Markus, these buildings seem to follow the "townhouse" convention seen in Britain and in older US cities like New York and Boston, where the lower floor is partly below grade, and the first floor of full living space is up a less-than-full-story of stairs. The odd thing is seeing the hotel sign in the window of what would have been originally the utility floor of servant's workplace, kitchen, cleaning, etc. I didn't read it this way at first, but I agree with you that the half-submerged window with awning treatment seems somehow miniaturized.
Carl, this architectural tradition you can find in European villas, too. Here most often the ground floor is elevated roughly 1,5m above ground, and the basement gets light through half-height windows only, it comprised kitchen, heating, servants' rooms, too. The Belle-Etage, the most valuable living space, then most often is not the ground floor but the first floor, indicated by the greatest height between floors of the whole building.
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Strange proportions in this subject... The hotel window looks almost like it belongs to a doll's house.
Markus, these buildings seem to follow the "townhouse" convention seen in Britain and in older US cities like New York and Boston, where the lower floor is partly below grade, and the first floor of full living space is up a less-than-full-story of stairs. The odd thing is seeing the hotel sign in the window of what would have been originally the utility floor of servant's workplace, kitchen, cleaning, etc. I didn't read it this way at first, but I agree with you that the half-submerged window with awning treatment seems somehow miniaturized.
Carl, this architectural tradition you can find in European villas, too. Here most often the ground floor is elevated roughly 1,5m above ground, and the basement gets light through half-height windows only, it comprised kitchen, heating, servants' rooms, too. The Belle-Etage, the most valuable living space, then most often is not the ground floor but the first floor, indicated by the greatest height between floors of the whole building.
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