Architecture in the UK?

Question

Hi all...

I live in the U.S., but watch quite a bit of home improvement shows on BBC America. I have a few of questions about the architecture that I see...

Why do your internal doors open to the wall? Here, the doors open into the room, so the door is flush with the wall when you open it 90 degrees. It seems much more convenient than having to open the door to 120 degrees, or so, in order to just walk into the room. Is there a history behind it, or a logical explanation?

Why does every room have a fireplace? It seems most of the homes have radiators, as well, so I don't think it's for heating. Also, it seems that these fireplaces take up a bunch of space within the room, and are almost always centered on the wall with nothing done to the space on either side, which means that there is a bit of unusable space in each room.

Why does no one have built-in closets? It seems everyone has an armoire, but with all of the above mentioned unused space, why is it so uncommon to see built-in clothing storage?

I have seen all of these trends appear in old homes, as well as new...I get that spacial arrangements were different a few hundred years ago, but that doesn't explain the newer buildings.

Would love to get some insight into these (completely trivial) things.

Thanks all!

Okay, maybe I need to clarify what I meant about the door opening...

Here in the U.S., the door opens into the room, as opposed to into the hallway. However, when it is opened to 90 degrees, it is flush against the wall that is perpendicular to the wall it is mounted in.

I have seen that in the UK, when the door opens, you immediately face the wall that is perpendicular to the wall that the door is mounted on, and are then essentially forced to open the door farther than 90 degrees in order to enter the room.

I am intrigued to hear that some have doors that open into the room, instead of into the wall, as I have been studying this for some time, and have only seen them open the one way.

Thanks for the answers so far...gonna leave the question open for a while, in case someone else has enlightening answers.

Answer 1

Hi

It was traditional to hang doors so they opened 'into' the room (ie hinged on the edge furthest away from the corner of the room) for two reasons: firstly for privacy (if one was posh enough to have servants, the whole room wasn't visible as soon as the door was opened) and secondly to help contol draughts (generated by the effect of the fire 'drawing' the air into the room if the door was left ajar). In the grander houses with wide architraves/ frames to doorways, openings were not set tight into the corners of the room and this arrangement passed onto smaller houses.

Fireplaces pre-date radiators. All Georgian houses had fireplaces as this was the only form of heating. 'Central' heating (of sorts) came in during the Victorian period, and was still a novelty in the first half of the twentieth century. Fires were inefficient, expensive and inconvenient - you could be roasted on one side and cold on the other, but there was little option and people had lower expectations (and shorter lifespans) in those days. People also tended to spend all their time in the same room (reserving some rooms for 'best') so as to avoid lighting too many fires, and fires in bedrooms in the more modest houses were rarely used except during illness or such like. The up side was the pleasure of being able to see 'pictures' in the fire - not something you can do with radiators.

Designing the perfect grate that didn't fill the whole room with smoke was a pre-occupation during 19th century. The alcoves either side of the chimney breast (which had to be large enough to accommodate the flues from several rooms) was often fitted out as useful storage. Bigger Georgian and early Victorian terraced houses, particularly in London, had their flues arranged flat across the wall without the breast to eliminate these alcoves in the more important rooms.

Closets are becoming common but the main objection is that you can't take them with you when you move, important when most properties were leased rather than owned. They often had built in cupboards aside the fireplace breasts in bedrooms but these were not deep enugh to hang clothes. It is also nteresting to note that many houses had so called 'box rooms' but these are nowadays these are counted as bedrooms - this is where clothes, suitcases etc resided when not in use, and only the current seasons clothes would be needed in the bedroom. Traditionally bedrooms were furnished with a 'bedroom suite' comprising a big 'hanging' wardobe for the lady of the house, a smaller 'combination' or fitted wardrobe (ie fitted out with shelves) for the master, a dressing table, bed and side tables - all made in matching woods. Gradually people are seeing the merit of walk-in wardrobes/dressing rooms but old habits die hard.

Answer 2

Fireplaces and chimney breats were an integral part of the structure in older houses, to remove the chimney breast and achieve a flat wall you sould have to install steel rinforced girders to hold up the chimney breast/wall above, and so on depending how many storeys the house is over. Goodness know why they fit 'fireplaces' to houses without chimneys! I took mine out - as you say, ridiculous waste of space and unnecessary! The fireplaces you mean will have been in situ prior to centrel heating being common place and people like a 'focal point' some people also have the back boiler behind them and it is an integral part of the heating system.

Don't know what you mean about doors, unless you've just seen some 'quirky' houses on these shows - the doors in all my houses, of which I've had 11 in the UK open into the room, they did in Cyprus as well. I've never noticed any particular difference in the States.

I think you just have to bear in mind the completely fifferent building techniques and amount of space our measly houses are built on! which is the beginning of some of the problems we encounter - not enough space for what we would like! I would love, love, love, to have walk in closets! Regarding not using the space to the side of a fireplace - in bedrooms it is not normally deep enough, ie, a standard coathanger is wider than the depth, people quite often make use of the space in living rooms with shelves and cupboards. I took the fireplace and hearth out when my hubby was at work - couldn't stand it but the builders wouldn't NOT put it in! I got the urge after chiselling off the twee decoration.......then there was no stopping me! Looks a thousand times better, I don't know why they put 'period' features in brand new houses, particularly fires on flat walls that obviously do not have a chimney! it's a pet hate of mine!

Answer 3

Good questions!
First, although you can open the door right up you don't have to - you only open it to the amount you need. But it's only our interior doors that do that anyway, our front and back doors are usually set in a recess so will only go 90 degrees.
Fireplaces are just traditional, bear in mind that a huge proportion of our housing was built before the 1960s and we needed fireplaces to keep warm (it may be colder here than where you are). And in modern houses we just like the look of them. Most of our new houses have a decorative fire that is rarely used.
There are built-in wardrobes in a lot of our houses - perhaps in apartments more - but maybe these are the ones that don't get onto those shows. Remember they tend to feature fashionable ideas, they're not meant to be a documentary about how we live really.
Random responses but I hope it helps somehow!

Answer 4

hi USA ..have spent some time over there ..been to thirty states .and have driven from San Francisco to Miami a few times ..have worked in construction in USA and Canada ....but a door that's flush with the wall after only 90 degrees .. that Ive never seen ..in the UK most doors open into a room so you don't hit anybody in a hallway or landing ..and for a door to open and finish flush with a wall it would have to open 180 degrees ...sometimes we fit doorways in a room so it opens and is resting against the end wall of the room ..this gives us more scope to arrange the furniture better ...as for chimney breast ..these was the method of heating our houses ..coal fires ..dont do it any more ..not allowed ..smokeless and all that ..but we do have central heating using gas boilers and and radiators filled with water ..we still have fireplaces but these are mainly for show ..although people still have gas fires installed in them ...and yes these little alcoves either side of the chimney breast are a wast of space ..merry christmas

Answer 5

.All of my doors open into the room.
Fireplaces are common because until 1970's that was the source of heating.
The central fireplace provided hot water and radiators from a back boiler.
The recesses by the side of fireplaces are often used for bookshelves

Answer 6

1.University of Cambridge 2.University of Oxford 3.University of College London (UCL) 4.University of St Andrews 5.Imperial College London 6.London School of Economic 7.King's College London 8.University of Bristol 9.University of Warwick 10.Durham University and University of York These universities are the best in the nation.