Colonial Homes in North Carolina

by John V. Allcott

HOUSES WITH LEAN-TO AND BIG PORCH—THE SOUTHERN HOUSE

[Figure 46] shows a simple rectangular house on the left; on the right the structure has sprouted a lean-to in the rear and a porch across the front. These two sketches illustrate a common development in the expansion of the simple rectangular house. A lean-to simply “leans against” the main frame of the house. The porch, often a precarious structure on its delicate posts, depends for its support upon the stable frame of the main block of the house also.

While some owners of simple rectangular houses enlarged them by adding the lean-to and the big porch, other colonists, seeing the attractiveness of this plan, built the whole house, lean-to and porch, at one time.

In driving through North Carolina one sees hundreds of houses similar to the one on the right. It has been called the typical North Carolina farm house. It became popular in towns as well as on farms. The big porch sweeping across the front provided very welcome living space during the hot summer months, and the porch offered a sheltered place for children to play in during inclement weather.

It may be surmised that the colonists also appreciated a beauty in the design of this house. Where the earlier house on the left is boxy and stiff, the house on the right has a roof line that reaches out pleasantly from the center ridge to the front and back. The front porch looks inviting and friendly, like a room opening to the outside world. The other house, with only a stoop at the front door, is really closed to the world.

Consider the two houses as geometrical forms:—the first house is merely a simple block. By contrast, the expanded house has a more complicated geometrical nature for us to think about and enjoy. It can be described as a central block which has two, paired appendages, one of which is transparent.

Although the lean-to was found everywhere in the colonies, the big porch is of Southern origin. It was employed first in the North Carolina seacoast towns that conducted trade with the West Indies, where similar colonnaded porches existed.

Turning now to the plans shown in [figure 46], it may be seen how the lean-to neatly adds two small rooms to the rear of the structure. The main hall of the house continues through the lean-to, and front and back doors give through-ventilation to this long “room.” It was often the favorite place for family living during hot summer months. The stair in our plan begins in the back. However, there were many variations in the location of the stair and, indeed, in the use of this general design.

In [figure 47] are shown some of the variations of the lean-to and porch design in North Carolina houses of greatly differing aspect. In [figure 47]a, the basic house has a gambrel roof. This is particularly charming, with three crisp roof planes on either side of the central chimney. Beginning at front or back the roof planes fold up to the center ridge and then fold down again.

FIGURE 47. A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

[Figure 47]b shows the whole house under one massive gable. It looks particularly strong in contrast to the movement and delicate grace of the roof in sketch [47]a.

In sketch [47]c the center block of the house pops up for two full stories, towering above the low porch and shed.

Sketch [47]d shows a gambrel house with a lean-to but without a big porch sweeping across its front. This sketch is introduced to show that either the lean-to or the big front porch alone may occur on a house.

Sketch [47]e shows two-tiered porches on both front and back. If one big porch is considered desirable, two—or four—are better. Two-tiered porches often are found on the great mansions and plantation houses. Such porches were also a feature of inns, providing ample sheltered space for guests and their friends. It is just one step from the two-tiered colonial porch shown here to the great porches of the early republican period (for example, Mount Vernon, of the 1780’s) where giant columns or piers rose through two stories.

Having seen the sketches above, we now discuss a few actual houses which incorporate the lean-to and big porch design.

[Figure 48], the Hummock house, exhibits one of the porches inspired by the West Indies which are characteristic of its town, the old port of Beaufort. The group of visitors in our photograph reflects the fame of this house which attracts sightseers to the town.

FIGURE 48. THE HUMMOCK HOUSE, BEAUFORT.

FIGURE 49. DETAIL FROM A MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1738.

