Comfort in the Eighteenth-Century Country House

Country houses were grand statements of power and status, but they were also places where people lived. This book traces the changes in layout, the new technologies, and the innovations in furniture that made them more convenient and comfortable. It argues that these material changes were just one aspect of comfort in the country house: feeling comfortable was just as important as being comfortable. Achieving this involved the comfort and solace to be found in daily routines, religious faith and, above all, relationships with family and friends. Such emotional comforts, and the attachment to things and places that embodied and memorialized them, made country houses into homes.

List of contents

Introduction  Part 1: Physical and Social Comfort: The Materiality of the Country House  1. Convenience and Privacy: The Architecture of Comfort  2. Warmth and Light: Technologies of Comfort  3. Comfortable Rooms: Sociability and the "Modern Living Room"  Part 2: Emotional Comfort: Feelings, Letters and Home  4. Cleanliness and Godliness: Comforts of the Body and Mind  5. Family and Friends: Comfort, Consolation and Correspondence  6. Home Comforts: Objects and Memories.  Conclusions: House and Home

About the author

Jon Stobart is Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Summary

This book traces the changes in layout, the new technologies, and innovations in furniture that made country houses more comfortable, but argues that comfort was also found in daily routines, religious faith and relationships with family and friends.

Product details

• Authors: Jon Stobart, Jon (Manchester Metropolitan University Stobart
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2023
• EAN: 9781032072920
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3207292-0
• No. of pages: 308
• Series: Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Cultures and Societies
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Europe, European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Residential, HISTORY / World, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, General & world history, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Residential buildings, domestic buildings, Social and cultural history, General and world history, Architecture: residential and domestic buildings, C 1700 To C 1800