Rear one-third of the villa

 

Middle section of villa (garden)

 

Townhouse villa, front section

 

Townhouse Villa, Ground Floor

 

The ground floor of the townhouse villa is divided into three areas:

--The first contains the Atrium, offices and library as well as the stairwell to the upper floor;

--The second is the garden and the colonnades;

--and the third is the kitchen, dining rooms, bath, and storerooms.

Townhouse Villa, Ground Floor

I have finished the ground floor of the townhouse villa, and the model is now in the studio here in my home awaiting the pictures, which I shall then be pleased to put on this blog. All the walls are now up, the final two colonnades are finished and ladders to the second floor are in place. The garden is finished and each room is numbered and painted to show up better in the pictures.

Townhouse Villa Room Walls

All of the room walls have been put up now on the ground floor, Two of the four garden colonnades are now completed. The only things now remaining for this level are the stairwell, slave ladder, the last two garden colonnades, (all of which are in work) and the painting of each room floor When those items are finished I shall be pleased to take some pictures of the ground floor of the villa and put them here on this blog. We are having some computer difficulty at the moment, but hopefully after Christmas we will be able to move ahead both on the villa construction pictures, as well as the study of the Roman City of "Lucentum."

Townhouse Villa Transverse Walls

Today the transverse walls on the ground floor of the townhouse villa have been completed. The next task will be to put up the shorter walls dividing the rooms with their individual doorways, and design the stairs to the upper floor as well as the ladder for the slave quarters above the kitchen and kitchen storeroom.

Townhouse Villa Road and Walkway

I have returned from my out-of-country excursion and wish to report that there is now a gravel roadway and a stone slab walkway in front of the villa. The exterior walls are up as I have mentioned and the kitchen and storeroom are walled in as well. As soon as I am able to get to it, we will plant grass around the villa and paint the room floors, When that is done, I will take a picture for the blog to show the advance in construction.

For the moment however, the basement has flooded a few inches deep and until I can get that cleaned up, I will be spending my free time in putting together the three navigational instrument models that I ordered before leaving. These items consist of a "Mariner's Astrolabe," "A Trilogy Of Time" (three time-determining instruments), and a "Planispheric Astrolabe." The description of these items can be found on the internet

http://celestaire.com

if anyone is interested. These instruments were originally developed by the Islamic culture and brought to Europe during the occupation of Spain and what is now Portugal. These are somewhat out of the Roman time period, however, it is well known that the Roman military and merchant vessels used the stars for guidance and these tools, of which I speak, are simply items to make star observations in regard to time and latitude easier and more accurate to find.

I managed to finish the walk through of the Roman city of Lucentum, just outside of Alicante, Spain, and I shall be pleased to continue the articles about that city in the "Roman Times Quarterly" which will first be published to the Militarium and New Roman Lists and then later to the Nova-Roma List, if anyone there is remotely interested in anything besides politics and argument (Rueful Grin!!!).

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens

Lucentum --Roman City

During our recent visit to Spain, we had the opportunity to revisit the Roman ruins of the ancient city of "Lucentum". These ruins are just outside the modern city of Alicante, Spain. The ruined city has been fully excavated and all of the artifacts found at the site now reside in the Roman Wing of the Alicante Archaelogical Mueseum. On our first visit, a year ago, we were only able to traverse about half of the city, and this year we finished walking all the open streets. We found that some reconstruction of the city has begun in the replacement of some pillars in the forum, and in the reconstructions of the city baths. One of the main entrances to the city through the outer wall has been restored with clear plastic on the walkway to show the special carvings of the stone work to recieve and lock the wooden drawbridge in place. There is also
a well-defined drainage system throughout the city to get rid of waste water and excessive rainwater. The city of "Lucentum" was the outgrowth of a Phoenician trading colony and was situated above a lagoon which reached into the interior between two highland plateaus. Over the years the lagoon has filled itself in from silt carried down by mountain streams and in the early 1900's the Spanish completed filling in the lagoon area, and put a narrow concrete drainage ditch down the center, draining waters into the sea.

