CHAPTER VTHE GRAND EPOCH

A MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF WITCH-HOUSE—PLAN

PLATE XXIII.GERMANTOWN MOTIVE APPLIED TO A MODERN COTTAGE.

PLATE XXIII.

GERMANTOWN MOTIVE APPLIED TO A MODERN COTTAGE.

TYPE OF EARLY CONNECTICUT HOUSE, STRATFORD, CONN.

PLATE XXIV.TYPE OF EARLY CONNECTICUT HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN.

PLATE XXIV.

TYPE OF EARLY CONNECTICUT HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN.

chimney again dominates the plan, which, it is true, taxes modern ingenuity to make a graceful feature of the interior. A relic of old Stratford (Plate XXIII) supplies another interesting type for reincarnation. It is more generous in the matter of chimneys, but has less pitch to the roof. The photograph reveals a texture to the shingled sides which we may hardly obtain in modern work, though at a small additional cost, for the sake of art purely, we may use the wide-gauge shingles, but must see that they line accurately, as they do on the old house at Stratford. They are an unwarranted affectation, the ragged butts generally used to obtain archaic atmosphere in the houses of our time.

We shall see that in New York State and in New Jersey the Dutch influences prevailed in the early architecture, and in Pennsylvania, the German. It is all good architecture, however. The Dutch hoods are habitually at the eaves, while the German hoods which separated the first and second stories were often carried around the entire building, as flounces upon a skirt (see PlatesXXVandXC). The hoods are all fascinating, thoroughly architectonic, yet how little have theybeen studied and developed in modern design! The niceties of their application and use are little understood by the average architect, who, ordinarily, would think he was wasting his client’s money to exploit anything of the kind. You see, he forgets that his client has spiritual needs as well as physical ones. The gambrel roofs of the Dutch houses have come to be commercial commodities and are continually resorted to—no, are continually parodied, I mean to say—by modern builders who cannot tell what this immutable art principle we are talking about may be. They are simply magnificent, the roof lines of the old stone house at Hackensack, N. J., shown inPlate XXV, yet they are not good enough for the modern inventor, he must try some fancied improvement in the way of a grotesque pitch, for which he racks his brain. Of these same fancied improvements I could supply examplesad infinitum, but they could only pain the reader, however great a favor I might be doing American commercialism.

And now I must pause again for the present, because I am come to the doorway of Wyck at Germantown (Plate XIX), and before it the architectural critic

PLATE XXV.JOHNSON HOUSE, GERMANTOWN, PA.

PLATE XXV.

JOHNSON HOUSE, GERMANTOWN, PA.

HOUSE AT HACKENSACK, N. J. EARLY 18TH CENTURY.

PLATE XXVI.HOUSE AT BOGOTA, N. J. EARLY 18TH CENTURY.

PLATE XXVI.

HOUSE AT BOGOTA, N. J. EARLY 18TH CENTURY.

OSMASTON MANOR, DERBYSHIRE.(From English “Country Life.”)

OSMASTON MANOR, DERBYSHIRE.

(From English “Country Life.”)

prefers to linger in silent admiration—to told his arms as the musical critics used to do when Patti was at the zenith of her powers, but while thoroughly enjoying every fine artisticnuanceof the performance, a disturbing premonition reminds him—warns him that if paid to criticise and not to praise he will, in all probability, lose his employment. They have no bit of architectural detail in England that the Germantown doorway need be afraid of. Of course you will go into ecstasies over it; I do. But you will experience difficulty in finding an architect capable of grasping the idea sufficiently well for you to incorporate the charm of it in the new house you are planning to build. The modern dwelling-house is conceived so differently, plotted so differently, with unsympathetic T squares and triangles, and is governed so strictly by materials easily milled, and easily nailed in place by the carpenter, as to put that element of graciousness which signifies so much to our lives and happiness—that “charm not deducible by mathematics,” that makes us think, and whereby we eventually become better men and women in the world, absolutely beyond the pale of realization.

