Edwardian Stairs & Landings
Edwardian houses were built to be more spacious than Victorian houses. One obvious place where they gained space and light was the staircase and landing. Whereas Victorian stairs tended to go straight up from the hall to the first floor, either from front to back or sideways through the middle of the house, this trend did not continue into Edwardian housing styles. Instead the stairs ran a short flight from the widened hallway to a small square landing, before turning and continuing to the first floor. Newel posts and banisters were carved and turned from sumptuous and rich woods, rather than the wrought iron or wooden hand rails of the Victorian era.
The colour of the hall walls continued up the sides of the stairs and tended to be light and possibly striped. Woodwork was left plain or painted light or cream.
The upstairs landing had a small amount of floor space and might contain a table and table lamp or an easy chair. In other homes the floor space was left empty to give a feeling of lightness and airy space. Landing windows tended to have small panes of plain glass rather than the vivid stained glass that was so fashionable before. Blue and white china might be displayed on the landing table or on the windowsill.
Lighting came from a central ceiling rose and would probably be hung from chains.
|