The house is called by several names: Hummock, Hommock, or Hammock. These unfamiliar words are variants of, or are related to, the common word, hillock; and the house does stand on relatively high ground in the eastern part of present-day Beaufort. Years ago the house was called the White House, as old inhabitants remember. Today it is white for sure, its chimneys having been plastered over, it stands there gleaming, its two great dormer eyes staring out to the sea as if searching the horizon. And once, no doubt, pilots of ships at sea looked toward the land, seeking this white house to guide them through the narrow Beaufort channel.

[Figure 49], a detail from James Wimble’s mariners’ map of “The Province of North Carolina,” published in London in 1738, shows a ship lining itself up with the “White house.” As recommended by Wimble whose purpose was to show mariners how to avoid sand bars and shallow water in finding their way to ports such as “Beauford,” the line of sight from a ship at the point shown to the easily identifiable landmark leads over the bar. If this White house shown on the map is, indeed, the White House of present-day Beaufort, then it was built before 1738, the date of the map.

[Figure 50] depicts a fragment of the foundation of the house. At left the great wooden sill rests upon a brick pier. A heavy cross beam is inserted into the sill and is held in place by two large wooden pegs with nicely carved heads. Out on the cross beam a joist is inserted, a sliver of wood being driven under the joist to bring it to proper height and snugness. This sketch evokes the vision of colonists with huge logs and simple hand tools engaged in the heroic project of building a house.

[Figure 51] is a diagram of the foundations of the house; dotted lines encircle the fragment which was sketched above. Heavy lines show the major floor beams; a few lighter, parallel lines indicate joists. The heavy beams divide space in a way to suggest the lean-to design:—there are two front rooms, each with a fireplace at the middle of its wall, while the rear section contains a small room on either side of a hall in the center. In the diagram a stairway is included in the hall also. This is said to be the original stairway, since removed. Not shown in the diagram is the back porch, which appears to be a later addition.

FIGURE 50.

FIGURE 51.

The Sloop Point house ([figure 52]) is another well known house with a large porch. As much as any colonial house, it is filled with novelties and mysteries. Also known as the MacMillan house for the family which has owned it for well over one hundred years, the structure stands facing the Inland Waterway, at Sloop Point, just east of Wilmington. Construction is thought to date from the late 1720’s.

Our photograph shows the impressive profile of the house, all under one great gable roof, the porch end resting on massive square piers. The chimney serves fireplaces in two adjoining rooms and recalls the double chimney previously seen in the Palmer house ([figure 13]). In the Palmer house closets were constructed between the twin fireplaces, but in the MacMillan house there are outside doors to first floor and to basement. The present porch between the fireplaces is a recent addition. The chimney is laid in Flemish bond and, as can be seen, the upper part of the chimney, blown off by a storm a few years ago, has been replaced with brick laid in our 20th-century fashion.

In [figure 53] the single chimney on the other side of the house is shown. Below, the ballast stone base reveals a fascinating collection of beach stones and coral in many colors; above, the brick is laid in English bond which, as mentioned earlier, contains alternating courses of headers and stretchers. The different bonding systems used in the two chimneys suggest that the chimneys were not built at the same time, which is one of the mysteries of the house.

FIGURE 52. THE SLOOP POINT HOUSE.

FIGURE 53. SLOOP POINT HOUSE CHIMNEY.

FIGURE 54. PLAN OF THE SLOOP POINT HOUSE.

[Figure 54], a plan of the Sloop Point house, illustrates some of the novelties in the house. The designs of a central block, plus a big porch in front and a shed addition in the rear is readily apparent. The dotted line through the main block represents a partition which was installed during the 19th century to create a central hall. Before this addition, three rooms existed in simple Quaker plan. The hall is intended solely for service, being only about 3½ feet wide. When the partition wall was added no attempt was made to reproduce the original cornice and wainscot panelling of the big room.

Between the twin fireplaces unusual twin doors may be noted. They swing in and out from the corners of the fireplaces in such a fashion that one room at a time is opened to the porch. When both doors are swung out, there is passage between the two rooms. The twin room toward the back of the house has three doors along its rear wall; one leads to the hall; the other two are believed to have led to closets in the past.

