Row house

“ Now and then the houses overhang, and even join above your head, converting the Row, so far, into a sort of tunnel or tubular passage. Many and many picturesque old bit of domestic architecture is to be hunted up among the Rows. In some Rows there is little more than a blank wall for the double boundary. In others, the houses retreat into tiny square courts, where washing and clear starching are done, and wonderful nasturtiums and scarlet runners are reared from green boxes, filled with that scarce commodity, vegetable mould. ”

“ I took a particular fancy to the roof, high, steep, old, with its slope of bluish slate, and the way the weather-worn chimneys seemed to grow out of it—living things in a deep soil. The single defect of the house is the blankness and bareness of its walls, which have none of that delicate parasitic deposit that agrees so well—to the eye—with the surface of old dwellings. ”

“ Two small windows, destitute of glass, permitted us to peer into the interior of this dilapidated old structure, and we saw within, a floor of beaten earth, a rough stone fireplace, and a few rude horse-stalls. We felt sure that this tumble-down building had been neither a dwelling-house nor a stable, but a noon-house; and the occupants of a neighboring farm-house confirmed our decision. Too worthless to destroy, too out of the way to be of any use to any person, that old noon-house, through neglect and isolation, has remained standing until to-day. ”

“ The dwelling-houses are universally so constructed as to form an open square in the centre, which constitutes the only yard or court that is attached. The house is divided into a living-room, a store-room, chambers, and stable, these all upon one floor, while the family vehicle blocks up in part the only entrance, which is used in common by horses, ladies, slaves, and gentlemen callers. ”

“ During the period of which we are speaking, the richer the householder, the greater need he had of studying strength and security, and hence with him the soler, or upper story, became of more importance, and was often made the principal part of the house, at least that in which himself and his family placed themselves at night. This was especially the case in stone buildings, where the ground-floor was often a low vaulted apartment, which seems to have been commonly looked upon as a cellar, while the principal room was on the first-floor, approached usually by a staircase on the outside. ”

“ The grey stone house, separated from the garden by a thick privet hedge and moss-grown court, is the last dwelling at this end of the quiet market-town, and, with its slate roof and substantial double storey, is of a class greatly superior to its neighbours, whose warm red tiles are just visible over the walls. ”

“ The whole stands in open grounds, and may be separated from each other by enclosures, as convenience or fancy may direct.
The roofs of all the buildings are broad and sweeping, well protecting the walls from storm and frosts, as well as the glaring influences of the sun, and combining that comfortable idea of shelter and repose so grateful in a well-conditioned country house. It is true, that the dwelling might be more extensive in room, and the purposes of luxury enlarged ”

“ Not to be put down or deterred, however, I made other plans, some of which had the kitchen outside, some in the basement, and others on the first floor. In one there was a piazza on all sides, in another there was no piazza whatever; some had the servants in the garret, others placed them in the cellar. I was ready to erect an entirely new house, or to convert an old barn that was near the premises into two or three houses. There was nothing that my resources were not equal to, and the drawings would have furnished quite a new stock in trade for a young architect. ”

“ The houses are spacious, uniformly built of wood, of only one story, not more than fourteen feet high, plaistered and white-washed; they are constructed round a court yard of about seventy feet square, which is strewed with gravel, and has an appearance of neatness. Each house consists of a sitting room, some warehouses and a kitchen. ”

“ We do not realise that one person in ten is living under what are technically known as "overcrowded conditions"—that is, with more than two persons to every room in the house. And these houses are crowded thirty, forty, and even fifty to the acre. ”

“ Meanwhile he had mounted to the sill and taken another outward look. This room, as I have already intimated, was in the rear of an extension running back from the centre of the main building. It consisted of only two stories, surmounted by a long, slightly-peaked roof. As the ceilings were low in this portion of the house, the gutter of this roof was very near the top of the window. To reach it was not a difficult feat for one of his strength and agility, and if only the smoke would blow aside—Ah, it is doing so! ”

“ A screen, or belt of privet, or low evergreens may be planted in a circular form from the front right-hand corner of the dwelling, to the corresponding corner of the rear offices, enclosing a clothes drying yard, and cutting them off from too sightly an exposure from the lawn in front. The opposite end of the house, which may be termed its business front, may open to the every-day approach to the house, and be treated as convenience may determine. ”

“ If it be objected that thus running the chambers above the plates of the roof prevents the insertion of proper ties or beams to hold the roof plates together to prevent their spreading, we answer, that he must be a poor mechanic who cannot, in framing the chamber partitions so connect the opposite plates as to insure 147 them against all such difficulty. A sheltered, comfortable aspect is that which should distinguish every farm house, and the cottage chamber is one of its chiefest characteristics; and this can only be had by running such apartments into the roof, as in our design. ”

“ We had to get accustomed to the low ceilings, only seven feet high; but this did not distress us, though in our parlor, a room twenty-eight feet long, the effect was always peculiar.
The grounds around the house were not laid out. It was simply a case of a house set on a little elevation, in the center of a rather rough lawn, and without a path or a flower-bed, no shrubs and but few trees.
I hired a man with plow and horse for a day or two and we made a path from the piazza to the road, set out an arbor-vitae hedge, made two or three small flower-beds, and had the kitchen-garden ploughed. ”

“ Everything but the roof has been improved. The basement has been coddled with electric lights until a coal hole is no longer an abode of mystery. Even the garret, that used to be but a dusty suburb of the house and lumber room for early Victorian furniture, has been plastered and strewn with servants' bedrooms. ”

