Bevins House

1216 Grampton Street
Newington, Southwark, London

The Bevins House is a boarding house in the Southwark's Newington neighborhood, run by the young married couple Albert and Gladys Bevins. Unlike many similar boarding houses which make no effort to keep the private living accommodations of their boarders strictly segregated along proper gender lines, the Bevins House is split directly down the middle, with one section for bachelors and another for women and married couples, as is appropriate.

Proprietors

Albert Bevins

An engineer at the nearby Elephant and Castle train station, Albert inherited the grand old Bevins House from his aunt who elected to move to the country for her health. A proper young man with a bright future ahead of him, Albert married his schootime sweetheart recently, and the two of them now run the Bevins House, lending it a bit of their own youthful vigor and love for life, as well as a modern sensibility attractive to those looking for boarding in the Newington area.

Gladys Bevins

A sensible young woman with a fondness for supremely modern haberdashery, Gladys tends to the day-to-day operation of the Bevins House while her husband helps keep the trains running on Her Majesty's timetable. Hardworking and a good Christian woman, Gladys runs a tight ship. She is very scrupulous in ensuring the privacy of her residents, though any outward nonsense or impropriety will certainly earn a sharp retort from her, if not an insisted eviction. She is well aware of the reputation of many boarding houses in the Southwark, and will have none of that kind of goings-on in her home.

The House

The Bevins House is quite the modern house, for all it was built almost fifty years ago. It features a great number of very light and air windows, complete with fine draperies sewn by Gladys herself. The walls are decorated with beautiful wallpapering in light, comfortable pastoral hues, which set off the dark wood and jewel tones in the furnishings in a very fashionable and appealing taste.

Her one affectation is French porcelain, which she quite adores. Nearly every room in the house has an example or two of these sorts of crafts, though always of rigidly practical purpose, of course. The water basins and pitchers in every room are all French porcelain, as is her most treasured place settings (which only come out for holidays and the most special of occasions).

Mrs Bevins is a great believer in the loveliness of the natural British countryside - none of the "vulgar knick-knacks of the Far East so common these days" in her house, thank you. She is quite enamored of the Pastoral Movement, in fact, and looks forward to the day when her husband is successful enough to perhaps secure employment in a station far out in the country, away from the stink and illness of the big city.

The Tightly-Run Ship

The Bevins House is run in according to Mrs. Bevins' very strong ideas about how a proper household should be run. Though all her tenants pay, she insists that they are more akin to guests or visiting relations - she insists that so long as she treats them with the sort of grace a hostess in her own home should, they will likewise treat her with the courtesy of proper guests. She has heard far too many horror stories about other boarding houses, from the lady of the house treated like a common servant to thoroughly improper relations from not maintaining stringent social expectations between strangers. And she's having none of it. The house schedule runs as follows:

• Mornings: Windows are unshuttered in the house at 5 am, and meal preparations begin at 5:30.
• Breakfast: Served promptly at 6 am, and runs through 7:30 am, served in the appropriate dining rooms. Anyone expecting to be in the house for luncheon or tea is expected to inform Mrs. Bevins at this meal. Otherwise, the assumption is that they will be fending for themselves for such. Mr. Bevins generally leaves for work at just before 7 am.
• Cleaning: Once breakfast has been tended to and most of the residents have gone off to their days, Mrs. Bevins tends to the light cleaning of all areas of the house, including making the beds and clearing out supper dishes in the rooms and then deep cleans one area of the house depending on the day of the week. This regimen generally includes a strict dusting and a washing of walls and floors with a lemon-and-lavender wash. Wood is oiled in that room, and metals are polished. Rugs are dragged into the garden to be beaten once a week as well, usually on days when Mr. Bevins is around to aid in the heavy lifting. On Sundays, instead of cleaning, the Bevinses head to church at St. Savior & Ste. Marie Overie Cathedral, at the edge of Bermondsey.
• Luncheon: At 11 am, Mrs. Bevins completes her cleaning, retires upstairs for a brief refresher and then begins the simple luncheon, which is generally on the table by 11:30 (having done most of the onerous preparations alongside breakfast in the morning).
• Afternoon Endeavors: By 12:30, the remains of luncheon have been cleared away and cleaned, and it is time for Mrs. Bevins' afternoon to start. Most of the household shopping happens at this time of the day, generally at the nearby market, but Mrs. Bevins is also quite knowledgeable in the running of the omnibus routes, and so takes keen advantage of that to visit various shops. She is quite frugal, however, and a keen bargain-hunter. She always returns no later than 3 pm.
• Tea: Tea is served at 3:30 pm for those who have previously indicated they will be present. Unlike breakfast or luncheon, Mrs. Bevins does not serve during tea - she simply lays out the tea service and the tiered trays of sandwiches and sweet breads, and retires to her rooms for her own tea.
• Evening Endeavors: Evenings in the house tend to be quiet. Mrs. Bevins usually sticks to her own wing, tending to sewing and the myriad other little household projects that require little in the way of energy and can be done by gaslight, while waiting for her husband to get home, which generally happens at around 6 pm. She serves him his evening meal at that time, usually made up of a combination of the sorts of meals served throughout the day at the house.
• Supper: Just before bedtime proper, at about 7 pm Mrs. Bevins serves a simple supper, usually a sweet hot chocolate with a small slice of poundcake, in the rooms of residents. She also takes in any laundry to be tended at that time (as well as rent on Saturday evenings before Church, so that she can tithe appropriately).
• Lights Out: The lights are extinguished in the public parts of the house by 9 pm. Mrs. Bevins is very clear that residents may keep their lights burning in their rooms later than this, but the household is shut down at that point, and there should be quiet to allow decent folk to sleep properly.

