Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/930

 90G COTTAGE, FARM, AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE. 1594 require a few articles of furniture, in order to prevent its looking absolutely naked. At present, one or two chairs, and a slab table with a large bust, or something of the kind, standing upon it (and perliaps a rich carpet cover partly thrown over the slab, by way of presenting some object for the eye to dwell on in the centre of the screen), are quite suf- ficient. Taking all the above circumstances together, they furnish very sufficient reasons for giving the preference to that disposition which has been adopted in our Design. There is, however, still another point to be considered, and this is one that has not been without its influence in determining our choice, even had every ihing else been nearly balanced on both sides. It is evident that what are now the ends, or shorter sides, of the vestibule, would have required to be very different, had any other plan been determined upon. Either there must have been a sham door, to correspond with that of the dining-room, or the door opening into the breakfast-room, and that into the opposite drawingroom, must, instead of being at the angle, have been in the centre of the side of the room. Were the former method adopted, there would be three doors on each side of the vestibule : so that the centre one would look like that of a mere closet or passage ; as there would evidently not be space for any thing wider, between the two other doors : besides which, the whole would have had a crowded appearance. If, on the contrary, the other mode were preferred ; as far as regarded the vestibule, no objection would arise ; but then the two rooms to which those doors belong would be far from being improved by such a change ; for, as they are not very spacious, by placing the door in the centre of the side opposite the windows, we should bring them too near the fireplace end of the room, where persons most generally sit ; besides too much exposing, both to observation and to currents of air from the door, the centre of the apartment, where there would most likely be a table. The objection would not be altogether so great, did the door communicate with another sitting-room; but, as it would open from the entrance hall, the comfort of the room would thus be considerably diminished. 1845. Three Sides of the Vestibule (for the one in the section exactly resembles that opposite it) have now been shown, and in the elevation of the fourth, fig. 1594, is seen the arch opening from the inner porch. For the sake of obtaining a sufficient degree of general symmetry between this and the opposite side, both in the ele- vation itself and with regard to the rib-mouldings on the ceiling, a slight break is made in the wall in which the arch is placed, so as to have exactly four panels to the right and left of it, as is the case with the screen. Through the ai-ch is seen the entrance door, with dotted lines continued below it to point out the level upon which it is placed. The upper panels and tracery of the door are glazed, for the purpose ol' affording additional light to the ves- tibule besides what it receives fi-om ' the staircase, so that it would have quite as much as is desirable ; because a demi joui here will set off" the adjoining looms to so much the more advantage. As the external door is glazed, there must, for greater security, be an inner door, with a double fold on each side like a shutter, so as to fall completely back into a hollow in the wall made to receive it ; and this would be closed, and firmly fastened to, every night. It has not been thought necessary to show this in the elevation, because, unless on such a scale as to exhibit all its details of con- struction, it would be of no use ; and, besides this, there would be nothing to indicate it as to appearance : for these shutters on each side of the door would be quite flush with the wall, and be plain surfaces, coloured exactly to resemble the wall itself; consequently, they would hardly be at all distinguishable from the rest of it. Or there is still a better mode to be adopted : this is, to shut up the porch itself every night by a strong ^orfe- coulisse, contrived to slide forward on either side from grooves made in the wall, in a hollow between the vertical mouldings of the archway of the porch. This door would be fastened from within, and externally would present no lock, or any thing of the kind, by which an attemjit might be made to force it open. Another advantage attending this latter mode is, that the porch would be kept quite dry from rain during the night ; and this door might likewise always be closed whenever the family were not resident in the house. It must be admitted that this scheme would be attended with some difficulty in the present j)lan, which would require a door of this kind to be formed of several