XI 



INTERNAL FEATURES (EIGHTEENTH 

 CENTURY) 



THE internal decoration of houses of the seventeenth century 

 has already been described, and incidentally a considerable 

 number of examples have been given of the treatment of later 

 houses ; but it is desirable to treat the subject a little more 

 fully than has been possible in former chapters. 



In entering an eighteenth-century house the visitor found 

 himself in a large vestibule or hall not the old-fashioned hall 

 of the early seventeenth century, which was itself one of the 

 principal living-rooms, but a hall which was merely a vestibule 

 or ante-room leading to the living-rooms. Sometimes it had a 

 fireplace, but sometimes not ; in either case it was not regarded 

 as a room for constant use. In houses of the middle size it con- 

 tained the staircase, and the same held good in many of larger 

 size ; but in the largest the hall was frequently the most striking 

 apartment in the house, as for instance at Houghton (Fig. 174) 

 and Prior Park (Fig. 182). 



The staircases were always handsomely treated. As a rule 

 they were of wood, but a few instances occur of marble steps 

 and balustrades, and of stone steps with iron balustrades. The 

 typical English staircase is of wood, with turned wood balusters. 

 For a short time during the seventeenth century foliated balus- 

 trades had been the fashion (see Figs. 80-82), but towards its 

 close the turned baluster reasserted itself. Massive handrails 

 and solid strings were still retained, as in the example from 

 the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Fig. 277); and many examples 

 of simple staircases of this type are to be found in the Temple, 

 London, and the surrounding neighbourhood. 



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