City Architechture Question

One possible reason: it would allow for more natural light. That was more important back in the old days. Buildings need mechanical and utility spaces. And possibly servant's quarters.

And it allowed for the first floor level to be above street level. That was probably preferable when when was only a sidewalk in front of the building.

I was an architectural and engineering student, but I'm mostly guessing on this.

Based on a house a lot like that which my family once lived in, it was the working servants quarters. As in kitchen and laundry. Some houses the servants would sleep in the attic, others they slept in the basement - even cots in the kitchen. From the size of those properties, I'd expect the servants to be sleeping in the attic.
(Not that we had servants. The basement had been converted into a garden flat and a new modern kitchen squeezed in upstairs.)
I'd say purely from common sense and vague knowledge, not actually period documents, that having that sort of basement with a raised pavement had various benefits.
The raised pavement got you above the muck of the street.
The basement would have better light AND ventilation - important for kitchen and laundry.
The rest of the house is raised a bit higher, so the principal living rooms are that bit higher up in terms of getting sunshine, getting a better view and being raised above the street for more privacy.

I know that street. My son is at University just around the corner.

Quite often, houses with basements like that are built on a hill so the basement is at ground level at the back of the house, but below ground level at the front. It's a practical thing.

My first guess is that the buildings are on an incline, so designing it like that would maximize the layout and try to use whatever they can (like how many times the space under stairs would be used either as storage or a bathroom). This would allow an open space into the inclined part that would otherwise have been wasted.

If you can determine when the building was first erected, and you know what the common applications and means of heating, plumbing, etc., were at that time, you can easily speculate as to the lowermost floor's intended use. As time marches on, technical advancements (utilities, etc.), economics, and social evolution will, of course, have significant effects on any subsequent renovations.

Do you mean areaways? They were often built to receive deliveries - that way servants could bring groceries straight down to the kitchens rather than use the main door or back. Wikipedia has a decent write-up on them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_%28architecture%29

Bit of interesting history there!

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I've seen lots of floor plans for such things. Usually those raised basements had the kitchen, laundry and a day room (often called a servants' hall) for the servants. Also the servants' entrance.

The floor above it is sometimes called the "piano nobile" (although it's usually not called that in the US) and was where the best living and reception spaces went.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Simply a walk out basement. Puts the foundation below the frost line to keep freeze/thaw damage to a minimum. Usually living or business space in most areas.

Jeff

The kitty is correct.

Brownstones in NY pretty much all have basement/ground floor level apartments (the rare people that own the entire shebang I've seen use that for various things - as a kitchen/family room level, office/bedroom level, whatever level).

The windows let in light. There's can be a basement below that, btw, and those apartments can go out to the back garden, if there is one.

I'm only talking about NY; dunno the circumstance other places. It's not because of hills in the back or stuff - they're not like walkout basements in houses on hills. Also weren't really for utility stuff, to my knowledge. Most were living spaces afaik, and go out to the back.

Wow, those are pretty big bays. They're almost like sunken mini-courtyards. The ones I've seen in NY are a lot narrower. Mostly on older buildings.

I've seen that idea here, on modern, less impressive buildings, and, yeah, it gives natural light to the basements, which a) makes the basement rooms less claustrophobic, and b) in a lot of places, to count as a 'bedroom', a room has to have a window. So, if you want to up the price of your property by putting a suite in your basement, or even a couple of extra bedrooms, you need actual windows.

frimble3 said:

I've seen that idea here, on modern, less impressive buildings, and, yeah, it gives natural light to the basements, which a) makes the basement rooms less claustrophobic, and b) in a lot of places, to count as a 'bedroom', a room has to have a window. So, if you want to up the price of your property by putting a suite in your basement, or even a couple of extra bedrooms, you need actual windows.

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+1

In most jurisdictions building codes require that those bedroom windows (ground level and below) be of adequate size to function as emergency access/exits. Always check with local code authorities.

krashnburn the Google Streetview link was causing problems for many members because of bandwidth.

I've removed the link and substituted a screen shot of the building.

Thanks for your understanding.

ironmikezero said:

Always check with local code authorities.

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Excellent advice no matter what you're thinking of doing to your house. Or, indeed, if the house you're thinking of buying seems to have been 'renovated' (if you can tell changes have been made - check!) at all.

cornflake said:

The kitty is correct.

Brownstones in NY pretty much all have basement/ground floor level apartments (the rare people that own the entire shebang I've seen use that for various things - as a kitchen/family room level, office/bedroom level, whatever level).

The windows let in light. There's can be a basement below that, btw, and those apartments can go out to the back garden, if there is one.

I'm only talking about NY; dunno the circumstance other places. It's not because of hills in the back or stuff - they're not like walkout basements in houses on hills. Also weren't really for utility stuff, to my knowledge. Most were living spaces afaik, and go out to the back.

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Interesting thing I've found in my research - as fashionable neighborhoods moved during the 1800s, the brownstones got divided into apartments pretty quickly (~ 20 years after they were built) and often had a shop or cafe in that basement space even then.