Misplaced Pages

#780219

73-400: The Greek word περίστυλον perístylon is composed of περί peri , "around" or "surrounded", and στῦλος stylos , "column" or "pillar", together meaning "surrounded by columns/pillars". It was Latinised into synonyms peristylum and peristylium . In rural settings, a wealthy Roman could surround a villa with terraced gardens but often included a peristyle with the design; in a domus in

146-460: A commune perfugium , a universal haven or the agreed normal refuge of an individual: I am the consul for neither the forum... nor the campus... nor the Senate House... nor house, the common refuge of all, or bed, the place granted us for repose, nor the seat of honor have ever been free from ambush and peril of death The concept of legal abode such as domicilium or today's usage "domicile"

219-790: A domus in the city, many of the richest families of ancient Rome also owned a separate country house known as a villa . Many chose to live primarily, or even exclusively, in their villas; these homes were generally much grander in scale and on larger acres of land due to more space outside the walled and fortified city . The elite classes of Roman society constructed their residences with elaborate marble decorations, inlaid marble paneling, door jambs and columns as well as expensive paintings and frescoes. Many poor and lower-middle-class Romans lived in crowded, dirty and mostly rundown rental apartments, known as insulae . These multi-level apartment blocks were built as high and tightly together as possible and held far less status and convenience than

292-537: A monastery . Then they gradually re-evolved through the Middle Ages into elegant upper-class country homes. In the early modern period , any comfortable detached house with a garden near a city or town was likely to be described as a villa; most survivals have now been engulfed by suburbia . In modern parlance, "villa" can refer to various types and sizes of residences, ranging from the suburban semi-detached double villa to, in some countries, especially around

365-564: A centre opening for the hearth's smoke to escape. This could have been the beginnings of the atrium, which was common in later homes. As Rome became more and more prosperous from trade and conquest, the homes of the wealthy increased in both size and luxury, emulating both the Etruscan atrium house and Hellenistic peristyle house. The domus included multiple rooms, indoor courtyards, gardens and beautifully painted walls that were elaborately laid out. The vestibulum ('entrance hall') led into

438-587: A chartered town. Later evolution has made the Hispanic distinction between villas and ciudades a purely honorific one. Madrid is the Villa y Corte , the villa considered to be separate from the formerly mobile royal court , but the much smaller Ciudad Real was declared ciudad by the Spanish crown. In 14th and 15th century Italy, a villa once more connoted a country house, like the first Medici villas ,

511-751: A few of the notable early architects were Wallace Neff , Addison Mizner , Stanford White , and George Washington Smith . A few examples are the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, California , Medici scale Hearst Castle on the Central Coast of California , and Villa Montalvo in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Saratoga, California , Villa Vizcaya in Coconut Grove, Miami , American Craftsman versions are

584-695: A humanized agricultural landscape , at that time the only desirable aspect of nature . Later villas and gardens include the Palazzo Pitti and Boboli Gardens in Florence, and the Villa di Pratolino in Vaglia . Rome had more than its share of villas with easy reach of the small sixteenth-century city: the progenitor, the first villa suburbana built since Antiquity, was the Belvedere or palazzetto , designed by Antonio del Pollaiuolo and built on

657-409: A large central hall: the atrium , which was the focal point of the domus and contained a statue of or an altar to the household gods. Leading off the atrium were cubicula (bedrooms), a dining room triclinium , where guests could eat dinner whilst reclining on couches, a tablinum (living room or study), and the culina (Roman kitchen). On the outside, and without any internal connection to

730-616: A larger and less elite population in a warren of small spaces, and columned porticoes were enclosed in small cubicles, as at the House of Hesychius at Cyrene . Although ancient Egyptian architecture predates Greek and Roman architecture, historians frequently use the Greek term peristyle to describe similar, earlier structures in ancient Egyptian palace architecture and in Levantine houses known as liwan houses . Villa A villa

803-421: A linking portico, which might be extended at right angles, even to enclose a courtyard . The other kind featured an aisled central hall like a basilica , suggesting the villa owner's magisterial role. The villa buildings were often independent structures linked by their enclosed courtyards. Timber-framed construction, carefully fitted with mortises and tenons and dowelled together, set on stone footings, were

SECTION 10

#1732790105781

876-436: A long entrance hall. In South Korea, the term "villa" refers to small multi-household house with 4 floors or less . In Cambodia, "villa" is used as a loanword in the local language of Khmer, and is generally used to describe any type of detached townhouse that features yard space. The term does not apply to any particular architectural style or size, the only features that distinguish a Khmer villa from another building are

