{"id":"01KG8AJK339Y3G5VXTJRZDV6VQ","cid":"bafkreihszvue2yx5zirjj6pvf6uzkeoeinzgjr734bsq7vsfpzoe3d3hu4","type":"segment","properties":{"description":"# Philosophical digressions on architecture and space\n\n## Overview\nThis segment, titled \"Philosophical digressions on architecture and space,\" is a textual excerpt from the short story \"I and My Chimney.\" It spans lines 65 to 111 of the source document and was extracted on January 30, 2026.\n\n## Context\nThis segment is part of the short story \"[I and My Chimney](arke:01KG8AJ72QDX8N8STJ3550X2NW),\" which is itself contained within the larger collection \"[Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW).\" The text was extracted from the file \"i_and_my_chimney.txt.\" This segment follows the \"[Initial description of the chimney and its pre-eminence](arke:01KG8AJK33MSJXY98G9NE7WN3G)\" and precedes the \"[Introduction and Setting](arke:01KG8AJK33X9KG09FCVRE4GG10).\"\n\n## Contents\nThe segment delves into philosophical observations about architectural design, specifically focusing on the construction and implications of chimneys and houses. It critiques the modern trend of building houses with fireplaces on opposite sides, suggesting it reflects a \"sulky appearance\" and potentially originates from architects with quarrelsome families. The text also examines the modern practice of individual flues for each fireplace, deeming it \"egotistical\" and \"selfish.\" The author notes that this design often leads to flues being integrated into walls, weakening them, and attributes this to the necessity of economizing space in cities. The segment contrasts this with historical architectural styles, referencing Louis XIV's palace design as an example of prioritizing spaciousness over height. It further comments on the contemporary rivalry in building tall houses, driven by a desire to outdo neighbors, and laments this as a \"vaunt\" that originated from necessity.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.707Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Philosophical digressions on architecture and space","end_line":111,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:36.358Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Philosophical digressions on architecture and space","source_file":"01KG89J1H4TA19251AXAPE3ZWC","start_line":65,"text":"In those houses which are strictly double houses—that is, where the\r\nhall is in the middle—the fireplaces usually are on opposite sides; so\r\nthat while one member of the household is warming himself at a fire\r\nbuilt into a recess of the north wall, say another member, the former’s\r\nown brother, perhaps, may be holding his feet to the blaze before a\r\nhearth in the south wall—the two thus fairly sitting back to back. Is\r\nthis well? Be it put to any man who has a proper fraternal feeling. Has\r\nit not a sort of sulky appearance? But very probably this style of\r\nchimney building originated with some architect afflicted with a\r\nquarrelsome family.\r\n\r\nThen again, almost every modern fireplace has its separate\r\nflue—separate throughout, from hearth to chimney-top. At least such an\r\narrangement is deemed desirable. Does not this look egotistical,\r\nselfish? But still more, all these separate flues, instead of having\r\nindependent masonry establishments of their own, or instead of being\r\ngrouped together in one federal stock in the middle of the\r\nhouse—instead of this, I say, each flue is surreptitiously honey-combed\r\ninto the walls; so that these last are here and there, or indeed almost\r\nanywhere, treacherously hollow, and, in consequence, more or less weak.\r\nOf course, the main reason of this style of chimney building is to\r\neconomize room. In cities, where lots are sold by the inch, small space\r\nis to spare for a chimney constructed on magnanimous principles; and,\r\nas with most thin men, who are generally tall, so with such houses,\r\nwhat is lacking in breadth, must be made up in height. This remark\r\nholds true even with regard to many very stylish abodes, built by the\r\nmost stylish of gentlemen. And yet, when that stylish gentleman, Louis\r\nle Grand of France, would build a palace for his lady, friend, Madame\r\nde Maintenon, he built it but one story high—in fact in the cottage\r\nstyle. But then, how uncommonly quadrangular, spacious, and\r\nbroad—horizontal acres, not vertical ones. Such is the palace, which,\r\nin all its one-storied magnificence of Languedoc marble, in the garden\r\nof Versailles, still remains to this day. Any man can buy a square foot\r\nof land and plant a liberty-pole on it; but it takes a king to set\r\napart whole acres for a grand Trianon.\r\n\r\nBut nowadays it is different; and furthermore, what originated in a\r\nnecessity has been mounted into a vaunt. In towns there is large\r\nrivalry in building tall houses. If one gentleman builds his house four\r\nstories high, and another gentleman comes next door and builds five\r\nstories high, then the former, not to be looked down upon that way,\r\nimmediately sends for his architect and claps a fifth and a sixth story\r\non top of his previous four. And, not till the gentleman has achieved\r\nhis aspiration, not till he has stolen over the way by twilight and\r\nobserved how his sixth story soars beyond his neighbor’s fifth—not till\r\nthen does he retire to his rest with satisfaction.\r\n\r","title":"Philosophical digressions on architecture and space"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJ72QDX8N8STJ3550X2NW","peer_type":"short_story","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H4TA19251AXAPE3ZWC","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJK33MSJXY98G9NE7WN3G","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJK33X9KG09FCVRE4GG10","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:36.547Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.936Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}