Now we present two diagrams to aid in discussion of the growth of the Sloop Point house from an early, smaller structure ([figure 55]) to the house of today ([figure 56]). The roof of the house was raised or “lifted” in the early 19th century, according to one historian, but exactly what changes were introduced at that time is not now known. The “before and after” sketches are shown in order to demonstrate the extent to which the house has evolved since its original construction. Almost every old house shows evidence of changes; efforts to determine the reasons for these modifications can tell the student much about the fashions of times past and the character of the people who dwelled in the structure.

The smaller, earlier house is built over a low basement (suggested by dotted lines) the masonry walls of which serve as the foundation of the building. The light porch has delicate carved columns and a railing with banister posts. At its outer side the porch rests on masonry piers; at the inner side the porch’s floor beams are inserted into the foundation wall of the house. Stucco, applied over the ballast stone foundations, has incised lines in imitation of stone blocks, as suggested in the diagram. Today fragments of this incised stucco may be seen here and there on the front and side foundations.

FIGURE 55.

FIGURE 56.

The larger, present-day house with raised roof ([figure 56]) has full-height second story rooms in the main block of the house and additional space in front and back. Details P and R indicate parts of the construction which use lumber salvaged from some previous structure. P shows where four carved porch posts are used as floor beams. R indicates three banister rails used as studs in the back wall of an upper room. Both the posts and the banister rails could have come from an earlier porch on this house. The present porch uses massive posts to support the heavy roof. To support the porch on its house side, brick piers have been added in front of the original ballast stone foundations. There are other details of the house which suggest stages in its development; we hope someone will study them someday.

To return to further examination of the curiosities suggested in diagram [56], dotted lines are shown to represent the flow of air through an ingenious cooling system. Toward the back of the house a hole in the floor allows air to rise from underneath to ventilate a bedroom. At the front of the house, an opening in the porch ceiling allows air to rise to a closet on the second floor front, and thence to bedrooms.

One last unusual detail is the stairway in the back hall, the banister posts of which are set diagonally, that is, perpendicular to the hand rail rather than the steps.

[Figure 57], a drawing of a house from Brunswick Town, near Wilmington, introduces an amazing new chapter in the story of colonial architecture in North Carolina, a chapter which is just being opened up in our day.

This house, the Hepburn-Reonalds house, built between 1734 and 1742, is of a type not seen before in this study. The structure had a family porch without steps down to the street, rather like a balcony, a protected place to sit and look at life on the street. Below, in the basement was a shop, and in the illustration a man is seen about to enter the street door of the shop.

Unfortunately, the house does not exist today; the drawing is “conjectural,” that is, it is an estimate based upon study and analysis of ruins ([figure 58]) at Brunswick Town. Knowledge of this kind of house in North Carolina, and of the town is a dramatic development of the last few years.

FIGURE 57. CONJECTURAL DRAWING OF THE HEPBURN-REONALDS HOUSE, BRUNSWICK TOWN.

FIGURE 58. RUIN OF THE HEPBURN-REONALDS HOUSE.

FIGURE 59. DETAIL FROM SAUTHIER’s DRAWING OF BRUNSWICK TOWN IN 1769.

Brunswick Town, founded in 1726, was a thriving port town in colonial times, as might be imagined from the map ([figure 59]), a detail from Sauthier’s drawing of Brunswick Town in 1769. At the time of the Revolution the town was burned and fell to ruins. During the War between the States, many bricks and stones were taken from Brunswick Town’s ruins for use in the construction of Fort Anderson, adjacent to the town site. Our photograph of the ruins of the Hepburn-Reonalds house shows this-one may see that many of the stones and bricks from the chimneys have been removed. During the century after the war the remaining foundations of the town’s buildings all but disappeared into the ground, being covered by washes of soil and dense jungle of brush and trees. Only the great brick walls of St. Philip’s Church (marked “A” in the map) remained as a reminder of the once thriving town. In 1958, however, the State Department of Archives and History began a project to clear the land, dig out the foundations of houses, and search for objects left by the colonists, all in order to recover an image of the town and the way of life of its citizens.

