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Countryside Books - Trevor Yorke

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65 pages

English

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This easy to follow book is an invaluable source of advice and guidance for those wishing to restore the original features of an Edwardian house, or who simply admire the elegance of these period properties. It explains the characteristic architectural styles, shows how Edwardian houses originally appeared and describes why they were made and finished in such a way. The Edwardian era includes houses built between 1890 and 1914, when architects were inspired by the romantic styles of Art Nouveau and the Arts and Crafts Movement. They remain some of our best constructed, elegant and durable housing stock and add a distinct character to Britain's towns and villages. Restoring a period house to its original form can be very satisfying. The original features detailed here include sash and casement windows, coloured glass, door plates and handles, letter boxes, porches, balconies, rainwater hoppers, fireplaces, stairs, wall mouldings, and fitted cupboards. Using the author's own detailed diagrams in full colour, there is advice on the care and renovation of existing features, as well as tips on how to maintain and improve the original fittings in your home. There is a detailed list of websites to help track down original fittings that have been lost over time.

Informations

Publié par	Countryside Books
Date de parution	08 septembre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781846748745
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0274€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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EDWARDIAN HOUSE

O RIGINAL F EATURES AND F ITTINGS

Trevor Yorke

COUNTRYSIDE BOOKS
NEWBURY BERKSHIRE
First published 2013 © Trevor Yorke 2013
All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without the prior permission of the publisher:
COUNTRYSIDE BOOKS 3 Catherine Road Newbury, Berkshire
To view our complete range of books, please visit us at www.countrysidebooks.co.uk
ISBN 978-1-84674-312-2
Photographs and illustrations by the author.
Designed by Peter Davies, Nautilus Design Produced by The Letterworks Ltd., Reading Printed by Berforts Information Press, Oxford
C ONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
THE EDWARDIAN HOUSE

1 WINDOWS
S ASHES , C ASEMENTS , C OLOURED G LASS
2 DOORS
H ANDLES , K NOBS , L ETTER B OXES , G LASS
3 EXTERIOR DETAIL
P ORCHES , B ALCONIES , F INIALS , R AINWATER T RAPS
4 INTERIOR DETAIL
S TAIRS , D OORS , W ALL M OULDINGS , L IGHTING
5 FIREPLACES
S URROUNDS , G RATES , T ILES

CARE, REPAIR AND RENOVATION
GLOSSARY
INDEX
Introduction

H ouses built between the last decade of the 19th century and the outbreak of war in 1914, have distinctive characteristics which make them stand out from the crowd. The Edwardian suburbs were rapidly expanding, filled with newly-built terraces, semis and detached houses. These homes were inspired by building styles from Britain’s historic past, with Arts and Crafts or Art Nouveau details, and built along wide, paved streets that were interspersed by patches of greenery. The houses were also of a quality rarely matched before or since, built with bricks, timber and metalwork that could last for centuries.
This quality has not always been appreciated in the past. Many properties have had doors, windows, or interior features replaced in an attempt to make them more fashionable or draught free. In some streets, there have been so many changes made that it can be hard to visualise how the houses originally appeared. Today though, there is a greater appreciation of buildings from this Edwardian period. Houses renovated or restored to something like their original form have generally created greater financial and emotional value.
This book introduces the reader to the styles and forms of the original features and fittings, which builders in this period would have used. It uses my own colour drawings, diagrams and photographs to help explain how features like the windows, doors and porches on the outside and the fireplaces, stairs and bathrooms inside would have appeared when their tenants (most people rented their home before the First World War) first moved into these new homes.
Each chapter includes notes on the variety of styles, why they were made and finished in such a way, and the characteristic details to look out for from this period. There are tips on how to maintain and improve the original fittings in your own house, if you are fortunate enough to still have them. If they have been removed, there is a list of websites at the end of the book which can help you find the appropriate parts.
For anyone who simply wants to recognise the styles, understand how Edwardian houses originally appeared, and appreciate their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau details, this book makes a colourful and easy to follow introduction to the subject.
Trevor Yorke
For more information visit:
www.trevoryorke.co.uk
and follow me on facebook at:
trevoryorke-author

