joseph jackson american colonial architecture doc

From the " White Pine Series of ArchitecturalMonographs" 161 Pine Series of ArchitecturalMonographs" 165 PlERCE-JOHANNOT-NlCHOLS HOUSE, SALEM FromCousins andRiley's "Colonial Architectur

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SomeEuropeanwritersonarchitecturehavedeclared

history of architectural design was the "skyscraper/'

asourtall officebuildingshave beenrather happilyand

suggestively termed But it is believed that as time

expressiongivenin theAmericanColoniestotheclassic

revival inthe eighteenthcentury,whichisratherloosely

calledColonial Architecture, hasresulted inthe

forma-tion ofa nativestyle just as individual tothiscountryas

isthe "skyscraper."

In an effortto show the origin of this style and the

trained and talented architects, but by hard-working

carpenters thisbook waswritten

It is in brief a rapid survey of the manners of the

Colonists, ratherthan aworkonarchitectural designing,

and wasintended to showthe causes which led to the

No similarwork seen by the writer has given any

attention to the French Colonial design in America

Toinclude this ithas of course beennecessary topassthe national boundary ofthe United States and ejit'erCanada, wherepart oftheFrench Colonieslay.

Naturally, thesmall size of this book precludesany

claim to exhaustive treatment of the subject; and

in-steadof being definitive in character, it has only been

Finallyitshould bestatedthat thefollowingchapterswerefirstprintedinthe magazine, Building,ofwhichthewriteris editor,

JOSEPHJACKSON

Philadelphia, May, 1924

V In Pennsylvania and DelawareValley Before 1700 72

VII IntheFrenchColonies 109

VIII IntheFrenchColonies 126

IX IntheSouthin theEighteenthCentury 142

X NewEnglandAfter1750 159

XI PennsylvaniaAfter 1750 175

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

FIRSTBRICKHOUSEIN PHILADELPHIA (Froma Photograph] 3

SPANISHFORTATST.AUGUSTINE,FLA. (Froma Photograph) 12

INTERIOR OF AWIGWAMINVIRGINIA (FromSmith's "General

ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, SMITHFIELD, VA. (From "Historic

Hauntsoj the Pilgrim Fathers") 42

REBECCA NURSE HOUSE, TAPLEYVILLE, MASS (From

CousinsandRiley's "Colonial Architecture of Salem,") 46

His-toric Tales ofNew York") 65

WYCK, GERMANTOWN (Froma Photograph) 87

GRAEMEPARK,NEARPHILADELPHIA (From aPhotograph) 97

STENTON, PHILADELPHIA (Froma Photograph) 101

LONDONCOFFEE HOUSE,PHILADELPHIA (From aPhotograph) 105

MONTREAL TOWER OF FORT DE LA MONTAGNE (From a

BASILICA, QUEBEC (From aPhotograph) 131

"

CONCORD," LOUISIANA (Froma Photograph) 149

THECABILDO, NEWORLEANS (From aPhotograph) 151

VERNON HOUSE, NEWPORT, R I. (From the "

White Pine

Series of ArchitecturalMonographs") 161

Pine Series of ArchitecturalMonographs") 165

PlERCE-JOHANNOT-NlCHOLS HOUSE, SALEM (FromCousins

andRiley's "Colonial Architecture ofSalem") 169

ADOORWAYBY SAMUEL MC!NTIRE(From"

TheWoodCarver

CLIVEDEN, THE CHEW HOUSE, GERMANTOWN (From a

PALLADIANWINDOW, CHRISTCHURCH (Froma Photograph) 181

APHILADELPHIA CARPENTER'SBILL, 1773(FromtheAuthor's

STATEHOUSE "Book

American Colonial Architecture

BEGINNINGS

AMERICAN

average mind describes a style of building

that term should be used with more

discrimina-tion, because Colonial Architecture existed in

build-ings, did not make its advent until nearly a

cen-tury and a half later.

