Reply to When did the uber rich stop having live in servants?

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[quote=Anonymous]Good points in the thread but one factor no one has mentioned is that technology greatly changed the nature of housework in the mid 20th century. Dishwashers, washing machines and later dryers, microwaves, packaged foods that were easier to prepare, in-home HVAC instead of fires or other methods for heating and cooling a home -- all of this diminished the work that household staff had to do, making it harder to occupy household staff enough to justify having them live in.

Of course the wealthy still have housekeepers, nannies, landscapers, and personal assistants. But when your housekeeper can start the dishwasher before she leaves and get the laundry done in 3 hours instead of 10, it makes less sense to have her living in. You also don't need people lighting fires at 5am just to make a home livable in the winter, or a team of people spending 3 hours preparing a meal from scratch.

Culture also became much more casual which mean fewer formal meals to prepare and clean up after. Instead of a small wardrobe of formal clothes that needed to be spot cleaned and continually repaired and updated, people have larger wardrobes of more casual clothes that can be machine washed and don't need to be re-embroidered or beaded or otherwise tended to. Even if you are a billionaire, you simply do not need a steward or lady's maid to help you get dressed or change your clothes before dinner -- your clothes are user friendly and you can do it yourself.

These changes also came with shifts to how homes are laid out, with more open floor plans, especially open kitchens and dining rooms. Having formal staff makes a lot less sense if your kitchen can be seen from everywhere on the first floor -- it was easier when they were hidden away in a ground floor kitchen where the upper class never went. Same with open dining rooms and parlors/living rooms. It feels less strange to have live in staff when they are mostly hidden away from you and your guests and only appearing periodically to serve a meal or tend the fire. Even just full time (not even live in) staff can feel a lot more intrusive in moderation homes where the "working" spaces flow directly into and are visible from the relaxing and entertaining spaces.[/quote]

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