Introduction

THE disposition of corridors in a plan is determined by the needs of circulation in connection with specific apartments, halls, vestibules and staircases, while it is also governed by the uses of the building. For the purposes of this work, ordinary passage-ways are dealt with, such as allow of various methods of architectural treatment. No hard and fast rules can be laid down as to the proportion of length to width in a corridor, but it is safe to assume that the height should not exceed one and a half times the width: that it should be neither too tall nor excessively low, and that unlike the “long gallery” its use is to expedite circulation and not to encourage halting places. Corridors play an important part in the internal perspective of buildings, and should be designed to link up larger features and to give direct communication to salient points. They should not be thought of as bare passages, but should be divided in their length into bays of suitable width, and treated in a variety of ways to check the impression of undue length and to assist the mind of the spectator to realise that a general scale runs through the building. The corridor is important, and it should bear sympathetic relation to the design and proportion of adjacent halls and apartments.

In a long corridor, it is usual to divide the length into a number of bays corresponding to the width, and if possible these divisions should accord with the general proportions of the plan in order to preserve rhythm. Corridors designed on these lines can be covered with flat, semi-circular or segmental ceilings or with intersecting vaults springing from pilasters or corbels, while numerous arrangements of saucer domes with or without pendentives are equally permissible.

Sometimes a coupled pilaster Order can be introduced with good effect, but this should be reserved for important corridors and be designed in connection with axial points, such as the entrances to apartments opening directly off the corridor on either side. Every care must be given both in plan and elevation to the adjustment of a corridor to a feature of greater importance in the internal arrangement of a building: there should be no crude junctions. Generally speaking, corridors must not be too long and, if possible, should be widened at the centre by means of a top-lighted vestibule or by a staircase hall intersecting one side without breaking the flow of traffic. Reference to the staircase Plates, Nos. LVI and LXII, will convey an idea of this arrangement. Corridors can be lighted from the ends, sides, or points at the top where skylights can be conveniently inserted: where such lighting is debarred, however, the staircase and the hall should be so arranged as to light the corridor throughout its length.

The corridor and passage-way became a feature of English domestic architecture during the second half of the eighteenth century when considerable changes from the earlier types were introduced into the planning of the town house, and the corridor with flat or vaulted ceiling came into general use. It was further developed by the Brothers Adam and reached its zenith in this country under the guidance of Sir John Soane. During the Victorian period, taste reverted to pure Italian models taken from the courtyards of Renaissance palaces, and examples on a large scale are to be seen at the Foreign Office in Whitehall. The student, however, is advised to give his attention particularly to the work of the late eighteenth century architects in order to understand the more graceful and rational treatments of the subject.

A great variety of types can be evolved in this particular branch of design: such embellishments as niches for statuary, coupled pilasters, complete Orders, arcades and other features can be reserved for application to corridors where display is requisite, but no purpose would be served by illustrating types embodying these attributes, which can only be applied when a full knowledge of the problem in hand has been acquired.