Exham Manor
Purpose / Function
Exham Manor was designed and built in the early 19th century as the residence and ancestral home of the Davenport family in America. It was intended to provide refuge for both the mortal and kindred members of the family. The upper floors have luxurious rooms that allow both branches of the family to live and unlive carefree existences.
In the mid 19th century, however, the house became less and less important, as the growth of Davenport Publishing House made it necessary for mortal members of the family who were involved with the publishing house to spend longer periods of time in Gotham City.
The same was true for the Kindred of the family, as with the growth of the publishing house their influence in the Kindred society of Gotham City grew steadily and the House Davenport provided more and more often the Prince / Princess of the city.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Exham Manor became more or less just the summer residence of the human family members. They usually spends the months of May to August there and the rest of the year at Carefax House at 114 Robinson Park West in the Upper West Side of Gotham City.
Kindred mainly only use the house for the Sanctuary when they go into Torpor.
Alterations
Until 1862, Exham Manor was lit solely by candles and oil lamps. Then the entire house was equipped with gas lighting. The only exception was the library, as they wanted to avoid the access to the Sactuary or the mechanism for opening it being discovered.
In 1914, the gas was replaced by electric light. This time the library was also modernized, but the workmen had strict instructions not to touch two of the walls.
A boiler for hot water was also installed in the basement of the main wing in 1914. However, the building did not have a central water supply until 1920. Bathrooms for the residential and guest suites followed in 1921 and 1922.
Central heating was implemented in 1932.
Architecture
Style
Exham Manor was built entirely in the Georgian style, which can still be seen from the outside and inside. The architect tried to copy the style of Christopher Wren's designs and incorporate his own inspirations.
The result is a rather unimpressive building with hard lines and a clinical aura. The stucco work on the corners and windows seems artificial and detached and the small tower on the Main Wing looks out of place with its round shape and copper cladding.
In contrast, the interior of the house appears almost overloaded. Almost every room on the first floor is clad from floor to ceiling with heavy, richly decorated oak paneling and the ceilings are decorated with an almost baroque stucco design, making the rooms appear high and dark.
Layout
Exham Manor is a four-storey building with a central wing, the Main Wing, and two side wings, the East and West Wings. Floors one to three are reserved for the family's living quarters and private rooms. The fourth floor, the attic, houses the living quarters for the servants. The so called Downstairs Floor (the lower ground floor) contains the kitchen and service rooms as well as the common rooms for the staff and the butler's and housekeeper's offices.
On the first floor are the entrance hall with the Grand Staircase, the Grand Hall, which is also used as a ballroom, a reception room, the library, the dining room, a tea room, a billiard room and a smoking room.
The second floor houses a total of five suites with two to four rooms, which are reserved for the family. The largest of these, with four rooms, is the London Suite. It comprises the entire East Wing and consists of the Master Bedroom, a study for the master of the house and a drawing room each for the master and the lady of the house. The Devon and Dover Suite in the West Wing each consist of three rooms, a bedroom, a drawing room and a study/reading room. The Main Wing houses the Brighton and Brimingham Suites, each with two rooms, a bedroom and a drawing room. Both suites face south. On the north side of the Main Wing are two children's rooms, the nursery and a playroom.
The third floor is almost exclusively occupied by guest rooms and suites. These have a similar layout to the suites and rooms on the second floor. The Safir and Emerald Suites are located in the East Wing, each with three rooms. In the West Wing, also with three rooms each, are the Ruby and Diamond Suites. The middle wing has the Apricot and Crimson Suites on the south side, each with two rooms. The five guest rooms on the north side have no names.
Only the Main Wing has a cellar and is used almost exclusively for storing food and wine.
A little further below the cellar is the Sanctuary. This is a vault containing a total of twelve "bedrooms". These so called Quiet Rooms are used by the Kindred of House Davenport to have a safe place when they go into Torpor. The only access to the Sactuary is in the library of Exham Manor and is secured by an extremely complex puzzle lock.
The Sactuary consists of a 60 meter long corridor from which six doors on each side lead to the Quiet Rooms. Numerous niches are embedded in the walls of the corridor, containing the skulls of the construction workers who created the vault, as well as that of the architect of the house and the vault. Each occupied niche has a plaque with the name, profession and dates of birth and death of the respective person, if known.
At the end of the corridor is one more door, beyond which is the Hall of Memories, a diary library of House Davenport.
Defenses
All guest suites in the West Wing have concealed steel shutters that allow the rooms to be perfectly sealed off from daylight. Furthermore, the doors to the suites are reinforced and secured with two complex locks so that the suites are also suitable for Kindred guests.
Access to the Sactuary in the library is secured by a complex puzzle lock. It was designed and built by a talented but unknown inventor of mechanical puzzle boxes and toys, whose skull can also be found in a niche in the corridor of the Sactuary.
The mechanism is based on twelve keyholes, one of which alternates every minute to open the door to the Sactuary. The time depends on the large grandfather clock in the library, which is part of the mechanism.
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