Thenthere came a time when the legitimate development and prosperity of the colonies produced, not what the forcing box of commercialism has produced—amoneyed classunder obligations to no one—but anaristocracywhosenoblesse obligevouchsafed the encouragement of architecture in common with other arts and refinements. And if there remain to us, yet fairly intact, a representative town of this aristocracy that we may go to look at, to-day, to see what it was like, I should say it was Anne Arundel Town (Annapolis), the ancient capital of Maryland.

The best description of Annapolis in that relation which concerns us most—its fascinating old houses and their history—is written by T. Henry Randall in the “Architectural Record” (New York), Vol. 1, No. 3. Indeed, I regard this description as the most valuable

PLATE XXVII.MOUNT VERNON ON THE POTOMAC. THE MOST ORIGINAL AND REPRESENTATIVE OF COLONIAL EXEMPLARS.

PLATE XXVII.

MOUNT VERNON ON THE POTOMAC. THE MOST ORIGINAL AND REPRESENTATIVE OF COLONIAL EXEMPLARS.

paper to American Renaissance that has appeared in periodical literature. Besides this article on Colonial Annapolis, wherein all its remarkable buildings are duly accredited and illustrated, editionsde luxein folio, on Colonial architecture, may also be had of the Bates & Guild Company, of Boston, publishers, containing splendid photogravures of the Chase house, the Harwood, Hammond or Lockerman house,[1]the Brice-Jennings house and other enchanting representatives of our most celebrated régime. These revered authorities, together with Westover, Shirley and Brandon—plantations along the James River—are so well presented in this way to architectural students that I have concluded to reserve the space at my disposal to other subjects which, while nearly as interesting, and exemplifying nearly as well the particular phase of our architectural history under discussion, have a decided advantage in that they have been little exploited (with the exception of Mt. Vernon) in books.

But no writer upon American Renaissance can afford to slight the subject of Annapolis in the letterpress ofhis work, for its didactic value is immense. The very plan of its streets was formulated according to the principles of art uninfluenced in the smallest degree by America’s ubiquitous ogre, commercialism, which was here relegated, by municipal ordinance, to certain extremely restricted sections of the city, beyond which it trespassed at its peril. The relation these patches of territory bore to the whole equalled, perhaps, one-fourth. In other words, the Annapolitans looked upon commercialism as the mere machinery of their household, and the idea was to sacrifice no more room to its offices than was absolutely necessary. Commercialism during the grand epoch was essentially a steward’s department, and the Annapolitans would have been the last people in the world to tolerate its meddling with architecture.

Moreover, Annapolis stands for the supreme moment of the grand epoch. It was here that the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States was formally ratified in 1784, and here Washington went through the ceremony of returning his commission as commander-in-chief of the army to the august

PLATE XXVIII.MOUNT VERNON ON THE POTOMAC.The West Front.

PLATE XXVIII.

MOUNT VERNON ON THE POTOMAC.The West Front.

MOUNT VERNON ON THE POTOMAC.

The West Front.

power whence it had come to him. The constitution itself owes its first glory to Annapolis, where the initial proceedings were held. Annapolis and American Renaissance are, therefore, indissolubly associated. You speak of one and the other follows as a natural consequence. The amplification of the American dwelling-house was here carried to a higher degree of excellence and refinement than has been elsewhere attained, before or since, for Annapolis was practically finished by 1770, and, happily for this generation, has staid so.

It is disappointing that there should be no good place to “sup and lie”—to resuscitate, a rather poetical archaism—in Annapolis, no snug old tavern with the king’s arms upon a sign-board still swinging over its door. And Annapolis, besides, is most inaccessible and expensive to reach; yet every student of American Renaissance should contrive to make, at least, one pilgrimage thither during his lifetime to gain, if possible, a better idea of the most characteristic development his national school of architecture has seen.

