Address: Insula 2
Area: 711 square meters
Rooms: 19
House of Gavius Rufus is located on the street of Vikolo dei Panetier, a narrow street connecting Vicolo Storto and Via Stabiana. House of Gavius Rufus was excavated in 1867 and received its name from two inscriptions located on both sides of the entrance. The facade retains the remnants of red plaster. House of Gavius Rufus has been preserved quite well. Remains of frescoes and mosaics on the floor are in the good state. Also here were found bronze statues of Apollo, Minerva and the goddess of fortune. Their quality and artistic value suggests that the house belonged to a wealthy citizen. Unfortunately, the second floor is not preserved. It collapsed during an eruption, but the ground floor remained relatively well-preserved. Bodies were not found here, so it is difficult to say what happened to the owner of the house and his household. Perhaps they managed to escape Pompeii and save themselves.
The hallway (a), which opens from the south side of the street of
Vikolo dei Panetire, lost most of its decoration, and the fragments
were too weathered to give a realistic description. On the east side
of the hallway there is a narrow door that gives access to the room
of porters (b) and beyond - the stables (c). The entrance hall opens
into a rather small atrium (d) or a central living room, in the
center of which is a marble basin. Like the entrance hall, the
atrium lost most of its plaster, leaving only a few faded fragments.
With the exception of a small room (e) at the northwestern
corner of the atrium, all other rooms in the house open into an
internal garden, which could be reached through a wide doorway on
the south side of the atrium. In the northeastern corner of the
peristyle, there is a large bite (h). This room is better preserved
than the atrium, and the remaining plaster allows an approximate
description of the decoration, consisting of alternating red and
yellow panels on a white background above the bottom black frieze.
The room has a secondary doorway in the southwest corner connecting
it to the south end of the atrium.
Along the eastern side of
the peristyle there are a number of rooms, the size of which
increases from north to south. Basically, these rooms are in poor
condition, being semi-destructive with few remaining decorations. Of
the rooms on the eastern side of the peristyle, room (i) was the
best preserved. The room is decorated with frescoes in the second
style in an illusory style, including painted columns on a low wall,
set against a dark red background. There are remnants of a
decorative floor with a geometric pattern, decorated with white
marble pieces.
In the southeast corner of the peristyle there
is a service area, including the kitchen (j). This area (k),
apparently, was without a roof with fragments of frescoes depicting
garden paintings on the walls. In the center of the south side of
the peristyle there is a large half-room (l), the so-called exedra
(a recess, usually semi-circular or rectangular, in the wall). The
exedra is decorated with frescoes in the third style with red and
yellow panels along with architectural elements above the bottom
black frieze. In the center of each wall is a large mythological
scene.