Decorating a posh London townhouse in 1831 - example of my historical research

I have posted about the freelance historical research that I do as a side gig here before. I want to share another example of a research assignment that I received from an author and my response, unedited except to remove anything that might identify the author.

A few notes first

• I don't provide sources to the authors I work with unless asked to - they are paying me to read the sources, synthesize the information and tell them what they need to know and only what they need to know. This post draws from a variety of resources that I found online - I do save all my links and notes so if you are curious about anything in particular just ask and I should be able to provide a source.
• The images were intended as a prompt for the author and not for publication / public consumption, so these were just lifted off Google image search. I claim no ownership of these images here and am including them as fair use in reporting on my research work.

EDIT:

There are a few sections here that I apparently copied more or less whole cloth (with some words removed to make it more concise) from the following source - this includes a few sentences of the the description of the exterior, and some portions of the interior room descriptions:
http://www.gaelenfoley.com/h-04-reghomes.html

The vast majority of this post is my own original work, and I just verified that by Google searching the paragraphs. But definitely a few sections I copy/pasted. As noted above I believe this is still fair use in reporting on the way I do my freelance research work but I probably could have and should have chosen an example assignment where I had not copy/pasted anything whole cloth. It is actually pretty unusual that a source is written concisely enough that I can use it whole cloth anyway; it is far more common that I have to synthesize the information and write a more condensed version for the author who hired me. I did not remember in this case that I had actually been able to copy/paste a few sections from a source here directly. I apologize for not having checked before I published this.

/Edit

1831 London Townhouse Research Assignment

What are some distinctions of the interiors of posh townhomes in London circa 1831?

Heroine lives in 1830’s Belgravia — just when the first townhome mansions were being constructed and this posh, new neighborhood of London was coming to be. Heroine is what we would now refer to as an Interior Designer. Can I get some idea of what the interior of these houses looked like…what sort of appointments she would be selecting — tapestries? rugs? marble? plaster paint colors? I mean I can make it up, but how cool to have it be remotely accurate….

Image provided by author in seperate email with note - "In Belgravia, they [townhomes] look like this"

My response with results of research

Hi [author name], here is what I dug up on decorating a posh London townhouse circa 1831. I know you said interior but I have included some info on decorating the exterior of a townhouse - just as important, don't you know. Also including some notes about basic layout and floorplan, which of course will impact interior design choices and also may help to make the house come alive in your book.

Townhouse Location

First let's decide where exactly in the Belgrave district your heroine is living. For posh townhouses there are basically three options that would make sense for 1831. All three of these were developed by the Grosvenor family and these three represent the only posh townhouse developments in the district in 1831.

• Belgrave Square itself (the absolute POSHEST) - the picture you sent is Belgrave Square. There were a few different floorplans. Some of the Belgrave Square townhouses were really large and often referred to as town mansions, despite being row-houses. Some of these had four or even six large rooms per floor (two in front two in back, or three in front three in back depending on how many bays wide the house was). If she lives here she is both super rich and will have even more rooms to decorate - multiple drawing rooms, studies, salons and parlours, a formal music room, library, morning room (informal family room), along with the standard entrance hall and dining room. In many cases smaller rooms might be divided with screens or folding doors so they could transform into larger spaces for entertaining large numbers of guests.

• Eaton Square (larger but less grand than Belgrave Square - but still really posh). Most of the townhouses on Eaton Square were the typical floorplan with two large rooms per floor, one in front, one in back.

• Wilton Crescent (a little less posh than either of the above - but still really posh) - the typical floorplan with two large rooms per floor.

All three of these developments are row-houses as we discussed, with neighboring townhouses sharing two walls (except houses at the end of a row). All three had private park grounds accessible from the gardens at the rear of each townhouse, gated and only accessible to residents.

When I am describing the interior decorating details below, if your heroine is living in Belgrave Square itself we would probably be talking REAL oak, REAL marble, REAL silk, etc., while in Eaton Square or WIlton Crescent it would likely be painting to imitate oak/marble, wallpapers to imitate silk, etc., as described below. One idea here is that if your heroine is in Eaton Square or Wilton Crescent, she wants to paint things herself to imitate marble, oak, etc., while if she is in Belgrave Square perhaps she wants to replace items that were painted/printed to imitate fine materials with the actual fine materials themselves.

Period Resources:

Here are some period books and periodical publications that your heroine could refer to for inspiration and techniques while plotting her redesign:

• Ackermann's Repository of arts, literature, commerce, manufactures, fashions, and politics (or just Ackermann's Repository or even just Ackermann's) - published from 1809 to 1829 (last issue published December of 1828) so your heroine could still be looking at some of the last issues of Ackermann's in 1831. This was a lavishly illustrated periodical journal and had great influence on fashion and interior design of the day. It is still well known today. This was a great resource on fashionable furniture and decorations.

