Green Baize Door

Although Brympton d'Evercy shows beautiful and a great variety of architectural elements on its fronts in the real word, the interior and exterior architecture of the Brympton House in “The Lady's Maid's Bell” is not further described in detail. According to Hartley, “the main part of the house seem[s] well furnished, with dark paneling”¹ and “a number of old portraits”² can be seen “through a door on the upper landing”.³ Besides the mention of some furniture parts, a closer look will be taken at the “baize door”⁴ that Hartley pushes through when she is on her way to Mrs. Brympton's room to warn her about the arrival of Mr. Brympton.

The word “baize” is used to describe a “thick, usually green material made from wool [that is] used to cover the special tables on which snooker, billiards, and card games are played”⁵ to slow down the billiard balls, for example, or to prevent playing cards to slide on the table. Additionally, the cloth can also be attached to a swing door with brass tacks that gives it an insulating effect and cancels out noises, so each side of the door would not be disturbed, separating servants from their master. Such green baize doors started to appear in the 18^th century.⁶ Going to the other side of the door meant something like entering another world: While the servants walked through dark corridors to go about their duties and tried to be seen least possible, masters spent their times in large rooms that were equipped with the finest furniture and arts; servants were expected to fulfill their duties and do their work with no interruption, which why they even took different routes and separate staircases, and the green baize door symbolized the dividing line between the two territories.^7,8,9

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1 Lewis, R. W. B. The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. (Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1968. 457-474, Print.), 458.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid., 472.

5 Cambridge Dictionary, “Baize”, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/de/worterbuch/englisch/baize. Accessed February 3, 2020.

6 British Heritage Travel, “Beyond The Green Baize Door”, https://britishheritage.com/beyond-the-green-baize-door. Accessed February 2, 2020.

7 Ibid.

8 Clarke, Andrew. Borley Rectory and the Greenz-Baize Door. Domestic life at Borley Rectory. 2002. www.foxearth.org.uk/BorleyRectory/BorleyRectoryandtheGreenBaizeDoor.htm. Accessed February 25, 2020.

9 The Guardian, “Behind the green baize door”, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2003/nov/08/art.history. Accessed February 25, 2020.

Header image source:

• https://slowchilterns.com/2017/09/24/behind-the-greene-door/ (accessed March 2, 2020)