The basic layout of the city currently is identified by the basic structure of the building foundations and city walls, and a variety of pictured signs placed around the city to identify points of special interest with diagrams and drawings showing the area as it must have looked in antiquity. The main streets of the city have been paved to make visitor walking easier, and special areas such as the main entrance gate, main drainage channel and the hypocaust have special gratings installed to enable visitors to walk out just above the structure to make a closer inspection of these areas. Certain houses and structures have been selected to show the probable original living facilities, baths, water storage, and pedestrian movement throughout the city.

In the museum are many different artifacts which were found in the city and these include a very large variety of flasks, and clay pots, as well as tools, and religious icons of various kinds, indicating that the populace worshipped different gods as would be natural for a trading colonial city. The main export of the city was olive oil and fish as well as "garum." There are the remains of olive press weights in several places throughout the ruins. In the future, I shall be pleased to redraw the city map that we were given in a larger format which identifies many of the ancient structures, as well as provide for your viewing some photographs of the city taken during our walkabout. These further comments will be put into the "Roman Times Quarterly" for your enjoyment.

Respectfully submitted;

Marcus Audens

Townhouse Villa Exterior Walls

The exterior walls in the townhouse villa are now up. This will be the last work I will do on the villa until my return, The first attempt at a lawn around the rustic villa turned out fairly well, however there are a few bare spots which I will deal with, also when I return.

Townhouse Villa Exterior Walls

Today the four walls went up on the ground floor of the townhouse villa. This will be the lat of the construction on this project until I return from my trip. The first go around of establishing a lawn around the rustic vills went pretty well, There are just a few spots which are bare and I will get some people onto that also when I return

Masonry Twin Arch Bridge

 

Masonry Twin Arch Bridge, top view.

Villa Progress

Today the progress with the Rustic Villa has gone forward with the laying of the front approach walk, and a lawn all around the villa, In regard to the townhuse villa the ground floor is laid and the rooms and spaces are clearly marked for construction to begin.

"Townhouse" Villa

Ladies and Gentlemen;

Well, we are on our way with the basement finished.  The rectangular shape of the house is taken from a similar building in the suburbs of the city of Pompeii which has been completely excavated and explained in detail.  It was built on a rectangular lot between corners on a residential street.

As indicated on the previous floor plan provided, there are two hypocausts, one to heat the major living portion of the house, and one to heat the dining area.  The storerooms are provided essentially for both food and fuel storage as well as the inevitable brick-a-brac collected in a house being constructed.  The piping from the main cistern under the atrium would have been clay pipe buried in a trench cut into the ground under the house.  The piping for the toilet is not shown, but would have led into a common waste reservoir of some kind.  The well has been moved from the atrium, since in my view, it was simply too far to walk to the kitchen, and getting water from a well is not what I wanted to see in that part of the house.  I could have put it even closer but it gets the kitchen slaves out of the atrium, which was the primary reason for the design.  

Essentially the second or ground floor will be the living section of the house while the upstairs of the house will mostly be devoted to bedrooms.

Respectfully Submitted;

Marcus Audens

Townhouse Villa Basement Floor Model #2

 

This is a second view of the "townhouse" villa basement floor plan model.  See the previous model image for color explanation.

"Townhouse" Villa, Baement Floor Plan Model

 

Above is a view of the "townhouse" villa basement model.  The RED areas are hypocaust areas, the YELLOW areas are passageways and storerooms, the BLACK areas are the water cisterns and well.  The BROWN rectangle enclosing all indicates the ground level below which the basement area is constructed.  The white lines are walls in the basement area.

"Townhouse" Villa Floor Plans

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The three preceding drawings are the floor plans for the model "townhouse" villa that I will be constructing in the next few days.  My plans are to build each floor separately , and then put them together for a final picture.  In that way, everyone will get to see each room division.  The villa has a large cistern (water tank) just below the Atrium space, as well as a smaller cistern next to the bath.  Since the main hypocaust will not be used as much as the bath hypocaust it made sense to put the bath  separate from the main one, as well as to have a separate fuel supply.