Thus far some sixty ruins have been discovered by the archaeologist in charge of the work. In digging around a ruin he works very carefully; all the soil removed is sifted, thereby bringing to light coins, buckles, broken pottery, door hinges, and other items. Some of the richest finds have been uncovered in garbage and refuse pits.

While the work of the archaeologist continues, Brunswick Town has been opened to the public as an open air museum—quite an unusual exhibit, one found in few places in the world. As one walks down the streets there are display cases at individual ruins. The cases contain objects found at the site, as well as drawings of houses as they probably looked before burning.

One of the most interesting of Brunswick Town’s houses is the Hepburn-Reonalds house. According to Stanley South, archaeologist in charge,

the second floor porch was an architectural feature borrowed from the West Indies, where this style of architecture was popular. Many of the homes in Brunswick were of this type, with a cellar partly sunk below the surface of the ground and a garret above the main floor of the house.

If the photograph and drawing are examined carefully, the steps which lead down and the path to the basement door may be seen. The photograph also reveals the remaining foundations for the posts which supported the porch. The basement is divided into two rooms; the nearer room was a kitchen which was entered from the rear of the house.

On the Sauthier map ([figure 59]) the Hepburn-Reonalds house is marked by an arrow. Looking carefully at the map one sees indications of certain details shown in the drawing, such as the fence running along the street, the barn and garden, and the fence leading to the barn. The drawing was made by Don Mayhew, staff artist of the Brunswick Town project.

One question the reader may have in mind: how does one know the name and date of this house? Very complete records of the sale of property in Brunswick Town have been preserved in nearby Wilmington and Southport. By careful study of these records and of the Sauthier map it has been possible for the archaeologist to identify and date the various ruins in the town.

FIGURE 60. WAKEFIELD, RALEIGH.

Wakefield ([figure 60]) is the oldest house in Raleigh. It was built in 1760 by Joel Lane, who later sold the original tract of 1,000 acres of land for the new state capital. The sale, it is said, took place in this house on Joel Lane’s farm. The house was moved a few years ago to its present site—not far from its original location—and now is owned and maintained by the Wake County Colonial Dames.

As the photograph shows, it is a gambrel house with shed addition in the rear, but, unlike houses we have just been discussing, it has only a small porch in front. It is probable that the house originally looked quite differently, for construction details in the vicinity of the roof suggest that it once had a gable roof. Further, the smooth sheathing over the front of the house (often found under the porches of colonial homes) suggests that originally a shed porch ran across the entire front of the house. With long porch and gable roof, Wakefield would have looked like the typical farm shown in the sketch, [figure 46].

In the Joel Lane house as it stands today, the porch, the chimneys, and the modern shingles differ slightly in design from those elements seen in old photographs and drawings of the dwelling. In the back of the house, barely noticeable in the photograph, is an addition beyond the lean-to. This later appendage was once attached to the left side of the house; in its present relocation it is occupied by the caretaker of this exhibition house.

[Figure 61] shows plans, elevations and details of Wakefield. Such careful drawings are the sort which present-day architects prepare for the use of carpenters building a house. While the colonial architect or builder did not make such elaborate drawings, the plans of important old buildings, are today being made as an historical record. The drawings shown are from a collection being developed at State College, Raleigh, further explained at the end of this booklet.

FIGURE 61. WAKEFIELD, MEASURED DRAWINGS FROM THE PROJECT IN HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH, STATE COLLEGE, RALEIGH.

