Click on a picture of any room for more information on that room 
Click on any of the room pictures below to view a larger version.In Victorian Times the Entry to the house was also the first place a lady had a chance to make an impression on her guests. As such, most halls were lavishly decorated with the most expensive of silks or paneling on the walls, fine rugs on the floors, and portraiture or other art on the walls. Also, the Victorian entry hall would house racks and shelves for cloaks and hats, umbrellas, boots and other gear, as well as benches where men could removed their coats and ladies could sit and wait while the maid or butler look their calling card to announce them to the hostess.
At Hartman House our entry hall houses a "hidden" closet within the wall to stash clothing or coats, but in every other way it is very traditional.
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The Morning Room
The Morning Room is where a Victorian lady generally began her day. Usually it was filled with light, bright furnishings, the most important of which was a writing desk. The mistress of a large victorian home spent her mornings working at that desk to keep her household running smoothly. The proper Victorian ladies desk would be stocked with the very best fine linen writing paper and envelopes, sealing wax and sealers, a private journal as well as a household journal and a household accounts book, ink pens, bottles of ink, inkwells and blotters, an erasing knife, a silver letter opener, and various vases, candles or knick knacks. There she would respond to correspondance and invitations, pen invitations of her own, send thank you notes and notes of condolence, all of which were important to the social standing in the household. She was also responsible for going over and approving menus for the household and preparing shopping lists, as well as settling the household accounts.
Hartman House's morning room is very traditional, with Lady Kathryn's writing desk in the far corner, and feminine touches throughout the room. It is open to the Parlor, to allow for an easy flow of traffic between the two rooms, and is formally, but quietly decorated.
The parlor in a Victorian home was the center of all social activity. Tea and afternoon parties were held there, visitors recieved there in the afternoons, and evenings were usually spent after dinner in the parlor, playing games with family and guests. A piano or organ was nearly always present, for musical evenings where household members and guests would take turns playing and/or singing for the entertainment of the other guests. The display shelves in the room were considered a point of pride, displaying collections of china, seashells and objects gathered from travels. The parlor said a great deal about the status of the family as far as the richness and plushness of it's decor.
The parlor at Hartman House is very traditional, with several seating groups placed throughout, and games available on the tables in the room. The fire is nearly always kept lit during damp or chilly seasons so as to provide a welcoming atmosphere to any that may stop in.
In Victorian society, gentlemen often had a room of their own to retire to, to smoke their cigars and speak of things that were "improper" for ladies to hear. Though in most homes of the era that room was easily accessed from the rest of the house, in Hartman House Lord Richard's den is accessed through a hidden panel in one of the downstairs bathrooms.
For the most part, hidden vaults and rooms were out of fashion by the Victorian era, but some homeowners of more suspicious dispositions kept "hidden" rooms in their households. Though it would be fairly easy for a regular visitor or servant in the household to figure out just where a room was, it was considered a good hideaway in case the house was burgled, and a safe place to stash weapons and other valuables.
The dining room was partnered with the parlor in Victorian times, to be a center for gatherings and guests. The lord and lady of the house as well as any overnight guests would take breakfast in the dining room, served buffet style over several hours. Luncheon would also be served in the dining room, however tea would be taken in the Parlor or the Library, or outdoors if weather permitted. Dinners in the formal dining room would be formal and lengthy, and usually populated with guests such as single male relatives and friends or local religious personnel. Formal dress was expected at dinner, and the meal was served over several courses. It was considered impolite for a lady or gentleman to so much as reach for a roll during dinner. Instead, servants were called upon to do each small thing at the dinner table.
Hartman House has a large dining room with an enormous seating capacity. It is rarey filled entirely to capacity, but the Lord and Lady have their hopes...
Servant quarters were considered lush in the victorian era if they were anything beyond utilitarian. First floor rooms were generally reserved for the higher ranking servants; butlers, footmen, cooks, lady's maids and housekeepers. House, parlor and scullery maids were often relegated to cramped attic or basement quarters where they slept two or three to a bed. Stable boys had hay filled cots in the barn rafters. A groundskeeper was usually lucky enough to have his own small cottage on the estate, simply because he was expected to keep odd hours and likely have dead animals about at any given moment.
