Why do old homes have connecting bedrooms?

Historically, each room tended to have a very particular use, so it was advantageous to keep them separate. There was a practical element to this, too: The ability to close doors between rooms also helped heat and cool the home—no sense wasting energy in rooms weren't being used.

Why do old houses have windows between rooms?

Transom windows are those panels of glass you see above doors in old homes, especially those built in the Mission or Arts and Crafts styles. They admitted natural light to front hallways and interior rooms before the advent of electricity, and circulated air even when doors were closed for privacy.

Why are bedrooms upstairs in old houses?

Another explanation for keeping bedrooms on the second floor of homes is to maintain proper heat flow throughout the home, especially in the winter when rising warm air from the first floor can provide needed heat to the second floor bedrooms.

Why do old houses have trap doors?

Those panels of glass you'll still find on old homes are called transom doors. Their main purpose was to let in natural light in the front hallways and interior rooms before electricity became the norm.

Why do old houses have round rooms?

Circular View

To give guards the best view of the surrounding countryside, medieval builders extended these rooms beyond the main castle walls and built them in a circular shape. Today, the space inside a circular turret provides a spectacular sweep-around view of a neighborhood or yard.

Why Do Kids Have Their Own Bedrooms?

What is a turret bedroom?

Turret and round rooms offer a distinctive space along with with decorating challenges. Turrets in family homes became popular during the Victorian era, when they were prized for their abundance of light and air.

Why did old homes not have closets?

At the time historical homes were built, most individuals didn't own more than a few articles of clothing, greatly reducing the need for closet storage. The few items they did own were usually folded and placed in a trunk or a chest of drawers (also called a “clothes press”), or hung from a hook on the wall.

Why do old houses have 10 foot ceilings?

Because it was (sometimes) more efficient. In warmer climates, with no A/C systems, a high ceiling allowed hot air to rise, leaving a (slightly) colder one at the people level. It was specially useful for the last story of the buildings to provide insulation from the heat radiating from the ceilings.

Why do old homes have two staircases?

One reason for this living pattern may be a practical housekeeping matter: Stairs at the back of the house help keep the front showcase-ready, as the real estate agents like to say, and confine a family's looser corporeal impulses, such as putting feet up on furniture.

Why do old English houses have low doorways?

In medieval times, people lived on floors that was about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high. A person with normal height would be able to enter such a house without problem. As floor levels rose, so did doorway heights. By the 19th century, an average London residence had a door over 2 meters (6.5 feet) high.

Why do old farm houses have two front doors?

One Door Was Formal, the Other Was Not

While one door may have led to a formal area, the other could have been used for day-to-day business. This thinking applied to other visitors as well—homeowners likely wanted to greet guests at a formal entrance.

What is it called when you have to walk through one bedroom to get to another?

You may not have heard it called a “pass-through bedroom” but I'll bet you know what it is. If you've ever been in a house where you need to pass through one bedroom to get to another one then you probably know what I'm talking about. These are more common in older homes or homes that have been added on to.

Why do old houses have a side door?

Many second front doors on homes, particularly Bungalows, lead from the front porch to the master bedroom. This way, couples could open the windows and doors, turn on a couple fans and enjoy a cooling breeze. This design was kind of a poor mans sleeping porch.

Why do old houses have only one bathroom?

Because of the plumbing involved, installing walls and such for bedrooms was significantly less expensive than constructing bathrooms. So, the most straightforward answer is that having more than one bathroom was too expensive.

What is a coffin door?

Most frequently associated with 18th and early 19th-century houses in Connecticut, the coffin door is an exterior door located on the side of the house and typically situated near a corner of the side wall.

Why do old houses have basements?

Building foundations need to be below the frost line in order to avoid freezing pipes. The frost line in northern states tends to be several feet below ground, so basements are a helpful addition.

Why don't they build small houses anymore?

“The development industry still thinks that people want big, and they're in a state of denial and don't want to change their business model,” he says. “We see a tremendous market untapped for high-quality small units, and very few builders see that.”

Why did old houses have so many doors?

Historically, each room tended to have a very particular use, so it was advantageous to keep them separate. There was a practical element to this, too: The ability to close doors between rooms also helped heat and cool the home—no sense wasting energy in rooms weren't being used.

Why were staircases so narrow?

By the time the Dutch were tasked with rebuilding after two massive fires, stone chimneys had been invented and coal was widely available, so these new buildings not only had chimneys, but stairs, too. But since space was limited, builders had to be creative—thus the un-ideally steep, narrow staircases.

Why are American ceilings so high?

In those days, most houses were utilitarian structures and homebuilders knew that lower ceilings meant less space to heat in winter and, therefore, less wood chopping to fit into a day already bursting with physical activity. Greater affluence afforded ceilings with greater height. The same holds true today.

Why are ceilings 8ft high?

One reason: Timber typically comes in eight-foot (2.44 meter) lengths, so for houses built with timber-frame construction, eight-foot ceilings make sense. What's more, houses built in the 1970s and 1980s commonly had eight-foot first-floor flat ceilings due to the energy crisis that gripped the country.

When did 9 foot ceilings become standard?

Sometime between 1995 and 2004, nine feet replaced eight feet as the most common ceiling height for single-story houses and the first floors of multistory houses, according to data gathered by the association.

What is a dressing room in an old house?

These closets are sometimes called “dressing rooms” in historic house museums because that is one type of private activity that would have been be carried out in them, but that is not the only way they functioned.

What was a trunk room?

Trunk room: a dedicated storage room in the attic of an upscale victorian house where trunks were stored between trips abroad. They typically fitted out an attic with a few finished rooms, a trunk room, a cedar closet, and if needed a maids room.

Did Victorian homes have closets?

Most Victorian houses had no or minimal closets because of a legal quirk involving tax technicalities: houses tended to be taxed according to the number of rooms they contained, and for tax purposes, a closet counted as a room, so builders kept closets to a minimum to reduce tax costs.