The Billiard Room
Billiards were well established in Victorian Britain. By the later part of the century the billiard room was a common feature of the upper-class homes. Billiard rooms and games that were played there were particularly associated with the men of the house. Often decorated in dark colours, adorned with stag heads and even tiger skin rugs, these rooms conveyed elite masculinity, one of the few rooms where a gentleman could truly escape the fussy decor of the Victorian era and have a room that was truly his.
The Billiard Room was generally a domain for gentleman in Victorian times, where they would retire for privacy and a bit of leisure, a place where business could be discussed over a game and cigars. Here the ladies were not likely to step within and risk reeking of cigar smoke or overhearing something indelicate, although there is evidence that women did sometimes join in.
Billiards in the late 1800’s moved into pubs and halls and still remains an incredibly popular pastime and sport today. There are not many houses with rooms big enough to hold a billiard table, the closest equivalent some homes have is a ‘games’ room or ‘man cave’.