Regency Household: Gentleman’s Hunting Lodge or Villa in the Italian Style

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A HUNTING LODGE OR VILLA IN THE ITALIAN STYLE DESIGN No 13 PERSPECTIVE VIEW PLATE XXVII FRONT ELEVATION PLATE XXVIII SIDE ELEVATION PLATE XXIX TWO PLANS PLATE XXX By comparing the plan of this house with those of Nos 9 and 11 it will be perceived that much as they differ in regard to various other parti culars they all three bear a general resemblance to each other in the position and relative proportions of the principal rooms Far from being occasioned by any difficulty of producing greater variety or by inattention to the circumstance itself this similarity has been adhered to with the view of showing how the same internal accommodation may be obtained where there are many minor differences and where differ ent styles are adopted In each of these plans it will be observed there is a drawing room dining room and library with an ante room between the two former but in No 9 the library is placed beyond the ante room into which all the other three open while there is no immediate communication between the library and the drawing room as in this design and No 11 Both the latter have the library adjoining the hall and opening into the drawing room and the chief difference between the two plans as regards this portion of the house is that in the present design there is no conservatory and in No 11 there is They will likewise be found very closely to resemble each other in the relative position of doors windows fire places and sideboard recesses also in having a porch and a kind of small intermediate vestibule between that and the hall In No 9 on the contrary there is no porch properly speaking at least not an inclosed one but what rather answers to the idea of a viranda The same design again differs from the others in the follow ing particular instead of extending cross wise to the drawing room the
dining room occupies a corresponding space on the other side of the ante room with the sideboard facing the entrance from the last menti oned and the chimney piece opposite the windows which are not at the end but on one of the longer sides of the apartment These are by no means unimportant circumstances as effecting the general appearance of a room nevertheless it may be thought that they hardly require to be so minutely pointed out our excuse therefore for adverting to them must be that it is not so much for the purpose of superseding as of encouraging such examination and at all events it is if not more useful assuredly not more impertinent than the custom of explaining what the most careless inspection of the plates must make any one acquainted with One thing which requires no further remark from us than merely calling attention to it is that the same kind of alteration as that recom mended for the ante room in No 11 is equally applicable to the present design On the chamber floor is a spacious landing or upper vestibule somewhat larger than seems altogether consistent in a house of this kind where it is generally a desideratum to have as many sleeping rooms as the plan will admit It has not however been appropriated as a bed room here on account of the small staircase which leads up into the space above it whence another staircase affords access to the apartment in the tower Still if it was desired to obtain an addi tional bed chamber this might be accomplished without any very great difficulty by removing the staircase just mentioned into the space in the corresponding angle adjoining the principal one opening a door between them facing the entrance into the opposite passage The space now occu pied merely as a landing might then be made into a chamber having a deep bay and a small dressing room adjoining formed out of what is now the staircase to the tower The chief difficulty to be got over would be to provide a suitable place for the water closet which would thus be taken away Did no better method present itself that closet might be placed at one end of the passage off the landing near the window or opening looking into the staircase and it might be lighted by a window besides a ventilator aperture made next the ceiling and opening
towards the passage from the back staircase The only farther devia tion from the plan hereby called for would be to place the door into the adjoining bed room close to that angle formed by the side opposite the fire place and perhaps recessing it about a couple of feet by which means a closet would be obtained within the chamber and the room itself appear less narrow in its proportions As will be seen by the front elevation that part of the house where the back staircase is situated has two chamber floors above the ground one whereby several additional sleeping rooms are formed No remark has yet been made in regard to the exterior neither is much comment called for We shall therefore confine ourselves to one or two points and touch upon them rather briefly Independently of those differences arising entirely out of the style adopted this design distinguishes itself from either of its two pendants particularly from No 9 by the greater loftiness of proportions in the whole structure even without taking the tower into account With hardly any thing of decoration there is what we sometimes meet with in plain buildings as well as in plain women a certain piquancy of expression which if it does not entitle them to be called beautiful at least prevents our applying to them any depreciating epithet Much of this quality arises here from the manner in which the different masses are made to relieve each other and from the indication of strength below as opposed to lightness above which latter is greatly enhanced by the slender tower as any one we think may convince himself by merely covering up that feature and considering the effect of the rest apart from it Where the design admits of it and the cost of its erection is not a material consideration a tower or other lofty belvedere is a pleasing addition to a country residence especially if near the sea coast or in any situation to command an extensive and varied prospect To a Hunting Lodge it is certainly no inappropriate appendage as it affords an opportunity to the ladies of the family to accompany the sportsmen in the chace with their eyes if not more amazonionally on horseback In like manner too as such a belvedere adds to the attractions of a Villa so are telescopes very suitable and agreeable articles of furni ture for one which besides their other uses will enable the inmates
of such a watch tower to espy the approach of unbidden undesired visitors of any bores for instance which being biped ones are not recognized as beasts of chace they enjoying all the while perfect secu rity from their intrusion Should other furniture be desired a book stand and a harp would suffice to render such a place a delightful snug gery a kind of aerial boudoir equally fitted either for speculation or for meditation Within a garret we have seen a snuggery museum stored with works of art why then not a boudoir similarly elevated above the earth and its low thoughted cares Milton certainly fancied one when he wrote his Penseroso Good reader excuse the flight we have taken the altitude or to speak architecturally the elevation to which we have ascended Let the sally in which we have just indulged although no part of our plan pass by way of condiment to our previous dulness nor unkindly cut us for so venial an offence because remember we ourselves deal in sections This building may be executed in brick and stucco with stone cornices plinths and balconies for 3310 0 0 Extra with stone fronts 786 0 0
The design and description appeared in Domestic Architecture: Being a Series of Designs for Mansions, Villas, Rectory Houses, Parsonage Houses, Bailiffs’ Lodge, Gardener’s Lodge, Game-keeper’s Lodge, Park Gate Lodges, Etc. in the Grecian, Italian, and Old English Styles of Architecture. With Observations on the Appropriate Choice of Site; the Whole Designed with Strict Reference to the Practicability of Erection, and with Due Attention to the Important Consideration of Uniting Elegance, Convenience and Domestic Comfort with Economy … With Accurate Estimates Appended to Each Design (1833).

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