Ferneding House
This 7150 square feet house was built in 1927. This building is not as large as the nearby Villa Terrace whose service space stretched across an entire wing of the house. However, the service space in this building did span across the southeast portion of the first floor and the northwest portion of the second floor. Like the Villa Terrace, the placement of the servants’ spaces in this house emphasized a hierarchical organization of servants within the household.
Layout and use
This house has two floors. On the first floor, the service spaces are located at the south west end of the house. These spaces include a pantry, kitchen, storage room, servant's room and garage. On the second floor, the service space includes pantry, kitchen, closet and two maid's rooms while the laundry, play room, and cleaning room are located in the basement. Both the first and the second floors include the working and lodging spaces of the servants. The servant's room on the first floor could be the cook's bedroom since it is located close to the kitchen. The current kitchen on this floor has been remodelled. In the past the kitchen was separated from the dining room by a pantry. The basement, accessible to the service entrance along the northeast side of the building, had a large laundry room with lots of light and a fancy drier.
By interpreting the plan and identifying the number of bedrooms in the service wing we can estimate that a minimum of two servants lived in this building. According to census records, in 1930 there were indeed two female servants in this house. Forty-five years old Julia Klein from Yugoslavia spoke both English and Slovakia while 19 years old Ruth L. May from Wisconsin spoke English.
The design of this house ensured that these servants remained unseen for most of the time. For instance, the right side of the stair hall on the first floor had a door connecting the service wing to the front parlor. That door is now sealed, but we can imagine how the servants might have slipped out of this door in order to gather coats from guests during formal social events. We can imagine how they would hang the coats and slip unnoticed back into the service wing through this doorway. In another instance we observe how careful placement of doors between the dining room pantry and the kitchen cut off the view of the kitchen from the guests seated in the formal dining room. Homeowner and servants used different staircases to get to their respective residential spaces. If we compare the architectural ornamentation in the service wing to that in the main household spaces we find that the servants’ staircase sported railings with ordinary newel posts while the stairs in the main house were elaborately detailed. The back staircase, despite its minimal ornamentation commanded our attention as much as the beautifully decorated front stairs.
Tempo
A locus of activities, hustle and bustle, the back stairs must have been a heavily used space. The temporal rhythms, or tempo, of this space was determined by the speed of movement, urgency of behavior, and intensity of activities as servants went up and down to conduct their daily chores. Compare this to the relaxed tempo of activities in the front stairs on a leisurely evening of socializing and partying. By comparing the tempo of the two stairs at any time during the day we may interpret the complex workings of social life in residential mansions and highlight the labor and care necessary to sustain this life and lifestyle.
Layout and use
This house has two floors. On the first floor, the service spaces are located at the south west end of the house. These spaces include a pantry, kitchen, storage room, servant's room and garage. On the second floor, the service space includes pantry, kitchen, closet and two maid's rooms while the laundry, play room, and cleaning room are located in the basement. Both the first and the second floors include the working and lodging spaces of the servants. The servant's room on the first floor could be the cook's bedroom since it is located close to the kitchen. The current kitchen on this floor has been remodelled. In the past the kitchen was separated from the dining room by a pantry. The basement, accessible to the service entrance along the northeast side of the building, had a large laundry room with lots of light and a fancy drier.
By interpreting the plan and identifying the number of bedrooms in the service wing we can estimate that a minimum of two servants lived in this building. According to census records, in 1930 there were indeed two female servants in this house. Forty-five years old Julia Klein from Yugoslavia spoke both English and Slovakia while 19 years old Ruth L. May from Wisconsin spoke English.
The design of this house ensured that these servants remained unseen for most of the time. For instance, the right side of the stair hall on the first floor had a door connecting the service wing to the front parlor. That door is now sealed, but we can imagine how the servants might have slipped out of this door in order to gather coats from guests during formal social events. We can imagine how they would hang the coats and slip unnoticed back into the service wing through this doorway. In another instance we observe how careful placement of doors between the dining room pantry and the kitchen cut off the view of the kitchen from the guests seated in the formal dining room. Homeowner and servants used different staircases to get to their respective residential spaces. If we compare the architectural ornamentation in the service wing to that in the main household spaces we find that the servants’ staircase sported railings with ordinary newel posts while the stairs in the main house were elaborately detailed. The back staircase, despite its minimal ornamentation commanded our attention as much as the beautifully decorated front stairs.
Tempo
A locus of activities, hustle and bustle, the back stairs must have been a heavily used space. The temporal rhythms, or tempo, of this space was determined by the speed of movement, urgency of behavior, and intensity of activities as servants went up and down to conduct their daily chores. Compare this to the relaxed tempo of activities in the front stairs on a leisurely evening of socializing and partying. By comparing the tempo of the two stairs at any time during the day we may interpret the complex workings of social life in residential mansions and highlight the labor and care necessary to sustain this life and lifestyle.
- United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930).