Dining hall

“ A wide, circular stone stair led from the lower to the vast upper hall, which occupied a large portion of the main wing, and was par excellence the great dining-hall, where two hundred guests could dine without being crowded, at the two huge horse-shoe tables that stood on the tiled floor. ”

“ There are noble houses in England, with a door communicating from the dining room to the stables, that the master and his friends may see their favorites, after dinner, without exposure to the weather. In the place of this rather bizarre luxury, the oak-panelled and spacious dining-hall of C—— is on a level with the organ loft of the chapel, and when the cloth is removed, the large door between is thrown open, and the noble instrument pours the rich and thrilling music of vespers through the rooms. ”

“ The State Dining-room, an elegant apartment, has a richly decorated geometric ceiling and a recessed buffet, the recess being formed by well-proportioned Corinthian columns. The rich cornice, the gilt festoons that adorn the walls, the mirrors between the windows, the antique Venetian crystal-glass chandelier and side lights, and the silver-gilt service on the buffets give a sumptuous air to the room, while the four magnificent Snyders, and the other fine old paintings which adorn the walls, add materially to its beauty. ”

“ Descending once more, we pass through the lavatory and the matron's sitting-room down to the dining-hall, and we note as we go along every here and there a shelf with three white pails full of water and an ominous F painted on them. Evidently experience has taught caution. The dining-hall is a fine large room, the ceiling panelled like the school-room. It has five long tables, at each of which twelve or fourteen boys can sit comfortably. One side of the room we notice is railed off—this is called the pen, and here the boys have to wait in patience while the tables are prepared for meals. ”

“ The first to which strangers are conducted is the dining-hall, which contains an elaborately carved black-and-white marble chimney-piece, having quaint and curious figures and buildings, and a series of portraits of rare excellence. The Music-room, one of the suite added to the ancient building, affords a brilliant contrast to the sombre and solid character of the dining-room. It contains but one picture—full-length portraits of the Lords John and Bernard Stuart, sons of the Duke of Lennox—a chef-d’œvre of Vandyke. ”

“ Three times each day the men march into the large dining-hall, which accommodates 1,500, and partake of their meals. The tableware is of tin and somewhat meager. The tables themselves present the appearance of the modern school-desk, being long enough that twenty men may be comfortably seated at each. ”

“ The far end of the dining-hall leads into the huge kitchen, to which the girls can bring their own dinners to be cooked, or where they can buy a large variety of things at coffee-house prices. Here again the health of the workers is carefully studied. Fruit is made a speciality, an experienced buyer being employed to insure its better supply. A private dining-room is provided for the forewomen. ”

“ The dining-room may be entered either from the front parlor or from the stair-hall. In each case doors are used. It is always desirable to have a dining-room so arranged that it may be closed from the other parts of the house. There is a grate in each of the two principal rooms, the hall, the parlor, and the dining-room, and all communicate with a single stack. This is much more economical than having three distinct stacks, which are so frequently used for accomplishing the same result. The only other chimney stack is in the kitchen. ”

“ It was, all considered, a very creditable repast which the good lady of Melk Kraal prepared for the brigadier and his staff. But on occasions such as this it is the custom of the hosts to sits round the walls of the dining-hall while the honoured guests feed alone at a table in the centre. ”

“ The kitchens, which unfortunately are not thrown open to the public, are much as they were in olden days, and afford a curious and interesting glimpse of old-time domestic conditions, with their great fireplaces and their “hatches”, through which the dishes were passed to the servers whose duty it was to take them to the dining-hall. ”

“ Serving luncheon at one was an innovation, but an excellent one. When the dishes were cleared away the anxiety was over, and the hostess moved about among her guests without a thought of a meal to be served at the end of the games. We set ten small tables, three in the dining-room, four in the sitting-room, two in the parlor and one in the hall. The tables were snowily linened, there were doilies in blue and white, and the centrepiece on each table was a glass dish filled with small bunches of splendid blue and white grapes. ”

“ This is a very good arrangement where people have one large living room or hall in which they dine and which also serves all the purpose of daily intercourse. This entirely removes any suggestion of a dining-room, as the consoles may be separated and stand against the wall during the day.
Many modern houses are being built without the conventional dining-room we have known so long, there being instead an open-air breakfast room which may be glazed in winter and screened in summer. People have come to their senses at last, and realize that there is nothing so pleasant as eating outdoors. ”

“ A Dining Hall with seating capacity for over one hundred people affords ample accommodation for workers, students, and patients. The scientific meatless diet served there preserves or restores health, as required in each case. ”

“ His attention to details and the comfort of the students was well illustrated in the close watch he kept over the dining-rooms and kitchens which he inspected every day he was on the grounds. Tomkins dining-hall is the largest building on the Institute grounds and is one of the largest dining-halls in America. It can seat over two thousand persons at one time. Adjoining this hall is a spacious dining-room for the teachers as well as extensive kitchens and a bakery. ”

“ While the main restaurant remains an à la carte establishment with a plentiful choice of dishes, including a list of grills, there is a table d'hôte room at the King William Street side, a handsome hall with a gilded roof and pink-shaded electroliers, which throw their light up on to the ceiling. The latest addition to the dining-rooms is a banqueting hall, reached by marble stairs from King William Street. It is a handsome and well-proportioned room, with a musicians' gallery at one side, and an ante-room half-way up its stairs, and it holds one hundred and fifty feasters quite comfortably. ”

“ The dining-room shares with the hall a purpose common to the life of the family, and, while it admits of much more variety and elaboration, that which is true of the hall is equally true of the dining-room, that it should be treated with materials which are durable and have surface quality, although its decoration should be preferably with china rather than with pictures. It is important that the colour of a dining-room should be pervading colour—that is, that walls and ceiling should be kept together by the use of one colour only, in different degrees of strength. ”

