English Basement????

[irish setter girl]

An English Basement is like a look out basement, there are full size windows, but you can't walk out of the basement into the yard. It feels more like a lower level because of the natural light. That is what I thought it was at least......

[deechee]

Originally Posted by irish setter girl

An English Basement is like a look out basement, there are full size windows, but you can't walk out of the basement into the yard. It feels more like a lower level because of the natural light. That is what I thought it was at least......

Just what I was thinking! You just explained it a lot better.

[cubfan3]

Gotta love how selling agents use intentionally vague terms to try to doll-up what is in all likelihood something crummy...

[ToriaT]

I think it is where part of the first floor is half submerged under ground and the other half has larger, house like windows above ground unlike a basement which has window wells or windows that are tiny and high near the ceiling and it is mostly under ground. Also a building that was designed like that to begin with as a living space, not a basement that is below ground and fixed up to have an apartment after the fact. Anyway that's what I always thought it was.

[middle-aged mom]

Originally Posted by cubfan3

Gotta love how selling agents use intentionally vague terms to try to doll-up what is in all likelihood something crummy...

The MLS for the greater Chicagoland area does not allow a bedroom in a basement to be counted within the bedroom count. To offset this, many agents add a narritive to the remarks to call the reader's attention to the usable space.

English can and does mean anything and everything except for a walk out.
Windows may be large or small, many or few. It may or may not be finished space.

[patchtaylor]

The basement has been a feature of London town houses since the beginning of the 18th century. Typically, the “ground floor” of the house is actually built several feet above ground level, giving more light and air to the basement. At that time the basement was typically the kitchen; the windows provided light for the cooks to work, and the separate entrance allowed kitchen supplies to be brought in without having to take them to the front door and inconvenience the gentry above stairs. The space at the bottom of the steps was (and is) simply called “the area”. Many town houses also had a coal-cellar under the street; coal was delivered through a “coal-hole” in the road and fetched by the servants as needed via a door in the area - again, avoiding the need for messy coal to be taken through the front door and hallway.
When kitchens began to be situated elsewhere in the house, and for socioeconomic reasons the tall London terrace houses began to be split up into separate dwellings, minimal alteration work was needed to convert the basement into a separate entity, and all these features made it quite a desirable, if unpretentious, place to live

[doodlemagic]

Originally Posted by Avengerfire

Well, it comes equipped with a tea station and a small room that acts as a changing room for equestrians.

haha, I was gonna say bangers and mash and it comes with a butler.

I believe an English basement is the same thing as a garden apartment. Sure most basements have a window well, I think of an English basement as having the windows more at waist level as opposed to just a window well. About half underground half above

[flamadiddle]

Walkout basement has a fully exposed wall with entry door outside.

English basement has half exposed wall with windows, but no entry door outside.

Regular basement has all walls completely underground and windows have window wells.

Example of English basement >

https://m.cbhomes.com/p/71/09847086/...24416/full.jpg

https://m1.cbhomes.com/p/71/09847086...97431/full.jpg

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/p_f/...0000000000.jpg

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/p_f/...0000000000.jpg