[Doorway of Wyck, Germantown, Philadelphia. 1690][Frontispiece]
Facing Page
[Senate House, Kingston-on-Hudson, N.Y. 1676][4]
[Ward House, near Salem, Mass.][4]
[House at Yorktown, Va.][5]
[Exterior of the Lee House, Marblehead, Mass. 1768][5]
[Laurel Hill, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 1762][10]
[Pingree or White Portico, Salem, Mass.][10]
[Typical Houses, Old Hurley, N.Y.][11]
[Elmendorf House, Old Hurley, N.Y.][11]
[Van Deusen House, Old Hurley, N.Y.][16]
[Hallway, Van Deusen House][16]
[Hoffman House, Kingston-on-Hudson, N.Y.][17]
[Characteristic Old Dutch House, Kingston-on-Hudson, N.Y.][17]
[Ackerman (Brinckerhoff) House, Hackensack, N.J. 1704][24]
[Verplanck House, near Fishkill Landing, N.Y.][24]
[Hall, Bowne House, Flushing, Long Island, N.Y.][25]
[Dining Room, Van Cortlandt Manor House, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.][25]
[House of Seven Gables, Salem, Mass. 1669][40]
[Fairbanks House, Dedham, Mass. 1636][40]
[Whipple House, Ipswich, Mass.][41]
[Whipple House, Ipswich, Mass.][41]
[Paul Revere House, Street Front, after Restoration. 1676][46]
[Paul Revere House. Great Room, Ground Floor][47]
[Doten House, Plymouth, Mass. 1640][52]
[Narbonne House, Salem, Mass.][52]
[Wynnestay, Philadelphia. 1689][53]
[South Front of Wyck, Germantown, Philadelphia. 1690][53]
[Little Tavern at Ionic and American Streets, Philadelphia. 1692][60]
[William Penn House, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia][60]
[Gloria Dei Glebe House][61]
[Oldest House in Dover, Dela.][61]
[Quaker Alms House, Philadelphia][66]
[London (Bradford’s) Coffee House, Philadelphia. 1702][66]
[Old Philadelphia Court House. 1707][67]
[Merion Meeting House, Pennsylvania. 1695][74]
[Moravian Sisters’ House, Bethlehem, Pa. c. 1748][75]
[The Saal, Ephrata, Pa.][75]
[Adam Thoroughgood House, Princess Anne County, Va. c. 1740][88]
[Governour Eden House, Edenton, N.C.][88]
[House at Yorktown, Va.][89]
[“Hospital” House, Yorktown, Va.][89]
[House of Hon. John Blair, Williamsburg, Va.][98]
[Carey House, Williamsburg, Va.][98]
[Royall House, Medford, Mass. 1732][99]
[Lee House, Marblehead, Mass. 1768][99]
[Royall House. West Doorway][100]
[Royall House. Doorway in West Parlour][100]
[Lee House. Banquet Room][101]
[Lee House. Stairway][101]
[Lee House. Fireplace][104]
[Lee House. Wall Paper][104]
[Macphaedris-Warner House, Portsmouth, N.H. 1723][105]
[Dummer Mansion, Byfield, Mass. c. 1715][105]
[Doorway, Dummer House][108]
[The Lindens. Stair and Hall. c. 1770][109]
[Wentworth House. Hall and Stair][109]
[Parson Williams House, Deerfield, Mass. 1707][112]
[Van Cortlandt House, Van Cortlandt Park, N.Y.][113]
[Philipse Manor House, Yonkers, N.Y. 1683][116]
[Fraunce’s Tavern, Broad Street, New York City][117]
[Window Detail, Van Cortlandt House][118]
[Philipse House, near Tarrytown, N.Y.][118]
[Waynesborough, Paoli, Pa. 1724][119]
[Graeme Park, Horsham, Pa. 1721][119]
[Graeme Park, South Front][120]
[Hope Lodge, Whitemarsh Valley. 1723][120]
[Great Parlour, Graeme Park][121]
[Hallway, Hope Lodge][121]
[Whitby Hall, North Front, Kingsessing, Philadelphia. 1754][128]
[Stairway, Whitby Hall][128]
[Whitby Hall, South Front][129]
[Mantel Detail, Whitby Hall][129]
[Cliveden, Germantown, Philadelphia. 1761][140]
[Mantel in Parlour, Mount Pleasant, Philadelphia. 1761][141]
[The Woodlands, South Front. Philadelphia, c. 1770][141]
[The Woodlands, North Front][146]
[The Highlands, Whitemarsh Valley, Pa. 1796][146]
[Homewood, near Baltimore][147]
[Harwood, Annapolis. 1774][160]
[Brice House, Annapolis. 1740][160]
[Shirley, James River, Va.][161]
[Westover, James River, Va.][161]
[Carter’s Grove, Va. 1728][164]
[Andalusia on the Delaware, Pennsylvania. 1794-1832][165]
[Old Maritime Exchange, Philadelphia][165]
[Andrew Safford Porch, Salem, Mass.][176]
[Interior Doorway, Nichols House, Salem, Mass.][176]
[The Capitol at Washington][177]
[Girard College, Philadelphia][177]
[Window Detail, House in Philadelphia][180]
[Door Detail, House in Philadelphia][180]
[State House, Philadelphia, South Front. 1733][181]
[Hallway, State House, Philadelphia][181]
[Faneuil Hall, Boston. 1741][188]
[Independence Room, State House, Philadelphia][188]
[Old State House, Boston][189]
[Bulfinch State House, Boston][194]
[New York City Hall][194]
[Old Pine Street Market, Philadelphia][195]
[Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia][195]
[Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia][204]
[Black Horse Inn Yard, Philadelphia][204]
[Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg, Va. 1714][205]
[Old South Church, Boston. 1730][210]
[King’s Chapel, Boston][210]
[Christ Church, Philadelphia. 1727][211]
[St. Peter’s Church, Philadelphia. 1761][211]
[Gloria Dei (Old Swedes), Philadelphia. 1700][220]
[St. Luke’s Church, Smithfield, Va. 1632][220]
[Old Ship Church, Hingham, Mass.][221]
[Sleepy Hollow Church, Irvington, N.Y.][221]

