Step Inside the Surprising Luxury of 18th Century Homes
November 4, 2024
Source: flickr
Let’s rewind a few centuries. Sweltering summer. No AC. No oscillating fan. Them just heat pressing in like a sot as company. But somehow, you’re cool. Comfortable, even. Why? Because you’ve got a punkah swinging lazily over your head, offering up a surprising luxury.
Yep, a punkah. It’s essentially an enormous ceiling fan, except it was operated with elbow grease — that of a servant outside the room, pulling a rope. The air would begin to stir, the bugs be sent packing and you’d be put on a throne. This was the epitome of comfort and class in its day, providing surprising luxury.
And the punkah was not an isolated invention. And one answer would be: Secret luxury, lots of it, little details that made life easier, prettier and honestly pretty damn cool. These innovations offered surprising luxury to those who could afford them.
Georgian and Palladian Vibes
I mean, homes were not thrown together back then. They were designed. Georgian architecture was all about symmetry — evenly spaced windows, well-balanced proportions, central halls that shrieked, “Look how together I am.”
Palladian style? That latter was for the true show-offs. Modeled on an Italian architect (Palladio — big name, big guy) this architecture had columns, arches, domes — just little palaces. And all that style was more than mere show. High ceilings made it cooler. Large windows equal better airflow. Thick walls? Natural insulation. These homes offered surprising luxury in every detail.
There weren’t beautiful houses being produced by people. They were solving design problems — real, functional stuff.
What’s Inside Counts Too
If anything, things got fancier inside. Sturdy fabrics, hand painted wallpapers, and my all-time favorite—Toile de Jouy. That’s the cloth with the little vignettes of shepherds and trees and picnics. If you’ve ever seen a cushion that appears as if it belongs in a French countryside manor, that’s the one.
And speaking of our old friend the punkah. It wasn’t just useful. It added movement to a room. Shadows would play over the space as it moved, and guests would be cooler — not only in the literal sense, but in terms of their social standing. If you had a punkah, that meant you had money, taste, and a hired hand to tug the cord for your comfort.
Gardens Were a Big Deal
Things were no better outside. A backyard wasn’t just a backyard, gardens were gardens. They were more akin to hyper-local, curated experiences. You could see hedge mazes, fountains, that kind of patchwork of geometric flower beds that someone has obviously spent an entire winter plotting out on a piece of graph paper while whispering a dream against the icy weather.
People would promenade, gossip, flirt, show off their new hats — you get the picture. It was part of the lifestyle.
The Comfort Legacy
Yes, we have smart thermostats and ceiling fans that have remotes. But the folks back then? They learned to live well on a budget. They converted the places they lived from nice to spacious to delightful. And honestly, they nailed it.
Now when I look at a ceiling fan, I see those riffling punkahs. No motors. Just some motion, fabric, and a whole lot of human ingenuity. Somehow at this price, it isn’t all bright and shiny gadgets that make a luxury car. Sometimes it’s a blast of chilled air on a sweltering day — and someone with plenty of smarts so he (usually with such a project it’s a he) can do this without having power. This indeed was the startling luxury of their day.