949-510: A moment's notice. Much of what is known about the Roman domus comes from excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum . While there are excavations of homes in the city of Rome, none of them retained the original integrity of the structures. The homes of Rome are mostly bare foundations, converted churches or other community buildings. The most famous Roman domus is the House of Augustus . Little of

1022-581: A narrowing class, and public life withdrew to the basilica , or audience chamber, of the magnate. In the Eastern Roman empire , late antiquity lingered longer: Ellis identified the latest-known peristyle house built from scratch as the Villa of the Falconer at Argos, Peloponnese , dating from the style of its floor mosaics to about 530–550. Existing houses in many cases were subdivided to accommodate

1095-652: Is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that originally provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa , the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic , villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity , sometimes transferred to the Church for reuse as

1168-632: Is also used in Pakistan, and in some of the Caribbean islands such as Jamaica , Saint Barthélemy , Saint Martin , Guadeloupe , British Virgin Islands , and others. It is similar for the coastal resort areas of Baja California Sur and mainland Mexico, and for hospitality industry destination resort "luxury bungalows " in various locations worldwide. In Indonesia, the term "villa" is applied to Dutch colonial country houses ( landhuis ). Nowadays,

1241-552: Is now the city museum of Helsinki, Finland . During the 19th and 20th century, the term "villa" became widespread for detached mansions in Europe. Special forms are for instance spa villas ( Kurvillen in German) and seaside villas ( Bädervillen in German), that became especially popular at the end of the 19th century. The tradition established back then continued throughout the 20th century and even until today. Another trend

1314-458: The domus ( pl. : domūs , genitive : domūs or domī ) was the type of town house occupied by the upper classes and some wealthy freedmen during the Republican and Imperial eras. It was found in almost all the major cities throughout the Roman territories. The modern English word domestic comes from Latin domesticus , which is derived from the word domus . Along with

1387-506: The insulae , blocks of apartment buildings for the rest of the population. In Satyricon (1st century CE), Petronius described the wide range of Roman dwellings. Another type of villae is the "villa maritima", a seaside villa, located on the coast. A concentration of Imperial villas existed on the Gulf of Naples , on the Isle of Capri , at Monte Circeo and at Antium . Examples include

1460-404: The lectus genialis , was placed in the atrium, on the side opposite the door or in one of the alae . Cubiculum : bedroom. The floor mosaics of the cubiculum often marked out a rectangle where the bed should be placed. Culina : the kitchen in a Roman house. The culina was dark, and the smoke from the cooking fires filled the room as the best ventilation available in Roman times

1533-462: The Anglo-Saxon parish church was built (not by chance) upon its site. Grave-diggers preparing for burials in the churchyard as late as the 18th century had to punch through the intact mosaic floors. The even more palatial villa rustica at Fishbourne near Winchester was built (uncharacteristically) as a large open rectangle, with porticos enclosing gardens entered through a portico. Towards

SECTION 20

#1732790105781

1606-823: The Château de Ferrières is an example of the Italian Neo-Renaissance style villa – and in Britain the Mentmore Towers . A representative building of this style in Germany is Villa Haas (designed by Ludwig Hofmann) in Hesse . Villa Hakasalmi in Helsinki (built in 1834–46) represents Empire-era villa architecture. It was the home of Aurora Karamzin (1808–1902) at the end of the 19th century and

1679-631: The Farnese . Near Siena in Tuscany, the Villa Cetinale was built by Cardinal Flavio Chigi . He employed Carlo Fontana , pupil of Gian Lorenzo Bernini to transform the villa and dramatic gardens in a Roman Baroque style by 1680. The Villa Lante garden is one of the most sublime creations of the Italian villa in the landscape, completed in the 17th century. In the later 16th century in

1752-518: The Franks . Kintzheim was Villa Regis , the "villa of the king". Around 590, Saint Eligius was born in a highly placed Gallo-Roman family at the 'villa' of Chaptelat near Limoges , in Aquitaine (now France). The abbey at Stavelot was founded ca 650 on the domain of a former villa near Liège and the abbey of Vézelay had a similar founding. As Europe's influence spread to other cultures,

1825-666: The Gamble House and the villas by Greene and Greene in Pasadena, California Modern architecture has produced some important examples of buildings known as villas: Country-villa examples: Today, the term "villa" is often applied to vacation rental properties. In the United Kingdom the term is used for high quality detached homes in warm destinations, particularly Florida and the Mediterranean. The term

