High ceilings in old Houses - looking for Documentation

[Wackyshack]

As some of you must know I am a Civil War reenactor.
I belong to many forums on Facebook that are interested in authenticity in the hobby.
We are not allowed the mind set "if they had it they'd have used it" to excuse the use of items that did not exist during that era. Everything must have documentation and a context of use to make sense in the hobby.
We are discussing houses, furnishings, etc.
My question is on ceiling height. There was talk that the larger the house the higher the ceiling.
My own house had 9ft ceiling both down stairs and upstairs, even though she is a 3/4 story.

Does anyone know of a book that cites the reason for high ceilings and their function? As on here the old house owners who do reenactments mention that their house is cooler without A/C.

[Gothichome]

Wackyshack, two reasons really that I am aware of first being as you mentioned the homes with tall ceilings are cooler, the windows also reached close to roof level so with the upper sash can be opened to allow heat out at ceiling level. The other is pure unadulterated showing off. 'Just look at how well I'm doing, to be able to afford this'. By the way Gothichome has 11 1/2 foot ceilings.

[Wackyshack]

WOW those are high ceilings... I have pocket doors in my house that the house flipper put in that came out of a house with higher ceiliing than my house has.. they are 8.5ft tall on their own. A bit oversized but I do love them.

[DavidP]

There is also a sense of proportion involved between ceiling height and room size. In my house, most of the rooms downstairs are about 11' x 12'. The ceilings are 9.5' and this seems just right to me; lower ceilings would have a less spacious feel (as in my condo where I can reach up and touch the ceilings, and I am 6'2") but taller ones would border on a "shower stall" effect. Richer folks who can afford larger rooms in larger houses need taller ceilings to keep the good sense of proportion (which relates to showing off, of course). Lower than normal ceilings would keep down construction and heating costs.

Gothichome, about what size are your rooms that have those awesomely tall ceilings?

[Gothichome]

David, still in Calgary so I don't have that info off hand. Sorry, best I can say I'd bigXbig. We have 2000 square feet on each floor and only eight rooms and two halls in th whole home.

[DavidP]

You obviously have large rooms, to which your tall ceilings are probably well proportioned. If you think of it when you get home, you might measure a couple of the rooms and look at them through the lens of proportion between floor area and ceiling height, just for fun.

[Vala]

We have 10' ceilings downstairs and 9.5' ceilings upstairs.

[phil]

in my house they had dropped the 9 foot ceiling in the kitchen to under 8 feet. I thought that was strange and took it out right as soon as I could. I did also view some houses like mine that had the whole main floor dropped to 8 feet. maybe it was an easy way to run ductwork, or maybe the lower ceilings became fashionable in the 50's? My house is kinda low in the basement and then high on the main and then low in the attic , but I think only the main flor was intended as living space.

[kelt65]

As some of you must know I am a Civil War reenactor.
I belong to many forums on Facebook that are interested in authenticity in the hobby.
We are not allowed the mind set "if they had it they'd have used it" to excuse the use of items that did not exist during that era. Everything must have documentation and a context of use to make sense in the hobby.
We are discussing houses, furnishings, etc.
My question is on ceiling height. There was talk that the larger the house the higher the ceiling.
My own house had 9ft ceiling both down stairs and upstairs, even though she is a 3/4 story.

Does anyone know of a book that cites the reason for high ceilings and their function? As on here the old house owners who do reenactments mention that their house is cooler without A/C.

Mainly that it's cooler, as others have said, but there's also this - light, from large windows. There was no electricity of course and the house had to be built using natural light. Had to play a role. Think about plastering or trim work with no electric light in a modern house with small windows and low ceilings ...

I don't know if the house size played a role. I know it did not here (New Orleans). Even tiny houses from the early 20th century and before had 11.5 foot ceilings.

[Wackyshack]

This conversation is going in great directions and you are touching on things that have not been previously discussed.

Form and function.

The added mention of large windows for light is also important.