The Vintage Home
The Home As A Haven
By Lorette Waggoner
Lorette Waggoner, GRI, Specializing in Historic Homes
(541) 984-2524
The Victorian era brought with it new attitudes about home.
Prior to the industrial revolution, most people worked from their home.
As the work force went from the farm to the factory, the middle-class view
of home as being a haven from work evolved. Home was seen as a place
for eating, sleeping, caring for children, socializing and leisure.
The widening gap between work and home also widened the division between
the male and female spheres of activity. The home increasingly became
the woman’s domain. The accepted Victorian view emphasized the home
was the woman’s place to express her personality and as the embodiment
of womanly virtues. In many ways, this point of view is carried on
today, although not necessarily as divided between the genders. Our
homes still are an expression of who we are, the interests important to
us, and the values we hold.
While our homes are not as gender separated, the design influences
of the Victorian era are still with us. It was during this time that
certain rooms were increasingly associated with men and male activities,
others female and others for the children. Also, there was a distinct
separation between the public and private parts of the home. If the
family was middle-class or upper-class, the home also had special areas
for servants.
Most Victorian workplaces prided themselves on utility, machinery
and functional surfaces. Hence, in the servant’s kitchen and other
work places, these features are also found. However,
the part of the home that was the haven, away from the work place, the
Victorians expected to be colorful, soft, plushy and personalized.
The middle-class Victorian was aspiring to the aristocratic home which
epitomized leisure and comfort. There are four areas the Victorians
held as important in their homes: Comfort and Warmth, Economy (knowing
one’s place economically), Propriety in Layout and Convention in Decoration.
Comfort and Warmth
Rounded and soft upholstery became desired,
and styles with ease and comfort rather than the square and hard
French styles. More important than the style, though, was the fabric,
color, comfort and warmth of the design. Development of spiral spring
upholstery in 1826 allowed for deeper and more springy stuffing than before,
and demand for heavily upholstered furniture grew during the 1830’s and
1840’s. The expression of comfort and luxury was one way of indicating
surplus income, or a statement of one’s wealth. Newness and polish
were important qualities too, as they reflected cleanliness and pride in
the home (and the presence of a maid!). Extensive use of ornamentation
and rich color also tended to this show of economic status. With
the new abilities to mass produce many of these ornamental features, more
and more Victorian families were able to afford them and make them part
of their homes. Wall paper, which would now be produced by printing
methods rather than by hand, became an increasingly popular way to show
one’s sense of whimsy, fantasy or novelty. The advent of naturalistic
or trompe l-oeil effects in decoration (in carpets, fabric, wall
paper and such) was another way of introducing fantasy into the middle-class
home. Women’s magazines encouraged the Victorian women to “throw
her personality over the home, and transform it, from a mere eating and
sleeping place, or an upholster’s showroom, into a sort of outermost garment
of her soul; harmonized with all her nature as her robe and the flower
in her hair are harmonized with her bodily beauty. The arrangement
of her rooms, the light and shade, warmth and coolness, sweet odours and
soft or rich colours, are not like the devices of a well-trained servant
to tradesman. They are the expressions of the character of the woman.”
Economy - Knowing One’s Place
The aristocracy and established middle-classes
resented the appropriation (even partially) of their life-styles.
The establishment attempted to teach the new middle-class and the working-classes
their place through design reform, and more importantly through the idea
of propriety; what is appropriate to one’s station in life. The up-coming
new middle-class were warned about being too ambitious. Many households
valued durability over fashion. They purchased woolen velvets and
plushes instead of silks and cottons showing their careful and practical
attitude. Thrift was touted to temper aspiration; knowing
one’s place and living within one’s means were cardinal virtues.
Victorian homes often featured more expensive finishes in the public
areas of the home, showing their financial status to visitors, while the
private areas were more economically and practically finished and furnished.
For example, many homes built during this era have fine oak hard wood floors
on the main floor of the home, and pine wood flooring on the upper floors
in bedrooms and private areas.
Propriety in House Layout
During the nineteenth century, the middle-class
home grew more specialized and fragmented. Areas for the public,
or entertaining and reception of guests were generally on the main floor.
The emphasis on front and back of the home became more important during
this time also. The front part of the home was primarily for
show, the back for the family. (We still see this today with many
homes having kitchen, family room and den toward the back of the home,
with a formal dining and living room just off the entry.)
The reception rooms were kept separate and as far as possible from service
rooms such as the kitchen and from private rooms like bedrooms. As
mentioned above, it was in these public reception rooms that the greatest
emphasis was placed on displays of wealth and taste. Tasteful landscaping
of the front of the home was also important to show tidiness and to often
hide the “unsightly but necessary operations” in the back yard such
as laundry, from the public eye.
