Figure 1.--This is the ground floor plan for a Victorian country house.

Here are some views of Victorian homes and floorplans. Usually the parlor looked out on the front of the home. The same is true of the modern living room whoch is why it is also called the front room. The bedrooms and nursery was commonly on an upsatirs floor. There were, however, many variations from home to home.

Dining Room

Nursery

Victorian and Edwardian parents had a very different attitude toward child rearing than modern parents. The relationship was much more formal. Affluent parents would basically have hired staff raise the children. Small children would spend much of their early life in the nursery where they would be raised by a nannie. Many of the grown children had much founder memories of their nannies than their mothers. Some parents, such as Queen Victoria, would go for extended periods without visiting their children. Other parents would regularly visit the nursery or have the children brought to visit them. In many cases these could be rather formal visits. This formality, however, was not always the case.

Figure 2.--.

Parlor

The parlor was often at the center of the 19th century home. Families varied on how the palor was used. Some used it for company and the children often did not have free access to it. In other families it was used more of a family room. In such cases the children were more welcome--but on their best behavior. Interesting features of many Victorian parlors were screens where "scraps" (cutouts), greening cards, and postcards might be used to decorate. The Victorians, both children and mothers also loved to keep scrapbooks in their parlors. A variety of items might be included in these scrapbooks, including photographs, "scraps", lettters, postcards, clippings. ptrssed flowers, and much more.

Created: October 21, 1999
Last updated: 11:58 PM 6/18/2011