This villa also has a well from which the water for the house could be taken.  As I have indicated previously this design is taken from a Roman style house that I visited when we lived in Spain.  The small city that we lived in (Puerto de Santa Maria) just across the bay from the large walled city of Cadiz, was in place and old when Columbus came to get prisoners from the prison there, so some of these stone villas have been there a very long time.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens  

"Townhouse" Villa, Baement Floor Plan

 

This is the basement floor plan of the "townhouse" villa.

"Townhouse" Villa, Second Floor Plan

 

This is the second floor plan of the "townhouse" villa.

"Townhouse" Villa Ground Floor Plan

 

This is the ground floor plan of the "townhouse" villa on Palatine Hill. 

"Rustic" Villa, End View

 

This is the second villa end view.  Note the small room extending from the side of the villa.

"Rustic" Villa, End View

 

"Rutic" Villa, Rear View

 

This picture is the rear of the villa.

"Rustic" Villa Front view

 

In this picture note the shade screens over the front extending rooms and entrance way.

"Rustic" Villa structure completed!

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The "rustic" villa structure is now complete.  The roof has been put on a special shading screens over the extended rooms in the front.  The four new pictures of the villa will give an idea of the size of the structure.  Now that the structure has been completed the furniture will have to be selected, the interior walls completed, the interior decoration decided upon, and while that is being taken care of, the gardens must be laid out.  The landscaping and place where the villa rests also needs to be decided upon.

I see that there will be plenty of room beneath the roof for storerooms and so a floor plan for the storerooms, as well as the accommodations for the slaves that will be a part of the villa must be drawn out and planned.

The rough sketches for the "townhouse" villa floor plans have been completed and I am now beginning to draw them out in the architectural plans as well as figuring out the plans for the house model similar to that of the "rustic" villa.  As the drawings are completed I shall have pictures taken of them and post them on the blog.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens   

"Rustic" Villa , side view

 

"Rustic" Villa, side view.  Note the small room extending from the side of the structure.  I believe this is the lavatory.

"Rustic" Villa, rear of villa

 

This is a picture of the rear of the villa, notice the back door room and the added window area.

"Rustic" Roman Villa - No roof

 

This is the villa front with all  vertical wall installed. 

"Townhouse" Villa #2

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The lower portion of the "rustic" villa are finished and ready to be photographed, as soon as my wife finishes her work.  Meanwhile the design of the "Townhouse" villa continues.  I am also making copies of the "rustic" villa plans in case anyone wants a hard copy.

In regard to the "townhouse" villa plans, I have rough sketches of the ground and first levels of the villa detailed.  I am following the ideas expressed in the following book which seems to me to be a very nice house indeed!!  

--Stephan Biesty, "Rome, In Spectacular Cross-Section," Scholastic Nonfiction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, 2003, (0-439-45546-4).

While this is a juvenile book it illustrates in excellent detail all the information needed to design and build a model "townhouse" villa.  

There are two views of the villa  in the book.  One is a side view showing both upper and lower levels.  The second is a top view, about 30 to 45 degrees off top center, and showing rooms and passages below the tiled roof.  It is from these views that I will make my final design layout for the "townhouse" villa.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens 

The Walls are up!!

Ladies and Gentlemen;

In my daily visit to the "rustic" villa today, I found the walls were mostly up and the work proceeding apace with my wishes.  The villa is beginning to look like a place that one might like to live!  My next project for this particular structure is to finalize the outline of the gardens, and the interior floor plan of the house.  I have taken three pictures of the villa  as it is now, and will place them in the blog as soon as they are set into the computer.

This villa is rather like a "get-away" cabin in the hills.  It will not have all of the elements of the "townhouse"  or "seaside" villas which are presently in the planning stages.  The walls of the villa will be made of clay brick and the roof of cedar beams and clay tiles.  The walls of the villa will be painted with a lime-wash which dries to a brilliant white and will then be trimmed in red.