After Annapolis, the honors of American Renaissance are divided between a score of more or less historic towns, among them the Colonial capital of New Hampshire claiming especial recognition. Portsmouth also has the atmosphere which means the elixir of life to the housebuilder in quest of inspiration. To breathe this atmosphere here, at his ease, however, will cost him $4 per day at the Rockingham; but then, what enthusiast is there who would begrudge $4 for the sake of making the acquaintance of such a raving, tearing beauty as the house built by Capt. McPhædris in 1723 (see Plate XXX). I could tell you how the bricks to build it were all imported from England, only, this trite piece of information is so applicable to Colonial houses generally as to be of little real interest to the reader, who, I imagine, cares not at all whether the bricks were imported from Kamtschatka or manufactured in a nearby kiln. But when I say that his house cost Capt. McPhædris something like the equivalent of $30,000, I receive instant attention, because a modern admirer might think himself warranted in exploiting an adaptation with just about one-third that sum of money. Of course, he would fail, that is, to carry out the scheme properly. The principal rooms of the first

PLATE XXIX.A SALEM GATEWAY. NICHOLS’ HOUSE.

PLATE XXIX.

A SALEM GATEWAY. NICHOLS’ HOUSE.

HOPPIN HOUSE FROM THE CLOSE. RAREVIEW, LITCHFIELD.

story are paneled in wood from floor to ceiling, and the panels are beveled flush panels—the most expensive kind.

Here is a wonderful old house intensely affecting to stand and contemplate. It seems to be sinking into the earth, as many old houses in England have the appearance of doing, and possesses a tone like a Stradivarius violin, which cannot be counterfeited. The day in the summer of 1896, when I spent a delightful hour in its company, was a sort of reception day, I remember. There were many summer visitors calling, and they “de-ared” it and gushed over it as society people gush over a Chopin étude, because they think it proper to do so, without appreciating the subtle sentiment of the thing at all. It is not so much an affair of one’s education as it is an affair of the heart. People must have the right kind of a heart and the right kind of a charitable nature before they may really enjoy either a Chopin étude or the McPhædris house at Portsmouth. To quote the lines of Holofernes in “Love’s Labor’s Lost”: They

“Find not the apostrophes, and so miss the accent.”

While Portsmouth is on the main line of travel north from Boston, it is still almost as much neglected as Annapolis, and it is a great pity that many of its once splendid mansions are falling into decay. The Governor Langdon house, the Ladd house and others should receive the attention they bestow upon such priceless relics in Salem, where everything of the kind is jealously guarded. But Salem is so distinctly illustrative of early nineteenth century work that I intend to refer to it later, under that head, likewise to Providence and Bristol, in Rhode Island, and Middletown, in Connecticut.

New York and Boston have practically nothing left of the grand epoch. The Walton house of Pearl Street and the Hancock house of Beacon Street, respectively, with all their less noted colleagues, have passed into history, the Walton house (i.e., in its original splendor) before the advent of photography; so that we have not even pictures of it of any value. The Jumel mansion (A.D.1758) perched upon a dizzy height overlooking the Harlem, is a sole survivor intact whose permanency is threatened at the time I write.

PLATE XXX.HOUSE OF CAPTAIN McPHAEDRIS, AT PORTSMOUTH N. H.

PLATE XXX.

HOUSE OF CAPTAIN McPHAEDRIS, AT PORTSMOUTH N. H.

PLATE XXXI.DOORWAY AT WARREN, R. I.

PLATE XXXI.

DOORWAY AT WARREN, R. I.

CHIMNEY-PIECE.AMERICAN RENAISSANCE. 1899.

CHIMNEY-PIECE.

AMERICAN RENAISSANCE. 1899.

But Philadelphia, with Fairmount Park and Germantown contiguous, is still, historically, very interesting, the most celebrated relics of this vicinity being the Chew house at Germantown, and the Arnold-Shippen house (called “The Dairy”) in Fairmount Park. Presentments of the famous Chew house (still standing) will be found, however, in every illustrated history of the Revolution, including the popular juvenile, “Boys of ’76”; but pictures of Wyck, at Germantown (see Plate XXXIII) equally historic, are rare, as are also the pictures of some other places I shall mention, and which I have taken much pains to obtain for this review.

