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| Plate XLIV.—Window and Shutters, Free Quakers' MeetingHouse, Fifth and Arch Streets; Second Story Window, Free Quakers'Meeting House. | |
As to the doors themselves, four distinct types were common throughout the Colonial period. Single and double doors were equally popular, high,[103] narrow double doors being favored for the more pretentious houses, although instances are not lacking of single doors in the mansions of Colonial times. With very few exceptions molded and raised panels with broad bevels were used in all, and it is according to the arrangement of these panels that the different types of doors are best classified.
One of the earliest and simplest was the six-panel single door with three stiles of about equal width, top and frieze rail about the same, bottom rail somewhat wider and lock rail about double the width of the frieze rail. The upper pair of panels were not quite high enough to be square, while the middle and lower pairs were oblong in shape, the middle one being higher than the lower. Rarely this relation was reversed, and the lower pair was higher than the middle pair, the door at Number 6504 Germantown Avenue being an example. As found in the farmhouses of Germantown and thereabouts, notably Wyck, Glen Fern, the Green Tree Inn and the Johnson and Billmeyer houses, these six-panel doors were split horizontally through the lock rail, dividing them into an upper and lower part. This arrangement made it possible to open the upper part for ventilation while keeping the lower part closed to prevent stray animals and fowls from entering the house. Numerous examples of undivided six-panel doors are shown by accompanying illustrations and referred to in detail in[104] succeeding paragraphs. Of these the door of Grumblethorpe is unique in having a double stile in the middle, giving almost the appearance of double doors.
Three-panel double doors, such as those of Mount Pleasant, Solitude and Port Royal House, were less common than any of the four principal types mentioned, and were little used except for a few decades after the middle of the eighteenth century. Like six-panel single doors, the upper panel was often almost square, and the middle oblong panel higher than the bottom one of the same shape. At Mount Pleasant the middle and lower panels were of the same size.
Eight-panel single doors were employed extensively throughout the eighteenth century, and this is one of the most picturesque and distinctive of Philadelphia types. For the most part the panels were arranged as shown by the doors of the Perot-Morris, Powel and Wharton houses with a pair of small and large panels in alternation. Other notable instances are to be seen at Loudoun, Chalkley Hall and the Blackwell house. The top or first and third pairs were about half as high as their width, while the second and fourth pairs were oblong and usually of the same size, their height about one and one-half times their width. The door at Upsala is a rare instance of the fourth pair of panels lower than the second, whereas that at Number 301[105] South Seventh Street shows this type with molded flat panels. As is well shown by the door of the Perot-Morris house, the fourth rail was the broad lock rail, and as in those days the latch was often separate, it was frequently placed on the rail above, and hence often referred to as the latch rail.
Another less common type of eight-panel single door is shown in accompanying illustrations by doors at Number 4908 Germantown Avenue, Number 39 Fisher's Lane, Wayne Junction and Number 224 South Eighth Street. The panel arrangement consisted of three pairs of nearly square panels above the lock rail and one pair twice as high below. Of the doors mentioned, that at Wayne Junction is unique in its flat molded panels.
A corresponding panel arrangement of double doors is to be seen at The Highlands. Usually, however, four-panel double doors took the alternate small and large panel arrangement and were virtually halves of the more common type of eight-panel single door. Such doors at Stenton, Cliveden and the Morris house are illustrated in detail, and similar ones gave entrance to Hope Lodge, Woodford and Vernon. The Woodford doors are interesting for their glazed quatrefoil openings in the top pair of panels, the Vernon doors for a handsome brass knocker on the second panel of each one.
For the most part Philadelphia doorways were deeply recessed in connection with stone construction[106] because of the great thickness of the walls. Paneled jambs were let into the reveals of the opening, and whatever the panel arrangement of the door, a corresponding arrangement was followed in paneling the jambs and the soffit of the arch or flat lintel above. Such a distinctive and pleasing feature did this become that it was widely adapted to brick construction, the outward projection of pilasters and engaged columns, often both, supporting pediments and entablatures which had the effect of increasing the depth of brick walls.
The simplest type of Philadelphia doorway is that common to the ledge and "brick" stone farmhouses of Germantown, of which the doorway of the Johnson house is perhaps the best example. These houses usually had a penthouse roof along the second-floor level, and as in this instance a pediment springing from this roof usually formed a hood above the doorway. Although this doorway with its molded casings, four-paned horizontal transom and single door with six molded and raised panels is of the most modest character, its simple lines and good proportions present an effect of picturesque charm. The door is divided horizontally into two parts, after the Dutch manner, like many farmhouse doors of the neighborhood. The position of the drop handle replacing the usual knob indicates the size of the great rim lock within, and the graceful design of the brass knocker is justly one of the[107] most popular to-day. The seats flanking the entrance are unique and unlike any others in Philadelphia, although those between the two doors of the Billmeyer house near by are similar.