Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/855

 VILLAS IN VARIOUS STYLES. 831 side of movable boards, covered, like the rest of the floor, by the carpet, but distinguished by their adjoining the claws of the column which supports the table. By pressing on these parts slightly with the foot, the master or mistress can ring a servant's bell, at pleasure, without rising from the table. The drawing-room is shown at s, twenty- five feet by twenty feet, exquisitely finished, with a fireplace by Metheley, having polished steel sides placed .it an angle of 45°, which reflect the fire, and produce a sin^ularlv brilliant effect, as well as throw out great heat ; the ceiling is beautifully painted in imitation of sky and clouds, and the cornices are richly carved and gilt. Fif. 1453 is the plan of the chamber floor, in which ttt are three principal bed-rooms^ and u a dressing-room with a bath. At any moment throughout the year a hot or cold bath may be obtained, without troubling the servants, by the following means : there is a cold-water cistern under the roof, and a hot-water cistern at the back of the kitchen fireplace : in this last cistern there is a coil of lead pipes, one end of the pipe commu- nicating with the cold-water cistern above, and the other with the bath. By turning a cock in the bath-room, the water descends from the cistern under the roof, is heated in passing through the coil of pipes behind the kitchen fire, and ascends by the pressure of the atmosphere on the cistern to the bath. Another cock and pipe, leading directly from the cistern, admit cold water to the bath, so as to temper it at pleasure ; and a third pipe serves to convey away the water when done with. The cover of the bath is fitted with a basin, so as to serve as a dressing-table. We have seen this bath filled in the course of a few minutes, and can attest its answering most completely. There are two small bed-rooms, v v; a. water-closet, iv ; a linen-closet, x ; and a dressing-room or nursery, y, to one of the bed-rooms. 1750. Construction. The walls are of brick, eighteen inches thick, and laid in Ro- man cement to the height of the principal floor ; above which they are hollow, and about fourteen inches in thickness ; exteriorly, they are covered with Roman cement, drawn (that is, with the courses and sizes of the stones marked by lines), and tinted in imitation of Bath stone. The roof is covered with blue slates, and the chimney-tops are terminated by square chimney-pots, also tinted in imitation of stone. The basement floor has the pavement laid hollow, and the outside walls are protected l)y half arches, so that this floor is as diy as any part of the house. Cast-iron bricks are built in the out- side walls, so as to admit a circulation of air between the floors and ceilings. The billiard-room, fig. 1448, g, is finished within, in imitation of stone, with a coved ceiling, double skylight, and boarded floor ; it is heated by one of Sylvester's low air-stoves, to be hereafter figured and described. The billiard-table is of cast iron. 1751. The Gardener s House is a model of contrivance and efficiency in its way. Fig. 1454 is the ground plan ; in which a is the living-room, an octagon fifteen feet in diameter, with a fireplace, h, and a large closet or pantry, c. There is a trapdoor in the floor at d, to a store-cellar below ; and in the centre of the ceiling there is another trapdoor, to a seed-loft and herb-room in the roof. The stepladder, by which the loft is entered, stands under the trapdoor to the cellar, serving as a stair to it, so that it is always at hand to be used for going into the loft. It will be observed that this room commands the diagonal of the space within the garden, and an entire square of space without it, as indicated by the letters ^ ^. The bed-room, e, commands by its two windows the south and north sides of the wall, which Hes east and west (or what, from its aspect, is commonly called by gardeners the south wall, as indicated by the letters / /. There are a scullery, /, with a sink, g ; a coal-house, A ; and water-closet, i. From the two windows of (/ and i, the east and west sides of the eastern boundary of a square garden are commanded by the gardener, as indicated by the letters m m. The gardener, or his wife, seated in the centre of the living-room, with the bed- room and scidlery