Interiors
[Illustration: Fireplace]
The interior from Wakefield, just seen (figure 62), represents one idea
about how the walls of a room should be treated. There were other
schemes for the treatment of the main room of a house; some of these are
illustrated in figure 63 and in the following sketches.
In figure 63 parts of the great frame of a wooden house project
unashamedly through the smooth plaster walls and ceiling. Running across
the middle of the ceiling is the large center beam of the house. A
similar member along the outside edge of the ceiling might be expected
to continue all the way around the room as a cornice, but it does not.
At the floor line, however, a base board does continue around the room,
but it is heavier under the window wall. The chair rail (the board or
rail installed about the height of the back of chair, to protect the
plaster from damage) does continue around the room, but at the corner it
develops special bracing not employed where the rail joins the frame of
the door.
Such irregular features suggest a skeleton of the house going beyond the
present room. The builder of this dwelling was unconcerned if one wall
was different from another—perhaps he felt a keen satisfaction in the
wooden structure of his house and was pleased to have this framework
reflected in the interior. This spirit is occasionally seen in the less
important rooms of a colonial house (for example in the Palmer house),
but it is rarely found in the main rooms of extant colonial homes.
[Illustration: FIGURE 63.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 64.]
Figure 64, also a simple interior, is more expressive of what colonial
builders desired. The cornice, the chair rail, and the base board
continue around corners without any change in character. Thus the room
appears as a box having its own order, independent of irregularities in
the frame of the house. Chair rail and base board are almost always
found, because they were necessary to protect the plaster. The cornice,
although occasionally missing, is usually present—as though the builders
felt it was necessary to mark the upper edge of the cube of the room.
The fireplace is adorned with surrounding panels. A fireplace is
psychologically an important place in the room—it is the source of
warmth and the place where people gather—and, therefore, it is honored
with special decoration.
A more elaborate interior is shown in figure 65. The mantelpiece rises
to the ceiling and has some carved details. A paneled wood wainscot runs
around the lower part of the wall. The inset sketch shows a long plank
sometimes used in the wainscot, and left exposed as a long panel. The
front is glassy smooth, the back is rough hewn and notched to fit snugly
against the upright posts. Such a long panel of wood is not overly
impressive when used today—it is just a sheet of plywood—but in a
colonial house it is something to awe a modern carpenter.
Figure 66 shows an exceptionally elaborate room inspired, perhaps, by
pattern books or memories of England. The mantelpiece is an elaborate
concoction of many units piled one on top of the other—ledges, columns,
a gable pediment—a display of the carver’s skill. The walls are fully
covered by a series of vertical panels above and horizontal panels
below.
[Illustration: FIGURE 65.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 66.]
Having seen in the above sketches some of the notions which colonial
builders had for finishing the important rooms in a house, we will look
at photographs of two fully paneled rooms, one plain and the other
elaborately carved.
Figure 67 is an interior from the Lane house, Nixonton, shown as an
example of a simple, fully paneled room. This Nixonton house is the
second Lane house to be discussed in this study; the first was
Wakefield, the Joel Lane dwelling in Raleigh. Our photograph shows one
of three rooms from the Nixonton Lane house, as now installed in the
Carolina Room at the University of North Carolina. This is the section
of the University library which contains books, pamphlets, old
photographs and newspapers, all referring to North Carolina. It seems
appropriate that the Lane interiors should be at this center for studies
of North Carolina history and culture. The installation was accomplished
under the direction of Thomas Waterman, student and author of works on
North Carolina architecture.
The over-all design of the room shown consists of panels set in a
lattice of vertical and horizontal strips. Window height determines the
three-part division of the wall—tall vertical panels in the middle, and
short horizontal panels above and below. This scheme is repeated in
smaller scale at the mantel. The emotionally important fireplace is
given a few further touches of embellishment—a carved mantel shelf and
pilasters at the edges above. (A _pilaster_ is a rectangular support
treated as a column with a base, shaft, and capital.)
