HALLS AND STAIRWAYS
The colonial hall as we have come to think of it--dignified and
spacious, with characteristics of unrivaled beauty--was not the type in
vogue in the first years of the country's settlement, but rather was the
outgrowth of inherent tendencies, reflecting in a measure the breadth
and attractiveness of the English hallway.
The earliest dwellings were built for comfort, with little regard for
effect, and they showed no hallways, only a rude entrance door giving
directly upon the general and often only apartment. Sometimes this door
was sheltered on the outside by a quaint closed porch, which afforded
additional warmth and protection from the driving storms of rain or
snow; but it was never anything more than a mere comfort-seeking
appendage, boasting no pretentions whatever to architectural merit.
Crude, indeed, such entrances must have seemed to the stern Puritan
dwellers, in comparison with those of their ancestral abodes; and it
is not to be wondered at if in secret they sometimes longed for the
hallways of their boyhood, where, after the evening meal in the winter
season, the family was wont to gather about the roaring fire, perchance
to listen to some tale of thrilling adventure.
The first American hall came in with the building of the frame house,
erected after the early hardships were over, and the colonists could
afford to abandon their rude cabin domiciles. This was really little
more than an entry, rarely characterized by any unusual features, but it
served as a sort of introduction to the home proper, and was dignified
by the title of hallway. The hall in the old Capen house at Topsfield,
Massachusetts, belongs to this type.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.--Saltonstall Hallway, about 1800.]
Later came the more pretentious hall, typical of the gambrel roof house,
that enjoyed so long a period of popularity. This was generally a narrow
passage, with doors opening at either side into the main front
apartments, and with the staircase at the end rising in a series of
turns to the rooms above. The first turn often contained in one corner a
small table, which held a candlestick and candle used to light a guest
to bed, or a grandfather's clock, the dark wood of its casing serving
as an effective contrast to the otherwise light finish of the apartment.
Not infrequently the hall was solidly paneled, and a built-in cupboard
or like device was sometimes concealed behind the paneling; or, as in a
dwelling in Manchester, Massachusetts, it contained an innovation in the
form of a broad space opened between two high beams, halfway up the
staircase, arranged, no doubt, for the display of some choice
possession, and showing beneath a motto of religious import.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.--Hallway, Lee House, 1800.]
In the better class of houses of this period, the hallway sometimes
extended the width of the dwelling, opening at the rear on to the yard
space. This type was the forerunner of the stately attractive hall that
came into vogue in the last half of the eighteenth century, and
continued in favor during the first years of the nineteenth century,
with the advent of the wooden and brick mansion.
Belonging to the earlier class are the Warner and Stark halls in New
Hampshire. The former is paneled from floor to ceiling, the white of the
finish now mellowed to ivory tones, and serving to display to advantage
the fine furnishings with which it is equipped. At the rear it opens
upon a grassy yard space, shaded by tall trees, thought to be the site
of the old slave quarters, long since demolished. The walls show several
adornments, among the most interesting being the enormous antlers of an
elk, which, tradition tells, were presented to the builder of the
dwelling by some of the Indians with whom he traded, as an evidence of
their friendship and good will. The latter hall is of similar type,
entered through a narrow door space and continuing the width of the
dwelling; it ends at the rear in a quaint old door that shows above its
broad wooden panels a row of green bull's eyes, specimens of early
American glass manufacture, still rough on the inside where detached
from the molding bar. This door gives upon an old-time garden plot,
fragrant with the blooms of its original planting, and preserving intact
its early features. Rare bits of old furniture are used in the equipment
of this hall, and the paneled walls are hung with family portraits.
When unwearied toil had made living considerably easier, and many of the
merchants had amassed fortunes, there sprang up, in both the North and
the South, those charming colonial mansions that were the fit abode of a
brave race. They demanded hallways of spacious dimensions, and into
favor then came the broad and lofty hall, embodying in its construction
the highest development of the colonial type. Quite through the center
of the house this hall extended, from the pillared portico and stately
entrance door, with its fan lights and brazen knocker, to another door
at the rear, through the glazed upper panels of which tantalizing
glimpses could be obtained of tall hollyhocks and climbing roses growing
in the old-fashioned garden just without.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.--Hallway, Tucker House, about 1800.]
