Houses - Modern and Pre-Modern

Interesting Stuff About Houses from The Globe And Mail

Homes, room by room

“Centuries ago, there was no such thing as a kitchen, a living room or a bedroom for anyone but the rich,” BBC News Magazine says. “There was a central hearth for warmth and to cook food, with straw-filled pallets laid on the floor for sleeping.” Lucy Worsley, curator of Historic Royal Palaces, explains how rooms emerged. – Living room: Aristocrats had living rooms in the Tudor period. Middling people started to get them in the 17th century, and in the 18th century everybody aspired to having such a room. The concept of taste had arrived.

– Bedroom: Once communal, today the bedroom is a private retreat. “In medieval times, your main concerns were to be warm and safe, so it was delightful to be in with other people. Since then we’ve seen a trend toward privacy, which started with the rise of reading,” she says.

– Kitchen: Once purely functional, the kitchen has been changed into a social space. In medieval times it was the central hearth, the heart of the home.

– Bathroom: The youngest room in the house. It has only become a separate room in the past 100 years. “People didn’t used to think that going to the loo was a private matter. Samuel Pepys, in 17th-century London, had a ‘closed stool’ – a velvet-covered seat that stood over your chamber pot – that he was very proud of. He kept his in his drawing room,” Ms. Worsley says.