I Abhor Trends
Something about me: I abhor trends. Not to say I inoculate myself completely (seems like the only color trainers you can buy these days are white?) but rather that, in general, a big ole crowd of people doing something is enough to put me right off it.
So it was always unlikely that I was going to tear down walls and doors to embrace the 'open plan' lifestyle and its promised room-to-room flow, given that it seemed like everybody was doing it. The thing about open-planning these old row houses that nobody ever seems to acknowledge is that it’s stupid expensive to do it. It costs real money to take a wonky house and open it all up and make smooth the walls so they can be painted the art gallery white necessary to complete the airy, modern look. Plus I just had this conviction that our role was, first and foremost, to preserve, even if we had to deal with awkward floor plans.
Anyway, this is how we ended up with the layout for the parlor level, which remains virtually the same as the day it was built. There is the usual entrance hall with the stairs going up and down, divided from the rest of the floor by a supporting wall that runs front-to-back almost down the spine of the house, and also not one but two living spaces separated by pocket doors. These two living spaces would have been the most public-facing spaces in the house, likely used for entertaining. And it’s evident in the amount of money and labor that went into them: the ceilings are 12 feet tall with large cove moldings, and they were evidently painted with a motif (see our earlier post for more on that); the doors have thick veneers of figured maple; the twin fireplaces - only one of which survives - were adorned with spoon carvings and spindles.
But the very best feature to my mind are the pocket doors which, when closed, separate the volume into two distinct zones: the warm, south-facing snug at the back and the more formal and imposing room at the front. It’s a design that comprehends that spaces need to adapt to different uses, whether diurnal or seasonal. And it’s the kind of open plan I can get behind: the kind that embraces the grand possibilities of uninterrupted space with dual exposure, but also recognizes that once in a while you’re going to want to close a damn door.