Roman Houses

The Romans built the first high rise apartments. A typical block was 3-4 storeys high, with up to a hundred rooms. Romans copied many of the Greek styles. They added arches and developed semi-circular arches. This allowed them to build higher. They added pozzolana to their cement this made the concrete stronger than stones. Rich Romans had more one than one home. They would live in a villa urbana just outside the city or a big house surrounded by farmland a villa rustica in the countryside.

Many Roman homes had a pool. It was not used for swimming they would use it for decoration in the courtyards surrounded by plants. Homes belonging to wealthy families had underfloor central heating. Hot air warmed by a wood burning furnace. The furnace was kept burning by slaves who would stoke up the fire. The Romans were great water engineers, they designed raised channels to carry water from streams far away. The richest Romans were supplied with constant running water carried by lead pipes. Ordinary people had to drink from a public fountain. Roman engineers also designed public toilets. They would sit on rows of seats side by side!

Many Roman buildings were decorated with mosaics on the floors or walls. These were very hard wearing and lots have survived today. Roman homes of the wealthy had the walls decorated with walls murals.

The en-suite bathroom consisted of three rooms; a hot room where bathers could sweat, a room of tepid heat and a cold room. Roman houses contained columns of stone, stone features such as arches and walls and were finished with mosaic tiles on the floors and walls. The roofs were built of terracotta tiles.

There are many differences between Roman houses and the houses of today. A comparison reveals that Roman houses did not have glass windows, glass had not been invented; the Roman houses had much smaller windows than the houses of today. The floors and walls inside were very often tiled, whereas today floors are usually carpeted and walls have wall paper and paint. One of the biggest differences between Roman houses and the houses of today is that Roman houses did not have electricity to produce heat and light. Modern houses take electricity for granted.

Then

Now

Roman House Modern House