An Edwardian exterior and interior with labels of key parts
The Edwardian House

E dward VII had been Prince of Wales for fifty-nine years when he ascended the throne upon the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, in 1901. Yet, in his short nine year reign, this social and affable monarch lightened the image of the Royal family, introduced pomp and ceremony, and healed rifts with European countries, especially France. The period named after him may have been brief, but its influence of events and distinctive fashions have spread over a wider timescale. We apply the term Edwardian to the forms and styles of houses which first emerged in the 1890s, and were still being built in the early 1920s.
At the top end of the market, were architect-designed homes in a wide variety of styles. Their forms varied from the tall and stout mansions that dominated their surroundings, to low profile houses which complemented the landscape. The façade of the building could be finished in patterned brickwork, contrasting masonry, timber framing and pebbledash or roughcast, while Arts and Crafts designers emphasised the use of local materials. Balconies were a distinctive feature of this more colourful period, while new kitchens and service wings gave servants who were used to working below ground, much improved conditions. Although the styles were clearly inspired by the past, the form of the buildings could be inventive and new, no more so than in some of the interiors designed by leading architects. They divided up large spaces by varying heights, inserting galleries and controlling light. In some of the most daring houses, a puritanical simplicity and plain natural surfaces gave a hint of 20th century Modernism. Although the inside of most houses was still cluttered, with grand decorative pieces and busy patterns, the overall effect was lighter and more airy than that of a generation or two before, with items grouped rather than just scattered around.

FIG 0.1: W AVERTREE G ARDEN S UBURB , L IVERPOOL: In this period the first serious attempts were made at building spacious housing set amongst trees and green spaces, with rents low enough for the working classes. Some were factory estates, others new suburbs designed by leading architects and funded by wealthy philanthropists. Houses were usually in a Neo Georgian or Arts and Crafts style, as here at Wavertree, Liverpool, and helped inspire post war council housing.
Below this top strata lay the mass of suburban housing, built to cater for the needs and aspirations of a booming middle class. Some were sizable detached houses, designed by a local architect or notable builder in the latest styles. Most, however, were semis or terraces erected by speculative builders (those who built and then found buyers or tenants), with layouts and façades that were considered stylistically safe and appealed to a wide audience. The form and layout of the house had to be practical and conventional so as not to put off potential tenants, but with a few cosmetic details added to the exterior to reflect a fashionable style. Railways, trams and the London underground made cheaper agricultural land that was further away from city centres accessible to commuters. This meant that builders were able to use the money saved on buying the plot, to make houses wider and lavish them with additional features like large hallways, bay windows and gardens. White painted porches, chimneys set halfway down the slope of the roof and small balconies are all distinctive of this period.
The styles of houses which the leading architects created and the speculative builders copied, were inspired by our historic past and a resurgence of interest in Classical architecture. These houses were deemed more appropriate for the grander state buildings being erected at the time, as opposed to the more humble domestic styles. This Edwardian Baroque style shaped some country houses. A more domestic Classical style, based upon buildings from the late 17th and early 18th century and called the Neo Georgian, was widely used (although the houses which inspired it came before George I ascended the throne). It had symmetrical façades, dormer windows in steep pitched roofs and sash windows divided up by numerous glazing bars. Arts and Crafts houses could appear more humble, with low slung roofs, long elongated window openings, deep recessed porches and vernacular materials exposed across the façade. This rather exclusive style was watered down for the mass market, with more conventionally laid out houses featuring leaded casement windows, vertically planked doors, and splashes of pebbledash, hanging tiles and timber framing, in what were usually termed Tudoresque or Mock Tudor homes. The Queen Anne style, with its rich red brickwork, white painted woodwork and Dutch gables had evolved in the 1880s and was still popular on terraces in the following decades. Despite a closer relationship with France and the continent, Art Nouveau, with its strangely curved natural forms, was too daring and foreign for most tastes. It was, however, more accepted for metal, ceramic and coloured glass decorative pieces, both inside and outside the house. It is also important to remember that a large number of houses will be found with features taken from a number of these styles, creating eclectic façades which could best be labeled, Edwardian!

FIG 0.2: An Arts and Crafts house (top) and a Neo Georgian house (below).

FIG 0.3. BLACKWELL, ARTS AND CRAFTS HOUSE, WINDERMERE: Although the exterior might be in one specific historic style, it was common practice to use different sources of inspiration for each of the principal rooms inside. Many were inspired by 17th and 18th century English styles, featuring fittings and furniture with heavier ornamentation and busier designs than the originals. Elizabethan or Jacobean style was often used in dining rooms, lighter Queen Anne or Chippendale furnishings in the drawing room, Oriental or Moorish decoration in the billiard room and more frivolous Louis XV in the boudoir. Arts and Crafts interiors could be equally varied, but were simpler and more inventive in form. They aimed to emphasise the natural texture of the material, as in the hall at Blackwell, Windermere, pictured above. In many examples, however, the style is not clear as it has been misinterpreted from the original and become rather lost in the mass of eclectic decoration, plants and ornaments.

FIG 0.4: Examples of Edwardian style suburban housing with wider frontages than their Victorian