Today I received word by messenger that a "corn ship" in which I have an interest has arrived at the seaport, and so tomorrow I will make my way down the Tiber once more to view the ship and her cargo, and to seek out any other opportunities which might be available with the arrival of such a vessel.  While I am there it will also be prudent I believe to look in on the warship  that is a-building once again.  The builder has indicated a problem with getting the lumber that he has on order, and I want to see if that problem has been taken care of 

This morning I met with some of my patrons and an agreement has been struck with a freedman of some length of acquaintance and his wife to stay with the "rustic" villa to keep a close eye on the construction from here on.  He has a complete list of what I wish to have done at the villa, and to what kinds of wood I want to strengthen the building as well as to decorate it.  I also will want a well and a cistern dug convienient to the house, A garden layout in accordance with my drawings, and stone work in the garden itself.  I have requested a sculptor to draw up some plans for some stone statues to place in the garden as well as a variety of designs for stone benches.  My patron will keep his eyes on all these things and notify me when I need to make some decisions.  This will give me more time to follow my other tsks in the city and at the docks.  I have indicated to him that if the villa turns out well then he is to have a position at the villa as the manager and his wife as one of the cooks.  I have also selected a patron to stay in the vicinity of the warship and to visit the shipyard daily.  He is an older man who has had a great deal of experience at sea, but who has fallen on hard times recently.  He will accompany me tomorrow on the trip to the seaport and we will make arrangements for him to stay in the vicinity, and also to send me a message as he feels the need.  I believe that he will be a great help to me in this effort and perhaps in similar efforts in the future.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens             

"Rustic "Villa" second set of walls

The first set of four walls for the "rustic" villa have been reinforced with balsa wood in order to give them a stiffness in setting the four basic walls up on the house plan.  The walls have been glued up and will be dry in the morning.  Meanwhile, I have cut out the front wall of the villa and the wall sections for the two end rooms on either end of that wall which extend forward.  These three cutouts will form the front part of the villa.  I will back these walls with balsa stripping, when I collect the first four walls from my workbench tomorrow.

When I get the seven walls up and fastened down solidly on the plan, then I will take another picture of the villa as it looks at that point to give you somewhat of an idea about how the "construction" is coming along.

In the design of the "townhouse" villa, I will be making a third story sketch of the basement or sub-level area of the house.  This will consist of two sections separated from each other:--the hypocaust (furnace) and the basement storage area.  The hypocaust will heat only one or two rooms on the ground floor, probably the lady of the house bedroom, and the office.  These will be the most often used rooms in the house during inclement weather.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens

Villa Story

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I am finally back in Rome again after visiting the the shipyard,  Unfortunately the builder is behind his schedule due to the late delivery of needed lumber and spars for the ship a-building.  I will have to visit the lumberyard sometime soon to see what the problem is there.  The villa construction is also slowed due to my absence.  However, the basic walls will be strengthened today and ready to set up by tomorrow.  Meanwhile my search for the names of each room that I want in the "townhouse" villa continues.

Latin House Terms

Today, on my way to the shipyard, to talk with the manager there about the ship I have an interest in, I sketched out a rough floor plan for my proposed "Townhouse" villa on Palatine Hill.  The diagram is for a two story villa with a small garden  I believe that I have enough rooms outlined to meet all my present and future needs for a foreseeable time ahead.  I am presently doing a little research into the meanings of some of the latin names for the rooms and spaces in the villa.  So far the following items are on my list:

--Atrium / Peristyle:-Enclosed spaces open to light and air.  An open central court from which enclosed rooms led off.  The sloped hole in the roof was called the compluvian, and the hole in the floor impluvium which served as water collection.

--Peristyle:-An open courtyard within the house, with columns or square pillars surrounding the garden which supported a shady roofed portico, whose inner walls were often embellished with elaborate wall paintings of landscape and architecture.  The courtyard might contain:

• flowers and shrubs;
• benches;
• fountains;
• sculpture;
• fish ponds;
• the lararium, a shrine  for the lares (household gods), might br located here or in the atrium. 

--Tabulinum:-Tabulae (family records);

--Cubiculi:-Bedrooms, three;

--Triclinia:-Dining Room;

--Oeci:-Reception Rooms;

--Hypocaust:-heating structure under the building;

-- Latrina:-lavatory, toilet;

-- Frigidarium; (cold room)

    tepidarium; (warm room)

    caldarium (hot room):-baths, three rooms;

--bibliotheca:-library;

-- officium:-office;

--lararium:-Temple;

-- cucina:-kitchen;

--copia; horreum (for wine):-storerooms, (wine, oil, wood, garum, grain, charcoal, etc.)