Wyck is the oldest house in Germantown, at least, part of it is said to be, and its extreme length, together with the great passage there is through it to an inner court or garden, make it the most curious as well. Stenton-in-the-Fields has many legends and things to commend it to the antiquarian, but it is not pretty at all, and does not appeal to the architect, who is much more attracted to the Wister house, numbered 5261 Main Street, and to the Morris house (both appearingonPlate XXXII), standing a little farther along upon the old turnpike, both of which, like the Strauss waltz I mentioned in a preceding chapter, areawfully nice. Germantown itself is much overrated and disappointing. It is not a picturesque town like Annapolis or Portsmouth or Salem, and lacks character generally.

Journeying into Philadelphia we shall find hidden away in the midst of a cheap,bourgeoisneighborhood in South Eighth Street another Morris house (Plate XXXVI) belonging to the grand epoch. This stunning relic is rarely photographed, and then the professional photographer sets up his camera directly in front of it, uses his wide angle lens, which is sure to distort, and he cannot avoid cutting off part of its base line, and foreshortening the dormer windows. This Morris house has outlived all the friends and acquaintances of its youth. Down by the Delaware River there may linger a vestige, here and there, of the old-time gentry; but most of the architecture which may be called “old,” in Philadelphia proper, belongs to a later generation.

Again, let us turn in the direction of Annapolis, not

PLATE XXXII.MORRIS HOUSE, GERMANTOWN.

PLATE XXXII.

MORRIS HOUSE, GERMANTOWN.

WISTER HOUSE, GERMANTOWN.

because it is an irresistible magnet that the student of architecture feels, more or less, all his life, but because he cannot afford to miss Alexandria. And I do not mean Alexandria itself, for it is pathetically decrepit. The Carlyle house[2]is a wreck, and the Fairfax house is ugly. But I mean to say he cannot afford to miss Mount Vernon, which is usually reached via Alexandria. If time is limited in Washington, cut out the new Library of Congress, which is apoliticaljob, one degree more vulgar than acommercialone. Indeed, if worse comes to worse in the matter of time, cut out everything but the Capitol, only, be sure to see Mount Vernon! (PlatesXXVIIandXXVIII.)

Familiar as everybody is with its pillared portico high above the Potomac, and good as many of the modern photographs are of this effective view of the mansion-house, he who has never visited Mount Vernon can form no idea of the enchanting beauty of thatColonial estate. The ride on the electric road from Alexandria is through a country scrubby enough and rough enough to send dismay to the most persevering tourist; but do not dismay, for at the end a transformation scene awaits you which you will never forget, and if you be an architect, will supply inspiration worth many times your travelling expenses.

Walking out upon the magnificent stretch of greensward that overlooks the river, one cannot but agree with Washington in preferring Mount Vernon to every other country seat of America. I can think of none that equals it naturally, while architecturally, it is thoroughly admirable from stylobate to cupola.

Within, the wainscots, cornices and chimney-pieces are models of excellence; and if, perhaps, we could nowadays achieve better success in ventilating bedrooms than was achieved by Washington with his, we must own, we are still largely the debtor party by the amount of education we imbibe relating to what Eliza Southgate calls—in her edifying book of letters of a girl written eighty years ago, bound between samplers, concerning Sunswick, the Delafield house on Long

PLATE XXXIII.WYCK, GERMANTOWN.

PLATE XXXIII.

WYCK, GERMANTOWN.

TERRACE AND GARDEN FRONT OF A HOUSE AT WYOMING, N. J. 1899.Modern Development of the Carlyle House, Alexandria, Va.

TERRACE AND GARDEN FRONT OF A HOUSE AT WYOMING, N. J. 1899.

Modern Development of the Carlyle House, Alexandria, Va.

Island—“Ease, elegance and hospitality,” and which we carry away with us.

