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My grandparents' house, a 1960's construction "ranch", has a mostly-open basement with a large open room that fits the description of a "great room". I used to always head for it when my mother and I would visit daily back when we lived near their house, and later when they would watch me when my parents were on vacation, as it had a bar (by then empty - my grandpa was sober for many decades by that time), piano, pool table, exercise machines, arcade games, and whatever he could find as a merchant of used junk of all varieties. I never thought of it as a "great room" though. More like a rec room or maybe even a "parlor". He had a living room and dining room in the upper level.
They are names, no more - plus you forgot the den, the office, the rec room, the hearth room, the computer room, the play room... and I am sure many more.
Great Room became the moniker when they basically combined kitchen/family/living in the open concept behemoths of the 90's.
Usually, in houses with a "true" great room, you wouldn't have a separate living room, (separated by any walls), because it would all flow together in one massive space. Of course the space would be there, and you could arrange the furniture however you pleased.
I grew up in the midwest (there are a lot of regional differences to room names, I'm finding out) - in a ranch built in the 50's.
We had a living room (part of house original floor plan), and my parents added on a family room in the late '60s, before I was born.
Den was a typical term at that point in time as well, and referred usually to a more interior room, for TV or office/study work.
In my parents living room, there was a small Television, (once they could afford two) and the more tailored furniture. No toys allowed. Display cabinets with breakable items. Paintings. This is where house guests were entertained. (conveniently, the dining room was right there as well -- it was a living room/dining room split).
The family room was built at the back of their house. Less formal carpeting, paneling on the walls (obviously not necessary, but hey - it was the 60s!), more casual furniture, toys everywhere. Bigger TV (color!).
My mother would sit in the living room, which overlooked the street and read in the evenings. Dad would sit in the family room and watch Mash.
So far the two houses I have owned (one built in 90s, one just built in '08) have had the split living/family rooms. I like that feature. I like having a casual space, and a more quiet slightly formal space. But I grew up with it - so not shocking.
I don't like great rooms. I don't like having one giant room on the first floor. Ugh.
LIving room and family room are the modern names for the front and back parlor.
Traditionally the Front parlor was the room for recieving guests. It has the best furniture and decor. It was always kept spotless. It often contained a pianoforte (unless the house had a seperate music room which was pretty rare). In most cases this room and the dining room were the only rooms a guest would ever see (unless there was a music room, smoking room, and/or a library).
The back parlor was the family living space. Frequently, the Front parlor woudl have georgeous expensive furniture and the back parlor would have old, mismactched and even broken furniture. This was where the fmaily would hang out, read the paper, do their accounting spin, knit, lay on the floor, etcetera. Only very intimate family friends would gain access to this room.
Later these became the family room and the living room. I think the living room replaced the back parlor and the Family room replaced the front parlor. I can never remember which is which. Since we live in old houses, we always use front and back parlor and our kids have no idea what family room vs. living room are.
More recently people came to believe the term "parlor" refers to a room for games or smoking or billiards. This may be due to the fact that extra rooms were sometimes added to homes of the very rich and called the smoking parlor, the music parlor or the billiards parlor. This was nto intented to give the term "parlor" a more limited meaning. THese rooms were simply yet another "parlor" that were dedicated for a specific purpose.
In victorian times, it woudl be embarrassing to have your guests see or hear your kitchen. Frequently, even iddle class fmailies had a cook and their language was generally not somethign you wanted your guests to have to listen to. Kitchens were designed for servants, even in houses with no servants. The were small and ultitarian. Not a place for comfort or relaxing, thus you did nto want htem visible.
Great rooms are a return to an even earlier concept. In early times, most houses had one single common room that served as the kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, library, and every thing else (sometimes it even doubled as a bed room). Thus the concept of one "great room" where you did everything. Victorian era people would likely have considered our modern "great rooms" barbaric and crass.
LIving room and family room are the modern names for the front and back parlor.
Traditionally the Front parlor was the room for recieving guests. It has the best furniture and decor. It was always kept spotless. It often contained a pianoforte (unless the house had a seperate music room which was pretty rare). In most cases this room and the dining room were the only rooms a guest would ever see (unless there was a music room, smoking room, and/or a library).
The back parlor was the family living space. Frequently, the Front parlor woudl have georgeous expensive furniture and the back parlor would have old, mismactched and even broken furniture. This was where the fmaily would hang out, read the paper, do their accounting spin, knit, lay on the floor, etcetera. Only very intimate family friends would gain access to this room.
