Cutaways, Floorplans, & Blueprints

Bernie was correct and righteous for decades.

Breanna’s apt. is a narrow, 550 sq.ft. space in a townhouse that’s been divided into several apt.’s. Her decor is Modern Bohemian and she shares it with her cat, “Mista Don’t Play.”

It’s not very wide, but she has it set up nicely. The main room fits a dining area, living room, and home office. 

The apt. has a rare, working fireplace, which is a coveted feature.

In a nook next to the fireplace, she made a lovely home office area.

The kitchen is in a tiny corner nook. 

A narrow hall next to the kitchen leads to the bedroom and bath.

Cute small bedroom.

And, a tiny bath. Great ideas on how to lay out a small, narrow apt. 

In this ordinary apt. building is the most extraordinary apt.

The lobby looks typical of a high rise. 

But, welcome to what the owner calls “The Forest and Heaven” apt.

The living room. Do you love the tree stumps and blue “rocks?”

Here’s the galley kitchen.

The dreamy bedroom is like sleeping in the clouds. This must be the heaven part.

Until the 17th century a ship was a symbol of the monarchy and that is how these ships were built. There was the typical flat stern mirror, this reduced cracks and fissures in the strongly curved area of the planks at the stern of round ships in warm tropical waters considerably and manoeuvring was made much easier. The most obvious decorative element was the coat of arms with paintings and the small offset balcony.

Model of HMS Price Royal, 55 guns, 1610, here with the round transom

From the first half of the 17th century onwards, this changed quite quickly, as the flat stern mirror made it difficult to defend the lower hull and made it difficult to keep the rudder in perfect condition. Therefore the round transom stern of the ship was built instead of the old flat transom. With the square inlay, the rear part of the hull ended in a transverse plate, which had made it possible to mount stern cannons near the waterline, allowing better defence at low height, especially against galleys.  The new round stern was formed by a curved planking, which was rounded at the waterline towards the stern post, allowing a more even water flow towards the rudder, which improved handling. Another consequence was that the rudder head could now be accommodated through the counter, with a canvas cover over it to keep water out in rough weather, and was thus inside the ship rather than outside, making the tiller completely inboard and less vulnerable in battle.

Model of HMS St. Michael, 90-98 guns, 1669

The decoration changed to the extent that the small balcony disappeared and was replaced by half-bottle shaped side extensions. The coat of arms was preserved and was further enhanced by extravagant gold underlaid wooden decorations and figures and stern lanterns.

During the 18th century there was a noticeable increase in the breadth of the stern and in the complexity of its framing, the figurative structures increased and the coat of arms disappeared but was replaced by an even more complex carving. Open Galleries at the stern had been indroduced in the 1670’s, and initially took the form of jutting balconies in imitation of french models, but later the open area was often kept within the depth of the gallery or with minimal projection.

Model of HMS Royal William, 100 guns, 1719

The galleries were at the levels of the upper deck and the quaterdeck, but not on the middle deck, although there was a row of lights at this level, and occasionally also a fourth tier on the poop (smaller ships of the line, had in this case only one gallery on the height of the quater deck). Originally these quater galleries were shut off from the stern gallery by a door. Above the transom, the structure of the stern gallery was very light, partly to save weight, but largely becaue it was difficult to combine strength woth the excectations of senior officers regarding their living standards. The worst excesses of height and decorations, however, were curbed by the mid- century.

Painting of a hull model of HMS Royal George, 100 guns, 1756

However, although popular with flagofficers, open galleries made the ship vulnerable to bad weather and a following sea, and the battle hardened officers of the Nelson era accepted the superiorty of closed sterns. 

Full hull model of HMS Victory, 100 guns, 1765. Depicted after extensive refit (her so-called “large repair”) completed in 1803, prior to the Battle of Trafalgar. Model also shows further modifications which were proposed after Trafalgar which were not carried out

The closed stern from 1800, did at least allow more guns to be directed aft. The dashed lines of the stern frames underline how feeble the glass and cabinetwork of the stern was in comparison with the thick oak broadside of the ship, which made the tactic of raking from astern so devastating in battle- a ship crossing the stern cloud fire a rolling broadside down the length of the target vessel, a ploy used so successfully at Trafalgar that it must have provoked some blue sky thinking. The solution was the circular sternintroduced by Robert Seppings, more substantial framing was carried round the after end of the ship, and with some of lights doublings as gunports, it allowed an all round field of fire, including the previously dead arcs on the quarters.

Model of HMS Caledonia, 120 guns, 1808. This half and half model shows the new method on the left and the old method on the right. 

The open galleries of light ironwork were now entirely outside of the ship’s main structure, and were accessed through doors in the stern which also served as gunports in action. The advantage was not only that the ship became stracturally stronger, but that this also enabled the guns towards the stern to be run out so far as to prevent accidents to the stern by their explosion. The Navy Board made the new design mandatory from June 1817.

Sectional model, of an unkown ship, 1819 shows the elliptical stern

“The hair, lips, and eyes…reflect poor taste.” Clothing for Moderns. 1949.