As one looks back from the west gate toward the manse which he sees at the end of a vista of verdure, another conception of the first American comes to him which no biographer out of all he has had seems to have thought worth while delineating. Washington has always been our greatest military commander. We were convinced of that long before our visit to Mount Vernon, but he hasnotalways been our greatest connoisseur of American Renaissance.

Colonial estates as carefully restored and preserved as Mount Vernon are extremely scarce, especially throughout the South. I number among my acquaintances some enthusiasts who spent several weeks in Gloucester County, Virginia, a year or so ago, and who did me the honor of writing glowing accounts of some ancestral halls they had discovered there. They were not architects, and could hardly have judged of the architectonic merit of their find; but as the names of the plantations were euphonious—names like “Elmington,” “Whitemarsh,” “Todsbury,” and “Rosewell,” I was anxious to see the pictures they brought home, one of which, with their permission, appears onPlate XXXVII. Visions of more estates like Jefferson’s Monticello, Madison’s Montpelier, Sabine Hall, Westover and Shirley easily flitted across my brain; but alas! I was doomed to disappointment! The photographs revealed many typical Virginia plantations entailed and beautiful, but not at all remarkable architecturally. In my anxiety to know the truth about Virginia I repeated the question, “Were there no houses as nice as Shirley?—nothing as nice as Shirley?” (see Plate V), when, after considerable explanation and some excuses, there was left but frankly to own that the great plantations I had enumerated were the homes of the wealthier planters and proprietors under the royal patents, and as a matter of fact, there was nothing in Gloucester as representative of the grand epoch as was Shirley-on-the-James.

Throughout New England and the middle States isolated examples of exceptionally good Colonial architecture are still numerous, and some of them in good repair. There will be just one, perhaps, to a town

PLATE XXXIV.JOHN COTTON SMITH HOUSE, SHARON, CONN.

PLATE XXXIV.

JOHN COTTON SMITH HOUSE, SHARON, CONN.

THE DEMMING HOUSE, LITCHFIELD, CONN.(The front has not been altered.)

THE DEMMING HOUSE, LITCHFIELD, CONN.

(The front has not been altered.)

PLATE XXXV.FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN, N. J. 18TH CENTURY.Headquarters of His Excellency General Washington during the Winter of 1779-80.

PLATE XXXV.

FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN, N. J. 18TH CENTURY.Headquarters of His Excellency General Washington during the Winter of 1779-80.

FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN, N. J. 18TH CENTURY.

Headquarters of His Excellency General Washington during the Winter of 1779-80.

DOORWAY WITH HOOD, LYNN-REGIS. 1897.

which played its part in the American Revolution, and where any one might suppose there would be more that had survived the menaces of commercialism. This is the case at Morristown, New Jersey, where the Ford mansion (see Plate XXXV) is a lone patriarch whose simple lines make a neighboring and hideous Franco-American roof constructed during our Reign of Terror—the seventies—all the more ugly and exasperating. Then there are some towns like Litchfield, Connecticut, whose claims for Colonial architecture are hardly warranted. There are but two good exemplars in Litchfield to see, and but two indifferent hotels to stop at. As a friend of mine expresses it: “When I dine at one I always wish I had dined at the other.” The two good examples are, namely, Professor Hoppin’s house (Plate XXIX) and the Demming house (Plate XXXIV), standing nearly opposite on North Street. They have both been altered and enlarged, and are therefore so much injured. The fronts of each are happily intact. Modern amplification often makes me wish I could borrow the efficacious sign that used to hang upon the wall of an old saw mill, across whichwas rudely inscribed the impressive legend: “Don’t monkey with the buzz-saw!” Only, for my purposes, I should omit “the buzz-saw,” substituting therefor “this house.” I sincerely believe a great deal of good could yet be accomplished in that way, or, rather, much evil averted.