“ Two large, square rooms open on either side of the hallway, and the arrangement of the interior is on the exact lines followed in Southern manor-houses, a wing being introduced on either side of the main building. One of these is used for kitchen and servants' quarters; the opposite wing, connected with the house proper by a covered passageway, is used as a carriage-house and harness-room. This gives the house interesting and unusual proportions. ”

“ There are touches of vermilion and lavender in the sharp green of the shutters at the second-floor windows.
The architecture is Italo-American, and so are the urchins popping from the doors to stare at you as you wait for admittance. Their faces are soiled, and so is the black-and-white marble floor behind the heavy spiked gates. Note, above you, the coffered and embossed ceiling, appraise the graceful fan-light over the door, examine the elaborate carving of the door itself, for these are relics which indicate the grand manner in which this house once welcomed its guests. ”

“ The most common form for the construction of a house is five-sided or pentagonal, as in the annexed figure. The two Northern sides RO, OF, constitute the roof, and for the most part have no doors; on the East is a small door for the Women; on the West a much larger one for the Men; the South side or floor is usually doorless. Square and triangular houses are not allowed, and for this reason. ”

“ He crossed the courtyard, and, reaching the line of door-stepless, poverty-stricken hovels—they appeared to be little more than that—crept stealthily along to the end house at the left, halted an instant to press his face against a black window pane, then tried the door cautiously. ”

“ The most probable conclusion was, that the walker was his nephew, and his curiosity had led him to my chamber to ascertain the truth.
This dwelling has three stories. The two lower stories are divided into numerous apartments. The upper story constitutes a single room whose sides are the four walls of the house, and whose ceiling is the roof. This room is unoccupied, except by lumber, and imperfectly lighted by a small casement at one end. In this room were footsteps heard by my uncle. ”

“ The three outsides of the building, north, east and west, are covered with roofing down to the ground, there being, of course, no inner lining below the floor under the House. To the south the House is entirely open from the floor to the ground. Each House, raised five feet from the ground and open to the south, gets the sunlight underneath clear to the back of the building, which eliminates all dampness, and, being so open prevents rats and other vermin making any attempt to get into the House. ”

“ A building that presents the outward appearance of a substantial two-or three-storied dwelling-house with many rooms, shrinks into a dismal and draughty collection of stables, courtyards, and dungeon-like living-rooms, when one gets inside. ”

“ The cellar itself is under the sitting-room. The side-porch is large enough to be used as a summer kitchen.
It is to be noticed that there is no waste room in the upstairs hall. There is merely wall space enough to admit of doors leading into the various rooms. There is a small window which lights this hall; the window may be reached for cleaning from the stairway. This plan illustrates as clearly as possible the advantage of having the main stairway land in the middle of [Pg 112] the house. There is no better way to economical use of space. ”

“ They were at first no more than vague figures in the background of proximate realities, such realities as familiar chairs and tables, quiet to ride and drive, the newel of the staircase, kitchen furniture, pieces of firewood, the boiler tap, old newspapers, the cat, the High Street, the back yard and the flat fields that are always so near in that little town. He knew all the stones in the yard individually, the creeper in the corner, the dustbin and the mossy wall, better than many men know the faces of their wives. ”

“ These Rows are houses with shops. Overhanging the shops, like the eaves of a house, are the upper stories, to which additional flights of steps give access.
Two explanations are given for this unusual construction of houses: one, that the Rows, or promenades, are the remnants of the ancient vestibules of the Roman houses; the other that they were probably originated to afford ready defence against the sudden raids of the Welsh. ”

“ One large house in the village street, large enough to deserve the often-misappropriated term of mansion, with its stone-slab, overhanging roof, and strong stacks of chimneys, especially pleased us; neither roof, wall, nor window seemed as though any one of them would need repairs for long years:{130} possibly this building was originally a fine old coaching inn, for it stood close upon the roadway. ”

“ There is no second storey, but a platform or verandah runs along the front or even round the whole of the house. The ascent to this verandah, or to the front door in the absence of one, is made by means of a rickety ladder constructed of the indispensable bamboo.
A SIAMESE TEAK-WOOD HOUSE.
The house is divided into at least three rooms, a kitchen, a drawing-room and a bedroom. So powerful is the superstition that even numbers are unlucky, that the number of rooms is always an odd one. The same fancy regulates also the number of windows and doors, and even the rungs of the ladder. ”

“ In a quiet, back street, mostly inhabited by very humble people, in the middle of the square, and fronting immediately upon the battered pavement, stood an old two-story brick house, occupied by a poor cabinet-maker and old furniture dealer. ”

“ Among the rich, a stable did not form part of the house, but its site was often occupied by the kitchen, which was almost always placed close to the hall. Among the higher classes other chambers were built, adjacent to the chief chamber, or to the hall, though in larger mansions they sometimes occupied a tower or separate building adjacent. ”

“ These houses are six, seven, and eight stories high. Every floor, with the exception of the first, which in all probability is used for business purposes, accommodates a family, and, among the poor classes, several families. It would be difficult to find a town where every part of the house is so fully put to use and little waste or idle room. ”

“ He has left the old floors, for flooring such as men laid in those days was not to be disciplined for little irregularities. Between the drawing room and the study hangs the original front door, with a lock three hands broad, and the great key that turned on the invader’s last good-bye. Even electricity came into the house in a quiet disguise. If it is candle-light, and you should peer into the low-studded dining-room, with its musket and pewter, and its great fireplace, you will be forgiven if your fancy pictures a Continental cavalryman bolting his supper at the end of the long table. ”