Georgian & Regency Houses Explained

by Trevor Yorke

  FIG 4.33: RAINWATER TRAPS AND PIPES: On most early and some later Georgian houses the water that ran off the roof came through gaps in the parapet and was collected in wooden guttering lined with lead, which has long since perished. Later examples were in cast iron with a metal trap at the front; these were usually decorated, sometimes with elaborate patterns (6, 9 and 10) and frequently with a date (1, 3, 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14) – although this may be of a revision to the house and not its original date of construction. The iron pipes that channelled the water down to the ground were held to the wall by flat straps (3, 4 and 9), which could be shaped (15) or decorated (5, 7 and 14).

  FIG 4.34: EXTERIOR DECORATION: The exterior wall surface tended to be plain on many Georgian houses but some decoration or raised features were permitted, such as the cornice (1, 2, 3, 5, 13 and 14), string course (16), decorative bands and pilasters (6, 9 and 11), quoins (15) and the parapet at the top (4, 5, 7, 10 and 12). Early examples could be elaborate, especially the cornice (14), while later decoration tends to have shallow mouldings (9 and 11).

  FIG 4.35: EXTERIOR IRONWORK: Iron was used for utility pieces on the outside of the house throughout the period. Foot-scrapers were essential as there were few paved surfaces and the roads could be full of mud and muck. They could be fairly plain (7, 8 and 23), decorative (4, 13, 19 and 24) or set within a recess in the wall (6, 18 and 22). The naked flame used for lighting had to be extinguished by pushing it into a snuffer, an upside down iron cone on the outside of the house (1, 14, 17 and 20). A lantern was often fitted above the steps leading to the door, usually supported on an iron arch or brackets, of which original examples often survive although the lanterns are later replacements (3, 16, 17 and 20). Decorative ironwork came into its own in the Regency period, especially by the 1820s when mass produced, cast iron decorative pieces could be ordered from catalogues. Wrought and cast iron window guards (3, 5, 10, 11 and 21), balconies supported on brackets cantilevered off the main wall by iron beams set back into the house (2, 12 and 15) and porches (9) date from the late 18th century when simple diagonal patterns came into fashion to the more elaborate and common Regency types. Door furniture was limited to a door knocker and knob and was usually made from cast iron and painted black, although later replacements (as most seen these days are) are often brass (25 and 26). Lion’s heads, urns and simple rings were popular shapes for the knocker.

  CHAPTER 5

  General Fittings and Decoration

  FIG 5.1: An interior view, with labels of some of the fittings and parts of the wall.

  The interiors of Georgian and Regency houses were, in their largest and finest examples, a showcase of classical taste intended to impress the increasing number of guests. Improved transport and the development of the Season in large towns and cities encouraged a vibrant social life and even those of a modest income tried to emulate the lifestyle and houses of the rich. Yet the wealth enjoyed by the aristocracy was not spread wide; the new middle classes were still small in number and yet to find their own voice and the majority of the population spent their irregular and unreliable income on living, most having little in the way of possessions and no time or money for decorating.

  For the well-off whose large and medium sized houses are the focus of this book, there was an ever changing range of styles to shape the interior, and more professional architects, designers, craftsmen and decorators armed with new pattern books and first-hand experience of classical architecture to carry out the work. At the beginning of the period, Baroque, with its fanciful shapes and opulent decoration, was still in fashion (the name Baroque was coined as an insult directed at the previous style by the next generation of architects and means a misshaped pearl). This was replaced by the more refined and restrained Palladian, although interiors could still be flam-boyant, before a final flowering of Baroque in the form of the lighter and more naturalistic Rococo style (named after the rocky incrustations that featured on the fashionable grottos of the time).

  The second half of the 18th century was dominated by discoveries from Ancient Greek, Roman and Etruscan buildings and their reinterpretation by Robert Adam in particular. Interior moulding becomes shallow, lighter and delicate, space is used to better effect with niches and colonnaded alcoves, and surfaces are decorated with swags, vases and husks highlighted in gold. Finally, in the Regency period the Neo Classical and Greek Revival of the past generation is further influenced by Chinese, Egyptian, French and Gothick styles to create a wide range of geometric, naturalistic, classical and historic forms. Later in the period the mixing of different elements in a single scheme also become acceptable, an eclectic mix that was to be distinctive of early Victorian interiors.

  FIG 5.2: A restored Rococo ceiling with a white background and gilded mouldings from Great Witley church, Worcestershire.

  The owner not only had to be aware of the latest fashions and design etiquette but also where to focus most of his efforts. As the intention was to impress well-to-do guests it was the reception rooms that received the most lavish decoration, with the family rooms and bedrooms, which were out of sight, having a lower status of furnishing. This hierarchy of decoration, with the principal rooms on the piano nobile at the top and the servants’ quarters at the bottom, is important when considering the past use of rooms within a house – where if original fittings remain, such as fireplaces and decorative mouldings, the best should be found in the former and the latter will be devoid of most. Even in the details, money could be saved by simplifying the style of staircase once it was past the first floor rooms or by giving doors lavish moulding and fielded panels on the side facing the public while the other, which was viewed only by the family or staff, could be plain.

