Did You Say Enfilade? On Fill What?

Happy New Year Y’all!

Hope that you had fabulous holidays.

Today is a pretty easy post that I hope that you’ll enjoy.

It’s all about something called an Enfilade.

pronounced On Fill Odd.

For those that don’t know what it is, it’s when the doors all line up to create a passage that goes from room to room.

What differentiates it from a hallway, is that there is an actual door or doorway.

There can be rooms on both sides or just one side.

Enfilades have been around for centuries and as far as I know began in Europe but that might not be true. You can read more about them here.

They were commonplace in castles and grand homes, especially in England and France.

Enfilades lead one from the living areas to the bedroom and yes, the bedroom was open.

You might say it was the “open concept” of the 18th century.

The higher your stature or connection to the homeowner, the further in you were allowed. Folks weren’t as hung up on privacy as we are. That started later, maybe in the 1800s.

But I also think that there were practical reasons for the enfilade.

• Ventilation
• Staying Warm
• Light

Just depends on the situation.

Do architects still make use of the enfilade?

Absolutely! And we will see that later on.

But besides residential use, the system of the enfilade is very popular for museums as it facilitates movement of large numbers of people.

The enfilade as we will see goes from very plain to very ornate.

Let’s take a look at some enfilades.

First Name

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Yes! Gimme the free report!

Chateau de Versailles Apartement de la Reine – book by Francis Hammond Private Versailles Enfilade

The grand daddy of all enfilades is probably this marble clad wonder at Versailles.

There is info about the book in the link.

Chatsworth House in Derbshire, UK

Chatsworth has been home of the Cavendish family since the 1550s. Very interesting and tons of info in the link above.

via Canadian Pacific on Flickr

Castletown House was built in 1722-1729 for William Conolly Speaker of the Irish Parliament

Musée Jacquemart André boulevard Haussmann Paris VIIIème

Expositie Museum Oud Amelisweerd

rather plain and austere but I love that scrubbed look.

Előszállás kastély enfilade Daniel Kovacs

Whoa, that might be a little TOO decayed, even for me. But the potential is there.

A Fabulous Enfilade at the Compiègne Castle, Picardy, France

Well, isn’t that another  French beauty!

And this one too!

But get this.

It’s wallpaper!

You can find out all about here, the company’s name is Koziel