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05/22/2006 Archived Entry: "Regency Housing from Jo Beverley"

In her blog, author Jo Beverley treats us to bits of historical research that don't fit into her novels but are too good to waste. In this episode, French traveler Louis Simond reports on how the English (those of middle to upper incomes) were housed in London during the Regency. "These narrow houses, three or four stories high,--one for eating, one for sleeping, a third for company, a fourth under ground for the kitchen, a fifth perhaps at top for the servants,--and the agility, the ease, the quickness with which the individuals of the family run up and down, and perch on different stories, give the idea of a cage with sticks and birds. The plan of these houses is very simple, two rooms on each story; one in the front, with two or three windows looking on the street, the other on a yard behind, often very small; the stairs generally taken out of the breadth of the back-room. The ground-floor is usually elevated a few feet above the level of the street, and separated from it by an area, a sort of ditch, a few feet wide, generally from three to eight, and six to eight feet deep, inclosed by an iron railing; the windows of the kitchen are in this area."

(tags: JoBeverley, Regency, Author)

Posted by Kai Jones @ 05/23/2006 06:31 AM PST