1898-1252: The Liebermann Villa and Britz House in Berlin, Albrechtsberg , Eckberg, Villa Stockhausen and Villa San Remo  [ de ] in Dresden , Villa Waldberta in Feldafing , Villa Kennedy  [ de ] in Frankfurt , Jenisch House and Budge-Palais in Hamburg , Villa Andreae  [ de ] and Villa Rothschild  [ de ; ar ; fr ] in Königstein , Villa Stuck and Pacelli-Palais  [ de ] in Munich , Schloss Klink at Lake Müritz , Villa Ludwigshöhe in Rhineland-Palatinate , Villa Haux in Stuttgart and Weinberg House in Waren . In France

1971-490: The Mediterranean , residences of above average size in the countryside. Roman villas included: In terms of design, there was often little difference in the main residence between these types at any particular level of size, but the presence or absence of farm outbuildings reflected the size and function of the estate. Not included as villae were the domus , city houses for the élite and privileged classes, and

2044-579: The Neo-Palladian a part of the late 17th century and on Renaissance Revival architecture period. In the early 18th century the English took up the term, and applied it to compact houses in the country, especially those accessible from London: Chiswick House is an example of such a "party villa". Thanks to the revival of interest in Palladio and Inigo Jones , soon Neo-Palladian villas dotted

2117-718: The Queen Anne style Victorian architecture and Beaux-Arts architecture . Communities such as Montecito , Pasadena , Bel Air , Beverly Hills , and San Marino in Southern California, and Atherton and Piedmont in the San Francisco Bay Area are a few examples of villa density. The popularity of Mediterranean Revival architecture in its various iterations over the last century has been consistently used in that region and in Florida . Just

2190-654: The Villa Giulia of Pope Julius III (1550), designed by Vignola . The Roman villas Villa Ludovisi and Villa Montalto, were destroyed during the late nineteenth century in the wake of the real estate bubble that took place in Rome after the seat of government of a united Italy was established at Rome. The cool hills of Frascati gained the Villa Aldobrandini (1592); the Villa Falconieri and

2263-900: The Villa Godi , the Villa Forni Cerato , the Villa Capra "La Rotonda" , and Villa Foscari . The Villas are grouped into an association (Associazione Ville Venete) and offer touristic itineraries and accommodation possibilities. Soon after in Greenwich England, following his 1613–1615 Grand Tour , Inigo Jones designed and built the Queen's House between 1615 and 1617 in an early Palladian architecture style adaptation in another country. The Palladian villa style renewed its influence in different countries and eras and remained influential for over four hundred years, with

Peristyle - Misplaced Pages Continue

2336-550: The Villa Mondragone . The Villa d'Este near Tivoli is famous for the water play in its terraced gardens . The Villa Medici was on the edge of Rome, on the Pincian Hill , when it was built in 1540. Besides these designed for seasonal pleasure, usually located within easy distance of a city, other Italian villas were remade from a rocca or castello, as the family seat of power, such as Villa Caprarola for

2409-633: The Villa del Trebbio and that at Cafaggiolo , both strong fortified houses built in the 14th century in the Mugello region near Florence . In 1450, Giovanni de' Medici commenced on a hillside the Villa Medici in Fiesole , Tuscany , probably the first villa created under the instructions of Leon Battista Alberti , who theorized the features of the new idea of villa in his De re aedificatoria . These first examples of Renaissance villa predate

2482-777: The Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum ; and the Villa of the Mysteries and Villa of the Vettii in Pompeii . There was an important villa maritima in Barcola near Trieste. This villa was located directly on the coast and was divided into terraces in a representation area in which luxury and power was displayed, a separate living area, a garden, some facilities open to the sea and a thermal bath. Not far from this noble place, which

2555-478: The atrium . The courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and even fish ponds. Romans devoted as large a space to the peristyle as site constraints permitted. In the grandest development of the urban peristyle house, as it evolved in Roman North Africa , often one part of the portico was eliminated for a larger open space. The end of the Roman domus is one mark of

2628-444: The domus . Separated by the length of another room, entry to a different portion of the residence was accessed by these passageways which would now be called halls, hallways, or corridors. Tablinum : between the atrium and the peristyle was the tablinum , an office of sorts for the dominus , who would receive his clients for the morning salutatio . The dominus was able to command the house visually from this vantage point as

