No. 82 - Drawing Room

I am really enjoying the fictional world that Ayn Rand created in The Fountainhead, the subject of Post No. 47. What an extraordinary character Howard Roark is. How many books do you remember the main character a month later, or six months, or a year? There are only a few for me. But I would find it hard to imagine that I will ever forget Howard Roark.

The story takes place in the 1920s and 1930s and focuses on the world of architecture with a few of the main characters, including Howard Roark, being architects so when I first stumbled upon the word "drawing room" I did what most people likely do - word association - and figured that it was a room, like an office or a library, used for drawing or sketching. It fit for a while but then it just didn't seem to make sense. Everyone seemed to have one of these drawing rooms, not just the architects.

I learned that a drawing room is a room in a house where guests are entertained. The origin of the word dates back to the sixteenth century and is a shortened form of "withdrawing" room, or a room in which the ladies would "withdraw to" after dinner. The word is not used much anymore but would typically refer to the American parlor or, as it is called these days, the living room.

Let's see now. When we have guests over it seems like most of the entertaining is done in the kitchen. And the kids quite frequently use the kitchen counter for drawing and coloring. So in our house it would appear that our kitchen is the drawing room.