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Homes of the Nineteenth Century

Page history last edited by jhoskin3@... 14 years, 11 months ago

 

     The homes we live in now are just that, a home. each room does not have a unique meaning to them. In the 19th century the architect of homes actually had meaning to them. The homes were much different than what we now consider a house. Gender, social, and class statues could be classified by using the rooms of a 19th century middle class home. Margaret Oliphant uses a house to explain the relationship between a young girl, her father, and her community. while reading the book i found that necessary information was needed in order to grasp Oliphant's ideas.

     

     I want to first start off by saying in most homes were three story homes in towns and cities. the dining room and study/office would be on the first floor. The second floor is where the drawing room would be. The top floor was a floor for the bedrooms. each room has significance to its location. Rooms would open into other rooms. As opposed to modern houses there was not much privacy in the homes. In this time a person's social status could be determined by their clothes and home. The arrangment of the house was seperated by domestic space. the first floor was the "masculine" floor. The firsrt floor was set up where the dining room would open into the serving room (from the back to the front of the house). The fire proof safe (if there was one) would be between the serving room and the library. the man of the house would have a special chair in the dining room. This is where dinner parties would be held. At the end of dinner parties the women would leave the dinging room and the men would stay and socialize. 

 

     The second floor is where the women would go so that the men could socialize. This was the most interesting floor of the three. This floor consisted of a very special room, the drawing room. When coming up the stairs one would walk into the ante room, with the lights and air shafts. an ante room is "the truncated corners of which form the walls of the light and ventilating shafts communicating with the ceilings below." (146) To the left of the stairs most homes would have the front drawing room. To the left of the stairs is where the baclk drawing room would be found. This is where women would be when socializing. Although the first floor was masculine that did not make the second feminine. The second floor was where all guest would be entertained and the women in the home would spend most of their time. When anyone would visit someone's home they would be taken to the drawing room. I found it strange that the first floor was more private than the second floor. In the drawing room tea was the only thing allowed to drink. After dinner this is where the women would go to socialize.  

 

 

 

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