It's called the living room, but in the modern house, it's typically the room least likely to be lived in, says Joan DeJean in The New York Times. Why is this case? DeJean, a professor of romance languages at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual — and the Modern Home Began, examines the notion of the "living room," how it's changed over the last four centuries, and how the very concept may be disappearing. Here's an excerpt:
In 1691, in the first edition of what was to become a hugely influential architectural manual, “Lessons of Architecture,” Charles Augustin d’Aviler drew a distinction between formal display spaces and a new kind of room, spaces that were “less grand.” D’Aviler used an unusual phrase to describe these new rooms: “le plus habité” — literally the most lived in. This marked the first time that an architect discussed the notion of living rooms, rooms intended for everyday life....
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