<^v

In this review of the rise of Colonial building,

we shall go back to the beginning It should beunderstood that the first settlers in this country

such as pioneers in all lands in all times have

encountered; it differed only in degree from theexperiences of other adventurers in new lands

In even more recent times we have had thing of the same kind of history In the building

some-of the West No one will believe that the hardy men and women who crossed the great Plains in

fight pugnacious Indians on the way, took with

fact,they did not always know where they would

locate their homes, and local conditions, ability ofmaterials, togetherwith theirfitnessfor

find settlers from the other side of the Atlantic

dwell-ings Usually theywere constructedof logs, whichthe countryaffordedbyitsboundless forests.Thiskind of building also was strong enough to with-stand the onslaughts of the savages, who did not

Even a century later, settlers in Pennsylvania,landing in a so-called city, which was being rap-

idly built on a real plan, were content to live for

a time in caves dugoutof the side ofthe ment bordering the Delaware River

embank-In nearly all of the early voyages of settlers

to this country from England, there came out

with the ships, artisans of various kinds

HOW HISTORY IS MADE

This building, which was in Aypletree Street, west of

Fourth, was neither the first "brick house in Philadelphianor were its bricks brought from England It is now re-

Theshipswere small ones, andconsequentlycould

not take either largecargoes or many passengers.This fact should be sufficient answer to those per-

the houses in the new land were brought from

England As there was to be found here ample

materials for the manufacture of brick, and they

had in the motherland, it would have been little

attempted to import this kind of building

ma-terial from the other side of the Atlantic It

of this kind

In seeking the origin of the styles of buildings

came It was the most natural thingin theworld

taken into consideration, however, was the factor

thegenealogy of thefamiliesoccupying the houses

buildingof these houses Inmanyinstances theserecordsappearto belost. Atthe sametime there

seaboard, English manners, styles and customs

not English, at the time it was settled, nor until

many years afterward

Thus we have in Florida some examples of

admittedly not so old as it looks There are,

in St Augustine, and it will be shown later that

someofthisbuildinginthe peninsulaactuallyhad

In Louisiana, especially in New Orleans, there

Architec-ture, datingbackto the dayswhen that great

and again of France

should be comprehensive enough to include the

styles prevailing in the colonies of Spain and

States

There are several clearly defined periods of

may be said to be, a, that of the original settlers,

the first three Georges. The last, naturally,

the period generally studied by all who go in for

being the period of the pioneers, the period of

and Americanization of the styles

some-thing else to think of than the erection of

hand-some mansions Indeed, they were supremely

in various parts of the country. Some colonies

land-ingon shores they knewlittle or nothing of. They were true, hardy adventurers They had faith,

Their creature comforts were few, and not given

played at Roanoke, Island, is one of the

was little better On the other hand, the ment of Pennsylvania was the only one that, was

reason of its Dutch origin, fared almost as well

From Description ofNewSwedenbyThos.CampaniusHolmvania had been settled successfully by the Eng-

peo-ple,but notso enterprising as,the Englishof theirday, and we do not find many traces of their

Old Swedes' Churches in Wilmington and

and said to be copies of edifices to be found in

design

they were, of course, influenced by their ment In other words, they Americanized their

the handiness of building materials, the kind of

supply of labor for the purpose. While they

pre-sented itself to them andto have solved it

admir-ably

It cost a great deal of money for the times for

a consequence we find that the original settlers,excepting those who were experienced tradesmen

andmechanics, some of whom were given

able to reconstruct in our minds the kind of

homes.

edu-cation, and even accomplishment, and all of them were persons of intelligence, determination and

courage It is only to quote from experience to

forti-tude necessary to temporarily put up withthe

in-conveniences their new situation placed them in.

settlers in Virginia lived in wigwams,

undoubt-edly fashioned more or less like those of the

In-dians they found there; in New England theybuilt themselves rough log huts, close to fortifi-

sav-age Indians; In Pennsylvania, the Swedes built

themselves log cabins, and the English and

caves until their houses were erected

in the broadest sense of the term

*N>

in-tended to guide the home builder and carpenter,and at the beginning of the desire for better

played a larger part than probably is realizedtoday

We are able to make a statement of this kind

from a study of some of the buildings of theEighteenth, or even the Seventeenth century

reasonable margin for error, maintain that the

Province of Pennsylvania, was based upon a

build-ings, in Philadelphia, that are now known as

of the country may also be traced back in the

ancient volumes

avail-able in the South In Virginia, for instance,

had very few educational advantages Some of

edu-cated William Byrd, of Westover, Virginia, is a

brilliant exampleof this European education He wascalled tothebar in Middle Templewhilequite

high character of the intelligence of this part of

in your parish?" only two answeredin theative.Tothequestion, "Istherea

affirm-parishlibrary?"