2701-808: The Americas from Spain and Portugal, by the Spanish Colonial Revival style with regional variations. In the 20th century International Style villas were designed by Roberto Burle Marx , Oscar Niemeyer , Luis Barragán , and other architects developing a unique Euro-Latin synthesized aesthetic. Villas are particularly well represented in California and the West Coast of the United States, where they were originally commissioned by well travelled "upper-class" patrons moving on from

2774-524: The Pompeian domus were often painted in one of four Pompeian Styles : the first style imitated ashlar masonry, the second style represented public architecture, the third style focused on mythological creatures, and the fourth style combined the architecture and mythological creatures of the second and third styles. The home's importance as a universally recognized haven was written about by Cicero after an early morning assassination attempt. He speaks of

2847-462: The age of Lorenzo de' Medici , who added the Villa di Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo , begun in 1470, in Poggio a Caiano , Province of Prato , Tuscany . From Tuscany the idea of villa was spread again through Renaissance Italy and Europe. The Quattrocento villa gardens were treated as a fundamental and aesthetic link between a residential building and the outdoors, with views over

2920-420: The atrium were arranged the master's family's main rooms: the small cubicula or bedrooms, the tablinum , which served as a living room or study, and the triclinium , or dining-room. Roman homes were like Greek homes. Only two objects were present in the atrium of Caecilius in Pompeii : the lararium (a small shrine to the Lares , the household gods) and a small bronze box that stored precious family items. In

2993-416: The atrium, were tabernae (shops facing the street). In cities throughout the Roman Empire, wealthy homeowners lived in buildings with few exterior windows. Glass windows were not readily available: glass production was in its infancy. Thus a wealthy Roman citizen lived in a large house separated into two parts, and linked together through the tablinum or study or by a small passageway. Surrounding

Peristyle - Misplaced Pages Continue

3066-432: The city, Romans often used a peristyle to create a garden or open space within the house. The columns or square pillars surrounding the garden supported a shady roofed portico whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings of landscapes and trompe-l'œil architecture. Sometimes the lararium , a shrine for the Lares , the gods of the household, was located in this portico, or it might be found in

3139-488: The economic independence of later rural villas was a symptom of the increasing economic fragmentation of the Roman Empire . Archaeologists have meticulously examined numerous Roman villas in England . Like their Italian counterparts, they were complete working agrarian societies of fields and vineyards , perhaps even tileworks or quarries , ranged round a high-status power centre with its baths and gardens. The grand villa at Woodchester preserved its mosaic floors when

3212-423: The eighth century, Gallo-Roman villas in the Merovingian royal fisc were repeatedly donated as sites for monasteries under royal patronage in Gaul – Saint-Maur-des-Fossés and Fleury Abbey provide examples. In Germany a famous example is Echternach ; as late as 698, Willibrord established an abbey at a Roman villa of Echternach near Trier , presented to him by Irmina , daughter of Dagobert II , king of

3285-458: The end of the 3rd century, Roman towns in Britain ceased to expand: like patricians near the centre of the empire, Roman Britons withdrew from the cities to their villas, which entered on a palatial building phase, a "golden age" of villa life. Villae rusticae are essential in the Empire's economy. Two kinds of villa-plan in Roman Britain may be characteristic of Roman villas in general. The more usual plan extended wings of rooms all opening onto

3358-466: The extinction of late antiquity . Simon P. Ellis wrote in the American Journal of Archaeology that it represented "the disappearance of the Roman peristyle house marks the end of the ancient world and its way of life." "No new peristyle houses were built after A.D. 550." Noting that as houses and villas were increasingly abandoned in the fifth century, a few palatial structures were expanded and enriched, as power and classical culture became concentrated in

3431-410: The fifth century, but the concept of an isolated, self-sufficient agrarian working community, housed close together, survived into Anglo-Saxon culture as the vill , with its inhabitants – if formally bound to the land – as villeins . In regions on the Continent, aristocrats and territorial magnates donated large working villas and overgrown abandoned ones to individual monks ; these might become

3504-401: The form, and use of the villa would also spread as well. In post-Roman times a villa referred to a self-sufficient, usually fortified Italian or Gallo-Roman farmstead. It was economically as self-sufficient as a village and its inhabitants, who might be legally tied to it as serfs were villeins . The Merovingian Franks inherited the concept, followed by the Carolingian French but

3577-467: The head of the social authority of the pater familias . Triclinium : the Roman dining room. The area had three couches, klinai , on three sides of a low square table. The oecus was the principal hall or salon in a Roman house, which was used occasionally as a triclinium for banquets. Alae : the open rooms (or alcoves) on each side of the atrium. Ancestral death masks, or imagines , may have been displayed here. The wedding couch or bed,

