The real-life inspiration for the library from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 1: Archer
In chapter 8 of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer, there is a very important architectural anomaly in Mr. Farrimond’s home:
She came out along a wide, airy hallway that she recognized, since Miss Farrimond’s bedroom was only fifty yards to her right. To her left, the hallway continued for several yards before ending at a small window. Directly across from the stairway was a narrow passageway blocked by a pedestal and a truly ugly vase.
The first time Phoebe and the Misses Laytons had been at Miss Farrimond’s home for a garden party in the backyard, they had been given a tour of the house. Miss Layton had commented on the oddly-placed vase, and with a mischievous smile, Miss Farrimond had proceeded to set it aside and lead them down the narrow, L-shaped passage. It ended abruptly in a plain door, and she reached above the lintel for an iron key.
The door had opened above a vast library, two stories tall. A narrow walkway lined three walls of the library, edged by an iron railing, with bookshelves against the walls and a wrought-iron set of stairs that curled up from the floor.
“This used to be the nursery before my grandfather renovated the house,” Miss Farrimond said. “He removed the floor to expand the library upward, but was too miserly to order the work to remove the door and the passageway.”
I based this little L-shaped passageway ending in a nursery door on an actual nursery in a manor house I visited in England on vacation. Unfortunately, I don’t remember which manor house (it might have been Chatsworth, but don’t quote me on that).
But it had a narrow passage that led off from the main hallway, ending in a small door that opened into the nursery of the house.
The two-story library was based on a small library in Sudbury Hall, the manor house whose interior was used for the interior shots of Pemberley in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.
(Here is me and my friend Liz Babbs in the gallery where Darcy stalks down, brooding about Elizabeth!)
The library was not in the mini-series, but here’s a photo of it that I took when I toured the house. Isn’t it neat? I’d love a library like that!
She came out along a wide, airy hallway that she recognized, since Miss Farrimond’s bedroom was only fifty yards to her right. To her left, the hallway continued for several yards before ending at a small window. Directly across from the stairway was a narrow passageway blocked by a pedestal and a truly ugly vase.
The first time Phoebe and the Misses Laytons had been at Miss Farrimond’s home for a garden party in the backyard, they had been given a tour of the house. Miss Layton had commented on the oddly-placed vase, and with a mischievous smile, Miss Farrimond had proceeded to set it aside and lead them down the narrow, L-shaped passage. It ended abruptly in a plain door, and she reached above the lintel for an iron key.
The door had opened above a vast library, two stories tall. A narrow walkway lined three walls of the library, edged by an iron railing, with bookshelves against the walls and a wrought-iron set of stairs that curled up from the floor.
“This used to be the nursery before my grandfather renovated the house,” Miss Farrimond said. “He removed the floor to expand the library upward, but was too miserly to order the work to remove the door and the passageway.”
I based this little L-shaped passageway ending in a nursery door on an actual nursery in a manor house I visited in England on vacation. Unfortunately, I don’t remember which manor house (it might have been Chatsworth, but don’t quote me on that).
But it had a narrow passage that led off from the main hallway, ending in a small door that opened into the nursery of the house.
The two-story library was based on a small library in Sudbury Hall, the manor house whose interior was used for the interior shots of Pemberley in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice.
(Here is me and my friend Liz Babbs in the gallery where Darcy stalks down, brooding about Elizabeth!)
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