In a measure this hall was a reproduction of the English type,
particularly in its spaciousness of dimension. Unlike this type,
however, it lacked the dominant influence of the fireplace, and in its
construction it showed several independent features, all tending to
emphasize the attractive dignity suggested in the broadness of outline.
Often an elliptical arch spanned the width at about one third the
length, generally serving to frame the staircase, and tending to make
dominant the attractiveness of this feature. This was usually little
more than a skeleton arch, being a suggestion, rather than a reality,
sometimes plain, and sometimes slightly ornamental. This feature is
shown in the Lee hall at Salem, and in the main hall of the old Governor
Wentworth house at Little Harbor, New Hampshire. This latter hall is
particularly interesting, not only for its beauty of construction, but
also for its historic associations. Under its arch, framing the fine old
staircase, men prominent in the history of the State and country have
passed, and on the walls and over the door are still seen stacks of
arms, thirteen in number, the muskets of the governor's guard, so long
dismissed.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.--Hallway, Wentworth House, 1750.]
The most important feature of all these halls was the staircase, and in
its construction the greatest interest was centered. Generally it
ascended by broad, low treads to a landing lighted by a window of
artistic design, and continued in a shorter flight to the second floor
apartments. It was always located at one side, and generally near the
rear, to allow the placing of furniture without crowding. The balusters
were usually beautifully carved and hand turned, with newel posts of
graceful design; and sometimes even the risers showed carved effects.
The cap rail was usually of mahogany. Hard wood was sometimes used in
the construction of the staircase, the treads in this event being dark
and polished, while soft wood painted white was also much used.
The finish of the walls in this type of hall varied. Some were entirely
paneled, others showed a quaint landscape paper above a low white
wainscot, and still others showed hangings of pictorial import, framed
like great pictures. To the last-named class belongs the Lee hall at
Marblehead, considered to be one of the finest examples of its type
extant. Black walnut is the wood finish here, and the hangings, designed
by a London artist, are in soft tones of gray, beautifully blended, and
represent scenes of ruined Greece, each set in a separate panel,
handsomely carved.
Occasionally, to-day, a staircase of the spiral type is found,--a type
that possesses certain satisfying characteristics, but which never
enjoyed the popularity of the straight staircase. Some few of the
staircases in the old Derby Street mansions at Salem are of this type,
as is the staircase at Oak Knoll, in Danvers, the poet Whittier's last
residence. The common name for this type of staircase was winder.
A large number of representatives of the finest type of the colonial
hall are scattered throughout the North and South, and their sturdiness
of construction bids fair to make them valued examples indefinitely. One
particularly good example is shown at Hey Bonnie Hall, in Bristol, Rhode
Island, a mansion built on Southern lines, and suggesting in its
construction the hospitality of that section. Here the hall is twenty
feet wide; the walls are tinted their original coloring, a soft rich
green, that harmonizes perfectly with the white woodwork and the deep,
mellow tones of the priceless old mahogany of the furnishings. A
well-designed, groined arch forming a portion of the ceiling, and
supported at the corners by four slender white pillars, is one of the
apartment's attractive adjuncts, while the dominant feature is the
staircase that rises at the farther end, five feet in width, with treads
of solid mahogany and simple but substantial balusters of the same wood
on either side. The upper hall is as distinctive as the lower one, and
exactly corresponds in length and width. Wonderful old furnishings are
placed here, and at one end is displayed a fine bit of architectural
work in a fanlight window, overlooking the garden.
One wonders, when viewing such a hall as this, how this type could ever
have been superseded in house construction, but with the gradual decline
in favor of the colonial type of dwelling, it was abolished, and in
place of its lofty build and attractive spaciousness, halls of cramped
dimensions came into vogue, culminating in the entry passage typical of
houses built toward the middle of the nineteenth century. Happily,
present-day house builders are coming to a realizing sense of the
importance of the hallway, and are beginning to appreciate the fact
that, to be attractive, the hall must be ample, well lighted, and of
pleasing character. With this realization the beauty of the colonial
hall has again demanded attention, and in a large number of modern homes
it has been copied in a modified degree.