When envisioning historic interiors many people picture rooms fitted with expanses of gleaming wooden floors embellished with oriental rugs.
Kind of floor they had in 1840s.
One from 1880 and i believe on historic registry.
It was definitely challenging to refinish as it was thin.
I have never seen them on the steps.
Floors matting painted canvas floorcloths and cheap woven coverings already were available in the 18th century.
You can tell from the gun rug and antlers that this was a hunting family and from the spinning wheel that while they were fairly well off they still made due with what they had.
Hand loomed ingrain and brussels carpets were more widely available by the 19th century.
Herringbone is a similar form of tongue and grove type floor popular in this era.
The james coolidge octagon house in madison new york is even more unique for 1850 because it is inlaid with cobblestones another 19th century fad in more rocky locales.
Inside an 1880 s home.
Octagon houses are rare and are not always inlaid with local stones.
Victorian era flooring began around the period of queen victoria s reign in england beginning in the mid 1830s.
Typical of the commercial greek revival architecture of the 1830s and 1840s in lower manhattan warehouses in the south seaport district were constructed with upper stores of brick surmounting granite trabeated ground floors.
Mostly floors underneath were bare softwood boards neither stained nor varnished.
Most windows in commercial buildings still retained a residential scale such as this double hung six over six wood window.
This perception of the past is only partly accurate in truth polished hardwood floors and room size oriental carpets were not commonplace until the late 19th century.
An elegant high ceilinged home in cortland new york in the 1890s.
Like most of the art and design coming from that historical period the floor style.
Some block floors survive today and can be removed cleaned of the tar and relaid in a modern mastic.
Each room had a big fireplace and a different border of maple cherry walnut.
More often than not we have seen these types of floors nailed in not glued.