the Hall was Lord Melville's in 1806; and the last coronation dinner in the Hall was that of George IV., when, according to the custom maintained for ages, and for the last time probably, the King's champion (Dymocke) rode into the Hall in full armor, and threw down the gauntlet, challenging the world in a King's behalf. Silver plates were laid, on the same occasion, for 334 guests,"--Murray.
The Central or Octagon Hall is an elegant and well lighted apartment eighty feet in height. It is covered by a groined roof ornamented with 250 bosses. ”

“ The most important room on the ground-floor of the house was a large hall, entered directly from beneath the vault of the porte-cochere. Few people know the importance of a hall in the little towns of Anjou, Touraine, and Berry. The hall is at one and the same time antechamber, salon, office, boudoir, and dining-room; it is the theatre of domestic life, the common living-room. There the barber of the neighborhood came, twice a year, to cut Monsieur Grandet’s hair; there the farmers, the cure, the under-prefect, and the miller’s boy came on business. ”