THE ARCHITECTURE OF
COLONIAL AMERICA

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

ARCHITECTURE is crystallised history. Not only does it represent the life of the past in visible and enduring form, but it also represents one of the most agreeable sides of man’s creative activity. Furthermore, if we read a little between the lines, the buildings of former days tell us what manner of men and women lived in them. Indeed, some ancient structures are so invested with the lingering personality of their erstwhile occupants that it is well nigh impossible to dissociate the two.

But it is rather as a revelation of the social and domestic habits of our forebears that the story of architecture in Colonial America concerns us immediately at this point. As the naturalist can reconstruct the likeness of some extinct animal from a handful of bones or tell the age and aspect of a sea creature that once tenanted a now empty shell, so can the architectural historian discover much concerning the quality and mode of life of those who dwelt aforetime in the houses that form his theme. The indisputable evidence is there in bricks and stone, in timber and mortar, for us to read if we will.

What can be more convincing than an early New England kitchen in whose broad fireplace still hang the cranes and trammels and where all the full complement of culinary paraphernalia incident to the art of open-fire cookery has been preserved? The fashion of the oven attests the method of baking bread. A mere glance at these things brings up a faithful and vivid picture of an important aspect of domestic life. Or, turning to another page in this book of the past, we read another tale in the glazed lookout cupolas—“captains’ walks” they were called—atop the splendid mansions of portly and prosperous mien in the old seaport towns. Thither the merchant princes and shipowners of a by-gone day were wont to repair and scan the offing for the sails of their returning argosies, laden with East Indian riches or cruder wares from Jamaica or Barbadoes.

The old Dutch houses of the Hudson River towns reflect an wholly different mode of life. The living rooms, in many instances, were all on the ground floor and the low, dark, unwindowed attics proclaim the custom of laying up therein bountiful stores of grain and other products of their fruitful farms. In the same region the manors and other great houses bespeak a fashion of life that cannot be surpassed for picturesque interest in the annals of Colonial America.

The spacious country houses in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, with their stately box gardens and ample grounds, tell of the leisurely affluence and open hospitality of their builders whose style of life often rivalled in elegance, and sometimes surpassed, that of the country gentry in England. In the city houses there were the same unmistakable evidences of the courtly social life that ruled in the metropolis of the Colonies. Round about the city, and throughout the Province of Pennsylvania, were substantial stone and brick farmhouses that fully attested the prosperity of the yeoman class and also indicated some striking peculiarities in their habits and customs.

Going still farther to the South, we read in the noble houses that graced the broad manorial estates of Virginia and Maryland of a mode of existence, socially resplendent at times and almost patriarchal in character, which had not its like elsewhere.