The house was divided in half, north/south: the northern part, which had windows but no sunlight, was the domain of Newton's mother – a parlor on the ground floor and a bedchamber above it, both furnished in the few-but-enormous style then mandatory. The southern half – with just a few tiny apertures to admit the plentiful sunlight – was Isaac's: on the ground floor, a kitchen with a vast walk-in fireplace, suitable for alchemical work, and above it a bedchamber.