3650-406: The house, where guests and dependents ( clients ) were greeted. The atrium was open in the center, surrounded at least in part by high-ceilinged porticoes that often contained only sparse furnishings to give the effect of a large space. In the center was a square roof opening called the compluvium in which rain could come, draining inwards from the slanted tiled roof. Directly below the compluvium

3723-417: The later French term was basti or bastide. Villa / Vila (or its cognates) is part of many Spanish and Portuguese placenames, like Vila Real and Villadiego : a villa / vila is a town with a charter ( fuero or foral ) of lesser importance than a ciudad / cidade ("city"). When it is associated with a personal name, villa was probably used in the original sense of a country estate rather than

SECTION 50

#1732790105781

3796-406: The master bedroom was a small wooden bed and couch which usually consisted of some slight padding. As the domus developed, the tablinum took on a role similar to that of the study. In each of the other bedrooms there was usually just a bed. The triclinium had three couches surrounding a table. The triclinium often was similar in size to the master bedroom. The study was used as a passageway. If

3869-461: The master of the house was a banker or merchant, the study often was larger because of the greater need for materials. Roman houses lay on an axis, so that a visitor was provided with a view through the fauces, atrium, and tablinum to the peristyle. Vestibulum ( fauces ): the vestibulum was the main entrance hall of the Roman domus . It is usually seen only in grander structures; however, many urban homes had shops or rental space directly off

3942-408: The northeastern Italian Peninsula the Palladian villas of the Veneto , designed by Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), were built in Vicenza in the Republic of Venice . Palladio always designed his villas with reference to their setting. He often unified all the farm buildings into the architecture of his extended villas while focusing on symmetry and perfect proportion. Examples are the Villa Emo ,

4015-410: The nuclei of monasteries . In this way, the Italian villa system of late Antiquity survived into the early Medieval period in the form of monasteries that withstood the disruptions of the Gothic War (535–554) and the Lombards . About 529 Benedict of Nursia established his influential monastery of Monte Cassino in the ruins of a villa at Subiaco that had belonged to Nero . From the sixth to

4088-450: The original architecture survives; only a single multi-level section of the vast complex remains. Even in its original state, the House of Augustus would not have been a good representation of a typical domus , as the home belonged to one of Rome's most powerful, wealthy and influential citizens. In contrast, the homes of Pompeii were preserved intact, exactly as they were when they were occupied by Roman people 2,000 years ago. The rooms of

4161-471: The private homes of the prosperous. The homes of the early Etruscans (predecessors of the Romans) were simple, even for the wealthy or ruling classes. They were small familiar huts constructed on the axial plan of a central hall with an open skylight. It is believed that the Temple of Vesta was, in form, copied from these early dwellings because the worship of Vesta began in individual homes. The huts were probably made of mud and wood with thatched roofs and

4234-416: The rest of the Old South functioned as the Roman Latifundium villas had. A later revival, in the Gilded Age and early 20th century, produced The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island , Filoli in Woodside, California , and Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. ; by architects-landscape architects such as Richard Morris Hunt , Willis Polk , and Beatrix Farrand . In the nineteenth century,

4307-415: The rule, replaced by stone buildings for the important ceremonial rooms. Traces of window glass have been found, as well as ironwork window grilles . With the decline and collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries, the villas were more and more isolated and came to be protected by walls. In England the villas were abandoned, looted , and burned by Anglo-Saxon invaders in

4380-401: The slope above the Vatican Palace . The Villa Madama , the design of which, attributed to Raphael and carried out by Giulio Romano in 1520, was one of the most influential private houses ever built; elements derived from Villa Madama appeared in villas through the 19th century. Villa Albani was built near the Porta Salaria. Other are the Villa Borghese ; the Villa Doria Pamphili (1650);

4453-402: The streets with the front door between. The vestibulum would run the length of these front tabernae shops. This created security by keeping the main portion of the domus off the street. In homes that did not have spaces for let in front, either rooms or a closed area would still be separated by a separate vestibulum . Atrium ( pl. : atria): the atrium was the most important part of

SECTION 60

#1732790105781

4526-519: The summer triclinium to stave off the heat. Most of the light came from the compluvium and the open peristylium . There were no clearly defined separate spaces for slaves or for women. Slaves were ubiquitous in a Roman household and slept outside their masters' doors at night; women used the atrium and other spaces to work once the men had left for the forum. There was also no clear distinction between rooms meant solely for private use and public rooms, as any private room could be opened to guests at