“ Fifteen minutes before the hour for dinner, the waitress, after having lighted the lights on the parlor floor and in the front hall stands at the front door watching to open it promptly to prevent any guest from having to ring the bell. She helps the gentlemen off with their coats, hangs up their hats, places their canes in the rack, and hands them the tray on which the card envelopes have been placed. When all the guests have arrived, the chambermaid signals the cook this fact, then fills the glasses with iced water, while the waitress lights the candles on the dining-table. ”

“ Adjoining this noble room is a pile of building of exactly the same size and character, devoted to kitchen and other domestic purposes, with apartments over. The Kitchen is lofty, spacious, and well arranged, and fitted with every possible convenience; the Servants’ Hall, an admirable stone groined apartment, is near; and in the larders and other offices fountains of clear water keep the air admirably cool. From the Kitchen an underground railway with an hydraulic lift is constructed for conveying the comestibles for serving in the dining-rooms. ”

“ The Dining-Room is a large and noble apartment with a slightly “barrel-shaped” ceiling, divided into hexagonal panels filled with roses and foliated flowers richly gilt. The doors, at one end opening into the vestibule leading into the cabinet library, and at the other into the sculpture-gallery, have their cases of white marble, the entablatures supported on massive Ionic columns. [360] The room is lit by five windows on its east side, and opposite to these are two exquisitely beautiful white marble chimney-pieces, each of which has two life-size statues, two by Westmacott and two by Sievier. ”

“ In the waitress's pantry, off the dining room, there were beef cubes. It seemed to me that if I drank a cup of bouillon I might sleep. As usual the light was burning in the lower hall. The dining room was dark—I no longer required a night supper—and the little table in the bay window was bare. A street light beyond the garden showed the window and the longer rectangle of the garden door. ”

“ Yes, in most fine Ento dwellings dining halls for special occasions are arranged in this manner. In ordinary dwellings dining room floors are stationary, as is the floor of the adjoining family dining room. Now a very important looking person enters, takes a critical survey of the table, touches a button in the wall, and a number of attendants enter and quietly detach the seats from the walls and place them about the table. ”

“ Grimsby, a friend of his, but a man I very greatly disliked: there was a sinister cast in his countenance, and a mixture of lurking ferocity and fulsome insincerity in his demeanour, that I could not away with. What a tiresome custom that is, by-the-by—one among the many sources of factitious annoyance of this ultra-civilised life. If the gentlemen must lead the ladies into the dining-room, why cannot they take those they like best?
I am not sure, however, that Mr. Huntingdon would have taken me, if he had been at liberty to make his own selection. ”

“ The Drawing-room opens from the Saloon, and is over the Library: it is an elegant room, with a ceiling of moulded pargetting in scrolls and foliage, and is of great elegance in all its appointments. At the opposite end of the Saloon a doorway opens into an apartment over the Dining-room. It is now disused, but, with its panelled frescoed walls and beautifully decorated ceiling, is an apartment of much interest.
The remainder of the rooms of this grand old mansion do not require special notice; it is enough to say they are all full of interest, and that they contain many pictures of value. ”

“ Indeed, I believe it is now generally admitted, that it would be next to impossible to preserve good order in a man-of-war, for any length of time, without this weekly ceremonial, coupled, of course, with that of the officers’ dining, in turn, with their captain.
We know that too much familiarity breeds contempt; but, in situations where there is of necessity much intercourse, too little familiarity will as inevitably breed ill-will, distrust, apprehension, and mutual jealousy. ”

“ It is a most effective room, as I pointed out to Miss Brighteyes, with its oil-paintings of figure-subjects framed in dark wood over the mantelpieces, its line of muslin-draped windows down one side, and on the other mirrors and the comptoir of dark wood, where between two palms one catches a glimpse, under the glow of a red-shaded lamp, of the pretty face of the lady enthroned there. A screen of old gold comes pleasantly into the scheme of colour. "Isn't it delightfully improper to be dining alone with a gentleman in a restaurant! ”

“ On the ground floor is the kitchen. On the first floor at the head of the first staircase is the public dining room where a good cheap meal can be obtained, and on the second and third floors are the private and more select chambers. In each room is a bill of fare.
An ordinary first class restaurant dinner comprises from ten to thirty dishes, and for any special occasion a hundred or more are often served. ”

“ When the evening of the tea comes, and the guests have all been introduced one to another, they may be ushered into the dining-room and the supper be served. The dining-table should be arranged in as old-fashioned a style as possible. At the four corners place candlesticks with wax candles, and for a centrepiece have a large bouquet of artificial bachelors' buttons. Use old-fashioned china and silver if you happen to have any. At each place put a few bachelors' buttons, to which attach a menu card by a narrow white taffeta ribbon. ”

“ It is a fine room, this Strangers' Dining-Room. The ceiling is nobly ornamented, and the clusters of electric lights dropping from it illumine the room cheerfully. On the walls is a paper with a pattern in which heraldic roses and fleurs-de-lys play the principal part; the curtains to the windows are of a soft green, and at about the height of a man's head, topping the oak panelling, is a fine work of art, a broad border of carvings of such things as furnish the good fare of the table. ”

“ In one room is a "merry-go-round." The chairs are placed in a circle and a graphaphone in the center plays popular tunes. At 10 o'clock the doors to the dining room are opened. The table cloth is spread on the floor, surrounded by cushions. In one corner of the room are the baskets containing the supper of sandwiches, olives, pickles, baked beans, cake, pie and other picnic favorites. The girls take the viands from the baskets and arrange them on the floor, while the men serve coffee from a coffee boiler on a small table. ”