--acticus:-access, exit;

--Portico:-acollonade (line of columns) with a roof structure over a walkway.  

--Columnade:-row of columns;

--cryptoporticus:-covered walk;

--cenatorium:-dining room;

--xystus:-open colonnade, walk, or avenue

--horatus rusticus:-  rustic garden, outside of the house;

--palaestra:-gymnasium;

--posticulum:-small back building;

--fauces:-throat, pass, or narrow channel;

--Tablinum:-Family records.

Well, I think that is all that I should be concerned with.  Now comes the drawing of the plans.  That will be the next task.

By the way I have sent the pictures of the Roman stone bridge model that I built to the Militarium, and the warship that is under construction is there as well.  For those who may have an interest in Roman Military subjects I offer the chanc to join the Militarium after you become a Nova Roma citizen.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens

Roman Villa #2

In response to a couple of comments:

--I probably would have selected some place on a quiet back street of Herculinum, or Pompeii but for the kind offer of the good Senator, however, the "Rustic" villa and attached farm will be somewhere fairly near to one of the above, and also to the coastline just far enough from the bustle of the city but close enough to run in to do business or buy something nice for my wife;

--Yes, I expect that living in the City of Rome would have been somewhat tumultuous and at times awkward, but it would also have been the center of commerce in the Roman World and as such almost a mandatory place in order to take advantages of the business / commercial opportunities offered to make a comfortable living.

So far, I have the plan of a townhouse of some size that was excavated in England (http:bartleby.loct.dmu.ac.uk/~dcawth00/projects/vinestreet_large.jpg)and both the large and small Amada Model Designs large and small.  I have a couple of books which deal in some degree with villa floorplans.  Finally I have a growing list of the items that I want to have in the "Townhouse" Villa.

So far, you will have seen the floor plan layout of the "Rustic" villa structure with it's four basic walls.  Remember that all of this is being done with models and drawings. I am building the "Rustic" villa first so that I will have some place to live while the "Townhouse" villa is being planned and built.  I am thinking that if I have to create the model plans as well as put it together it will take some time.

At the present time the man Marcus Audens is living in a modest apartment close by the Tiber River shipping offices below the city of Rome.  It is there that his cousin, a throughly trustworthy gentleman, handles his business for him.  However, the cousin does not have the imagination or perceptivity, on occasion, to sense certain opportunities which make the difference between moderate success, and windfall success.  I will, for the time being, remain in the apartment which is quite comfortable and reasonable in cost, in order to watch over the investments in the city and the seaport which hold the most interest for me until the "Rustic" villa is completed and furnished.  Meanwhile, I have a ship in which I have some interest abuilding on some ways nearby the Seaport. I will be visiting that vessel in the ner future and provide you a picture as soon as I return.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens   

 

"Rustic" Villa Floor Plan

This is the floor plan of the "Rustic" villa together with the four basic walls of the villa.

Roman Villa #1

This blog is to follow my efforts to build a Roman Villa.  Senator Quintillianus (NovaRoma) has most graciously and generously offered the plot of land next to him on Palatine Hill.  In response to that offer I am working toward building a model of a "Rustic" Villa in the country, while I gather information in regard to the design of a "Town" Villa on the offered property.

Master Regulas, in his wishing me well on living in the city of Rome, has given me the idea to add the story of my life in Nova Roma.  Obviously, I must have a source of income if I am to build two villas, and so I will in addition to a running description of the building process be talking about my current life in the Roman world.

Tonight my wife has taken a photo of the ground plan of the Rustic villa together with the four basic interior walls of the structure.  When that photo is entered onto the Internet, I will be pleased toad it to this blog.  I also intend to include my first two postings on the NewRoman List about this project.

Pleas keep in mind that I am new to this whole idea of blogging so if anyone sees anything by which I can improve the blog I should be glad to hear it.

Respectfully;

Marcus Audens