American renaissance; a review of domestic architecture

by Joy Wheeler Dow

Alexandria, Va., [71], [72];
Fairfax house, [71];
Carlyle house, [71].
Alice in Wonderland, reference, [31].
Alison, Archibald, historian cited, [108].
American Notes, Dickens’ criticisms in, [89-91].
American Renaissance explained, [17-20];
its local color, [21-27];
sincerity of, [21-23];
various observations concerning, [21-27];
its derivation, [25-27];
outraged by modern Romanesque, [27-29];
Andrew Jackson’s influence upon, [41], [48-50];
early architects of, [42-44];
designing a farmhouse in, [46-48];
modern farmer’s knowledge of, [40], [49], [50];
not taught in schools, [35], [49], [50];
contrasted with architecture of England, [51-53], [77];
restoration of an old house, [55-57];
various motives, [57-60];
roofs, [60];
development under aristocracy, [62-78];
Washington connoisseur of, [73];
originality of, [76], [77];
in Annapolis, [62-64];
in Bristol, [81], [82];
in Salem, [82], [83];
in Middletown, Conn., [84], [85];
in Philadelphia, [85-88];
influence of Ruskin Gothic, [95-97];
influence of Civil War, [108-17];
of Centennial Exposition, [118-20], [125];
Colonial revival, [128-31];
adaptations, [132];
criticised by writers, [132-34];
apprenticeship of, [140-41];
injured by financiers, [131], [166];
traditions of, [40-42];
legislative buildings, [134].
Amplification, modern, houses injured by, [75].
Annapolis, Md., [62-65], [68], [70], [82].
Anne Arundel Town, [62].
Applied ornament, [120], [131].
Architectural Record, articles in, mentioned, [62], [147].
Architectural Review, articles in, mentioned, [80], [102], [104].
Architecture, ignorance concerning, as a fine art, [132-33], [171];
adaptation, soul of, [136]; contrasted with literature, [76], [136];
plagiarism in, [137], [151];
Jacobin, [41], [111-15], [117];
Elizabethan, [138-40];
Tudor, [96], [140];
Queen Anne, [125-28];
Jacobean, [25], [41], [138], [140], [168];
Romanesque, [28];
Gothic, [95-97], [146];
French Renaissance, [123-24], [135], [142-44];
eclectic style a fallacy, [20];
not taught in schools, [35], [49], [50];
newly invented, [30-33], [114];
American extravaganza, [46];
atmosphere necessary to, [116];
modern Colonial, [128-30];
cubic measure of art, [171].
Architects, different kinds of, [163-65];
publishers of plans, [170-71].
Arnold-Shippen house, Fairmount Park, [69].
Art and charity, [38], [39].
Art and commercialism contrasted, [37-39].
Artist temperament, [156-61].
Astor Library, mentioned, [105], [107].
Astor, John Jacob, [105], [106].
Atmosphere necessary to architecture, [116].
Azay-le-Rideau, château of, [143].
Back-buildings of Philadelphia, [86-88].
Bancroft, George, his history of United States cited, [77].
Bates & Guild Co., publications by, [63].
Beaconsfield, Earl of, mentioned, [123];
his use of flattery, [170].
Bell, Frederick A., buys the Danforth place at Madison, N. J., [122].
Bellwood, Madison, N. J., [121-23].
Belmont houses, New York City, [37].
Bennett house, New Bedford, Mass., [102], [104].
Bennett, James Gordon, his account of an assembly ball cited, [92].
Berkshires, modern architecture in, [35], [36].
Beau Brummel, quoted, [148].
Blickling Hall, [168].
Biltmore, North Carolina, [52], [167].
Bond Street, N. Y. City, No. [23], [99-101].
Boston, Mass., Scarcity of Colonial houses in, [68].
Bramante, architect, [45], [122].
Brandon, Va., mentioned, [63].
Brice-Jennings house, Annapolis, mentioned, [63].
Bristol, R. I., [68], [80-82];
Capt. Churchill house (house with the eagles), [81];
doorways, [82];
De Wolf-Colt house, [80], [81];
De Wolf-Middleton house, [81], [82];
Norris house, [81].
Brown, Albert F., book on early Connecticut houses, [57].
