Talk:Servants' quarters

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Old door from Isfahan

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I think I have wrongly titled this page as it is now becoming more comprehensive and architectural than the stub I first envisaged. In fact it is going to be quite useful to link to from a lot of other architectural pages. I don't like "Servant's quarters" as an alternative, which is the most obvious (and I suppose inevitable choice) as it sounds antiquated, dull and dismal but has any one a better idea? Giano 13:06, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

I can't think of anything better than your suggestion. I shall consult with a few close friends on IRC regarding the matter and get back to you. If you rename it, I believe it probably ought technically to be "Servants' quarters" rather than "Servant's quarters", assuming that the average home equipped with servants had more than one. Regards, Newyorkbrad 15:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
Yeah well I've chatted it over for four hours on IRC and the concensus seems to be to move it - so I have Giano

[edit] Servant's quarters

I'm translating an article from de:Palais Strousberg a mansion in Berlin built in 1868. The palais had much more of an upstairs-downstairs separation than the "wings" described here, approriate for the townhouse/country house distinction I suppose. I see that servants quarters now redirects here. Anyway, you might find the floorplan images useful to describe the "invisible servant concept" Sandy colours are servant areas, pink for guests and family, green is a foliated lightwell.

Ground floor
Ground floor
Basement
Basement

Regards --Mcginnly | Natter 15:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Basement plan:

1 Passage 2 Servants dinning room 3 Kitchen 4 utility room 5 Laundry room with washing machine 6 Ironing room 7 Mangle room 8 Larder 9 Lightwell 10 Washroom 11 Elevator 12 Boiler room 13 Wine cellar 14 Coachmans accomodation 15 Servants room 16 Stable 17 Crockery room 18 Larder 19 Covered courtyard (Coachhouse) 20 Passage 22 Grotto 23 Courtyard
Ground floor plan:

1 Entrance 2 Vestibule 3 Reception room 4 Ballroom 5 Drawing room 6 Dining room 7 Billiards room 8 Library 9 Antechamber 10 Ambassadors work room11 Bedroom 12 Art gallery 14 Ballroom antechamber 16 Passage 17 Courtyard with glazed roof 18 Buffet room 23 Courtyard 24 Great ballroom


PS. if anyone has a better idea for the translation of the German "boudoir" for room 5 I'd appreciate it (It's not antechamber either -that's a different word). Cheers --Mcginnly | Natter 15:22, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Great plans I'll use them, this is going to be one huge page, I only intended to do a stub - yes there is a word, but I shall have to go and look it up, something like Frauenkabinet (I think) such a pretty language, I always thnk. Giano 16:07, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
Cheers, the article's shaping up nicely - Boudoir is the same word in German as english - I think it might be mislabeled on the german page - from its position on the plan it looks like it was drawing room where the women would go after dinner (the gents off to the billiards and galler I presume). Perhaps just drawing room then? --Mcginnly | Natter 16:12, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
No a boudoir and a drawing room are not the same thing at all, a drawing room is public, a boudoir is private and smaller, it's supposed to be upstairs next to a bedroom - like a private sitting room. Giano 16:27, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, that's why I'm scratching my head - It's labelled as boudoir on the german article, but it's situated next to the ballroom and dining room on the 'public' floor. I've changed the key to drawing room. --Mcginnly | Natter 16:31, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
  • I've been thinking, didn't they used to have rooms nest to the ballroom called retiring rooms and sitting out rooms? the big ballroom has a couple, allthough at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj the ballroom has a similar plan and the alcove if for the disco. It looks to me lie "3" is the Drawing Room, but you can have more than one drawing room - Giano 16:47, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
  • I've added the plan to the article, I think the basement plan fits in very well and serves its purpose brilliantly. Thanks Mcginnly - your a star. I've not used the upper plan, as I'm keen to keep this a "downstairs page" - I've deliberately not mentioned any owners by name anywhere in the article for the same reason. I'm finding this quite an interesting page to write - having done many pages on the other side of the green baize door this is a neglected area. Giano 10:11, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

I like this article a lot as it addresses a often ignored subject.

2 points though - Slaves' quarters diverts to here, but there is no coverage of the subject and the article largely centres on Europe. It would be good to have some infor on non European architecture, eg. Iran and China e.g or info from the large pre-colonial African empires —Preceding unsigned comment added by Refdoc (talk • contribs) 12:17, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Slaves quarters should not redirect here, and in a few moments it will not, slaves and servants are not the same thing at all. This page is about the housing of live-in paid domestic employees. Nothing else. Giano (talk) 12:37, 15 January 2008 (UTC)