Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.

John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.

Do they? None of the terraced houses I've ever been in have. One had a
step
down *out* of the kitchen into the dining room, which I always
presumed was
just due to the lie of the land, as there was a further step down into
the
living room.

--
JGH

"John" wrote in message
...
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.


I've lived in a couple of terraced houses where there was a step down into
the kitchen, but originally it was a scullery/ wash house & I assumed it was
to stop water encroaching into the main part of the house.

Don.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "John"
saying something like:

Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.

Not in my experience and I've been in a lot of them over the years -
sure, some have, but it seems to depend on local conditions, whim of the
builder, etc.

"John" wrote in message
...
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.



The house spent most of my childhood in had a step down into
a small back bedroom that had no electric light. The kitchen floor was
level with the rest of the gound floor.
Also had 3 cellars one of which had a water boiler..big concrete bowl/basin
type thing.
other 2 cellars had the old ranges...5 foot high things with a cast iron
oven next to coal basket.

(excuse me...lump in my throat)

Arthur

In article ,
"Don" writes:

"John" wrote in message
...
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.


I've lived in a couple of terraced houses where there was a step down into
the kitchen, but originally it was a scullery/ wash house & I assumed it was
to stop water encroaching into the main part of the house.

It's the same when it was a kitchen -- allows mopping out.
Areas to be sloshed out are solid floors too, whereas other
areas usually aren't in older properties.

It can also have quite clever benefits elsewhere, e.g. the
room above can be a step down, which allows shortening the
staircase by a step, which allows it to be squeezed into a
shorter length. That section of the builing is often a
step's height lower right up to the roof, which is a saving
in bricks and other materials.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.


Some do; some don't. No idea about relative frequency - though I'd doubt
they were very common post early 20th C. And probably varies by area and
nature of sites.

As Don said, to stop water getting into the rest of the house.

Because the kitchen would have a hard floor straight onto earth whereas
the rest of the rooms would have suspended wooden floors. So easier to
do that way without digging out so much, compromising underfloor
ventilation, etc.

(I guess the back bedroom being lower would be just because the kitchen
below is lower. Would take extra materials to raise it to the same level
as the rest of the first floor. But I have a feeling I have seen a
kitchen which had a higher ceiling so the back bedroom would have been
the same level as the others. That might have been to allow more space
for an airer.)

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about
most terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back
bedroom. Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the
fact to someone and they are now seeking an answer to this never
before noticed fact.

Very, very common around here in turn of the century terraced houses. Whole
streets of them. I'd go along with 'most'.

The bedroom above has the same step down and is usually converted into a
bathroom. Prolly wouldn't be allowed now as its off a bedroom and it
certainly isn't convenient if a guest in the other bedroom wants the loo in
the middle of the night.

My first ever house in Essex was the same.

Many terraced houses in Chatham & Strood are built on very steep slopes and
have 2 or even 3 steps down. One house I worked in recently only has a hall
& one room downstairs due to the extreem slope, rest of the house is up one
flight of stairs.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article ,
John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back
bedroom. Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact
to someone and they are now seeking an answer to this never before
noticed fact.

My Victorian semi has a step down half way along the rear part of the
lobby just before the kitchen which is in the rear addition. Nothing to do
with water as the kitchen was originally two rooms - a kitchen with wood
floor and a scullery with solid one. And I'm not sure why - the house is
on level ground. Perhaps something to do with giving more room under the
stairs for cellar access and pantry? The upper floor of the rear addition
was originally a toilet, bathroom and bedroom - but straight off the half
landing with no steps.

--
*I never drink anything stronger than gin before breakfast *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
m...
John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about
most terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back
bedroom. Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the
fact to someone and they are now seeking an answer to this never
before noticed fact.

Very, very common around here in turn of the century terraced houses.
Whole streets of them. I'd go along with 'most'.

The bedroom above has the same step down and is usually converted into a
bathroom. Prolly wouldn't be allowed now as its off a bedroom and it
certainly isn't convenient if a guest in the other bedroom wants the loo
in the middle of the night.

My first ever house in Essex was the same.

Many terraced houses in Chatham & Strood are built on very steep slopes
and have 2 or even 3 steps down. One house I worked in recently only has
a hall & one room downstairs due to the extreem slope, rest of the house
is up one flight of stairs.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk


Thanks - looking around my area on Google Earth confirms it is usual. The
roof gutter line is lower around the rear bedroom gable. (Of course the apex
is a lot lower as it is a narrower roof.)

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
m...
John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about
most terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back
bedroom. Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the
fact to someone and they are now seeking an answer to this never
before noticed fact.

Very, very common around here in turn of the century terraced houses.
Whole
streets of them. I'd go along with 'most'.

The bedroom above has the same step down and is usually converted into a
bathroom. Prolly wouldn't be allowed now as its off a bedroom and it
certainly isn't convenient if a guest in the other bedroom wants the loo
in
the middle of the night.

My first ever house in Essex was the same.

Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk


Very common in Yorkshire as well.

I am not sure how many lofts you have been in above the bathroom in these
types of properties but I am shocked as to how many are open to the next
door neighbours house. Just the bathroom loft not the main loft.

Adam

"ARWadsworth" wrote in message
om...

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
m...
John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about
most terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back
bedroom. Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the
fact to someone and they are now seeking an answer to this never
before noticed fact.

Very, very common around here in turn of the century terraced houses.
Whole
streets of them. I'd go along with 'most'.

The bedroom above has the same step down and is usually converted into a
bathroom. Prolly wouldn't be allowed now as its off a bedroom and it
certainly isn't convenient if a guest in the other bedroom wants the loo
in
the middle of the night.

My first ever house in Essex was the same.

Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk


Very common in Yorkshire as well.

I am not sure how many lofts you have been in above the bathroom in these
types of properties but I am shocked as to how many are open to the next
door neighbours house. Just the bathroom loft not the main loft.

Adam


The house I lived in was an end of terrace so the loft over the back bedroom
/ bathroom was all enclosed. The back bedroom became a bathroom and a
smaller bedroom. there was a passage from the stairs leading to this. Liked
the glass panels in the roof - and corresponding frosted glass hatches into
the loft - although we kept breaking them.

John wrote:
Sorry - but I can't remember the opinions given to the point about most
terraced houses having a step down into the kitchen and the back bedroom.
Would anyone care to refresh my memory as I mentioned the fact to someone
and they are now seeking an answer to this never before noticed fact.


Seen a lot like that in Norwich. Front room, back room leading (to/off)
the stairs; 3rd bed/box off the 2nd bedroom and a step down; kitchen,
bathroom on a long thin bit out of the back only accessible from the
back downstairs room. I suspect mostly late 19th/early 20thC.

Andy