proportions

I once did a course in eighteenth century French philosophy. It sounds lofty but it was nothing short of a nightmare. No matter how hard I tried I could not make head nor tail of Diderot and Rousseau (I just about worked out what Voltaire was driving at) and I floundered horribly. This was when I was at university in Bristol and living in freezing cold flat in a beautiful Georgian house, and I thought that contact with the intellectual life of the eighteenth century would improve me.

In the end I went back to where I was most comfortable and took refuge in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and I haven't budged since. However, my domestic fantasies are still lodged firmly in earlier times and I have not yet given up hope of living in a Georgian house again.

One of the best things about the flat I shared in Bristol was the sheer size of it; it had huge rooms with high ceilings and my room had the most amazing tall sash-windows. In the summer I revised by a window with my legs sticking out into the warm air, having taken the precaution of placing a couple of enormous dictionaries in the frame just in case the cords snapped and my legs were guillotined.

In my memory the rooms always smells of lilac because a boyfriend once brought me what could only be described as a lilac bush after I'd told him how much I loved lilac. (He'd tried to snap a small branch off a bush on the way over but it seems more came away than he was expecting - I still don't know how he cycled with it without crashing/being arrested). What impressed me was the way the room accommodated the lilac; the flowers and the room were in perfect proportion to one another and I was struck by the fact that the floral grand geste did not look over-the-top in my grandly proportioned Georgian room.

I thought this was the ultimate in stylish, if very cold, living and have since looked longingly at the wonderful proportions of Georgian architecture, often wishing I could live in some of the best examples in Bloomsbury, Bath, Bristol and Edinburgh. This window belongs to a house in Islington; it's on Cross Street, just a few doors down  from Loop in one direction and Ottolenghi in the other. I saw it once again yesterday (it's been on my places-to-live wish-list for a while) and admired the simplicity, the lines, the feeling of sheer taste. And it is just the right distance from yarn and great food to make a perfectly proportioned life.

[In an effort to re-educate myself about the C18 I have been reading Behind Closed Doors by Amanda Vickery which makes me instantly want to acquire 'taste' for myself ie a five-storey Georgian townhouse on a lovely crescent somewhere, and fill it with decoupage and expensive wallpaper.]

Comments

[Lucille]

I too loved Georgian houses in Bristol and was lucky enough to live in Hope Square, Cornwallis Crescent, Royal York Crescent and Worcester Terrace whilst I was a student at the art college way over in Bower Ashton. Interiors nearly always featured the perfectly proportioned Georgian window and my final year dissertation was on Windows too! Happy days.

[Alison]

What a lovely post. I've just left a Victorian flat in Clifton (huge rooms and sash windows) but I always envied those who lived in the Georgian terraces. One day... *sigh*

[Jennifer]

Your flat sounds absolutely wonderful. What a beautiful window, just right with those two potted plants.

[Anne]

Jane - you are making me far too nostalgic for my old life in Bristol - enough now!!

[Janice]

I live near Bristol and Bath and love the houses in both cities. I love the pastel painted rows in Bristol and the symmertry and perfection of those in Bath and all in that beautiful stone.

[Dawn Conrad Mullen]

Jane - I love your post for today...the picture is wonderful. It would be the perfect place to sit, read or craft. Love the plants. Everything is semetrical...which I like. I also love your book.

[magsmcc]

Or what about an appartement at Palais Royale or Place des Vosges, where the ghosts of Diderot and his philosophes could still discuss l'humanisme and their next chess move?!

[Carlie]

Lovely. I never knew I wanted to live in a Georgian until I read this post. Hee hee.

[Victoria]

I too developed late a passion for those spaces. The closest I got while at Bristol was living in Clifton Hill House and visiting friends in the Callendar wing and envying them their lovely places to sit by the windows.
But I did develop a taste for the lovely functionality of my 50's wing, and have since had a little thing for modern and well-built.

You would love A Lust for Window Sills: A lover’s guide to British buildings from portcullis to pebble-dash by Harry Mount. It is beautifully written with great wit, and well illustrated.

[Fran]

The symmetry of Queen Anne and Georgian architecture has always delighted me. I have indulged my love by purchasing a Georgian style dolls house. Not quite the same as actually living in those wonderfully proportioned rooms, but great fun for creative decorating!

[Claire]

Lovely photo.
I too am reading Amanda Vickery's book but only managing a few pages at a time as finding it heavy going. I really have to concentrate to take it all in and digest. However, am enjoying it nonetheless.

[bernie]

I loved the story of the old boyfried and the lilac bush--what a guy will do to win a gal's favor!

[Nicola]

Love the words and picture on this post. I've always wanted a house with a window seat so that I can look out over the frosty landscape like Jane Eyre.

[pretty far west]

I like the proportions of both this window and your measured view of proportionality in life. The sense of grace in Bath city centre had quite an impact on me when I lived there, and one day I hope to live in an old house where there is ample room on the landing to turn a sedan chair.

Delighted to discover your blog!