[Illustration: FIGURE 68. INTERIOR OF THE LANE HOUSE, NIXONTON, AS
INSTALLED IN THE CAROLINA ROOM, IN THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH CAROLINA.]
Figure 68 is inserted into our account at this point to aid in
discussion of a special beauty in this room, the expression of a
craftsman-builder. The drawing shows a section of the wall in the
photograph. In his actual construction of the paneling, it appears that
the craftsman followed these steps: _1st_) erected uprights marked 1 and
1, which rise all the way from floor to ceiling, corresponding to the
posts which frame door and window; _2nd_) cut and fit the strips marked
2 and 2, which fit neatly between the uprights; _3rd_) erected the
secondary upright marked 3; _4th_) fitted in the short pieces marked 4,
the location of these strips being determined by the framing of the
window. The above sequence of steps is the natural, rule-of-thumb way to
proceed; the craftsman does not need a blue print—or even a ruler. Thus
the wall expresses the craftsman-builder at work, suggests his simple
procedures and his delight with his material, wood, whose satiny surface
is brought out in the room.
[Illustration: FIGURE 68.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 69. THE LANE HOUSE, NIXONTON.]
Figure 69 shows a sketch and a plan of the Lane house at Nixonton. It is
a simple one-story building which looks down peacefully on the Little
River. Sometimes it is called the Old Customs House, or the Old River
House. It is dated in the 1740’s, some years before the other Lane
house, Wakefield, in Raleigh.
The plan of the house is a clean-cut example of the three room idea
advocated by William Penn. The big room was seen in our photograph
(figure 67). The two smaller rooms had walls of plaster. Foundations
above ground are of brick; below ground are the stone walls of a low
cellar. It may be remarked that there is no stair to the loft. The loft
window shown in the sketch was “just for looks,” according to old
settlers. Today, however, the loft is reached via an addition to the
house, not shown in the sketch.
Figure 70, an interior from the earlier mentioned Old Brick House, is
shown as an example of an elaborately paneled room. It was put into the
Old Brick House about mid 18th century, at about the time of the simple
Lane interior, just seen above. It is opulent, high-spirited, robust.
Perhaps its swashbuckling grandeur would appeal to a pirate and could,
therefore, be used to support the legend that Blackbeard once lived in
this house. The legend, however, is unfounded; Blackbeard had been dead
for many years before this room was executed, and similar interiors are
found in other North Carolina houses known to have been built by highly
respectable owners.
The Old Brick interior stands in sharp contrast to the chaste Lane
interior. Whereas the Lane interior expresses simple wood structure, as
we have seen, the Old Brick interior suggests stone. The row of
energetic pilasters support a very convincing “stone” architrave above,
and the arches are constructed complete with keystones as found in stone
work.
[Illustration: FIGURE 70. INTERIOR FOR THE OLD BRICK HOUSE.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 71. INTERIOR, THE OLD BRICK HOUSE IN ORIGINAL
SETTING.]
The Old Brick House’s interior has left North Carolina. The photograph
shown portrays the fireplace wall as it is installed in a house in
Delaware, its proportions changed to make it fit a higher room. An older
photograph, figure 71, shows the door along the wall in the original
room. By comparing the before-and-after photographs it can be seen how
blocks were inserted under the pilasters to accommodate them to the
height of the room and providing more head room above the arch. In the
original room the pilasters stood emphatically “on the ground.” The door
proudly “raised itself to its full height,” the keystone of its arch
touching the enframement above. The more the two photographs are
compared, the greater the appreciation one has for the particular nature
of the original room, and the intention of its designer. It had a
dynamic pride, in contrast with a politeness which characterizes the
later room.
The re-installed room has also changed the original arrangement of parts
along the wall—the door, the mantelpiece, and the cabinet. The original
arrangement of these units may be seen by looking carefully at figure
71, and also the plan of the Old Brick House, figure 44.