138 



The Country House 



understood the true value of the vestibule as did his neighbour across the 

 channel; consequently the vestibule is seldom used in England. It will thus be 

 seen that the staircase was cut off from the hall, and the hall itself more or less 

 of a vestibule, as far as use is concerned. 



With the Colonial the vestibule was still omitted, after the manner of its 

 model, while the staircase was condensed into, and became a feature of, the hall. 

 This was probably due to the general simplification of the plan and to an effort to 

 save space. 



In the construction of the Italian staircase, marble was the chief material em- 

 ployed. It was used for the rails and balusters as well as the stairs proper. The 



French had a weak- 

 ness for the iron 

 rail and baluster, in 

 which material some 

 very beautiful work 

 was executed. The 

 English, though 

 using both marble 

 and iron in a meas- 

 ure, had a decided 

 tendency toward 

 \\ood. 



As the Italian 

 marble staircase had 

 its natural origin in 

 the marble finish of 

 its halls, so the 

 English wooden ef- 

 fort was but the 

 natural treatment 

 where wooden ceil- 

 ings and wall panel- 

 ling were used. A 

 mixture of these two 

 would have been de- 

 cidedly out of har- 

 mony. 



There are sev- 

 eral things to be 

 considered in the 

 planning of the hall 

 and staircase of the 



Old Colonial stairs at Jamaica Plain, Mass. American COUHtry 



house. First, it is 



safe to lay down as a fixed rule that every house should have a vestibule. This 

 gives two doors between the house proper and the out-of-doors, which is quite 