  Another aspect of the 18th century house was accommodation for the servants. Most large urban houses would, like their rural counterparts, have a wide range of specialist staff from the butler, housekeeper and cook at the top to the scullery maid at the bottom. Even modest middle class households would expect to have a number of staff including a maid of all work, which in the smaller home could be a lonely job entailing a working day of at least fifteen hours! Female staff were a recent development; in the past, men waited on the rich, with a housekeeper and maids only becoming common in the late 17th century. The position of staff within the house was also changing from being part of the household, living and sleeping along-side their lord in a medieval home, to the strictly segregated and regulated positions within a Victorian house. For instance, at the beginning of the period, servants would use the main stairs along with the family, yet by Regency times separate sets of stairs, often in a rear extension, permitted them to go about their work out of sight.

  The principal positions within the urban house were those of the butler, who presided over the dining room and was responsible for the wine cellar and the silver, and the housekeeper, who kept a close eye on the storeroom and household accounts and served tea in the drawing room. The cook ran the kitchen, while footmen had diverse jobs, which included serving at the table, answering the front door, manning the carriage and announcing their arrival when travelling with the family. These servants and the rooms required to carry out their jobs grew in number through the period, affecting the layout of the already tightly packed terrace house.

  FIG 5.3: A late 18th century fireplace surround designed by Robert Adam with female figurines (caryatids) supporting the mantel and a central plaque with a raised decorative scene.

  Fireplaces

  The most important feature in a room for both function and display was the fireplace. Not only was it the source of heat, but its surround gave ample opportunity for decoration, making it the focal point of the room. In most, it was positioned against a party wall, one in the front room and another in the rear, but in some early examples it was fitted in the corner where the central dividing wall met the party wall.

  GRATES

  The centre of the fireplace was the cast iron grate in which the fuel was held within the hearth. Wood had b
een the most widely used fuel in the past, although coal had its place in areas where it could be easily dug out, or it was imported when there was not much wood (coal from Newcastle was shipped down to London from an early date). In the 18th century, however, coal was growing in popularity, especially in the second half when improvements in canal, river and road travel made it cheaper and available in areas where it had not been before. The grate and the flue above were not drastically redesigned to make the most efficient use of coal and generally were simple baskets, which, as it burns better in a compact mass, were smaller than those used for wood. An early development was the hob grate, which made use of the heat given off laterally by fitting two rectangular blocks either side of the fire for heating and cooking upon its upper surface.

  FIG 5.4: Examples of 18th century basket grates with small holders for the coal, which burns better in a compact mass than in the larger types used for wood.

  FIG 5.5: Examples of hob grates, the left hand type dating from the late 18th century and the right from the early 19th. The hobs are on the solid parts to the side of the basket and allowed pots or kettles to be heated upon their tops.

  FIG 5.6: Early register grates, the left hand example dating from the late 18th century and the right hand from the late Regency period. They were supplied as one piece in cast iron with the hinged register at the top behind the decorative surround. The whole grate was inserted within the fire surround.

  By the late 18th century attempts were being made to create more efficient grates and avoid the great loss of heat up the chimney and the draughts that were created around the room. In 1797 an American, Benjamin Rumford, suggested certain improvements to reflect more heat into the room and improve the flow of air into the fire. These included narrowing the throat of the flue and reducing the size of the fireplace, lowering the basket, bringing it forward, and angling the sides. However, we were slow to accept these new ideas and it was not until the Victorian period that they became standard practice.

  A development that did appear in the mid 18th century was the fitting of an adjustable damper called a register at the entrance to the flue, in order to control the draw of the fire. They slowly caught on and by the end of the Regency period were beginning to be cast in one piece along with the grate, sides and rear.

  FIG 5.7: A section through a fireplace showing the hinged register, which controlled the draw up the chimney. Due to the weight of the grate and surround a trimmer arch or beam might be fitted beneath the floorboards for support.

  FIREPLACE SURROUNDS

  Fireplace surrounds were the principal permanent decorative feature in a room and reflected the fashionable style of the time. They could be made from stone and marble, or from cheaper materials and painted to imitate them. Hardwoods were another choice for the finest rooms but the cheaper softwoods like pine were used in most and then stained or grained to look superior. The fireplace surround also reflects the hierarchy of decoration within the house, with the main reception rooms likely to have the finest examples and lesser rooms upstairs the most simple and cheapest types (if any at all).

  FIG 5.8: Examples of early fireplace surrounds. The left hand example from the 1720s has a bolection moulding around three sides of the opening, as had been in fashion since the late 17th century. The right hand example is in a Rococo style and dates from the mid 18th century. Mantels are small at this date as it was not fashionable to put ornaments upon them.

  Many early fireplaces still retained bolection moulding, which had been popular since the late 17th century, around the three sides of the opening, while elaborate Baroque style surrounds were still acceptable even within some new Palladian houses. The new classical style surrounds that came into fashion often featured bold Roman decoration and ‘earing’ at the top of the jambs (where the moulding steps out like ears). Mid century styles included Rococo with its naturalistic decoration and curving opening and then a little later the Adam style fireplace with a smaller overall size, more restrained detailing from Greek and Roman sources and a central plaque.

