Need a word for this...architectural...thing

[alchemist]

And yay! Do I win with 'drop to the basement?'

So far! But it's only the first draft

 

[ratsy]

basement suite outdoor landing?

 

[Ronald T.]

I believe it's called a "basement entrance", one reached by descending a flight of stairs. The space below the bottom window is, indeed, flat. But the bottom of the space is no more than eight to ten feet deep. This comes from someone who has been a general contractor for more than thirty-five years.

But what do I know? I'm just a hermit in the woods.

As always, my best to you all.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My thought is that it's actually a walkout basement or basement entrance. If it has steps leading down to it it's a wlk up basement. Sometimes I think they call it a daylight basement, but that may be American.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[J D Foster]

I just saw part of a BBC documentary in my lunch break where the presenter called this area on a Georgian house a "Light well" The house she was stood outside looked just like your picture. Now if I read the phrase "light well" in a book I would have to go and look it up as I wouldn't have a clue what it meant

 

[James118]

Good question. I have one pop up in a prequel too. Let me see what I wrote...

Think I called it a light well.

 

[HareBrain]

I'm not sure the presenter got it right. A "light well" is in the middle of a large building, or between two townhouses (but only in the middle of the sides, so the fronts and backs still join) and runs from the roof all the way to the basement (or to a glass ceiling in the basement).

The open space in front of the basement is traditionally just called "the area", as others have said (though it's an incredibly vague-sounding term).

 

[J D Foster]

I'm not sure the presenter got it right.

I vote you tell her, she had a stern university professor look about her, you know, the kind who's lecture you wouldn't dare talk in

 

[Ray McCarthy]

A "light well" is in the middle of a large building

Definitely INSIDE a building. Absolutely not the basement/servants/tradesman entrance. On many Georgian and Victorian town houses the normal "rear" (tradesman's / servants) entrance didn't exist except on bin days*. Tradesmen & servants went DOWN the steps from the street, often the door was under the step UP to the front door, only used by the posh people and personal visitors.

I've read the books and renovated some of the properties. I'm not an expert on architecture, though my mum is. I've never heard the below street entrance called a light well, not even when it was covered over with obscured / translucent glass brick windows to let in light to a cellar or later when pavement made wider. A light well is usually in the roof and usually feeds a room on floor below the top floor or a landing on the top floor.

[* a door in an alley, often not numbered. Leading into a garden or yard with 6' to 8' wall all round, usually bolted. Thus only open on bin day and only useful for people leaving by back door of house, no use for tradesfolk or servants to get in]

 

[J D Foster]

Not saying it is to be trusted, but wikipedia says:

"A subterranean lightwell at the front of a building to provide light to a basement is called an area (or areaway in North American usage)"

So I would I be right to assume that an "area" is a type of lightwell? If so then Area would be the best way to describe it in a book perhaps. Though possibly the presenter was right as she was referring to the "Area" as a type of lightwell... assuming I have read and interpreted this correctly, which is by no means given.

To be fair (before today) if I'd read about either an "Area" or a"lightwell" in this context I would have been unsure what was being referenced. I would have understood basement stairs as a descriptor though. That said I live under a rock and seem to lack of general knowledge that other people take for granted, so I may not be the best person to judge.

 

[HareBrain]

I'm not sure this is really general knowledge, though. I might have guessed at the meaning of "lightwell" (having stayed in a few old hotels in London), but until I researched 19thC townhouses for my own book I wouldn't have a clue about "area", which as I said is an unhelpfully vague and obscure term. I think descriptions such as "basement pit", or "sunken basement frontage" or whatever is the best way to communicate what you mean in a story.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm not sure many reader's would understand what a "lightwell" was. But if you said that a character cross over "the passageway to the basement" then that would be pretty self-explanatory for most readers IMO.

 

[James118]

Not saying it is to be trusted, but wikipedia says:

"A subterranean lightwell at the front of a building to provide light to a basement is called an area (or areaway in North American usage)"

Hmm. That's how it appears in my prequel. That or at the side. Does it matter, as long as it's not the interior?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

but wikipedia says:

"A subterranean lightwell at the front of a building to provide light to a basement is called an area (or areaway in North American usage)"

I suspect this is a very modern and not very well known specialist usage of the term. Wikipedia is misleading on this one. It does have mistakes (Gel batteries 1975 instead of 1930, Compact Cassettes 1982 instead of 1962 in the 8 track tape cartridge article. Stuff does get fixed occasionally)

 

[pambaddeley]

Have certainly heard it referred to as an 'area' (UK). It's the same arrangement as was shown in the original 'Upstairs, Downstairs' series. The servants went in and out by the stairs and door in the basement whenever they had to leave the house on errands, and there was a gate in the railings. The kitchen was down there, plus other rooms where servants worked.

 

[Ursa major]

While not wanting to set the cat amongst the pigeons -- all of whom are in the area and in the way -- would the character be familiar with (or even know) the correct name of this feature (whatever that name is)?

 

[HareBrain]

I got round that potential issue by having my characters happen to read this thread before they visited the house in question.

 

[Ursa major]

I would have thought they'd have been more interested in the various threads in our Technology forum, particularly those where we debate the... er... pitfalls of Windows.....

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Windows 10 Mobile - Georgian style "tile" like panes (Invented for Zune)

 

[Grimward]

Sorry I'm a bit late. Here on the US East Coast we call them "walkouts".