show house
[show n.1]
† 1. A shop or other building in which wares are displayed. Obs.
| 1527 in Chron. Calais (Camden) 107 All persons having shewehouses or packhouses. c 1600 in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. (1902) XVI. 35 No..Merchant Adventurer..shall..keepe open shoppe or shewhouse. |
2. a. A house conspicuous and celebrated for architectural beauty, splendid furniture, or the like; esp. one over which the public are at certain times admitted to be shown.
| 1806 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life vi. xxviii, In seeing what is called a ‘Shew-house’,—keeping pace, whether you will or not, through all the rooms, with another party. 1880 M. E. Braddon Just as I am ii, Fairview was not a grand house, or a show house. |
b. A house specially finished for exhibition as an advertisement, usu. for others of similar construction (on a housing estate). Also fig. Cf. show flat s.v. show n.1 22.
| 1962 Listener 15 Nov. 799/1 It [sc. the Labour Party] wished, as it were, to paddle its own canoe—to build in Britain a show-house of democratic socialism which the rest of Europe might inspect and then draw the lesson. 1963 Times 9 May 9/4 The first showhouse of a new private development which will ultimately provide 800 low-cost homes was opened here today. 1970 Times 4 Mar. 15/1 (Advt.), Don't miss the ‘House and Garden’ showhouse. 1974 Country Life 19 Dec. Suppl. 19 Family houses to be constructed... Showhouse available for visiting. 1978 J. Sherwood Limericks of Lachasse iii. 34 Frau Hoffmann's got the place looking like a show house in an exhibition. |
3. A building used for staging theatrical performances; a travelling theatre.
| 1920 D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl vi. 105 A certain wooden show-house..an old travelling theatre. 1930 I. Goldberg Tin Pan Alley 217 The showhouses, too..are taxed for this privilege, on the basis of their seating capacity. |