The Hall in a House at Silverstream.

Progress, Volume V, Issue 6, 1 April 1910, Page 204

The Hall in a House at Silverstream.

(By J. W. Chapman-Taylor, Architect.)

'Ttlim a nail-bestudded door An ' passage an ' a stwonen vloor, There spread the hall where zanlight shone In diough a window framed wi stwone. The window through, which the zanlight ' ' shines in the hall here pictured is alas not framed m "stwone" like the one in the delightful passage from ' ' William Barnes, ' ' but the hall does "spread" in broad and generous fashion, for this hall is not the lobby usually flatteringly called a hall. The hall is the centre, the focus from which all other parts should range in modest sub.seirvienee. Here the guests are entertained; from the gallery the musicians play and sing, while the dancers circle on the broad, polished floor below. The logs crackle and blaze in the big, open fire m the good old-fashioned way. The walls are hung with soft green canvas for about Bft., and above this the walls and ceiling are fine roughcast whitewashed. The posts and beams are all structural necessities of the building, and instead of being covered up are made the means of beauty. These sturdy timbers, and the entire absence of patterns, give a feeling of peace and quiet solidity. It is essential to the successful entertainment of a large party that the room should have a somewhat irregular form, so that the guests can break up into small, informal groups. In this hall the gallery and the recess under it help greatly m attaining this end, besides which the gallery is an ideal place for music. At one end of the hall the dining-room

opens, having access to the kitchen through a servery. Through the door under the gallery is a lobby leading to the owner's study, bedroom and bathroom, etc., while at each end of the gallery are other bedrooms. The servants' quarters are in a separate wing, quite shut off from the rest of the house.