Victorian Houses

[Jim S]

Someone asked mr "Why do Victorian homes have such high ceilings" I don't knoe the answer.

[charles]

It depends on whose home. The answer is probably that the room had better proportions - ie looked better.

[ss]

I reckon they got smaller as more modern construction companies started looking more closely at profit margins.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not all did. Those built for the middle classes tended to have, though. Workmen's cottages, not.

[David]

All the smoke and other gunge well above head height?

Not particularly worried about the cost of heating the cubic space because no central heating?

Plenty of room to hang the chandeliers?

Top hats??

Secret cabal to propagate the use of more house bricks?

Cheers

Dave R

[Jonno]

Jim S scribbled

Coal fires.

[DerbyBorn]

ss wrote in news:nX4yx.125059$ [e-mail]:

Narrow windows so they needed to be higher to allow enough light in.

[ARW]

We still had them in 1970s newbuilds.

[Tim Watts]

High ceilings are a right nuisance when changing a flush spot lamp - even I struggle to reach off a standard kitchen step.

[damduck-egg]

Sometime I was told it allowed enough room for the heat from gas lighting to disperse without endangering the ceiling, whether that is the actual reason or just someone's conjecture I have never been concerned enough to find out.

G.Harman

[Robin]

That's difficult to reconcile with the very many Victorian terraces built with high ceilings in the front parts (with the main family rooms) and low ceilings in the rear extensions (for services and servants) but with gas lights in both.

[Nightjar]

In the one we had, it varied. The entrance hall and principle ground floor rooms had 12ft ceilings. Go to the back of the house, where the kitchen and servants' room were and you had to go up a step, into rooms that were 8ft high. The principle rooms on the first floor had 10ft high ceilings, while the large room over the kitchen and servants' room was

8ft. The servants' quarters in the attic, had sloping ceilings. From that, it seems as though high ceilings were reserved for important rooms, probably because they were large and it gave them better proportions.

[michael adams]

High ceilings allowed bigger windows which allowed both more natural light into the room and offered better ventilation, while even with the windows closed the extra airspace allowed hot air to rise well above head height. Rooms with lower ceilings were generally gloomier and stuffier.

michael adams

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[damduck-egg]

Yes I wouldn't argue the case too strongly, OTOH the heat given out by a light fitting with several mantles so the owner of the house could read his newspapers would be a lot more than the small fittings that the servants would be allowed,and they may have been wall bracket ones* either side of the fireplace so still a fair distance from even a low ceiling . And that might only be in the work areas, servants bedrooms were for sleeping for a few hours till the long day started again and a candle to see ones way into bed would be the only illumination provided.

• In the bed sit land of my youth a mate rented a place with a coin in slot electric meter One evening we discovered the fold out wall fittings for gas lights were still live and only needed mantles. Found some in an old ironmonger , the number of coins going into the meter decreased remarkably. Had to remember to hide the gas mantles when the landlady came to empty the meter.

G.Harman

[Chris Bartram]

True that. My 1870s miner's cottage has ceiling heights comparable to a modern house.

[newshound]

No, gas lighting.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My house is Victorian. The ceilings in the main part are high. Those in the rear addition low. Rear addition was originally kitchen, scullery, bathroom, bedroom. With gas lighting and open fires, to kitchen and bedroom.

[GMM]

That's likely to be an element of the reason: Sash windows ventilate best when opened top and bottom and, presumably, the greater the difference between top and bottom, the more effective that is.

I would say the real answer though is the same reason that people like them now - the rooms feel better proportioned that way (even if it's a bugger to heat 4 feet of air above your head for no reason).

[michael adams]

But surely whether the rooms felt better proportioned or not would depend on the size of the room ? A small room with a high ceiling and high windows would simply seem even more cramped.

For your point to be valid, and I'm not necessarily saying that it isn't, it could be said that high ceilings were the result of rooms becoming larger. Larger rooms, more natural light, better ventilation maybe all part of the same thing really. For those fortunate enough to be living in the front part of the house anyway. For those living at the back, whose duties presumably included regularly opening and closing those bloody sash windows at the front, it was maybe a different story.

michael adams

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[Timothy Murphy]

Big sash windows?