Typical Middle Class Drawing Room example essay topic

The most important aesthetic and philosophical style was developed in the eighteenth century, yet this style did not reach its apex until the nineteenth. With Christian elements and strong moral the movement appealed to the newly wealthy middle classes. The notable increase in prosperity that accompanied the Industrial Revolution was largely based on the accumulative benefits of inexpensive imports for the colonies. This new found affluence and status for the middle-class, has naturally revealed in the types of homes they lived in and the style in which they decorated and ornamented them. Unsure how to begin this new style of living, they chose architecture and furnishings that had previously been only for the aristocracy and the upper class. The critics of high Victorian style, known as the Aesthetic Movement, objected not only to the style and quality of machine-made furnishings but also to the manner in which they were used in the home.

The typical middle-class drawing room was crammed full of furniture, fabrics were used in abundance and every available surface was overflowing with knickknacks. Such displays were a means of showing off their new-found cultural interests, prosperity and status. They were also in accord with the fashionable notion that bareness in a room was in poor taste. Victorian Gothic style was zenith ed in the mid-nineteenth century by those who yearned to return to the complexity of the skilled craftsmanship and design that prevailed in the Middle Ages. Architecture in the Middle Ages in northern Europe was based on arches, such as the gable, buttress, and ribbed vault. These houses had roofs that were high and sloping, which were imperative in wetter climates of the north, and inspired the used of decorative elements such as stonework and brick, oriel and lancet windows, or weather vanes.

Colonettes rose to these ceilings and eliminated the used of masonry walls, now leaving enough interior room and wall space for windows. Large windows were made of stained glass, in later years portraying religious figures, and the glow of light was said to symbolize "heavenly spiritual light". These subjects soon passed as the sixteenth century approached with a more classical form of architecture. This style, full of symmetry, rounded arches, and columns, and lacking culture, branded medieval design "barbaric". Now collectively called Victorian the architecture was made up of several main styles. These include Italianate, Second Empire, Stick-Eastlake, and Queen Anne.

Facades of Victorian Gothic homes were asymmetrical with steeply pitched roofs. The public rooms of the house, the living room and drawing room, were situated in the most convenient area of the first floor. Living rooms were furnished and decorated rather lavishly with exaggerated medieval features. Furniture was arranged asymmetrically around the room in conversational groupings, there was abundance of articles in the room, yet they had very simple patterns. The drawing room's aim was said to be the 'jewel casket of the home, in both content and form... in many houses it has almost become a museum of old, valuable furniture and art treasures, and is often filled to overflowing in the process'.

Kerr, in The Gentleman's House wrote that the overall appearance of the dining room should be 'somewhat massive and simple' being 'of masculine importance. ' The dining room was known to be a male sanctuary where males stayed behind to talk and smoke after dinner and the women retired. Lighting such as candlelit chandeliers and wall sconces gave the room its warm and welcoming tones, as well as giving an attractive look to many materials. Wood paneling that either covered the wall of when to dado level, creating a "chair rail", was decorative and practical by protecting walls from being damaged by chair backs. Originally the kitchen was placed in the basement of most terraced homes, and it wasn't until the 1870's where the moved to a safer location and retained better plumbing and heating techniques. The kitchen was dominated by a large cooking range and the central wooden chopping block or table, used for most food preparation.

Before the introduction of the stove in 1840, meals were cooked over an open hearth. The new stoves were more proficient because they did not need to be refueled as often and sparks were contained within the cast-iron walls. Food was stored in a cool pantry away from heat of the stove, or in an icehouse sited underground or on the back porch. D'ec or of the Gothic kitchen was very simple since there were no flamboyant architectural details. It was important for the kitchen to work efficiently as it was usually very crowded with servants doing their chores. Due to an escalating desire for privacy, bedrooms were made a separate room in the early years of this movement.

Therefore, being unseen to guests the bedroom was a place to let light in and create a sense of warmth and simplicity, unlike common living rooms. Somber tones were used richly in bedrooms, reddish-brown woodwork, dark green, gold, and maroon. On the contrary, Victorians themselves believed that feminine shades of pale green and gray, or a seashell pink should be used to soften a bedrooms appearance. Floors were made of stained wood or linoleum or cork matting, covered with oriental rugs, rag rugs or rush matting. An important feature of the bedroom was the fireplace. They provided heat, decoration, and a through draught which ventilated the room.

The most important item among furniture in the bedroom, is obviously the bed. At the start of the era, a four-poster bed was made of beech wood or mahogany with sidebars of iron holding the head and footboards together. Heavy curtains and canopies were used on some to promote privacy. The wardrobe was another important piece, with a basic, yet elegant design.

They were usually double paneled and had a central beveled mirror, with arches, again, incorporated. Bedrooms were not only used for sleeping, but for sick rooms and giving birth in. Furniture, fabrics, and floors, had to be cleaned regularly to focus on the primary concern of a bedroom, hygiene. In earlier times, when wallpaper was more expensive, painted walls were preferred over wallpaper because they could be wiped down more easily.

However the walls were still repainted periodically to ensure there was no dirt left behind from fireplaces or lamps. Use of wall-to-wall carpet was discouraged because it could not be taken outside and beaten. Bathrooms before the 1870's did not have a circulatory water heating system. Instead hot water was poured into portable bathtubs placed in bedrooms, and water closets were located outdoors. By 1855, only one in ten houses in London had a piped water supply for certain parts of the day, but it wasn't until the middle of the 1860's that plans for a complete sewage removal system were applied to the city. Plumbing techniques were not of good enough quality to allow toilets to be placed on upper levels of buildings.

Therefore, before the late nineteenth century more widely used were chamber pots, earth closets, or outdoor privies. Halls were not only seen as the entrance to the house but as a banqueting hall or an additional reception room for special occasions, even the smallest villas had large foyers. Lavishly decorated, the grand hall was used to impress visitors and announce the social statues of the inhabitants. Walls of the hall were commonly covered with dark wood paneling, such as mahogany or oak, carved with foliage, or in a linen-fold design. Ceilings were usually ribbed or beamed.

In some cases ceilings were vaulted to restructure a medieval atmosphere. In later years, Gothic homes had tall arched colonnades framing the staircase and doors leading into the main reception room. Geometric patterns with encaustic tiles were most popular for the floor, in able to keep it clean and hard wearing. If there was lots of light from windows, strong colors were used, such as Pompeian red, and paler tones of green or gray for any other condition. While the domestic eighteenth century Gothic architecture was viewed as picturesque and romantic, appealing widely to the members of the aristocracy, the nineteenth century style congregated more moral and Christian elements, towards the new, wealthy middle classes. The Victorian Gothic era was sparked by craftsmen reaching to revitalize the style customary to the Middle Ages.