First Floor

Ladies' Wing

The ladies' wing - intended for those few single women who pass Mrs. Bevins' muster, as well as the occasional newlyweds just moved to the city to make their lives together - is a place of understated floral elegance. Mrs. Bevins' love of the countryside shines through in the decor in this wing. The public areas of the house all have at least one simple vase of French porcelain with fresh flowers in it, and the smell of lavender pervades pleasingly.

• Portico: X
• Foyer: X
• Room Four: X
• Room Five: X
• Room Six: X
• Gentlemen's Dining: X

Bachelor's Wing

The bachelor's wing is - as its name suggests - intended for men only. It tends to say quite filled with residents, most of the time. The rooms in this wing are decorated with what Mrs. Bevins understands are the male sensibility, through the lens of her own pastoral interests, of course. As such, much of the color in this part of the house is a fine English hunter green, with complimentary brass metalworks here and there. The decorations themselves evoke hunting and riding scenes, though she has drawn the line at vulgar stuffed animal heads and the like, despite her husband's suggestions.

• Portico: X
• Foyer: X
• Room Four: X
• Room Five: X
• Room Six: X
• Gentlemen's Dining: X

Bevins' Wing

Mrs. Bevins clearly prefers the decorating techniques she applies to the ladies' wing, as their personal wings are likewise decorated. The kitchen and pantry, downstairs, are considered off-limits to residents, though residents may of course pass through them to get to the gardens.

• Kitchen & Pantry: X
• Gardens: X

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Second Floor

Ladies' Wing

The ladies' wing - intended for those few single women who pass Mrs. Bevins' muster, as well as the occasional newlyweds just moved to the city to make their lives together - is a place of understated floral elegance. Mrs. Bevins' love of the countryside shines through in the decor in this wing. The public areas of the house all have at least one simple vase of French porcelain with fresh flowers in it, and the smell of lavender pervades pleasingly.

• Room Seven: X
• Room Eight: X
• Bath: X
• Jakes: X

Bachelor's Wing

The bachelor's wing is - as its name suggests - intended for men only. It tends to say quite filled with residents, most of the time. The rooms in this wing are decorated with what Mrs. Bevins understands are the male sensibility, through the lens of her own pastoral interests, of course. As such, much of the color in this part of the house is a fine English hunter green, with complimentary brass metalworks here and there. The decorations themselves evoke hunting and riding scenes, though she has drawn the line at vulgar stuffed animal heads and the like, despite her husband's suggestions.

• Room Nine: X
• Room Ten: X
• Bath: X
• Jakes: X

Bevins' Wing

Mrs. Bevins clearly prefers the decorating techniques she applies to the ladies' wing, as their personal wings are likewise decorated. The kitchen and pantry, downstairs, are considered off-limits to residents, though residents may of course pass through them to get to the gardens.

• Bevin's Dining: X
• Bevins' Parlour: X
• Bevins'Bath: X
• Bevins' Room: X

Attic