BTW ceilings were upwards of ten feet tall [std ceiling is now 8 feet, 7 in basements) so that the by-proucts of gas-light combusion would rise and not be breathed in.
In an aparment building, fumes would exit via a transom (operable window)over your front door. The common (communal-use) hallway had skylights over the upper-most staircase and grilles that vented out the air from the gas-lights in he hallways! (Bet ya didnt think of that one, eh?)
Similarly paint was hugely expensive and only oil-based at one time. (read: painting a major PITA.) All woodwork was stained and laquered DARK because the soot of combustion would discolor it and be plainly visible if it were light in color. [PS, combustion and drying oil-based paint make for horrible smells. VOCs in the air were not healthy either.]
Frequently there were medalions surrounding lighting fixture in the middle of a ceiling. These fixtures were orignially gas chadleliers. The medallion was to be able to paint only that small area (to cover the soot) rather than the whole ceiling.
Soot is why corners were rounded and why there is traditionally an upper molding about a foot down from the ceiling. Again to be able to pain the ceiling, the corners and some of the side walls and have a clearly defined point of demarcation...Painting the whole room was prohibitively expensive. A that time, you painted the ceiling more than the walls. Now the walls get done sometimes before the ceiling.
Also due to the high cost of paint many walls were wall-papered. The upper molding also served as aplace to place clips so that artworks and picture frames could be mounted via heavy-duty cords. No nails, no hooks. Didn't have to damage the wallpaper. Before TV and color printing people would rotate their wall-hangings (I SO KID YOU NOT) for visual stimulation and change.
In an aparment building, fumes would exit via a transom (operable window)over your front door. The common (communal-use) hallway had skylights over the upper-most staircase and grilles that vented out the air from the gas-lights in he hallways! (Bet ya didnt think of that one, eh?)
Similarly paint was hugely expensive and only oil-based at one time. (read: painting a major PITA.) All woodwork was stained and laquered DARK because the soot of combustion would discolor it and be plainly visible if it were light in color. [PS, combustion and drying oil-based paint make for horrible smells. VOCs in the air were not healthy either.]
Frequently there were medalions surrounding lighting fixture in the middle of a ceiling. These fixtures were orignially gas chadleliers. The medallion was to be able to paint only that small area (to cover the soot) rather than the whole ceiling.
Soot is why corners were rounded and why there is traditionally an upper molding about a foot down from the ceiling. Again to be able to pain the ceiling, the corners and some of the side walls and have a clearly defined point of demarcation...Painting the whole room was prohibitively expensive. A that time, you painted the ceiling more than the walls. Now the walls get done sometimes before the ceiling.
Also due to the high cost of paint many walls were wall-papered. The upper molding also served as aplace to place clips so that artworks and picture frames could be mounted via heavy-duty cords. No nails, no hooks. Didn't have to damage the wallpaper. Before TV and color printing people would rotate their wall-hangings (I SO KID YOU NOT) for visual stimulation and change.
