Regency Trivia – Hall or Foyer?

A hall originally referred to the large main room of an old castle or house. It was the place that the family showed its wealth. They were often quite elaborate because it was the first impression a visitor got. When I lived in England in the late 1990’s and early 2000 the first room one entered was still called a hall.

However, it’s quite common in the US to call the first room one comes to after entering the house a foyer from the French foyer. But what did the word ‘foyer’ mean in England during the early to middle part of the 19^th century? According to the OED foyer first came into use around 1859 and was the green room or large room in the theater as this quote shows. “1859   G. A. Sala Twice round Clock (1861) 263  “This model foyer is to have something of the Haymarket and something of the Adelphi.””

Gradually, it came to mean any large room in a theater, restaurant, or other public building.

1882   Harper’s Mag. Feb. 327  Twice a year it is held in the foyer of the Academy of Music.

1910   Bradshaw’s Railway Guide Apr. 1116  The Restaurant with Foyer is one of the prettiest Dining Rooms in London.

1915   ‘Bartimeus’ Tall Ship iv. 77  There were at least half a dozen mothers in the foyer of the big..hotel.

The OED still does not define the word as an entrance to a house. However, Merriam-Webster defines the word as an entrance hall or vestibule and dates its use in North America to 1833. Thus, clearly making it a word Americans have used for almost 200 years.

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