• The Decorative Painter's and Glazier's Guide (book published in 1827 - by Nathaniel Whittock) - this could be your heroine's bible - the interior title page states "Containing the most approved methods of imitating oak, mahogany, maple, rose, cedar, coral and every other kind of fancy wood; verd antique, dove, sienna, prophyry, white veined and other marbles; in oil or distemper colour; designs for decorating apartments, in accordance with the various styles of architecture; with directions for stenciling and process for destroying damp in walls; and a complete body of information on the art of staining and painting on glass"

• The Art of House Painting (published in 1821 by John Smith) with similar topics to the above but also a section on painting cloth window transparencies - these were paintings on thin cloth like cambric (lightweight linen or cotton fabric) or sarsnet (fine woven cloth made from silk), typically landscapes, that would be placed in front of windows to transform the light coming through into gentle glowing colors (green light was particularly prized and thought to be beneficial to the eyes).

Exterior:

Things I have bolded below are areas or elements of the exterior that your heroine could add or redo/replace to make her townhouse stand out.

Almost all the townhouses of the day had a stucco coated exterior, usually an off white, pale gray or pale pink. The stucco could be textured and painted to resemble marble. The front doors, however, could be painted a striking contrast color such as blue, red or teal - if the doors were not painted a color, the pine wood could be carefully painted to imitate oak grain (or for Belgrave Square could be real oak doors).

The street and "ground" level of the house were actually elevated above the true ground level, and the walkway that led from the street to the front door would be lined with a decorative wrought-iron fence to prevent visitors from slipping down into "the area", the actual ground level below that was reserved for servants and the service entrance. This fence was often a muted teal color but could be painted any shade of blue, green or gray. This fence could be worked up into a frothy arch that a visitor had to pass under, possibly with a wrought-iron lantern holder at the top of the arch to provide extra lighting at night.

Other ornamental features of the front could include pilasters (flat pillars) on either side of the door; a triangular pediment (fan light) over the door; one or more friezes - horizontal band(s) of painted or sculpted decoration (or both sculpted and painted decorations), with typical motifs being pineapples and sphinxes (sphinxes were traditional symbols of hospitality) as well as patterns of circles and other shapes; a bow window (or two or three bow windows for the wider floorplans); flower boxes or small wrought-iron balconies at the middle row of windows above the door; potted flowers and possibly even topiaries (bushes trimmed into clearly defined shapes, geometric or fanciful shapes such as animals) around the door or on the walkway to the door. Maybe your heroine is a topiarist - possibly self taught from books or learned at a country estate (many country estates had hedge mazes or topiary mazes) - who has transformed the front of her townhouse with a pair of sphinxes or something that she has trimmed out of boxwood?

Each townhouse had its own private garden in back - walled off from the outdoor areas associated with the kitchen and servants. Features of the townhouse garden could include flower beds, potted plants, shrubs or flowers in neoclassical urns, benches, a little winding graveled path, statues, rose trellises, topiaries, sun-dials, and wall climbers. Trellises could be painted a color known at the time as "invisible green", which allowed them to blend in with the plants that climbed them. The communal private park in the center of the townhouse development could be access via locked gate from each townhouse's garden.

The Interior - General Floorplan

One thing to keep in mind is that no matter the number of rooms per floor, they were always divided into front and back rooms. Typically the rooms to the front were the public rooms and more lavishly decorated, while the rooms in the back were more private/family rooms (with some exceptions of course). All public rooms would have several decorative features such as plaster and stuccowork, elaborate doorways, paneling, gilding or marble effect paint work. Remembering that the townhouse only had windows in the front and back, each room would have windows on only one wall.

The below cutaway is one of the better illustrations I have found of the standard floorplan of a one bay townhouse, with two main rooms per floor and clearly showing the sunken area around the doors with the gate and staircase down to the service entrance. The particular townhouse below was built in 1750 but the only major difference is that the new developments in the late 1820s and 1830s had another floor or even two or three more floors above to allow more space for servants quarters and other rooms. This is the standard layout of entrance hall with a dining room opening off it on the ground floor, and a grand staircase upstairs to the first floor and the main drawing room. In any townhouse the dining room and drawing room were the two most public rooms, along with the entrance hall, and these areas saw the most attention in terms of design and decor.

Interior Ground Floor:

The ground floor could have a bold color scheme - the muted colors of the early Regency era had given way to clean greens and blues, strong yellows and dusky pinks.