The first floor plan at lower right shows the porch, the main block of the house, and a room of the lean-to in rear. In the main block are a larger and a smaller side room, with a hall between. The entrances at front and back of the hall are wide double doors, facilitating good ventilation during hot summer days in Raleigh. The door to the larger room is centered “as it should be”; but the corresponding door to the opposite room has necessarily been pushed forward by the stairway. It will be noted that whereas the outer framed walls of the house are fairly thick, the walls which partition the hall are extremely thin—a point which will be discussed presently.

At upper left in the page of drawings is a transverse section through the hall. We see how the stairway folds neatly within the main block of the house as it rises. The stair has a railing, but no procession of banister posts, thus bespeaking an economy and rugged plainness—but a visitor must watch his step. At the top, the stair ends in an upper hall lighted by a dormer window. At the back is a corresponding dormer. As our drawing is a section through these windows, it does not give an immediately clear notion of the gambrel roof. However, just beneath each window can be seen part of the lower plane of the roof.

[Figure 62] shows the large front room of Wakefield, as restored and furnished by the Colonial Dames. The room with one wall of plaster and the other of wood, looks almost “modern.” The wood wall showed in the plan as very thin, as we have noted. The similar wood partition on the other side of the hall shows through the open door. To have covered these partition walls with plaster would have been quite an additional expense to the builder; and so one finds that the “modern” effect is in reality a by-product of simple economy. Looking carefully at the open door on the left, one notes the small wooden pegs which lock the horizontal and vertical frame members together.

FIGURE 62. INTERIOR OF WAKEFIELD.

CHAPTER V
Interiors

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.

FIGURE 63.

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.

FIGURE 65.

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.)

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.

FIGURE 68.

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.

FIGURE 70. INTERIOR FOR THE OLD BRICK HOUSE.

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].

CHAPTER VI
A Note on Later Colonial Architecture

The scope of this booklet does not include architecture of the late colonial and early republican times, although some of our most distinguished “colonial” buildings date from those years. The architectural climate of the late 18th century differed from that found prior to 1763. First of all, following the end of the French and Indian War the colonies were more secure. Then, there existed a large body of earlier architecture which could be seen as accomplished fact. The building trades were more firmly established, a few professional architects were beginning to appear, and architectural pattern books and design books were more available from Europe. Although the earlier buildings were vigorous in their design, the wealthy person who wished to build a home in later colonial times often looked on them as quaint and a little clumsy; he wanted something better and more up-to-date.

An outstanding example of what was up-to-date in North Carolina, is shown above, an engraving of Tryon Palace, New Bern. This structure was begun by Governor Tryon in 1767, completed in 1770 and destroyed by fire shortly after the Revolutionary War. The work of reconstruction, begun in 1952 is now virtually complete, and the palace is now one of the most widely known colonial buildings in the United States. It is a good example for our present purposes because, as a most important and costly building, it reflects ideas regarded as “modern” in North Carolina at the close of the pre-revolutionary period. The engraving shown is from The Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution, by Benjamin J. Lossing, 1852. Although the palace was in ruins during Lossing’s time, he made his engraving from drawings left by the building’s architect—the same drawings used in 1952 for its reconstruction. The palace was designed to impress the colonial man and woman shown in the illustration in certain ways, as will be seen presently.

The exterior of the palace exhibits something new in our study: a three-part layout design, diagrammed in [figure 72]. Above in the diagram the three structures are arranged: kitchen—PALACE—stables. Other outbuildings which, of course, were present are hidden in the first and main view of the palace. This is quite different from the disposition of the outbuildings at the Palmer-Marsh house ([figure 9]), where they are found informally situated at one side of the house.

At the middle of the diagram depicting the Tryon structure, the long façade of the palace building is shown broken into three parts: wing—CENTRAL BLOCK—wing. The central block is crowned with a pediment and is advanced slightly forward. The Palmer house also has six windows and a central door, but the builder of this earlier structure did not have the idea of breaking or articulating a long wall as in the palace.

Below in the diagram, the central block of the palace shows window—DOOR—window. That door, crowned with pediment, is the ultimate focal point.

FIGURE 72.