probablymore ashamed thanthe others, explainedthat theyhad "The Book of Homilies, The Whole Duty of Man, and the Singing Psalms."

does not prove that there was no education or

books in Virginia at the time, it does show that,

generally speaking, theinhabitants wereignorant

was not until architectural books of ambitiouscharacter had been imported that the Georgianhouses which we so properly admire today, werebuilt.

churches were destroyed, the whole City of

waste

came forth Sir Christopher Wren, and numerous

others not so well recalled to this generation It

should not be inferred that Wren was unknown

leading figure in architecture in England, butthe

to assist in the immense work Now there

in-tended for theinstruction of builders and owners

work, the pupil and successor of Jones, also was

intended to be helpful to the city and country

builder

Some of these volumes evidently found their

Primatt The first edition appeared soon after

the Fire ,in 1667, and the second edition, whose

title page announced that itwas "Much Enlarged,

edi-tions,thatreproducedhereisfromthesecondtion

ground work for several large houses in

a popular design

BeforetheGreat Fire,therehad appeared "The

offloors and the manner of framing houses after

of doors and windows copied from the French,

design for houses in the Colonies Indeed, forthe great part, they were too ambitious for any

mere colonial local carpenterorcarver to attempt

The framing, however, seems to have been ential in the construction of some early buildings

This little volume of Palladio about half a

ac-cumulatefortunes, wasofvaluetothe carversand

the Georgian houses still standing, was John

Intercol-umnation Wood was a Bath architect, and has

B3:fc^.tf,ajiS-to his credit several very showy houses in the

theGrecianOrders of Columns werederived from

Israelites had adapted the styles of the more

Some littlepocket books for theuse of builders,

later Seventeenth and through the Eighteenth

in Essex, published "The Country Builder's

Esti-mator, or, the Architect's Companion." This

vol-ume, first issued early in the Eighteenth century,

Sal-mon, published a work that was not unknown in

quarto containsmanyplates thatproved useful to

Barker The second edition, the only one the

writer has seen, bears the date of 1718 From

the elementary character of the book, which was

real want in a country that was undergoing the

first stages of development A more business-like

the author of "Palladio Londinensis." His book

was entitled, "The London and Country Builder's

for materials and labor, but the manner of

paid on the same basis Thus glaziersworked by

the superficial foot, masons by foot measure,

on awall, were paidby the squarerod, or sixteen

feet Therewere, of course, detailed charges for

frontis-pieces, over doorways, etc. The same method of

estimating or calculatinghousewright'swork was

followedin thiscountry, onlythe pricepaid

prov-inces

while the principal designs for a building were

paper, but occasionally, for the purpose of

con-serving them better, these, too, may have been

The first Colonists to arrive did not need

glaz-iers, because glass was so high and scarce thatthere even were houses in England that were

This was the first material used in windows in

the Colonies, but it should be explained that this

probably no ancient house now standing in this

country was so lighted when it was erected In

until they were fairly well begun glass was ported from Europe. Some other essential fea-

sufficient in quantity to build a large house ofthe

days

CHAPTER II

IN VIRGINIA BEFORE 1700

VIRGINIA,

territories were being parceled out to

.ex-tended from what is now Cape Fear, in North

fact this region was divided into the domains of

twoVirginia companies theLondon,orfirstginia Company, which was assigned to the coun-

Vir-ginia Company, which wasgiven the territory

little discrepancy, which allowed of the

41st meridians which seemed to pass unnoticed

boun-daries

out Captain John Smith, a real adventurer, got

overtheground,asisverywellknown, Jamestown

landed at Plymouth.

This first serious venture at colonization In

a success The first colonists were not really

col-onists, but adventurers pure and simple, who

return to London to spend it.

to settle it in a rather humorous manner He

fam-ilies," and that at Jamestown, "like true

English-men, they built a church that cost no more than

fifty pounds anda tavern that costfive hundred."

He thought the colonists should have married

Indian women, contending, "morals and all

heathens than the first adventurers, who, had

attempting to start a colony with "a hundredbachelors."