4599-549: The term villa was extended to describe any large suburban house that was free-standing in a landscaped plot of ground. By the time 'semi-detached villas' were being erected at the turn of the twentieth century, the term collapsed under its extension and overuse. The second half of the nineteenth century saw the creation of large "Villenkolonien" in the German speaking countries, wealthy residential areas that were completely made up of large mansion houses and often built to an artfully created masterplan. Also many large mansions for

4672-546: The term is more popularly applied to vacation rental usually located in countryside area. In Australia, "villas" or "villa units" are terms used to describe a type of townhouse complex which contains, possibly smaller attached or detached houses of up to 3–4 bedrooms that were built since the early 1980s. In New Zealand , "villa" refers almost exclusively to Victorian and Edwardian wooden weatherboard houses mainly built between 1880 and 1914, characterised by high ceilings (often 3.7 m or 12 ft), sash windows , and

4745-565: The valley of the River Thames and English countryside. Marble Hill House in England was conceived originally as a "villa" in the 18th-century sense. In many ways the late 18th century Monticello , by Thomas Jefferson in Virginia , United States is a Palladian Revival villa. Other examples of the period and style are Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland ; and many pre- American Civil War or antebellum plantations , such as Westover Plantation and many other James River plantations as well dozens of Antebellum era plantations in

4818-543: The wealthy German industrialists were built, such as Villa Hügel in Essen . The Villenkolonie of Lichterfelde West in Berlin was conceived after an extended trip by the architect through the South of England. Representative historicist mansions in Germany include the Heiligendamm and other resort architecture mansions at the Baltic Sea, Rose Island and King's House on Schachen in the Bavarian Alps , Villa Dessauer in Bamberg , Villa Wahnfried in Bayreuth , Drachenburg near Bonn , Hammerschmidt Villa in Bonn ,

4891-485: The yard space and being fully detached. The terms "twin-villa" and "mini-villa" have been coined meaning semi-detached and smaller versions respectively. Generally, these would be more luxurious and spacious houses than the more common row houses. The yard space would also typically feature some form of garden, trees or greenery. Generally, these would be properties in major cities, where there is more wealth and hence more luxurious houses. Domus In ancient Rome ,

4964-405: Was a hole in the ceiling (the domestic chimney would not be invented until the 12th century CE). This is where slaves prepared food for their masters and guests in Roman times. Posticum : a servant's entrance is also used by family members wanting to leave the house unobserved. The back part of the house was centred on the peristyle , much as the front centred on the atrium. The peristylium

5037-416: Was a small garden often surrounded by a columned passage, the model of the medieval cloister. Surrounding the peristyle were the bathrooms, kitchen and summer triclinium . The kitchen was usually a very small room with a small masonry counter wood-burning stove. The wealthy had a slave who worked as a cook and spent nearly all his or her time in the kitchen. During a hot summer day the family ate their meals in

5110-412: Was already popular with the Romans because of its favorable microclimate, one of the most important Villa Maritima of its time, the Miramare Castle , was built in the 19th century. Wealthy Romans also escaped the summer heat in the hills round Rome, especially around Tibur ( Tivoli and Frascati ), such as at Hadrian's Villa . Cicero allegedly possessed no fewer than seven villas, the oldest of which

5183-436: Was near Arpinum , which he inherited. Pliny the Younger had three or four, of which the example near Laurentium is the best known from his descriptions. Roman writers refer with satisfaction to the self-sufficiency of their latifundium villas, where they drank their own wine and pressed their own oil . This was an affectation of urban aristocrats playing at being old-fashioned virtuous Roman farmers, it has been said that

5256-402: Was the impluvium . Impluvium : an impluvium was basically a drained pool, a shallow rectangular sunken portion of the atrium to gather rainwater, which drained into an underground cistern. The impluvium was often lined with marble, and around which usually was a floor of small mosaic. Fauces : these were similar in design and function to the vestibulum , but were found deeper into

5329-579: Was the erection of rather minimalist mansions in the Bauhaus style since the 1920s, that also continues until today. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden "villa" denotes most forms of single-family detached homes , regardless of size and standard. The villa concept lived and lives on in the haciendas of Latin America and the estancias of Brazil and Argentina. The oldest are original Portuguese and Spanish Colonial architecture ; followed after independences in

#780219