Convention - Furniture for Different Rooms
Decorative treatments were devised for
each room in the house. Whether related to historic convention or
current use, they had a bearing on color schemes, choice of furnishings
and room arrangement. Preferences for certain color schemes, even
to certain woods which were appropriate for each room, were part of this
idea of convention.
The Entry Hall, being the first room seen by visitors was of
utmost importance. It was viewed romantically as the heart of the
home. It was often two-story and decorated with antiques or rare
curiosities and portraits. The contents indicated the antiquity and
nobility of the owner’s family. The size and grandeur of the entry
reflected on the position on the social scale of the family. Even
a small hall reserved for reception was highly prized in lower middle-class
homes.
The Dining Room was one of the main reception rooms of the house,
and shared some of the solemnity of the entry hall. In the working
class, dining took place in the kitchen, so having a separate dining room
was an important distinction for the middle-class home. Coloring
was to be warm, rich and substantial. The furnishings dark woods,
classic designs and fine fabrics.
The Library was regarded as a desirable feature of the middle-class
home. In smaller homes, the library and drawing (or with-drawing)
room tended to be combined. The library was used not only for books,
but as a morning room for gentlemen. It was seen as a male preserve,
and thus was a room to be considered grave and of much consequence rather
than light and gay. It was suggested that it should be furnished
with rich and bold features and classical designs such as Gothic and Elizabethan
were favored.
The Drawing-Room, in contrast was considered to be a female place.
It was used for receiving guests, particularly before and after the evening
meal and takes it’s name from the act of “with-drawing” after dinner.
It was the most important and prestigious room in the Victorian middle-class
home. It was almost always in the front, and took up most of the
first floor. The parlor could reflect the women’s qualities and ideals,
emphasizing vivacity, gaiety, light and cheerfulness. Draperies and
lavish upholsteries were felt to belong. “Louis” was the ultimate
drawing-room style in both England and America through out the century.
Most modest households would have chosen more economical Grecian/Modern
style furnishings. Even so, furnishing this room could be expensive.
During the Victorian era there was a greater range and variety of furniture
types produced for the drawing-room than for any other room in the house.
The Parlor was considered the second sitting-room, to be used
by family and close friends. Sometimes the dining room was
also used as parlor or the parlor and drawing-room were combined.
Again, the light and more female colors and styles were favorites in the
parlor. Specialized furniture, such as special tables, coffee or
tea carts, and the like were found in both the parlor and drawing-room.
The bedroom in eighteenth
century homes was seen as a relatively public place, large enough to have
a sitting area and to receive guests and family friends. Through
the nineteenth century and more in the United States than in England,
the bedroom was separated into a more private space. Adults were
separated from children and boys from girls. Servants were segregated
from family and given either the top most rooms, or basement bedrooms.
Health and hygiene were important attributes of the bedroom, as well as
economy and lightness. Adults rooms were modestly furnished, appropriate
to gender (many times husband and wife had separate bedrooms). Children’s
rooms and nursery were also located towards the top of the house.
Figurative and instructive or educational wallpapers were felt to be appropriate,
and wall surfaces which could be easily cleaned and repaired. Simple
furniture, beds without hangings were the norm. The servants bedroom
was deliberately plain and it was usual for their rooms to be furnished
with a mixture of second-hand furniture no longer required in other, more
public parts of the house. These rooms were considered to be working,
utility rooms. Ornament of any kind would have been considered a
frivolous and inappropriate distraction.
Finishing and Furnishing your home, Victorian Style
If you are lucky enough to find a fine,
old Victorian to purchase which has the many features mentioned above,
you can immediately begin to restore your home to it’s former glory.
If not, there are many floor plans in today’s homes which follow
this same influences from the Victorian Era. A bit of creative decorating
and you can have a parlor/drawing-room of your very own! Draw your
own floor plan and look at it with the information above in mind, and then
be creative. Much of the information in this article was taken
from “Victorian Interior Style” by Joanna Banham, Julie Porter and Sally
MacDonald. It is an excellent resource for restoration and furnishing
your Victorian Home.
If you have a Real Estate question, send it to Lorette Waggoner,
C/O The Vintage Times, 5 West 38th Ave., Eugene, Or. 97405. Or call
Lorette directly at (541) 984-2524.
Lorette is a sales associate with Prudential Preferred
Properties at the Oakway Center in Eugene. She specializes in listing
and selling historic homes. She is the only Realtor in Lane County
who has received training from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s
Historic Real Estate Program for the marketing and sales of historic properties.
You may call her direct at (541) 984-2524.