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Mews

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, seeMew (disambiguation).
Not to be confused withMuseorNews.
Mews house. Third of three identical buildings, Bruton Place (formerly North Bruton Mews) offBerkeley Square,Mayfair, London W1. Thewinchforhorse feedis visible in front of the attic door

Amewsis a row or courtyard ofstablesandcarriage houseswith living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential areas, having been built to cater for the horses,coachmenand stable-servants of prosperous residents.

The word mews comes from theRoyal Mewsin London, England, a set of royal stables built 500 years ago on a former royalhawk mews.The term is now commonly used in English-speaking countries for city housing of a similar design.

After theSecond World War,mews were replaced by alleys and the carriage houses by garages for automobiles.[citation needed]

Hawk mews[edit]

Mewsderives from the Frenchmuer,'tomoult', reflecting its original function to confine hawks while they moulted.[1]Shakespearedeploysto mew upto mean confine, coop up, or shut up inThe Taming of the Shrew:"What, will you mew her up, Signor Baptista?"[2][3]and alsoRichard III:"This day should Clarence closely be mewed up".[4]

The termmewsis still used today in falconry circles in English-speaking countries to refer to the housing of the birds of prey used in falconry.

From 1377 onwards the king's falconry birds were kept in theKing's MewsatCharing Cross.

Mews stables[edit]

The first recorded use meaning stables is dated 1548, after theroyal stableswere built atCharing Cross,on the site of the royal hawk mews.[1]Those royal stables moved toBuckingham Palace Roadin 1820. There were also royal mews atSt James's Palace.

The name mews was taken up for domestic stables in the city during the 17th century.[1]The 18th-centuryWashington MewsinGreenwich Village,New York City matches theLondonbuildings in period, purpose and name.

"Mews" has since been applied to any stable buildings in any space, lane, alley or back street onto which these buildings open,[1]and to any new residential buildings of similar character throughout the English-speaking world that have motor vehicles taking the place of horses and carriages.

Description[edit]

London[edit]

Charterhouse Mews, London
Horbury Mews, located near Ladbroke Road in Notting Hill

Mews was applied to service streets and the stables in them in cities, primarily London. In the 18th and 19th centuries, London housing for wealthy people generally consisted of streets of largeterraced houseswith stables at the back, which opened onto a small service street. The mews had horse stalls and a carriage house on the ground floor, and stable servants' living accommodation above. Generally this was mirrored by another row of stables on the opposite side of the service street, backing onto another row of terraced houses facing outward into the next street. Sometimes there were variations such as small courtyards. Most mews are named after one of the principal streets which they back onto. Most but not all have the word "mews" in their name.

Mews are often found in the boroughs ofKensington and ChelseaandWestminster(particularlyMayfairandMarylebone).

Europe[edit]

This arrangement was different from most ofContinental Europe,where the stables in wealthy urban residences were usually off a front or central courtyard. The advantage of the British system was that it hid the sounds and smells of the stables away from the family when they were not using the horses. Nevertheless 45 of the buildings inKerkstraat[nl]in Amsterdam were originally the stables and coach houses of houses in Keizersgracht and Prinsengracht, between which it runs.

Stables not known as mews[edit]

Mews are not used for large individual non-royal British stable blocks, a feature ofcountry houses.For example, the grand stable block atChatsworth Houseis referred to as the stables, not the mews.

Cars[edit]

Mews lost their equestrian function in the early 20th century when motor cars were introduced. At the same time, afterWorld War Iand especially afterWorld War II,the number of people who could afford to live in the type of houses which had a mews attached fell sharply.[citation needed]One place where a mews may still be in equestrian use is Bathurst Mews in Westminster, nearHyde Park, London,where several private horses are kept. Nearby, the mews' stables have been put to commercial use. Some mews were demolished or put to commercial use, but the majority were converted into homes.

Contemporary movements to revitalise and creatively re-use historical and traditional features of urban environments have also cast some appreciative light on mews. A contemporary presentation of the some 500 former horse stables in the city of London appears in the bookThe Mews of London: A Guide to the Hidden Byways of London's Past(1982), including individual chapters providing history and walking maps for mews in six districts surrounding (and adjacent to) Hyde Park:Bayswater,Notting Hill,Kensington,Belgravia,Mayfair,andMarylebone.[5]

In 2015 a survey of the mews in London estimated that there were 391 original and surviving mews properties still in existence, and 239 which had been redeveloped.[6]The survey classified an "Authentic Mews" property as "A property in a Mews – a lane, alley, court, narrow passage, cul de sac or back street originally built behind houses in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries to provide access for stables or coach house accommodation (often with associated living accommodation) – that is now most likely to be a modernised residential dwelling, possibly with commercial premises. An Authentic Mews property will still retain the approximate appearance, form and footprint of the original Mews but it may have been re-developed to a degree and no longer retains all original Mews features."[7]

In contemporary urban planning and construction[edit]

The use of mews in new urban development is advocated byLeon Krier,who is himself a strong influence on theNew Urbanismmovement in the United States.[8](For his foundational contributions to the movement, Krier received the first Athena Medal awarded by theCongress for the New Urbanismin 2006.)[9]

In theSmart Growth,Traditional Neighborhood DevelopmentandNew Urbanismmovements, the term is used frequently, but definitions of the term are rare. The East Village Redevelopment Plan for Calgary, Alberta, Canada, explains that "Mews are narrow, intimate streets that balance the access and service functions of a lane with active building frontages, accessory uses, and a street space shared by cars and pedestrians."[10][11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdOxford English Dictionaryonline, accessed 17 February 2019
  2. ^Samuel Weller Singer, ed.,The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare,vol. III (Chiswick: Charles Whittinghame, College House, 1826), p.357, fn. 13
  3. ^Ibid.p. 357
  4. ^Seemew upatShakespeare's Words website.Accessed 26 March 2017
  5. ^Rosen, Barbara; Zuckerman, Wolfgang; Wormald, Christopher (photographs) (1982).The Mews of London.Exeter:Webb & Bower.ISBN0-906671-50-7.Retrieved2023-12-31– viaInternet Archive Book Reader.
  6. ^"About".Everchanging Mews.15 June 2018.Retrieved13 April2022.
  7. ^"Mews List".Everchanging Mews.19 October 2019.Retrieved13 April2022.
  8. ^Grant, Jill (2006).Planning the Good Community: New Urbanism in Theory and Practice.New York: Routledge. p. 63.ISBN9780415700757.
  9. ^"Athena Medals".Congress for the New Urbanism. Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2013.Retrieved14 January2014.
  10. ^East Village Area Redevelopment Plan(PDF).City of Calgary Planning, Development & Assessment Department. 2010. p. 39.
  11. ^Steuteville, Robert.New Urbanism Best Practices Guide, Fourth Edition.New Urban News Publications. p. 71.

External links[edit]

Look upmewsin Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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