Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/326

 302 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. cottages and farm-houses there is a sort of pyramidal corner cupboard, fig. 575 a, to a scale of half an inch to a foot, sometimes in use for holding glasses, the punch bowl, &c. ; and another sort of corner cupboard, fig. 575 b, to the same scale as the preceding Design, has this advantage, that, when not in use, its two open sides may be turned against the two walls of the room, and, its two close sides only being seen, it may pass with a stranger as a book or music stand, for which, indeed, a similar design is frequently used. There is a drawer below, for holding plate, and on the top may stand the tea-urn ; or, in the event of its being used as a music-stand or book-stand, the drawer may contain manu- scripts, and the top a globe or bust. Tliis piece of furniture should stand on castors. 6'23. Dumb Waiters, or portable sideboards, are useful in small families, with few or no servants or children. The most common form is that of a candelabrum, with tiers of circular shelves fixed to an upright axis, the shelves diminishing from the bottom upwards, and the whole on castors. The two figures last described will also make very good dumb waiters. 624. Bookcases and Escruioires, Secretaries, or Bureaus, are extremely useful for holding books, keeping papers, or writing on ; and, therefore, no cottage parlour ought to be without one. Figs. 576 and 577 are bureaus in the Grecian style ; the middle part of fig. 576 draws out, and the front lets down and forms a writing-desk. The lower part, enclosed by doors, may be either fitted up with shelves or drawers; the upper part is for books. Fig. 577 has a falling board or flap, which, when let down, as shown in fig. 578, forms a writing-desk. Figs. 578 and 579 are bureau bookcases in the Gothic style. In the first of these figures, the writing-table is formed by pulling out a drawer, and letting down its front, as in fig. 578 ; in the second (fig. 579!, the sloping flap falls down, and rests on two sliding pieces, a, technically called lopers. This last description of secretaries is often made without the addition of the bookcase over it ; and, instead of paneled doors, it is more common to have drawers exposed to view. The knobs to .the drawer desks, figs. 576 and 578, are supposed to be made of wood, mahogany, ebony, or laburnum, as being more in harmony with the articles, and as less liable to tarnish than brass, the usual material of which similar handles are formed. The astragal moulding which covers the joint formed by the two doors of each Design is also com- monly formed of brass ; but wood, generally of the same sort as the rest of the fabric, is now substituted by the best manufacturers. Even the linings to keyholes, fig. 580, and the shields or escutcheons of locks, are now made of ebony, or some other hard wood, in all the better articles of cabinet furniture. Fig. 581 shows a section of the door style and astragal of the Grecian Designs ; in which b is the astragal, and c the door style. Fig. 582 is a similar section, showing the Gotliic astragal and door style. It will be observed that the astragal is not worked on the door style, but on a distinct piece of wood, d; which is afterwards glued, and rabbeted on to the edge of the side style. The situation in a room for pieces of furniture combining bookcases and secre- taries should never be on the side opposite to the window ; for nothing can be more awkward than the idea of a person sitting down to write with his back to the light, or, should the room be small, to an open fireplace. Recesses in those sides of a room, which form right angles with the window sides afford the most desirable positions ; and, of these, the preference is always to be given to the side containing the fireplace. In rooms heated by stoves or flues, the same care as to the position of the secretary with refer- ence to the fire is not requisite. 625. Book-shelves will shortly become as necessary as chairs or tables, for the cottage of even the humblest labourer. We shall give two Designs, figs. 58.S and 584 ; the first may be considered as suitable for a Gothic cottage, and the other for a plain one. Either of these Designs may be fixed against a wall, with the lower shelves about six inches higher than what is called chair-back height from the floor. Or they may be set on a chest of drawers, or secretary, provided these are in suitable styles of Designs. The balusters which support the shelves, in fig. 584, .-ire called by cabinet-makers shaped columns; and they may either be made plain; fluted or reeded, as at g; or with carved foliage, as at /(, in the same figure. 626. Wardrobes are as essential in a bed-room, as a dresser is in a cottager's kitchen, or a cupboard, or sideboard of some sort, in his parlour. Figs. 58,5 and 586, p. 304, on a scale of three eighths of an inch to a foot, exhibit a Design for a wardrobe in the Grecian 583 A A