1082 PRACTICK OF ARCHITECTURE.

Book 111.
tlie dcscoiid'ng stairs will form a dark closet; and the privies, and wine and beer cellars,
with other siu ill offices, are provided in the vaults. On the ground floor there is rarely
more than a pMsi?age on one side, which conducts to a staircase ; and this requiring more
width than the passHu;e itself, the best room on this floor is placed in front, and the back
is a smaller room, often opening on a small light closet still further in the rear. A yard
is supposed behind, by which light is obta.ned for the back room. Ou the one-pair and
other floors the passage becomes nectssary as an access ; the drawing or front room there-
fore runs over it, and becomes larger, capable, in the upper floors, of subdivision for
bedrooms, or other purposes, as may be required
;
and the bick rooms with their closets,
if carried up, follow the form of thos-' on the ground floor. Though little variety may be
tiie result of the restricted space to which this species of house is usually confined, the
addition of four or five feet either way will enable an intelligent
architect to throw in
closets and other conveniences which are invaluable, as relieving a small house fiom the
pressure which otherwise will exist in the diflferent apartments.
Eut this will be obvi(ms
to the practical man, unless he walks about blindfold. The houses we havejust described
may stand upon a site of about twenty feet by thirty feet, independent of the vaults in
front and re^r, and the back light
closet, which is an invaluable appendage to a hjuse of
this description; which is the scale of a second-rate house.
2993. Of the next higher rate of house the varieties nro too great to be described,
bccuise the extent of the largest arrives at what would be called a pabice on the conti-
nent. But, taking a mean between thnt just described and that last named, we may take
one similar to a moderate one in Portland Place for example
In such a one must be
provided, on the basement or sunk story, vaults under the street for beer, coals, wood,
).rivies, and the like, the refuse or dust of the house. The body or corps de logis on this
floor must contain
housekeeper's
room, servants' hall, rooms for butler and head footman,
wine cellar, clo>ets for linen, strong room for plate, with closets and other conveniene.s
tor the household.
The ascending
staircase must also have a space tot apart for it. In
the rear, under the open area behind, will be placed a kitchen, scullery, and the larder
with the other appent'ages
of this
yart of the household; an area, covered, where the
c^mimunicat on wiih the rest
of the floor is made between the body of the house ;ind the
uffisi;* in question
Beyond the kitchen arc often vaults (though the disposition is some-
times otherwise),
over which the .stables
and coachhouses are placed, opening ou the
ground floor on to a mews
parallel to the
street in which the house is situate. The ground
floor of this disposition
has usually a dmii.g-room
in frrnt, with a good-sized hall at its
side, leading to a staircase
which ascends in direction of the long side of the house; and
this IS necessary wh. n the rooms above ar to communicate by folding doors. In some
old houses, however, the staircase
ascends
between the front and back rooms, and a back
staircase is provided by the side of it. But more commonly this is placed beyond the prin-
cipal stairs, to allow of throwing the
drawing-rooms
intoone. In rear of the dining-room
IS otteu plared
a library for the gentleman of the house ; and beyond this, and further than
the back stairs, when the lateral
staircase is used, a waiting-room, at the rear of which a
water-closet lUMy be placed, with a door from it to the area over the kitchen
;
or there
may be a convnunication
of this sort from the waiting-room, vhich may serve the purpose
ot access to the stables.
On the one-pair floor the dispo.Mtion will bo two drawing-
rooms, a bouiloir over the
waiting-room,
and beyond this a water-closet. On the two-pair
floor two bed-rooms,
each with
a dr. ssing-room,
or three bed-rooms and one dressing-
rooni, and a bath-room
and
water-closet.
Above this four bed-rooms and closets nuiy bo
obtained
;
and, if necessary,
rooms in the
roof in addition. For a good house of this
cla.ss with the offices,
the plot of
ground should not be much less thiin 100 feet by 30.
i>- j-n f
^^^'^"'^'''^^ of houses,
as a model may be taken the town-house, in
liccadiily,
ot his Grace the Duke
of Devonshire, which, with the offices and coart-vard
in front, covers an area
extending
about 231 feet towards the street, and 188 feet in
depth, whereof the
house itself
occupies
a frontage of 163 feet and a depth of 188 feet,
and opens on to a large
g
irden in the rear.
On the east side of the court-yard are dis-
l.osed the kitchen
and other
domestic
offices, opposite whereto, on the west side, sti.nd
the coach-houses
and stabling.
The basement
of the house contains apartments for the
various persons
attached
to such an establishment.
The principal floor, to which the
ascent is by an external
staircase,
contains an entrance-hall, 35 feet by 30 feet, and com-
municates to an
apartment
on the west side, 33 feet by 22 feet, leading to the south-
western corner
room, which is 20 feet
square.
On the north of the last is a room, making
the north-west
angle
of the building,
and this is 40 feet by 20 feet. On the cast side
ot tliis^last,
and facing
the uorth, is a room 3i feet by 23 feet, and in the centre of the
north front
corresponding
with
the width of the hall, is an apartment 30 feet by 23 feet
)
inches lo the
eastof
the last is a room 33 feet by 24 feet, and east of that, forming
the north-east
angle,
IS a small
room 2 J feet square. Thus far these rooms, seven in
number,
are all cu suite, but this is in some
measure interrupted by the remainder of the
east flank,
which is filled
with
three smaller
rooms.
To that of them, however, at the