Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/818

 791 COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. door might be opened before the visiters reached it. The porch should be the only entrance to the house, for visiters ; that from the garden terrace being confined exclusively to the use of the family, who would generally dislike to have their privacy interrupted by the sudden intrusion of strangers. These observations upon the porch are equally applicable to the Grecian portico. The porch would admit you to the entrance-hall. 1681. The Entrance- Hall, in regard to character and size, must depend upon the scale of the principal apartments. If the latt'jr are spacious and elegant, the hall should be large and handsome : indeed, an old English residence would not be in good keeping without a spacious hall, as it was formerly the dining-room and place of rendezvous for the servants and, retainers ; and, in a Grecian mansion, a large entrance-hall is necessary for eifect. If the apartments are small, and devoid of ornament, I would then substitute for the hall a smaller kind of entrance,, with a vaulted roof; and, moreover, rather gloomy, to increase the general effect of the rooms which open into it. In the old English and in the Grecian style, the hall is generally high ; often reaching to the ceiling of the upper story of the building. In the English style, this should always be the case in houses of much pretension ; but, in a Grecian house, a hall with a low ceiling, supported by lines of columns and pilasters, has generally the best effect. In the latter, the entrance-door should be in the middle ; in the English style it should be at one end of the outer side. An English hall admits of much picturesque embellishment, such as a carved oak roof or ceiling, either flat or semicircular, enriched with highly wrought bosses or coats of arms ; a music gallery across the end, supported by pillars or a carved screen ; a chimney-piece reaching to the cornice of the roof, and a carved wainscot covering half the height of the walls. The decorations of a Grecian hall have more of the beautiful than the picturesque, and more grandeur of effect. Besides the columns supjiorting an embellished or coved ceiling, a fine effect is produced by dividing the side walls into compartments by pilasters ; and having, in these compartments, handsome doorways, panels, wreaths of fruit and flowers, reliefs, busts or statues in niches, a noble chimney- piece, and other architectural embellishments. It might also have a floor of various- coloured stone or marble. A hall in the old English style should be so furnished as to have an appearance of use beyond that of a mere entrance to the other apartments : it was formerly the general eating-room, and might still be the ban- queting-room on great festival occasions. The furniture of a hall in this style should be rather plain and massive ; consisting of massive oak chaii's and benches, a high table across the upper end, formerly placed on a platform (called the dais) raised a step above the floor, and other tables capable of being united in one upon great occa- sions ; one to be used as a sideboard, and placed against the wall, at one end of the high table ; carved chests to contain less valuable papers ; window-curtains of cloth, of the simplest form ; a few books, and writing implements ; and a massive lamp suspended from the ceiling. The walls, painted to imitate stone, might be hung with a few of the oldest family portraits, the founder in the panel over the fireplace ; and a few other pictures, such as hunting-pieces, Dutch fairs, and other amusing subjects. To assist in furnishing the walls, armour and curious specimens of defensive arms, and ancient sport- ing weapons, together with the horns of stags and other animals taken in the chase, might be hung around. The hall is the proper place for all sporting instruments, as guns, bows and arrows, fishing tackle, &c. There might also be a few fire-buckets hung up under the gallery ; and a letter-box, with notice when the post goes and arrives, might be placed near the door. Where state is observed, the porter's staff would be an appropriate ornament, in its place, near the front door. The family arms, and the arms of those connected with the family, should be among the ornaments of the hall. They might be introduced on painted glass in the windows, on the cornice of the wainscot, on the pediment of the fireplace, in the roof, and front of the music gallery, and even on the chairs and benches. The floor should be of stone, uncovered by a carpet, unless it were a Turkey carpet placed under the higli table, when the hall is used as a dining-room. To make the hall comfortable, it should be warmed with hot air, to which, on state occasions, I would add a fire of large logs of wood, burnt upon handsome dogs in the open chim- ney, to which there should be a back plate of cast iron, ornamented in high relief. I remember seeing a plate of this kind at Birirungham, on which was the representation of a battle in bass-relief; and a beautiful thing it was. (In the hall at Persfield near Chepstow, we have heard that cinnamon and other spices were thrown into the hall fire upon great occasions. ) There should be but few doors in a hall of this kind ; there were seldom more than three in old English halls; viz., the front door, and the one opposite, and the buttery-door in the middle of the lower end, all under the gallery, and shut out from the hall by the screen, which formed a sort of passage at the lower end. The hall of a Grecian house would require less furniture than a liall in the English style, as it could seldom be used for any other purpose than that of an entrance. But, to give it a furnished appearance, I would fill the vacant panels with the oldest family portraits,