Servants' quarters

In architectural descriptions and guidebooks of stately homes, the servants' quarters are frequently overlooked, yet they form an important piece of social history, often as interesting as the principal part of the house itself.

Before the late 17th century, servants dined, slept and worked in the main part of the house with their employers, sleeping wherever space was available.

At Hampton court the lesser courtyard forms part of the formal processional route under an ornate clock tower to the more grand areas of the palace.

The formalities of presenting food to the entire gathered household in the hall with ceremonies of bowing, kissing and kneeling and cupbearers were disappearing and servants were becoming less obvious.

The Baroque house introduced revolutionary changes to the layout and introduction of the state apartments, and brought innovations in the lives of the staff who were now to be firmly lodged in their places downstairs.

The new Baroque fashion, and that of Palladianism which quickly followed it, swept away the double pile concept of one compact block with sets of rooms back to back as at Belton in favour of houses having at their centre a grand corps de logis flanked by long wings or pavilions, which in Palladio's original conception had been the mere farm buildings of what were small country villas.

At the Baroque Castle Howard and its slightly younger relation Blenheim Palace completed in 1722, the service wings are of monumental proportions, intended to be highly visible, enhancing the appearance of both the size and prestige of the mansion.

In smaller houses the flanking wings could take the form of symmetrical pavilions linked to the corps de logis by open or closed colonnades.

[4] In the absence of electric or gas lighting the servants rooms and kitchens of this period were dark, dismal, often damp and badly ventilated places.

In the country, where space was more available, the wings were hidden behind screens of trees, shrubs and grassy banks as at Waddesdon Manor and Mentmore Towers.

In both town and country, means of access between the main house and the servant's wings were kept to a minimum, often the single door was lined with green baize to deaden any sound.

Cleaning had to be performed in the early hours of the morning while the employers were asleep, and in the grander houses only male servants were allowed to be visible, and then only when required.

The outer, but blind, walls of the wings are of attractive dressed Ancaster stone adorned with niches and statuary, while the inner courtyard visible only to the servants is of common yellow brick.

Small staircases led to convenient points in a complex labyrinth of narrow passages on the piano nobile above, allowing servants to enter reception rooms when required, without being seen in other parts of the house.

However, while the Palais Strousberg's layout of its servants' quarters was common throughout the capital cities of Europe, King Ludwig's seem to have been more an eccentricity peculiar to him.

Queen Elizabeth II made this decision at Sandringham House in the 1980s, while at West Wycombe Park the roofless former service wing now contains a garden.

In many other houses open to the public the former servants' domains are now restaurants, shops and offices, while the bedrooms are let to holiday makers and tourists.

Where staff are retained in private houses, they are more likely to live in purpose-built apartments created from the former servants' quarters, or as at Woburn Abbey converted from former stables; at Woburn the servants' attic bedrooms have now been altered to provide more spacious bedrooms for the use of the owners, thus providing a retreat and privacy from the paying public viewing the rooms below.

At 18th-century Holkham Hall , service and secondary wings (foreground) clearly flank the mansion and were intended to be viewed as part of the overall facade.
At 16th century Hampton Court , the lesser courtyard forms part of a formal processional route to the grander areas of the palace.
By 1688, the smaller window sizes of the lowest and uppermost floors of Belton House show early signs that servants were confined to delegated areas. The servants enjoyed the same view from the front of the house as their employers.
The Baroque architecture of Castle Howard allowed the massive servants' areas, on the right and left of the picture, to be highly visible and on an architectural par with the corps de logis itself
Holkham Hall: D represents the principal dining room where a disguised door in the classical apse, gives access to long route via stairs and passages by which the food reached the dining room from the distant kitchen in the service wing ( bottom right ) When dining alone en famille the owners ate in the family wing ( top right ) even further from the kitchen
Staff call bells, attached to bell pulls in various rooms
The neat Neoclassical lines of Castle Coole , a picturesque idyll unspoilt by any hint of the servants who were in fact toiling, out of sight, underground
At 19th century Mentmore Towers , the blind outer walls of the service wing are barely visible, behind trees and banks, on the right of the building. The servants' wing is actually of near-similar size to the main block but so designed that only the uppermost floor is visible from the exterior of the mansion
Basement servant's quarters at Palais Strousberg . 1 Passage 2 Servants' dining 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 Coachman's accommodation 15 Servants room 16 Stable 17 Tack room 18 Horse feed store 19 Covered courtyard (Coachhouse) 20 Passage 22 Grotto 23 Courtyard