Area (architecture)
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In
tradesmen
, such as a coal store vault under the pavement.
The term is most commonly applied to urban houses of the
The Abbey in Cumbria. Basements, and consequently areas, decreased in popularity in the 19th century, as attitudes to servants changed, although they continued to be constructed as service accommodation in urban settings where land was at a premium until the early 20th century. A suburban residential application can be seen at the Gamble House in Pasadena
, California, to light the laundry and service areas of the expansive basement.
In early 18th-century house descriptions, the area was usually called the "airy", which suggests that its primary function was ventilation, needed to prevent cooking smells from percolating upstairs to the rooms above. This implies that the term "area" was a corruption of "airey" rather than vice versa.[1]
Airey
In North London, it was known colloquially as "the airey". It is a subject of an old-time children's ball-bouncing rhyme, which begins:
"One, two, three, alairy
My ball is down the airey
Don't forget to give it to Mary
Early in the morning".
See also
References
- ^ D. Cruickshank and N. Burton, Life in the Georgian city, 1990, pp. 52–53, 83–85.