A number of celebrated relics properly belonging to this chapter, which is already overstepping the limits assigned to it, I have failed to mention. The foregoing form but a very imperfect list of living representatives of the grand epoch. Still, taken each as a type, they fairly cover the historic period cited. My selections present houses variously constructed of stone, of wood, of brick, and of stucco. They are all original designs, original as the times and the conditions which prevailed in the colonies suggested or permitted—original as the literary styles of authors are dissimilar and original, for every art has its grammar, its glossary, and whatever transcends is not art, butaberration. It ought to be entirely unnecessary for me to say this; but I have lately been confronted with a startling misapprehension upon this point even among architects.

PLATE XXXVI.MORRIS HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA.

PLATE XXXVI.

MORRIS HOUSE, PHILADELPHIA.

PLATE XXXVII.WINTER VIEW OF EASTOVER.

PLATE XXXVII.

WINTER VIEW OF EASTOVER.

A GHOST OF THE GRAND EPOCH, ROSEWELL, GLOUCESTER COUNTY, VA.

Of course, these Colonial houses are Renaissance, because Renaissance, since Mediæval times, has been the connecting link history has found convenient to unite the present with the past. Yet there is not a building in either England or France or Italy like any of them. They are intensely American in every line, and express as much American history as George Bancroft was able to express in his great literary work. Architecture is not architecture which does not express history. St. Paul’s Cathedral in London is strictly Renaissance, yet who shall say it is notoriginal, that it is notEnglishRenaissance, and architecture above everything?

The Renaissance of America has as much if not more local color than that of Great Britain. And I do not believe there is an architectural scholar in the country who would have the hardihood to declare the vast treasure house of English Renaissance to be a weak imitation of an older school.

No, I cannot clearly make out what the promoters of the newly invented modes of building expect to teach us. There are two lines of poetry wholly irrelevant to architecture, but so irresistibly significant ofthe propositions of “New Art” in all its guises, that I may not do better than append them here, to wit:

“He might be taught by love[3]and her together—I really don’t know what, nor Julia either.”Don Juan, Canto I, LXXXI.

PLATE XXXVIII.DE WOLF-COLT MANSION, BRISTOL, R. I. EPOCH 1810.

PLATE XXXVIII.

DE WOLF-COLT MANSION, BRISTOL, R. I. EPOCH 1810.

Tothe brief but brilliant interregnum lasting from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the year 1825 we are indebted for some excellent domestic architecture. The end of the ancient régime in America, at least up to the war with Great Britain in 1812, was marked by a healthy and material progress which seems to have encouraged domestic architecture before everything. It presents no phases in common with that ancient régime in France from which we borrow the title. With us it was not a case of Du Barry and revolution; for the last remnant of America’s aristocracy passed away amid the pleasantest of surroundings, the only regret being that our gentry failed to bequeath to their children those rare qualities of eminent nobility which they themselves enjoyed to such perfection, and which are so charmingly indicated by the houses theyerected—the houses they could not make out to take with them, to which it is still our privilege to pay visits and respects.

Looking backward, let us pay an imaginary visit to Bristol, R. I., in 1810—Bristol at the height of its Renaissance. Perhaps your engagement is an invitation to supper or high tea at George De Wolf’s, on Hope Street. (SeePlate XXXVIII). They entertain elegantly, and this evening the entire grounds comprised within the close are illuminated by lanterns. One lingers in an enchanted garden, intensely absorbed conversing with the architect of it all—Russell Warren; the scene delightfully recalling a visit to Versailles, and the work of Louis XIV’s famous gardener architect, Le Nôtre. It is thus you nearly fail to heed the interruption caused by the servant who approaches along the box-bordered walk to say that supper is served in the large dining-hall. I only wish I had the space to continue this make-believe reminiscence; but the economy of the age in which I live forbids.

I once wrote for theHouse Beautiful, also for theArchitectural Review, papers wholly devoted to the

PLATE XXXIX.LOCAL COLOR, OLD PHILADELPHIA.

PLATE XXXIX.

LOCAL COLOR, OLD PHILADELPHIA.

