Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/380

 322 COMPARATIVE ARCHITECTURE. In the sixteenth century the typical Tudor house consisted of buildings grouped around a quadrangular court, as at Layer Marney (a.d. 1520), Compton Wynyates (a.d. 1520) (No. 150), and Sutton Place (a.d. 1521-1527). The entrance was in the centre of one side under a gatehouse, which gave it prominence ; on the opposite side were the hall and offices, the living and sleeping-rooms being ranged along the other two sides, and such rooms were usually " thoroughfare " rooms or, in some cases, only entered from the courtyard. In the latter part of the century the common dining-hall began to decline in importance, owing to modern ideas of privacy being introduced ; but the salient characteristics of the Elizabethan house are dealt with in English Renaissance, page 553. THE DWELLINGS OF THE PEOPLE. The formation of towns was often due to considerations of safety, as when traders and others grouped themselves around the castles of the great nobles, or formed a dependency to a monastery ; and thus afterwards arose in many towns two rival authorities, viz., ecclesiastical and secular. In the absence of effective police, and in the consequent insecurity against lawless vagabonds, every city was more or less fortified. The undeveloped state of the towns is accountable for the absence of town halls, in contrast with France, Belgium, Italy, and Germany, where many such buildings exist. In towns the dwellings often consisted of a shop on the ground floor, in which the trade of the owner was carried on, light being obtained by a wide opening fronting the street. Behind the shop were the kitchen and living-room, and an external door led to a staircase, which gave access to the sleeping-rooms on the first floor. The " Butcher Row " at Shrewsbury, of the fifteenth century, has ground floor shops, " solar " above, and dormitories in the upper story. The architecture was more or less developed, in proportion to the condition of the owner, the materials at hand, and other local causes. In this respect the passage way on the first floor to the houses at Chester is a notable example. Houses of half timber and brick with overhanging upper stories abounded, while the Jew's house at Lincoln is a fine specimen of an early stone residence. CHAPELS. There were different varieties of these, viz., those forming apart- ments in palaces or other dwellings, or attached to convents and monasteries, those forming portions of larger churches, sepulchral