House of the First Floor

House of the First Floor

 

House of the First Floor  House of the First Floor

House of the First Floor is located on the east side of anonymous street south of Via dell Abbondanza. The building was originally excavated between 1952 and 1955, and then in 1957. A series of houses including the House of the First Floor in the area miraculously preserved frescoes and decorations on the first floor hence the name.

In the House of the First Floor there are beautifully preserved frescoes of mythological scenes. However, in some places the paint is swollen and ready to fall off. Without the intervention of archaeologists, they may collapse in the near future. In a small garden there was an aquarium in the Southeast corner. There is also a rear exit. The wooden door had rotted, but cement was poured into the void. When the earth was removed, an exact copy remained in the place of the former door, but already of cement.

 

A simple entrance (a) leads to a rectangular atrium - living room (b), which does not have an ordinary central pool. This part of the House on the First Floor is in very poor condition. On the north side of the entrance to the mansion (a) is a small door that opens into a narrow room with a small toilet.

Of the rooms located around the atrium, the best occlusion (c) in the northwest corner of the living room was best preserved. The room has significant portions of the frescoes, although most of the details have been lost. The middle zone is rather indistinct, but the lower zone consists of a rather high black and red frieze topped with a red dado. A small rectangular window illuminates the room and is rather high above the floor.

The office room (d) opens from the northeast corner of the atrium. The room was badly damaged and lost most of its plaster and murals. The remaining fragments are in too poor condition to provide a realistic description of the original design.

To the south of the office, the corridor leads to the peristyle or home garden, which is surrounded by a series of columns on its southern and eastern sides. The opening of the extended eastern end of the andron is the aekus (e). The room is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style with red panels decorated with decorative borders framing fantastic architectural views over the lower black frieze. Large red panels include small still lifes. The upper zone consists of images of birds and architectural motifs on a white background.

House of the First Floor  House of the First Floor

In the southeast corner of the garden is a large stone trough, possibly used as a reservoir for storing live fish.

House of the First Floor  House of the First Floor

House of the First Floor  House of the First Floor