The first room that a visitor would come to is the lobby or entrance hall (what we would call a foyer today) - which always featured an impressive staircase up to the first floor. The entrance hall would be a good place to display statuary, paintings, or wall hangings / textiles - these could draw from classical Greek or Roman inspiration, but also could be inspired by Egyptian, Chinese and Indian ("Hindu") motifs. The floor might be actual marble tiles in patterns of light and dark marble; tiles painted to look like marble; or wood, perhaps with a parquetry border and covered by a fine carpet with a geometric or floral print:

Wood Parquetry border and carpet (parquetry is a patterned inlay of different kinds of wood)

Axminster carpet circa 1830 - Axminster carpets dominated the fashionable carpet world from before your time until 1835

The Staircase was often very elaborate in regency townhouses. Remodeling a plain staircase would be a very high profile makeover to the house. The staircase could descend slowly in a flowing spiral or zig-zag, often dramatically descending down into the room, ingeniously designed with no support underneath it. Material choices could be real marble slabs; faux marble slabs; pine wood painted like hardwoods; or real oak and mahogany. Wrought iron or wood balustrades (railings) lined the staircase and this is another opportunity for extreme ornamentation - some of the regency balustrades were very ornate, with repeating floral or geometric motifs. Replacing the balusters would be a very plausible project. The base of the staircase was a place to display a prominent piece of statuary or have marble pillars (possibly faux marble pillars). On staircases that had a landing where the stairs switched back or turned, a huge, grand lamp or torchiere could be featured.

Staircase image - this is a modern reproduction of the regency style but is a great illustration of the unsupported flowing spiral design with wrought-iron balustrades.

The Dining Room
Always on the ground floor and opening off the entrance hall, the dining room is going to be a major focus of your heroine. Common desirable features for dining rooms included: a finely carved, marble fireplace, pilasters with elaborate cornices, a gilded frieze, possibly more pillars, crystal wall sconces, a ceiling medallion from which would be hung an elaborate chandelier, mahogany furniture, silver and china on display around the room, preferably hand-painted with the family crest. Rich colors were chosen for the decor. Paint was preferred for dining room walls because fabric wall-hangings could absorb food smells. The floor was usually hardwood, possibly with a fancy parquetry border and not usually carpeted.

Other Ground Floor Rooms
The other main (back) room on the ground floor could be a library which could double as study or office, or a less formal "morning room" (like a family room today).

Interior First Floor:

The first floor (what we would call the 2nd story in the US) had the highest ceilings in the townhouse and the tallest windows. The color scheme was often lighter and more feminine, with walls often covered with silk wall hangings. Replacing wall hangings, carpet and/or curtains as well as furniture are all things your heroine could tackle.

The Drawing Room
The main room on the first floor and the destination of the grand staircase from the entrance hall. The drawing room would have tall ceilings that could be painted with garlands, medallions, or other light, airy designs, and usually boasted impressive chandeliers. The windows would be set back at least a foot deep into the walls, and equipped with both wooden slat blinds, sub-curtains to block out direct light, and striking curtains that would be pulled back during the day (often dyed in two complimentary colors and patterned to imitate damask). Mirrors were a common feature that could be added, to multiply the light and create a feeling of space. It was very common to have artwork hung on the walls. The floor was usually hardwood but could be covered with a wall-to-wall carpet. Elegant furniture would be arranged informally around the room, possibly a Grecian sofa with two scrolled ends of equal height equipped with a tasseled bolster, or even patented Morgan and Sanders metamorphic furniture - tables designed to transform into a writing desk when pulled up with one hand, or a chair that transformed into a small flight of stairs to allow access to a tall bookshelf. If expensive silk damask wall hangings could not be afforded, many specialty wall papers were available to imitate wall hangings and wall paintings (plants and birds like peacocks were common themes of wall paintings / wall papers). Wall papers could be embossed and textured for added effect. Flocked wall paper was quite desirable and expensive; it had a dyed background color and then glue was applied with a stencil and dyed wool sprinkled on it to create an effect like velvet.

Greek style furniture featured in Ackermann's Repository:

patented Morgan and Sanders metamorphic regency library chair:

Other First Floor Rooms
The back room on the first floor could be a second drawing room, salon, or a formal music room. It was quite common to have folding doors between the two rooms that could be opened up to create one large space for entertaining.

Second Floor:

The second floor featured the best bedchambers in the townhouse. These rooms are out of the public eye, so while they were still highly comfortable and attractive, there is not the level of conspicuous consumption apparent in the drawing and dining rooms. The ceilings are the same height as the ground floor or lower; nice but simple fireplaces; plain hardwood floors with area rugs, or wall to wall carpet. Wallpaper or fabric wall hangings were popular for bedrooms.