Browning the poet mentioned, [95], [98].
Burns, Robert, cottage of, [53].
Canterbury Keys, Wyoming, N. J., [139].
Capitol at Washington, [71], [134].
Carlyle house at Alexandria, Va., [71];
adaptation of, [71].
Carlyle, Thomas, cited, [108].
Carrère and Hastings, extension designed by, [122].
Centennial Exposition, its influence, [118], [120], [125].
Charity, its relation to architecture, [38], [39];
anatomy of, [107].
Charlecote Hall, [139].
Chambord, château of, [143];
mentioned, [145].
Charm not deducible by mathematics, [61].
Chase house, Annapolis, mentioned, [63].
Chenonceau, château of, [143-144].
Chew house, Germantown, [69].
Chopin, étude by, cited, [67];
quoted, [106].
Coles house, Farmington, Conn., [23].
Colonial houses in Switzerland, [147].
Colonial houses, modern, [154];
scarcity of good ones, [169];
ultra-fashionable, [130].
Colonial revival, [128-30].
Colonnade, N. Y. City, [104-6].
Congress at Berlin, reference, [123].
Connecticut, early houses in, [57], [59].
Country house for Mrs. H. at Morristown, [144].
Country Life, the English periodical, [51];
illustration from, [52].
Cupolas (see chapter Reign of Terror, 108) correctly placed, [153].
Curious analogy between art and nature, [89].
Cypress as a building material, [147].
Delafield house on Long Island, [72-73].
Dickens, Charles, his criticisms, [89-91];
quoted, [108].
Don Juan, quotations from, [49], [78].
Du Barry, Madam, mentioned, [79].
Durham, Conn., Miles Merwin house, [46-48].
Dutch influences in New York and New Jersey, [59].
D’Israeli, his use of flattery, [170].

Early Renaissance of England, book by Gotch, [140].
Eastlake School of Design, [119-20].
Eclectic style, its fallacy in architecture, [20].
Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, [121], [142];
graduates of, [143].
Efflorescence of commercialism, [85].
Elmington, Gloucester Co., Va., [73].
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, mentioned, [95].
English Renaissance under the Georges, [124], [140];
a vast treasure house, [77];
various other allusions, [22-27], [51-53], [61], [77], [96], [138-41], [168].
Fanciful houses (see Reign of Terror), [108].
Farmhouse, modern, [49], [50].
Farmington, Conn., Coles house, [23].
Field of art an enchanted garden, [149].
Financier architects, [164].
Financiers, their love of flowers, [160];
their influence upon American Renaissance, [131].
Flat-iron Building, N. Y. City, [37].
Florence, Italy, mentioned, [28].
Fontainebleau, Château of, [135], [142], [145].
Ford Mansion, Morristown, N. J., [75].
Fouquet, minister of Louis XIV, mentioned, [44].
Fourth Street, N. Y. City, doorway, [99].
French Renaissance, [123-24], [135], [142-44].
French Revolution cited, [79], [108].
Gabriel, architect, mentioned, [144].
George, Henry, cited, [109].
Germantown, Pa., [70];
Colonial houses in, [69], [70];
Morris house, [69];
Wyck, [60], [61], [69];
Stenton-in-the-fields, [69];
Wister house, [69].
Gerry, Mrs., engages Mr. Hunt to be her architect, [124].
Girondists and mountain, cited, [113].
Gloucester Co., Va., [73], [74].
Gotch’s Early Renaissance in England, [140].
Gothic architecture, in wood, [24];
recommended by Ruskin, [95-97].
Grace Church, N. Y. City, [134];
rectory, [96-97].
H. Mrs., her house at Morristown, N. J., [144].
Haddon Hall, [138].
Hackensack, N. J., old house in, [60].
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, [105].
Hampton Court, Wolsey palace, [141];
South palace, [141].
Hancock house, Boston, mentioned, [68].
Hartford, Conn., mentioned, [83].
Harwood house, Annapolis, mentioned, [63].
Hawthorne, Nat’l, reference, [83].
Historical succession in architecture, [116].
Hone, Philip, diary of, [91-94].
Hoods, Dutch, [59], [60];
Germantown, [59], [60].