As one contemplates this three-part idea for dividing a length of wall, or for grouping separate structures, the system seems to express an “intelligence” in the architecture—the door or middle unit being a head or center of serene intelligence and the symmetrical side units being arms or body. This design idea was not introduced into the colonies via the palace; the palace merely demonstrates the idea which became so attractive to later 18th-century builders.

The two pediments referred to above—a big one above and a small one over the door below—are not mere gables of the sort seen earlier. Instead, they are complete, three-sided pediments similar to those found on classical temples. They are a sign of a rising interest in classical art, fostered by archaeological studies in the 18th century. Classical buildings also contained ideas of sober mass and order which impressed those who lived in the late 18th century.

It should be observed that the cornices of all three buildings continue uninterruptedly around corners, marking a firm top for the lower part of the buildings which appear as great boxes. Further, as all the buildings have hipped roofs which retreat on all sides, the colonial man and woman in the picture, as they come near a building, do not see a roof at all. This image is in contrast with the earlier architecture with huge, steep roofs sitting like massive hats on the buildings, and with gable ends rising to sharp points in the sky, along with their protruding chimneys. At the palace, chimneys do not disturb the calm surface of a rectangular wall, and roofs are hidden as though one is ashamed of them.

The windows of the palace are in absolutely regular horizontal and vertical rows, as opposed to the casual, hit-or-miss irregularities seen in some earlier buildings. In preparing his drawings for the façade of the palace, the architect must have erased and redrawn his windows before he achieved just the rhythm and balance he wanted. In looking at his drawing he saw the façade as an entity by itself, exactly as it was seen by the colonial couple on the walk. They seem to feel the articulate order of the building, a security and a restrained, aristocratic elegance.

Such ideas afford one a glimpse into the proud, ambitious, “enlightened,” later 18th century. After this glimpse we return to the diverse buildings of the earlier 18th century, with fuller appreciation of their robustness and good-natured vitality, each building seeming something of heroic accomplishment, a feat of colonial man, which, indeed, it was.

CHAPTER VII
The Study of Old Architecture

Aside from pleasure to be derived from it, the study of old buildings can be of great value to future students of North Carolina architecture. An important old building in one’s town today may be a filling station tomorrow. Every day such buildings vanish through fire or demolition and often there are no adequate records of them. Such records can only be made by people on the spot who appreciate their importance.

Steps that can be taken by the student include: making a study of an old building in the vicinity; taking photographs of various exterior views and interior details; making plan drawings with measurements; making simple sketches and diagrams of construction details which cannot be photographed well; and making a plot plan or map of the property, showing the location of former sheds and other structures. In addition, efforts should be made to collect information from old inhabitants and from present users of the building. Deeds, old letters, or other documents should be consulted for information regarding the structure’s origins. A map of the old part of your town—à la Sauthier—might be a useful contribution to supplement information on the founding of the town and on changes as they have occurred.

Such studies would be valuable additions to a collection of documents, photographs, maps, etc., housed in the local library. Work with teachers, librarians, and members of the local historical society to build a collection of books and material on local and regional architecture.

There are several State institutions in Raleigh which may provide assistance with projects of this kind. The Department of Archives and History, houses a vast collection of documents and letters, and publishes the North Carolina Historical Review. Within this department the Hall of History sponsors the Junior Historians, who make models of buildings and engage in other architectural projects; and the Historic Sites Division is concerned with the preservation of important sites and buildings. The Department of Conservation and Development has a photograph collection of old buildings in North Carolina. The School of Design at State College has a growing collection of measured drawings of important old buildings; this project is called Historic Buildings Research (see [figure 61]).

In Chapel Hill, at the University of North Carolina there are two sections of the library to be noted: the Carolina Room, which houses extensive collections of historical materials (see [page 88]); and the Southern Historical Collection, which contains letters and documents. Duke University has large collections of documentary material; and other college and city libraries have North Carolina collections.