Renaissance architecture of Bristol, and anyone who should be particularly interested in this local development of his national school I would respectfully refer to the indexes of those publications. There are no Colonial houses exactly like those of Bristol. It has a unique development of its own. If the De Wolf-Colt mansion-house is the most elaborate of its contemporaries it is not the more remarkable. The house once belonging to Captain Churchill, sometime master of our queen of privateers, the “Yankee,” erected in 1807, is a most fascinating exemplar of its genus (Plate XL). Nearly all the Bristol houses have parapet rails, the detail of which is exquisite. The rails of the Churchill house are particularly fine, while gracefully poised upon a ball at each corner is a carved American eagle, perhaps intended to be emblematic of the victories gained over the British by their intrepid master. Another uncommon development greets us in the Norris house (Plate XL). It has two parapet rails, to accomplish which distinction the third story is narrowed up, I should judge about two feet all around the building. The De Wolf-Middleton house, situated on a peninsula forming Bristol harbor, called “Papasquæ,” erected in 1808, is still another splendid home with flanking wings and intermediate passages, in which respect savoring of adorable Annapolis. (Plate XLII). The view shown is really the rear-view though it be the carriage approach.

Then follow so many beautiful things in Bristol to describe that I quite despair of making selections. There are doorways—bewitching doorways galore, one or two I have already used to illustrate American Renaissance, and I hope to find room for others without prejudice to other towns.

Under the title “A Salem Enchantment,” in theHouse Beautifulfor November, 1902, may be found somewhat more of an account of an interesting town filled with early nineteenth century work than is possible here. What Annapolis is to the grand epoch Salem is to the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Federal Street, Essex Street, Broad and Chestnut suggest a panorama of edifying domestic architecture. But of all the grateful impressions that stamp themselves indelibly upon the mind, one in particular has

PLATE XL.HOUSE WITH THE EAGLES, BRISTOL, R. I.

PLATE XL.

HOUSE WITH THE EAGLES, BRISTOL, R. I.

THE NORRIS HOUSE, BRISTOL, R. I.

PLATE XLI.CHESTNUT STREET, SALEM.

PLATE XLI.

CHESTNUT STREET, SALEM.

microscopic definition. It is the house on Essex Street once belonging to Captain Joseph White, a retired sea captain. (Plate XLIII). A sensational interest may attach because the captain was murdered for his money in it some seventy years ago; but outside of this interest the architectural student will find in this building as satisfactory an example of its times as exists anywhere. Then, its splendid state of preservation will also delight the heart of a connoisseur, for I cannot conceive of its being at any time in its history more beautiful than it appears to-day. Photographs of it are extremely rare. The Salem guide-books and local histories in referring to the admirable domestic architecture of Salem—which, by the way, they do not half appreciate—curiously omit even mentioning the Captain White house. One may learn all he wishes concerning the Witches and Hawthorne; but facts about theparc aux cerfsin the reign of Louis XV are more easily obtainable than facts concerning this historic dwelling in Salem.

Providence, R. I., is also extremely rich in early nineteenth century material; but Hartford and NewHaven in Connecticut, where any one might wander expecting to find something worth one’s while, have been done over and badly done at that. Instead of bothering with these two places, go to Middletown. I have already drawn upon Middletown to illustrate this review, though much remains to which I shall hardly do justice.

The Watkinson house on Main Street, built about 1810 (see PlatesXLIV,XLVandLXXXVII), illustrates exceptionally good early nineteenth century work, also its mate, the General Mansfield house, nearly across the way.

The porch of the Watkinson house is beautifully proportioned, exquisite in detail, with a curvilinear ceiling in plaster. The columns rest upon brownstone bases, and these in turn upon a brownstone platform, from the famous Portland quarries located upon the opposite side of the Connecticut river, and which supplied New York City for so many years with its principal building material. The Watkinson house is home-feeling personified; but this is not all. You walk from the iron gateway through another gateway—a

PLATE XLII.WEST APPROACH AND ENTRANCE DE WOLF-MIDDLETOWN HOUSE, BRISTOL, R. I. BUILT IN 1808.

