Back Side or Rear of Houses. Fortunately most of these are not seen
from the street, due to the proximity of adjacent houses. This is
the first place for extensions and additions, such as a first floor
kitchen with its small chimney, more sleeping rooms, and if one must
or needs, and the compass points allow, a “sun parlor,” a columned
piazza, French doors, wide dormers, even (but we hope not) the
dormer room in the rear roof, and pergolas. If understanding care is
exercised, part of this can be well done.
Roof Coverings. Regret it as one may, but quite properly under the
fire ordinances, wood shingle roofs are fast disappearing, with
the shadow lines cast by the thick shingle butts. It is, however,
feasible to use individual non-inflammable shingles of dark gray
or black which are inconspicuous, and if one has the price and
inclination and strength of rafters, an asbestos reproduction of old
shingles, absolutely faithful to type and attractive, is available
and should be employed, as see the house at 86 Centre Street.
White Trim. We venture to make note of the largely prevailing present
custom of painting white the exterior trim of houses, including
particularly the window casings, referring only to the houses where
the exterior walls are not painted white but are of shingles,
weathered gray. This has the effect of outlining the windows and the
edges of the facades with extreme emphasis. Attention is directed to
those weathered gray shingled houses where, instead, the trim has
been painted in harmony and not in sharp contrast to the gray. For
this purpose some shades of gray paint have been used, and in some
of the older houses a dull brown. The owner of such a gray shingled
house, planning to re-paint the exterior, should look at the examples
referred to and consider whether they would please his taste. In the
early days of paint a red color was used, doubtless appearing as a
dull reddish brown. In altering very old houses it has been found on
the exterior of the beveled boards which were the outside of the wall
when no shingles or clapboards were used.
Blinds. The louvered (slanted slat) blinds on exterior walls at
windows and front doors began to come into use about 1840. They
certainly do dress up a house but otherwise have little or no use at
Nantucket. A really old house is in the best of taste without them
and with a saving of expense. Always (on an old house) they should be
painted a dark green. The earliest were quite heavy, without moveable
louvers. Most now in existence are lighter weight and usually with
tilting slats, an unnecessary provision. Solid paneled shutters,
general in many parts of the country, as at Philadelphia, were not
used at Nantucket.
Conductors. Fortunately, modern sheet metal down spouts from gutters
to take the water down to or under ground are inconspicuous. They
have been freely used to replace the older spouts which have decayed.
It is, however, feasible, desirable and quite inexpensive to replace
with wooden down spouts of either circular or square section like the
originals.
Front Doorway. This opening into the house was closed by a door
of six raised panels with flush mouldings, the topmost pair of
panels small, and very seldom taken out and replaced with glass. A
characteristic of these doors was that the middle rail was wide,
almost 10”, with the bottom rail much narrower. Many of the old
doorways had no glass about them, but as time advanced glass was used
across the top of the doorway, spoken of as a top light or transom,
and glass was employed vertically on either side of the door, known
as sidelights. Very infrequently at Nantucket the muntins of the top
light radiate from the center to either a circular or oval top, known
as a fanlight.
Architectural ornamentation on the exterior wall surrounding the
doorway, known as the frontispiece, was not employed in the older
houses, many of which had plain plank frames with a header, but
after the Revolution the frontispiece came more and more into
use, but even then was not highly ornate. Many frontispieces now
seen on the old houses were added in the period from 1800 to 1850
and followed the designs in English architectural books. Recessed
doorways appeared in the classic period, accompanied by fewer panels
and heavier mouldings. Plain double-boarded outside doors were
undoubtedly used in the oldest houses. Paneled doors appeared in
Nantucket probably about 1730.
Entry. The modern name for this is vestibule. Reference is to the
enclosed projection over the front door infrequently found on the
old houses. This had a gable roof and sometimes side windows. It
generally entered directly into the stairway hall or, in older
times, into the kitchen. It usually occurred that entries were not
constructed with the original house but added subsequently.
Windows. At Nantucket, prior to about 1720, leaded panes were used.
From then on to around 1790 small panes, about 5” × 7”, were used
with wooden muntins, and mostly three lights wide. From about 1790 to
about 1825 glass was generally about 7” × 9” with 24 lights, except
that many narrow panes were used with less number of lights. Muntins
grew smaller as time advanced. From about 1825 on, 12 lights were
mostly used, with 8” × 10” and 10” × 14” glass, almost invariably
3 lights wide. The large panes (sheet glass) came into general use
soon after the Civil War, about 1865, using one or two such panes to
a sash. While our census shows in the old houses a large proportion
having but 12 panes to a front window, it is a fact that in a
majority of these houses part or all of the side windows and the
rear windows are apt to be of 24 panes. Therefore at some period the
front windows had been replaced to conform to the even then changing
mode and the improved financial status of the owner, or frequently
second-hand material was employed in building a new house, when old
multi-paned sash was used at the rear and the sides while new 6-light
sash were built for the front.
Window frames on old houses were of plank and projected from
the wall. See drawings No. 14 and No. 15. It is most important
to faithfully continue this practice in all alterations and new
construction. The Nantucket carpenters are accustomed to make such
frames.
Roof Walks. You will observe from quotations of old writings to be
found later in this book that they were most frequent. They are not
today, our analysis showing but 35 in a total of 319 houses. It has
been stated that after the decline of whaling these walks were taken
down when they got out of repair and since they no longer served a
useful purpose. They were called “walks,” and for the purpose of
identification they are here spoken of as roof walks. How the late
William F. Macy decried their being called “captains’ walks” or
“widows’ walks!”
High Basements. The massive chimneys were frequently of large area
at the lowest level. This was for a bake oven and cooking fireplace,
located in the basement. These basements extended several feet above
and below the ground level, with ample windows, generally four panes
high, and contained the kitchen, sometimes spoken of as the winter
kitchen. The basements were sheltered from the wind and cold during
the winter season.
Cupolas and Roof Balustrades. These were not employed here until
about 1800, mostly 1830 to 1860, and are not much in evidence.
“95% Perfect.” Manifestly this was a generalization to crystallize
an impression, yet our census analysis of 365 houses in the old
districts shows but 46 modern or mixed type, intermingled; say
12½%. On the old houses we find various added modern detractions,
frequently several kinds on one house, but many of them not serious.
So let us estimate that these old-district dwellings are still 85%
perfect--an astonishingly large percentage of unharmed oldness to be
found in this day and generation in over 400 closely grouped houses.
We have much to be thankful for.