^>

It is not at all strange that during the first

than was necessarytomake theirfortunes They

From Smith's G-eneralHistory

generally adopted the style of habitation they

now are so called It is true that the ship that

brought over the adventurers did carry inits hold

because the newcomers did not know what they

The fact that this timber was brought is an

col-onists toerectthestructure, although the workers who came in the first ship were not all of them

useful, foronly twelve of the partywere set down

per-fumer

first, for we learn from Strachey that "by many

the bare ground, and the best in such miserable

in the first cause, creating such sommer fevers

fare, and their owne judgments and saffeties

fitted for the wynter), they have fallen sick, yethave they recovered agayne by the very smallmeanes."

Rec-order for the colony, and described conditions as

one of our best sources of information about the

IN VIRGINIA BEFORE 1700

gives us a word-picture of the average Indian

more fortunate of the colonists enjoyed, it may

berepeatedhere For thesake ofconveniencethe

narrator's seventeenth century orthography may

be changed.

"As for their [the Indians'] houses," he lates, "who knoweth one of them knoweth them

with-out strength or gayness, of such plants as theycan pluck up, bow and make the green tops meet

thatch with mats thrown over The walls are

prin-cipal houses, for so many barks which go in the

In the midst of the house there is a lover

the fire being kept tight under Every house

post-ern The doors be hung with mats, never locked

nor bolted, but only those mats be to turn up, or

let fall at pleasure; and their houses are so

and the roof being covered, as I say, the wind is

stoves, althoughvery smoky Windows theyhave

none,butthelightcomesin atthe door andatthe

lover; for should they have broad and open

win-dows In the quarters of their houses, they know

close and let in the light, too, for glassthey know not

"Round about the house on both sides are their

the ground, a foot high and somewhat more and

hurdle of reeds cast over, wherein they roll down

a fine white mat or two (asfor a bed) when they

headsandpoints, onebythe other, especially

mak-ing a fire before them in the midst of the house,

as they do usually every night, and some one of

them by agreement, maintains the fire all that

night long.'"

is given in Smith's General History of Virginia,

abodes the first English settlers erected, or had

Captain Nathaniel Butler, who was Governor

and other malpractices in office, he evidently

dis-played some malice in his description of the

mind, he evidently did not hit wide of the mark.

IN VIRGINIA BEFORE 1700

peoplethat are yearly sent over,whicharriveherefor the most part very unseasonably in winter,

char-itable work, so that many of them, by want

here-of, are not only seen dying under hedges, and in

the woods, but being dead lie some of them for

"Their houses aregenerallytheworstthat ever

every way equal (if not superior) with the most

of the best, and besides, so scatteringly are they

advan-tages to their savage enemies, and are utterlydeprived of all sudden recollection of themselves

Butler also declared that he saw no signs ofany fortifications whatever, although it is said

colonists The log church which was built at

valuable woods entered into its construction, and

fitting. We are told that its "fair, broad

win-dows" had frames of cedar, and shutters to shut

out Inclement weather, the shutters also being of

walnut The pulpit wasconstructed of cedar, and

"hewnhollow likea canoa" (canoe).

-^>

Even ten years after the first landing of the

colonists in Jamestown, the settlement was little

Discourse of the Old Virginia Company/' it is

learned that as late as 1618 even the directors

the colony than to get as much money from

to-bacco and sassafras from Virginia as they could,

home.

the purpose of increasing the population of

Vir-ginia Convicts, kidnapped boys and girls, and

of them, were sent to the new country In 1619

negroslavery was introduced,whena Dutch

man-of-war sold twentyAfrican slaves tothe planters.

being supplanted by log cabins, and finally about

1632 a church of brick was begun at Smithfield

IN VIRGINIA BEFORE 1700

is regardedasmoreor less itsoriginal appearance

edifice, knownas St.Luke's Church, wasused

settoworktomakeitaruin,sothatby1887,when

original, and consequently differs in design,

in them, and the more or less primitive character

earliestperiod of Colonial types Itwill be noted

that it bears a close resemblance to the average

or Jacobian times Many of these may still be

Oare Church, Somersetshire The type is thesimplest in design of early church architecture