PLATE XLII.

WEST APPROACH AND ENTRANCE DE WOLF-MIDDLETOWN HOUSE, BRISTOL, R. I. BUILT IN 1808.

THE BACK BUILDINGS OF PHILADELPHIA.

PLATE XLIII.THE CAPTAIN WHITE HOUSE, ESSEX STREET, SALEM.

PLATE XLIII.

THE CAPTAIN WHITE HOUSE, ESSEX STREET, SALEM.

PLATE XLIV.DOORWAY, SILVERGATE.Joy Wheeler Dow, Architect.

PLATE XLIV.

DOORWAY, SILVERGATE.Joy Wheeler Dow, Architect.

DOORWAY, SILVERGATE.

Joy Wheeler Dow, Architect.

WATKINSON HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN.1810.

WATKINSON HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN.

1810.

wooden one not visible in the picture, and then again through still another gate, when, all at once, the vision of an old-time Renaissance garden extending far down toward the river surprises and delights the eye. The garden is furnished with all the traditional paraphernalia appropriate to it; and under curious arbors, by trellises into miniature boscages, one wanders enchanted.

I have spoken of the efflorescence of commercialism, and I tried to find for a foregoing chapter an illustration of heaping meretricious ornament upon itself which I needed at that time; but now I have the pleasure to show you the true efflorescence in connection with architecture, the efflorescence with which the Greatest of all architects has most to do in bringing to perfection.

I do not think I may conclude an article upon early nineteenth century architecture in America without a paragraph in reference to that which exists, and is likely to remain for some time, in the traditionally blue-blooded section of Philadelphia bounded by Chestnut and Pine Streets east of the Schuylkill river. (See PlatesXX,XXXIXandLXXXVII.) And all thingsconsidered I do not know that we have improved very much, if any, upon those old Philadelphia city house plans in any of the newer designs exploited in such variety both in New York and elsewhere. Without the private street at the rear of the lot we cannot hope to do anything very satisfactory, and in those private streets—the entrance for the tradespeople to the houses—Philadelphia has a tremendous advantage at the outset. This amplification of the backyard—the dignity afforded it by an independent gateway upon a street of its own, the pair of doors with a transom opening into it from the staircase hall recessed by the rounded corner of the back building, and the disposition of the back building itself, all present dazzling opportunities to the architect not only for effects but for comfort and convenience. The mezzanine dining-room with windows upon two sides has unlimited possibilities which they seem never to have fully grasped or appreciated in Philadelphia. I only wish I had the restoration of one of those old Philadelphia houses withcarte blancheto do with it as I liked. Confining the entire mechanism of the ménage to the back-building, the heat of

PLATE XLV.WATKINSON HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. EPOCH 1810.

PLATE XLV.

WATKINSON HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. EPOCH 1810.

BENEFIT STREET, PROVIDENCE.

the kitchen, the odors of the culinary operations, and the plumbing is a splendid economic scheme. I should think that the system of plumbing of the old houses would need to be renewed by this time, which I have no doubt is being attended to, as I believe, according to the latest social canons, one may not better establish himself in Philadelphia than by reclaiming one of these ancient domiciles in what has, perhaps, become a somewhat problematical neighborhood.

Certainly, it must be lots of fun to rehabilitate the paneled shutters, to tie them with ribbons run through the rings, to restore the marble steps to immaculate whiteness once more, to make the smiling fan-top doors smart again with new paint, to brighten the windows with curtains that may be often re-laundered, and lastly, to go to Wanamaker’s for a new busybody.[4]

Then comes the happy day when we may set upour household gods in a way infinitely to our liking, and reëstablish in business that ever willing, all ’round faithful servant—the back-building, which Philadelphians assure us has cured the case of many amalade imaginaire, with almost human instinct, by unexpectedly taking fire. (SeePlate XLII.)

Back to Index Next