  Later Georgian and Regency period surrounds tend to retain Adam’s restrained mouldings and refined detailing with new styles like the Gothick adding variety to the decoration. The most characteristic form of surround at the time was to have bull’s-eyes in the corners and reeding up the sides (jambs) and sometimes along the top. The mantelpiece on most Georgian surrounds was narrow, only stepping out above the brackets and columns up the vertical sides, but with more artefacts to display in many principal rooms a deeper mantel shelf developed in the later Regency period (although deep mantels are often one way of identifying Victorian fireplaces, they also could be fitted at a later date to Georgian ones).

  FIG 5.9: Examples of later fireplace surrounds. The left hand example is in a Neo Classical style with fluted pilasters, marble inserts and a central decorative plaque. The right hand surround has the classic Regency form of fluted jambs and lintel and bull’s-eyes in the corners.

  FLUES AND CHIMNEYS

  As with the grate, there had been little development in the design of the flue and chimney above. The flue openings were large enough for chimney sweeps’ climbing boys to be sent up to clean them (see Chapter 1). This practice was banned in 1829 but by then the size of flue was being reduced to around nine inches to improve the draw and would have been too thin for boys to access anyway. The flues and chimney were usually made from brick, even in stone houses, (although the chimney at the top would have been of stone or stone-faced) and were generally shaped like a tuning fork, with the flues from the fireplaces in the front room running up one arm and those from the back up the other, meeting together at the top as they emerged outside within the chimney. The number of pots or openings on the chimney generally indicates the number of fires there would have originally been but it is important to note that many bedrooms may not have had a fireplace at all, and those that did were often only lit when someone was ill.

  Chimneys were generally plain in style until some extravagantly decorated pieces became popular on Gothick and exotic styled houses in the Regency period. Chimney pots were not originally fitted to Georgian houses; they were only introduced in the early 19th century to improve the draw and later put on top of older stacks.

  Stairs

  The stairs were usually positioned centrally within a classically designed detached house and to the side in a terrace, in both cases by this period usually accessed via the hall and positioned at the rear of the building (in some earlier and most working class houses the front door opened directly into the main front room). The balustrades and newel posts gave opportunity for owners to impress their guests, but on the upper floors, out of sight of visitors, the same parts would usually be of a simple design to save costs.

  Early types of stairs from the 17th century were wooden structures supported by newel posts, which in part directed the weight down onto the floor upon which they rested. However, by the Georgian period the open string stair, with the balustrades resting directly upon the treads, which in turn were cantilevered out of the wall, made for graceful ascents that seem to float in the air. Balustrades were usually paired upon a tread early on and later set in threes with various turned patterns such as the barley twist, which was popular in the first half of the 18th century. Later in the period plain wooden and, in the finest houses, iron balustrades were fashionable with polished dark wood handrails finishing at the bottom in a spiral being a hallmark of Regency houses. Another feature of some of the large houses in this latter period was to illuminate the top of the staircase with a skylight.

  FIG 5.10: Examples of open string staircases where the balusters sit upon the top of the treads with decorated exposed sides. The barley twist balusters in the top example were popular in the mid 18th century and the iron types in the bottom date from the Regency period.

  Interior Doors

  The six panelled door was the standard design for most internal doors. This was not just due to classical taste; the shortage of la
rge pieces of timber during this period meant that these framed panelled types, which used less wood than an old fashioned stout plank and batten door, made economic sense. Those examples that opened onto the reception rooms would have been the finest in hardwoods (such as mahogany) or a softwood (pine and fir were popular) grained to look like them or just flat painted. They would have had fielded panels although the depth of these does not tend to be as deep as on later Victorian types. Lesser rooms would have had simpler designs and it is possible to find doors with a fielded panel facing out to guests and a plainer reverse side where they were only seen by the family or servants. Simple plank and batten doors may have sufficed for service rooms and servants’ accommodation in the attic.

  FIG 5.11: Details from Regency staircases with plain or decorated iron balusters, hardwood handrails and spiral ends on the ground floor.

  FIG 5.12: A plank and batten door (left) from this date would tend to have horizontal battens holding planks, which could vary in width (later Victorian types have regular width planks and extra diagonal battens). These were found in attics and service rooms in larger buildings and in basic urban and rural housing. The six panelled door (right) is the classic Georgian and Regency design (before the four panelled door became standard in the Victorian period).

  Door furniture was generally simple with lever handles popular in the early 18th century and round or oval knobs for the rest of the period, either in iron or brass. Some of the finest may have had a decorated metal escutcheon plate behind the knob, others from the late 18th century had brass finger plates above it where the hand was likely to come in contact with the door. Locks became increasingly popular as households looked for more privacy. Most at this date were surface mounted rim locks in iron or brass casings but by the early 19th century mortice locks set within the door came into fashion with a small metal escutcheon covering the keyhole.