The servant quarters at Hartman House are somewhat generous in size and appointment as Lord and Lady Hartman care much for the welfare of their servants.
During the early 1800's bathrooms went through a nearly complete transformation. Upper class households had indoor plumbing for the first time, and the wealthiest of households even had hot water. Bathrooms were ornate, generally wood paneled, with a shower and tub, bidet, sink and water closet (toilet with a high cistern... gravity did the work of the flushing, water being released with a pull chain). Though it was considered improper to speak of the bathroom or anything connected to it, Victorians enjoyed lavishly appointed facilities with every luxury imaginable. Contrary to popular belief, the wood paneled tub was more popular during the Victorian era than the claw foot tub, which really came into it's own during Edwardian times, just after Victoriana.
Water closets and sinks were commonly painted with floral designs around the bowl to add a decorative flourish, and lush amenities were provided for guests, including thick, plush towls, soaps of many fragrances and colors, mirrors, as well as numerous rugs and decorative objects. Hartman House bathrooms lack nothing in this department, all are lushly appointed with anything a guest may desire.
Kitchens had been much the same for hundreds of years... until the Victorian period. This time actually created a lot of freedom for kitchen servants and poorer women, as the new gadgets and developments made cooking easier, faster, and more pleasant. Instead of cooking over an open hearth, there was now a stove, heated with a wood fire, but altogether more reliable and easier to use for cooking than a fireplace. The first iceboxes for refrigeration were being developed and tested during this time, though they were not commonly in use yet.
Still, the kitchen was not a room guests would ever see, and it was rare even for the Lord or Lady of the house to step foot inside. Rack and pinion egg beaters, pressure cookers, can openers and other time saving devices were developed in the VIctorian era. "Convenience" foods were just coming into popularity, including canned meats, fruits and vegetables, pre-made cereals such as corn flakes and wheatena, evaporated milk, powdered pea and beet soups, margarine, cubed sugar, root beer, tobasco sauce and compressed yeast. Perrier water was also introduced during the Victorian era!
The kitchen in Hartman House is small but functional, and in many ways the hub of activity in the house. It adjoins a bathroom and has a door to the hall, as well as overlooking the back yard, where the cold storage shed is located, which houses most of the foods one would need for preparing meals. Next door to the cold storage shed is the smokehouse and butchering area. The kitchen at Hartman House also houses the stairs to the basement.
Entertaining was very important to the Victorians. Without television, radio, or computers they depended on each other for diversions. Parties and balls were held nearly every night of the week during the season, and the upper class ladies needed to host several events in order to maintain their social standing. Most manor homes had a large ballroom for entertaining, decorated in lavish gilt with muraled walls. Ballroooms were ostentations displays of wealth, and Hartman House is no exception.
The ballroom at Hartman House is huge and lavish, and not terribly often used. It also contains, within one of the outside walls, a secret doorway and staircase that leads upstairs to the Master Suite.
In upper class Victorian homes, having a well stocked library was a sign of status. Lined with thick leather volumes of classics as well as the newest works available, the library was a place for Victorians to discreetly showcase their wealth. Reading was also a favorite pastime of the era, particularly on evenings without guests in the house to share games with.
The library at Hartman House is stocked with nearly any book imaginable, due to the voracious reading habits of both the Lord and Lady of the house. On Lord Richard's trips to London, he scours the largest and smallest of booksellers to find treasures to bring home to his wife. One section of the library includes a "special" collection of Lord Richard's finds, including Fanny Hill, A Man With A Maid, various volumes of The Pearl, My Secret Life, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Emily; Or, the Voluptuous Delights of a Once-Innocent Young Lady, and various other erotic texts and picture collections.
The Billiard Room was generally a domain of the gentleman in Victorian times. Ladies were not likely to step within it and risk reeking of cigar smoke or overhearing something indelicate. When there was business that could be done over a game or a cigar, the gentlemen would retire here for privacy and a bit of leisure. This was one of the few rooms where a gentleman could truly escape the fussy decor of the Victorian era and have a room that was truly his, with few odds and ends, flowers, and paintings about.
In Hartman House, ladies are not forbidden to enter the billiard room, but it is still a rare occurance. There have been a few intersex games on the billiard table... however they weren't all games of billiards...
