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.

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.
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 31.05.2023
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture
• EAN: 9781032072920
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3207292-0
• Pages: 308
• Series: Routledge Studies in Eighteenth-Century Cultures and Societies
• Subjects: 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, Country House, East Indies, easy chairs, Footstool, Coal Fires, Tea Pots, historical interiors, Curtain Lecture, daily life in historic estates, emotional attachment objects, eighteenth-century technology, sociability studies, domestic material culture, architectural privacy, Petit Trianon, Tiled Stoves, Carl Gustaf Tessin, Charlecote Park, English Comfort, Social Comfort, Joseph Furttenbach, Early Eighteenth Century Paris, Argand Lamp, emotional comfort, Grove House, Bath Stoves, Ellen Weeton, Arbury Hall