Within a Roman city, on the other hand, patrician dwellings might be very extensive, but they rarely identified their grandeur to the street, beyond the public amenity of a sheltered Portico. For example, Nero's Domus Aurea on the Palatine Hill, Rome was organized as a series of glittering pavilions in gardens. It, however, was not a mansion. From architectural uses of that hill comes the word, Palace.
Following the fall of Rome the practice of building unfortified villas ceased, and we lost mansions for a time. The building most suitable for the troubled times in which the leaders of nations found themselves was the castle or chateau, from Latin castellum. In effect, the leadership moved from the way station to the fortified camp.
Today, many of the oldest inhabited mansions around the world began their existence as fortified castles in the Middle Ages. As social conditions slowly changed and stabilised fortifications were able to be reduced, and over the centuries gave way to comfort. Castles were abandoned in favor of stately country homes. Today the fortified homes litter the countryside or have been turned into museums to help pay fo their upkeep. It became fashionable for the elite society of Europe to pursue the social circuit from country home to country home, with intervals at town homes. Thus a nice home in the country was once again a mansion, or "stopping place" and the modern mansion began to evolve. [image]
It was in the 16th century that mansions really began to be built in a completely unfortified and gracious style, with gardens, parks and drives. This was the era of Renaissance architecture. Hatfield House is a superb example of a house built during the transition period in England. In Italy classic villas such as Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia were typical, but individually diverse forms, of the new style of mansion.
The reasons for building and owning these magnificent edifices were parallel to the Roman uses, nor was this an unintentional effect. It was extremely important for powerful people and families to keep in social contact with each other, as they were the primary molders of society in these times before democracy was able to reemerge. The rounds of visits and entertainments were an essential part of the societal process. The novels of Jane Austen paint an informal picture of it. State business was often discussed and determined in informal settings. Human nature being what it is, there probably was also a motive of providing the owner with an obvious Status symbol. And yet, as Charles II of Britain discovered during his Restoration, the ordinary people typically expected and demanded such symbols, and would accept nothing less! Times of revolution reversed this value. During its revolution, France lost a large part of its country homes to incendiary committees, who removed them from the future heritage of the country in anger.
Until World War II it was not unusual for a moderately sized mansion in England such as Cliveden to have an indoor staff of 20 and an outside staff of the same size, while, in a ducal mansion such as Chatsworth House the numbers were far higher. In the great houses of Italy, the number of retainers employed to staff them was often even greater than in England, whole families plus extended relations would often inhabit warrens of rooms in basements and attics. It is doubtful that a 19th century Marchesa would even know the exact numbers who served her. Most European mansions also were the hub of vast estates. A true estate (the mediaeval villa, French ville) always contains at least one complete Village and its Church. Large estates such as that of Woburn Abbey have several villages attached.
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There is no strict definition of how many rooms a house has to have before it can be termed a mansion. Until the mid 20th century the European mansion would often have a hall, two or three salons or drawing rooms, library, billiards room, ball room, dining room, breakfast room, morning room, study and numerous bedrooms. Until the middle of the last century European mansions were often short of bathrooms, often only two or three in a house of 20 plus bedrooms. In addition to the principal bedrooms would be far more for the staff usually on the uppermost or attic floors.
In Japan, a mansion is Doublespeak for an Apartment.
Fifth Avenue in New York at this time was lined with numerous mansions, designed by the leading architects of the day, many in European gothic styles, built by the many families who were making their fortunes, and thus achieving their social aspirations, in the mid 19th century. However, nearly all of these have now been demolished, thus depriving New York of a Boulevard to rival, in the architectural sense, any in Paris, London or Rome-where the many large mansions and palazzos built or remodelled during this era still survive.
[image] Even in Europe some 19th-century mansions were often built as replicas of older houses, the Château de Ferrières in France was inspired by Mentmore Towers which in turn is a copy of Wollaton Hall. Other mansions were built in the new and innovative styles of the new era such as the Arts and crafts style: The Breakers is a pastiche of an Italian Renaissance Palazzo; Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire is a faithful mixture of various French châteaux. One of the most enduring and most frequently copied styles for a mansion is the palladian - particularly so in the 18th century. However, the gothic style was probably the most popular choice of design in the 19th century. The most bizarre example of this was probably Fonthill Abbey which actually set out to imitate the mansions which had truly evolved from mediaeval gothic abbeys following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.
Mansions built during and after the 19th century seldom were supported by the large estates of their predecessors. These new mansions were often built as the week-end retreats of businessmen who commuted to their offices by the new railways, which enabled them to leave the City more easily. Before this era most owners of mansions were the old Aristocracy.
A McMansion (1980s-2000s) is a speculatively-built, price-inflated suburban house meant to imitate a mansion. They are usually built from standard plans, with only some cosmetic detailing and a few design changes available to the buyer. In contrast a real mansion is normally built by an Architect to the exact needs of the clients.
The costly time spent by an experienced architect is a better indicator of the lasting status of a mansion than the number of its rooms, its total size, or its special amenities. The homes and mansions designed by the late Richard Neutra and Quinlan Terry are good examples of modern designs which have been nearly perfectly tailored to fit a particular customer.
A modern mansion today may not necessarily be limited to a single house standing alone. Compounds, or a grouping of larger houses have become more popular with the aspiring middle classes. The Kennedy Compound is an example of one family building large houses on a single plot.