Later these became the family room and the living room. I think the living room replaced the back parlor and the Family room replaced the front parlor. I can never remember which is which. Since we live in old houses, we always use front and back parlor and our kids have no idea what family room vs. living room are.
More recently people came to believe the term "parlor" refers to a room for games or smoking or billiards. This may be due to the fact that extra rooms were sometimes added to homes of the very rich and called the smoking parlor, the music parlor or the billiards parlor. This was nto intented to give the term "parlor" a more limited meaning. THese rooms were simply yet another "parlor" that were dedicated for a specific purpose.
In victorian times, it woudl be embarrassing to have your guests see or hear your kitchen. Frequently, even iddle class fmailies had a cook and their language was generally not somethign you wanted your guests to have to listen to. Kitchens were designed for servants, even in houses with no servants. The were small and ultitarian. Not a place for comfort or relaxing, thus you did nto want htem visible.
Great rooms are a return to an even earlier concept. In early times, most houses had one single common room that served as the kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, library, and every thing else (sometimes it even doubled as a bed room). Thus the concept of one "great room" where you did everything. Victorian era people would likely have considered our modern "great rooms" barbaric and crass.
I haven't come across front parlor and rear parlor. In an old book of middle class house plans I have from the turn of the century there is 'parlor', 'sitting room', 'rec hall', the rare 'living room', and one lone example of 'reception room'. Parlor being an informal room and sitting room being more formal, rec hall i'm not sure exactly what it is but usually in the plans its the entry hall but with a large fireplace in it (i assume rec is for receiving or reception, not recreation). The closest I can see to a great room in that book is one house that has a rec hall that is open (very wide doorless opening) to a large room labeled as "parlor&sitting room" Its the only plan with a room labeled for two purposes with the '&'. It's essentially 3 rooms in one that also has the staircase to the upper floor in it.
My take on this from a modern perspective plays somewhat into what Coldjensens was talking about...
Living Room - In a house that has two "living spaces" the living room is the formal living space. This will generally have the best furniture and decor and is used as a place to host company. This room will not have a TV, or if it does it can be hidden from view. Truly formal living rooms will often have French doors that allow it to be closed off from the rest of the house and kept nice. Many times you will have direct access to the formal dining room either by them being across the hall from each other or separated by doors.
In a house that only has one living space, the living room basically becomes not only the entertaining space, but the "hanging out" space as well. In that guise it has less formal furniture and a more prominent position for the TV.
Family Room - This is the antithesis to the formal living room and is a casual space for the family to gather. It has less formal furniture and definitely has a TV. It may also have an area dedicated for the kids to keep their toys (assuming the house lacks a "play room"). This room almost always is near or open to the kitchen and in the 'back' of the house.
Great Room - This is basically a giant open room that combines living, dining and cooking space. When I think of "great room" I think of vaulted ceilings and large windows overlooking the backyard. I think of an informal living space on one end (generally a fireplace with a TV mounted over it dominating the one wall) and a large open kitchen with an island on the other. Inbetween the two spaces are 'separated' by a dining area that usually features a large table that can seat 8+ people. Many larger homes that have "great rooms" will also still have a formal living room and dining room. This basically makes the "great room" a large open family room and eat-in kitchen combo.
The odd thing is, the way our current house is set up, there is no way to get from the Front Parlor to the Dining room without crossing through the back parlor. Maybe we have simply reversed the parlors as they were used in the old days. The two are side by side on either side of the entry rather than one in front of the other. But the front parlor is kind of off to the side and not very conveinent for daily family living, plus it does nto have a door between it and the fornt entry so you cannot close it off (but you can the other parlor). On the other hand, what we use as the "back" parlor is newer and has a bigger fireplace, so maybe they used it for recieving guests since being "modern" was important to many of them. It is kind of fun trying to figure out which is which.
I think that is becasue when our house was built, what is now the Front Parlor was the "great room" and the only living space. It served as kitchen, living, family, dining and everyhting else room. Then in 1850 the Back Parlor was added and the dining room came along in 1868. Until 1868 the kitchen was a seprate building. BEcasue of the peicemeal development of the house, they could not plan the layout and ended up with the only access to the dining room and kitchen being through the back parlor.
Of course now in modern times, if we have guests for dinner, they usually come through the back door into the kitchen, so we just throw the whole coencpt out of wack from the get go.
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