Servants' hall

View from family dining room into servant's hall. Arlington House.

The Servants' Hall is a common room for domestic workers in a great house. The term usually refers to the servants' dining room.

If there is no separate sitting room, the Servants' Hall doubles as the place servants may spend their leisure hours and serves as both sitting room and dining room.

Meals in the Servants' Hall were sometimes very formal affairs, depending on the size and formality of the household. At dinner in a formal house, the Butler and Housekeeper presided over the table much as the master and lady of the house did 'above stairs' (i.e., in the rooms occupied by the employer).

In Victorian England, the strict rules of precedence were mirrored by the domestic staff in grand or formal homes in the seating arrangements of the Servants' Hall. A senior servant such as the lady's maid took the place of honour but would have to "go lower" (i.e. take a place further down the table) if the employer of a visiting servant outranked the mistress of the house.

Rooms and spaces of a house

Shared residential rooms	Billiard room Bonus room Common room Den Dining room Ell Family room Garret Great room Hearth room Home cinema Home office Kitchen Kitchenette Living room Man cave Recreation room Shrine Study Sunroom

Spaces	Alcove Atrium Balcony Breezeway Catio Conversation pit Deck Elevator Entryway / Genkan Foyer Hallway Lanai Loft Loggia Overhang Patio Porch screened sleeping Ramp Secret passage Stairs Terrace Veranda Vestibule

Utility and storage	Attic Basement Box room Carport Cloakroom Closet Electrical room Equipment room Furnace room / Boiler room Garage Janitorial closet Larder Laundry room / Utility room Mechanical room / floor Pantry Root cellar Semi-basement Spear closet Storm cellar / Safe room Studio Wardrobe Wine cellar Wiring closet / Demarcation point Workshop

Private rooms	Bathroom Bedroom / Guest room Boudoir Cabinet Jack and Jill bathroom Nursery Suite Toilet Walk-in closet

Great house areas	Antechamber Ballroom Butler's pantry Buttery Conservatory Courtyard Drawing room Fainting room Great chamber Great hall Long gallery Lumber room Parlour Porte-cochère Saucery Sauna Scullery Servants' hall Servants' quarters Smoking room Solar Spicery State room Still room Swimming pool Undercroft

Other	Building Furniture House plan Multi-family residential Secondary suite Single-family detached home

Architectural elements	Arch Baluster Ceiling Colonnade Column Floor Gate Lighting Medallion Ornament Portico Roof Vault

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Servants' hall

See also