Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/1061

 FITTINGS-UF OF VILLA DWELLING-ROOMS. 10^7 186s on a terrace, or under a veranda, much of the comfort of the occupant will depend upon these windows opening like doors, in what is called the French manner. The mechanism of windows of this description has been carried to a high degree of per- fection by Smith of Prince's Street, Haymarket, London. The great objection to French windows used to be, the difficulty of making them watertight, and even in some cases airtight ; but these objections Mr. Smith has completely over- come. Such windows have another advantage; viz., that they are easily kept clean by comnion servants, diodes of fitting-in the upper sashes of windows so that they may revolve on centres, and thus be easily cleaned by servants from the inside, have been devised by Saul, by Tuely, and others : for the details of the first two methods, we refer to the Mechanics' Maga- zine, vol. i. p. 265, and p. 337. 2067. The Doors to the principal rooms of villas should be hung with Redman's or other rising hinges, which are a great improvement, as they raise the door so as to make it to pass freely over the carpet. For outside doors to Gothic villas, Mr. Lamb has supplied us with the hinge, fig. 1851; the doorhandle and keyhole, fig. 1852; the door, or drawer, handle, fig. 1853; and the nail heads, figs. 1854 and 1855. It is a great beauty in all buildings, but more especially in villas, to have the outside doors formed of some description of timber, which shall not require to be painted. An entrance door of heart of oak, with the handles and fastenings of iron, oiled, but not painted ; or, what is preferable, of copper, left to be bronzed by the atmosphere, every one must feel to be much more architectural, and to convey a far greater idea of dura- bility, than any description of material coated over with paint. There are some other British woods, such as chestnut, Scotch elm, and Highland fir, which might answer for the same purpose ; and, among exotic woods, there is the New Holland mahogany, which only costs about double the price of deal, appears to be nearly as durable as teak ; and is suitable both for outside and mside work, without any paint whatever. INIr. Perry has used this timber for the entrance door and the fittings-up of his own house; and' he considers, that, as it requires 1854 1 85.'; f!' !IMMIIIl Jl ! no paint, it is ultimately as much cheaper than deal, as it is unquestionably far handsomer. 2068. The hanging of Pic- tures in Booms is sometimes performed, in a clumsy manner, by means of brass-headed nails driven into the wall, in a line immediately under the cornice, from which the frames are sus- pended by cords. There are two improved methods,- however, of effecting this, the first of ■which, as practised by Mr. Vokins, is as follows : — Fig. 1 856, a is a hollow iron rod or rail, coated on the outside with brass gilt, of any required length, which is fixed or screwed to the wall by means of plates, as at b b, at regular distances. The pulleys, c t, have a broad hook, which fastens on to the rod or rail, and can be moved along it as the pictures are required to be shifted to the right or left ; these pulleys have also small iron pins to which one end of each of the cords which support the picture must be fastened. Iron staples, e e, are screwed into the back of the picture-frame, having two holes in each to keep the cords or lines apart, and the fi-ame from pressing against them. Pulleys, ff, are fixed to the bottom of the picture at each end ; and at g are male screws on which brass ornaments, as at ;', are fixed to hide the pulleys. It is evident that, by pulling the cords h h, the picture may be raised to any height ; and may be moved along the rail, either to the right or left, at pleasure. The second method, which is found to be both neat and economical where numerous small pictures are to be suspended, is thus