The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-04-17

HE keynote 10 every mouse pan
is the hall Both the first and
second floors are vitality affected
Ixs1l2I by the location and proportion OF
the frst-foor hall.
Where neither the initial cost OF build
ing a house nor the daily expense of caring
for ii is considered. the most satisfactory
results are obtained by using a center hall
with rooms on either side There is an air
OF liberality and repose about house built
about hall so placed which is not attain
able with any other method of planning
but such hall can be used advantageously
only where the hause is relatively large
Ii is best used where there are not less
than five rooms on the first floor and at
least five chambers and a bathroom on the
floor above.
Not many years ago there were but two
methods of arranging the front hall. Where
a small modest house was built the hall
was placed on one side. extending from the
front door about half the length of the
house. On one side was the parlor, open
ing into it, Back of the parlor another
room, usually the dining room, also opened
into the hall Back of the hall and opening
into its end was the kitchen. Thus, in
house of three rooms on the first floor.
there was hall eight feet wide and twenty
feet long. or a space Of one hundred and
sixty square feet, which could be used
passageway only. Directly opposite the
front door. and not over five feet from 1t.
was the stairway which was SO much in
evidence that it seemed logical to ascend it
every time you entered the house, else why
was II so placed?
", hal was
ally located on the south side. thus de-
priving the house of much of its sunlight
and most of the pleasant breeze from that
direction. Yet it was itself a dark and
dismal place With the stairway so near
the front door no window could be placed on
the south side. To atone for this round
window-hideous and inconvenient invention
was sometimes placed near the top of the
stairs on the second floor level. so well out
of reach that il took two men and boy
TO wash ii. Because of its shape IL could
not be screened from flies and therefore
could not be opened in summer. The glazed
front door admitted a certain amount or
light, utterly insufficient that the space
under the stairs was dark on the brightest
day
ARCHITECTS CALCULATION.
Some wise architect, unknown to fame.
realizing the inconvenience, ugliness and
costliness of this hall, made the following
calculation. A space eight feet wide and
twenty feet long gives one hundred and
sixty square feet. If this hall space be
made twelve feet long and fifteen feet wide
it will be only one hundred and sixty-eight
square feet. Such a space would form a
room we'll proportioned and pleasing. The
stairway could be so placed that light and
air could be admitted from two sides. Into
it may open the other rooms the first
floor as conveniently as with the long hall.
Ii really would make possible a more COM
it obviates the necessity OF an IL where
the kitchen projects beyond the width of
the hall, and in other ways would make
stairway would enter the second floor more
nearly in the center, thus doing away with
a part of the upstairs hall which could be
added 10 the chambers. 1t would also for
ever do away with that cold. crowded "hall
bedroom, which constituted one of the tor
lures of the defenseess. Housekeepers
were not slow to see that this twelve by if
teen foot room had none of the disadvan-
tages of the ''rope-walk hall. The reception
! hall became at once widely popular For
| years a home rarely built with any
! other form of hall, whether il contained
six or fifteen rooms.
II is the abuse. not the use. OF a thing
| which discredits it, Ii was probably inevi-
4 table that room so convenient as the re-
! ception hall should be used irrationally and
! become less popular than ii deserved TO