The household oracle : a popular referee on subjects of household enquiry : including: - house building, buying and renting; house furnishing and decoration; housekeeping and domestic cookery; plain and fancy needlework; home farming, gardening, medicine; law; an epitome of the history of the world and the growth of the human family; the formation of our mother tongue and the rules of English grammar; a dictionary of religions; stepping stones of English history and a sketch of the English constitution setting forth the rights, privileges and duties of the English householder parochial, municipal, imperial; the story of the calendar, standards of weights and measures; arithmetical tables and tables of interest and a ready reckoner; household amusements, games, chess, cards and other indoor games, dancing, swimming, etiquette, ... / edited by Alfred H. Miles ; assisted by a staff of specialists.

Date:
[1897?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The household oracle : a popular referee on subjects of household enquiry : including: - house building, buying and renting; house furnishing and decoration; housekeeping and domestic cookery; plain and fancy needlework; home farming, gardening, medicine; law; an epitome of the history of the world and the growth of the human family; the formation of our mother tongue and the rules of English grammar; a dictionary of religions; stepping stones of English history and a sketch of the English constitution setting forth the rights, privileges and duties of the English householder parochial, municipal, imperial; the story of the calendar, standards of weights and measures; arithmetical tables and tables of interest and a ready reckoner; household amusements, games, chess, cards and other indoor games, dancing, swimming, etiquette, ... / edited by Alfred H. Miles ; assisted by a staff of specialists. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    should be from the south-east. A bay window, facing this direction, is probably the best arrangement, as shewn in the accompanying plan. Independently of the cosiness of the bay, there is the advantage of a good range of sunshine. In this room, perhaps more than in any other j>rospect, or the view obtainable, has to be considered. It is a general rule to sacrifice prospect to aspect; but in the case of the drawing-room, some compromise has generally to be effected. When, therefore, the best view of tire surrounding country is only obtainable by windows in an otherwise objectionable position, their use in such a place is not only permissible, but desirable; and means can generally be adopted to temper any discomfort arising from out- looks so situated. The Entrance Hall and Staircase. —Next to the principal rooms, the entrance-hall and staircase claim our notice. It will, probably, be conceded that in the majority, both of small houses and of those of greater preten- tiousness, the so-called entrance-hall, generally a mere passage, is much too narrow—any attempt to place therein an article of furniture larger than a hat- stand being out of the question—in fact, in many instances, even this is impossible. How frequently, too, do we see the staircase in such close proximity to the front door that one would imagine it intended to convey all the draught possible to the upper rooms—to say nothing of the undignified appearance and inconvenience of such an arrangement. In the plan given, whilst avoiding anything like waste, or a pretentiousness unsuited to so small a dwelling, a passage is provided of fair width leading to a hall sufficiently large to admit, besides a hatstand, at least a table and a couple of chairs. The Kitchen.—In the majority of ordinary houses, the position of the kitchen relatively to the other rooms is, to say the least of it, ill considered; in fact, it appears to have been dictated either by chance or caprice, instead of receiving the same attention bestowed on the other rooms. In small houses the chief difficulty is to so arrange the culinary department as to prevent its odours pervading the other apartments. Of course, the larger the house the easier the arrangement in this respect, though this difficulty is often solved in the rough and ready way of placing the kitchen at as great a distance as possible from the principal rooms. One frequently meets with examples, not only of such excessive distances, but of cases in which the route from the kitchen to the dining-room is so circuitous, that the chances of a hot dinner coming to table become equally remote. In small houses there is no fear of this. We have to contend with a too close proximity, and must, therefore, devise some means for the seclusion so desirable. The means by which I have endeavoured to protect the rest of the house from the invasion of those odours will be seen on reference to the ground plan. Between the hall and the kitchen is a lobby, the door of which would be provided with a spring-hinge, to prevent its being left open unnecessarily, and this by keeping the door closed, will, in a great measure, intercept the disagreeable whiffs to which I have referred. It is un- doubtedly too often the case in choosing a house, that the fitness of the servants’ quarters is to a great extent ignored— otherwise how do those houses with miserably dark and ill-arranged kitchens find occupiers?—Now it must be obvious to the mind of every intelligent person that good and sufficient light is e.ssential to the duties of cooking, in fact, an abundance of light is more essential in a kitchen than perhaps in any other apartment; bearing this in mind one should reject any house, however other- wise suitable, that is not properly planned in this respect. In large kit- chens a top light in addition to wall lights is frequently very advantageous; but in the class of houses we are now considering, such a feature is generally both unnecessary and unattainable. In those of smaller size, one or two windows properly placed is all that is required;