EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY WORK
To the 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 they erected--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. (See Plate 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 the _House Beautiful_, also for the _Architectural
Review_, papers wholly devoted to the
PLATE XXXIX.
[Illustration: 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 the _House Beautiful_ for
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.
[Illustration: HOUSE WITH THE EAGLES, BRISTOL, R. I.]
[Illustration: THE NORRIS HOUSE, BRISTOL, R. I.]
PLATE XLI.
[Illustration: 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 the _parc aux cerfs_ in 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 New Haven 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 Plates XLIV,
XLV and LXXXVII), 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.
[Illustration: WEST APPROACH AND ENTRANCE DE WOLF-MIDDLETOWN HOUSE,
BRISTOL, R. I. BUILT IN 1808.]
[Illustration: THE BACK BUILDINGS OF PHILADELPHIA.]
PLATE XLIII.
[Illustration: THE CAPTAIN WHITE HOUSE, ESSEX STREET, SALEM.]
PLATE XLIV.
[Illustration: DOORWAY, SILVERGATE.
JOY WHEELER DOW, Architect.]
[Illustration: 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 Plates XX, XXXIX and
LXXXVII.) And all things considered 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 with _carte blanche_ to do with it as I
liked. Confining the entire mechanism of the ménage to the
back-building, the heat of
PLATE XLV.
[Illustration: WATKINSON HOUSE, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. EPOCH 1810.]
[Illustration: 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 up our 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 a _malade imaginaire_, with almost
human instinct, by unexpectedly taking fire. (See Plate XLII.)
PLATE XLVI.
[Illustration: MODERN CHIMNEY-PIECE.
JOY WHEELER DOW, Architect.]