Page:An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture.djvu/935

 VILLAS IN VARIOUS STYLES. 911 should be sj'mmetrically disposed ; the former must inevitably be placed above the latter, and thereby create a certain disproportion and irregularity, by no means very pleasing in itself. These inconveniences might generally be obviated by placing pictures of small dimensions, whether there be any others in the apartment or not, in a pinacotheca. 1851. The Pinacotheca. As this piece of furniture is quite a novel contrivance, never before described, some explanation of it may not be unwelcome. It is a small upright cabinet, enclosed in front with a door of plate glass, to secure the paintings and their frames also from dust, and to prevent their being touched or accidentally rubbed against. Its depth need be little more than that of the frames of the pictures which are arranged in it one above another (not more than three or four), in such a manner as that the uppermost shall be exactly on the right level for properly viewing it. When a person wants to examine any of the lower paintings, he is able by a simple piece of mechanism to shift its place, and elevate it for that purpose ; and, as the pinacotheca would stand upon castors, and be a light piece of furniture, it might easily be turned so as to catcli the most favourable light. Besides being thus of express utility, pinacothecas might be rendered exceedingly ornamental pieces of furniture, both by their materials and their embellishments. We will decide, then, on having two in the larger drawingroom, either against the window piers, or one on each side of the folding doors at the end. Two rosewood cabinets of this description, lined within with crimson velvet, puckered, and surmounted by busts, with a rich socket for a wax taper on each side of them, springing up from the carved work at the angles, would form, independently of what they might contain, rather tasteful accessories to the rest of the furniture. With these two rooms a stranger would most likely judge that all the reception apartments terminated ; at least, he would hardly suppose that there was another sitting-room ; or, at all events, none of any importance beyond these, since he would rather imagine that the farther door must lead into some passage behind the staircase ; consequently he woidd hardly be much dis- satisfied with the plan, on discovering that 1852. The Library is so immediately connected with the drawingrooms as to form, although not in a direct line, a suite of three rooms all opening into each other. I can- not help considering this disposition far preferable to one that would produce merely a straight enfilade, certainly presenting a more imposing vista at the first glance, but exhibiting no art or contrivance, and keeping nothing in reserve to make amends for the monotony which would be felt after the first impression had subsided. In a very spacious mansion, where there is scope for great variety in other respects, a lengthened enfilade contributes to dignity : but here, considering both the size of the house and the limited number of rooms, it should rather be avoided than the contrary ; because it would display almost the whole of the interior at once; whereas, by making a turn off from the direct line, and at an angle, where, from the known situation of tlie staircase, there seems hardly any possibility for communication with an adjoining room except through some passage, a pleasing degree of variety and intricacy is produced. The house, too, appears thus much lai-ger than it really is ; for even the mere circumstance of turning again from the recess into the library conveys an 'dea of distance and extent. Between the diawing- room and library should be double duors, so as to exclude all sound, and keep the latter room quite quiet, and distinct, as it were, from all the others on this floor, notwithstand- ing that it is so completely connectei^ with them. Whichever way it be entered, whe- ther from the staircase, so as to have u direct and central view on opening the door, or from the drawingroom, the effect would be pleasing, and somewhat picturesque. In the latter case, the effect would be even the more striking of the two ; because, as the doors in the entrance recess would be paneled with mirrors, on opening that from the drawingroom, an apparent vista onward into another drawingroom, through the library, would display itself. Were they not so situated, so many doors close together would be objectionable ; yet, being placed within a recess, they seem quite independent of the room itself; and are so far from causing any interruption when opened, that the centre door is removed more out of the way than if there were no recess here at all. The door opposite that leading into the drawingroom, by communicating almost directly with the back staircase, yet not so as to expose it, is a great convenience, as it allows of persons who come on business with the master of the house to be shown up, after entering the back way, immediately into the library to him, without passing through the staircase, or being seen by any one. It also affords a direct and private passage to the water-closet adjoining the back stairs ; which is also most conveniently situated for ready access from the dining-room likewise, through the private door by the sideboard : an accommodation of some importance, as it would remove all occasion for that of another kind, which is a more useful than elegant appendage to a dining-room. This library, nineteen feet by twenty-four, would be not only agreeably diversified in its form, but also rendered more spacious by the entrance recess and the bay window. This room, however, and the whole house, might be materially improved by an addition to the first plan, viz. a conservatory.