In architecture, an area (areaway in North America) is an excavated, subterranean space around the walls of a building, designed to admit light into a basement. Also called a lightwell, it often provides access to the house and a store-room/service cupboard for tradesmen, such as a coal store vault under the pavement.
The term is most commonly applied to urban houses of the Georgian period in the UK, where it was normal for the service rooms, such as the kitchen, scullery and laundry, to be in the basement. Areas were commonly enclosed for safety reasons by wrought iron or cast iron railings, which became one of the principal decorative features of the astylarterraced houses of this period. Areas are also found in the English and French country house, where basements were popular in the 18th century as a way of accommodating service functions while allowing all four faces of a symmetrical Classical building to relate directly to its landscape setting, as at Mereworth Castle in Kent or The Abbey in Cumbria. Basements, and consequently areas, decreased in popularity in the 19th century, as attitudes to servants changed, although they continued to be constructed as service accommodation in urban settings where land was at a premium until the early 20th century. A suburban residential application can be seen at the Gamble House in Pasadena, California, to light the laundry and service areas of the expansive basement.
In early 18th-century house descriptions, the area was usually called the "airy", which suggests that its primary function was ventilation, needed to prevent cooking smells from percolating upstairs to the rooms above. This implies that the term "area" was a corruption of "airey" rather than vice versa.[1]
Aireyedit
In North London, it was known colloquially as "the airey". It is a subject of an old-time children's ball-bouncing rhyme, which begins:
"One, two, three, alairy
My ball is down the airey Don't forget to give it to Mary
Early in the morning".
See alsoedit
Look up area, airy, or airey in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
^D. Cruickshank and N. Burton, Life in the Georgian city, 1990, pp. 52–53, 83–85.
January 01, 1970
area, architecture, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, area, architecture, news, newspapers, books, sch. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Area architecture news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2021 Learn how and when to remove this message In architecture an area areaway in North America is an excavated subterranean space around the walls of a building designed to admit light into a basement Also called a lightwell it often provides access to the house and a store room service cupboard for tradesmen such as a coal store vault under the pavement Area railing and steps on a terraced house in Australia The term is most commonly applied to urban houses of the Georgian period in the UK where it was normal for the service rooms such as the kitchen scullery and laundry to be in the basement Areas were commonly enclosed for safety reasons by wrought iron or cast iron railings which became one of the principal decorative features of the astylar terraced houses of this period Areas are also found in the English and French country house where basements were popular in the 18th century as a way of accommodating service functions while allowing all four faces of a symmetrical Classical building to relate directly to its landscape setting as at Mereworth Castle in Kent or The Abbey in Cumbria Basements and consequently areas decreased in popularity in the 19th century as attitudes to servants changed although they continued to be constructed as service accommodation in urban settings where land was at a premium until the early 20th century A suburban residential application can be seen at the Gamble House in Pasadena California to light the laundry and service areas of the expansive basement In early 18th century house descriptions the area was usually called the airy which suggests that its primary function was ventilation needed to prevent cooking smells from percolating upstairs to the rooms above This implies that the term area was a corruption of airey rather than vice versa 1 Airey editIn North London it was known colloquially as the airey It is a subject of an old time children s ball bouncing rhyme which begins One two three alairyMy ball is down the airey Don t forget to give it to MaryEarly in the morning See also edit nbsp Look up area airy or airey in Wiktionary the free dictionary Atrium Clerestory Skylight Light tube Ventilation shaft DaylightingReferences edit D Cruickshank and N Burton Life in the Georgian city 1990 pp 52 53 83 85 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Area architecture amp oldid 1192121601, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