House Beautiful, articles in, cited, [80], [82], [137], [139].
House with the eagles, Bristol, R. I., [81].
How to make a successful house, reference, [137].
Hunnewell Gardens, cited, [53].
Hunt, Richard M., architect, [120-24].
Invented architecture, [30-33], [114-16].
Irving, Washington, [105-7];
Life and Letters, mentioned, [107].
Isham, Norman M., book on early Connecticut houses, [57].
Italian villas, cited, [110-11].
Italian palaces, [135].
Jackson, Andrew, [41], [48], [50].
Jacobean architecture, adaptation, [168];
Renaissance, reference, [25], [41].
Jacobin, architecture, [41];
see also Reign of Terror, [108].
Jones, Inigo, mentioned, [44], [136].
Jumel mansion, N. Y. City, [68].
Kidd, Capt., treasure, reference, [109].
Kingdor, Summit, N. J., adapted from the Swiss Gothic, [147-48].
Kipling, Rudyard, read for style, [150].
Kullak, the musician, anecdote concerning, [54];
mentioned, [56].
Ladd house. Portsmouth, N. H., mentioned, [68].
Lambton Castle, [137-38].
Langdon, Gov., house, Portsmouth, N. H., mentioned, [68].
Le Nepveu, Pierre, architect, cited, [143].
Le Nôtre, landscape gardener, reference, [80].
Lescot, Pierre, architect, cited, [144].
Library of Congress, mentioned, [71].
Lines, their effect upon the mind, [116].
Litchfield, Conn., [75];
Demming house, [75];
Hoppin house, [75].
London Terrace, [104-5].
Looking Backward, reference, [100].
Louis XIV, [44], [135];
J. H. Mansart’s influence upon, [164-65].
Louvre, Paris, [135], [142];
caricatured, [146].
Love’s Labor’s Lost, quotation from, [67].
Lower Fifth Avenue, houses on, [104].
“Man cannot live by bread alone,” cited, [117].
Manhattan, congestion of, [31].
Mansart, François, mentioned, [146].
Mansart, Jules Hardouin, [135];
described by Saint Simon, [165].
Marble house, Newport, criticised, [167].
Martin Chuzzlewit, mentioned, [46];
criticisms in, [89], [91-92].
Marvel, Ik, quoted, [34].
McIntyre, Samuel, architect, [43].
McPhædris house, Portsmouth, N. H., [66], [67], [153].
Medici, Lorenzo de, court of, mentioned, [28].
Metal window frames, [139].
Michelangelo, architect, [44], [45], [122], [136].
Middletown, Conn., [68], [84];
de Zeng house, [103-4];
house on High Street, [97];
Watkinson house, [23], [84], [85];
Sumner house, [57];
Mansfield house, [84].
Miss Polly Fairfax, quotation, [61].
Mitchell cottage, East Orange, N. J., [153].
Modern American dwelling, [61], [153].
Modern obtrusion in a Colonial house, [131].
Molière, anecdote concerning, [154-55].
Monticello, Va., [74].
Montpelier, Va., [74].
Morris house, Germantown, [69].
Morris house, Philadelphia, [70].
Morristown, N. J., [75];
Ford mansion, [75];
house at, [144].
Mouldings, Eastlake School, [119].
Mt. Vernon-on-the-Potomac, [71-73], [153].
New Art reference, [29], [78].
New Bedford, Mass., its most interesting landmark, [102].
New Haven, Conn., mentioned, [84].
Newly-invented architecture, [30-33], [114-16].
Newport, its congestion, [53];
H. A. C. Taylor house, [130], [169];
Edgar house, [169];
marble house, [167];
Ochre Court, [167].
New York City, absence of Colonial relics in, [68];
Washington Square, North, [22], [104];
Walton house, [68];
Waterbury house, [104];
Colonnade, [104-6];
23 Bond Street, [99-101];
doorway on East Fourth Street, [99];
congestion in, [31];
injured by commercialism, [37];
houses in lower Fifth Avenue, [104];
Flat-iron Building, [37].
Niecks’ Life of Chopin, quoted, [106].
Ochre Court, Newport, mentioned, [167].
Open timbered work, [139].
Osmaston Manor, Derbyshire, [52].
Palladian windows, [130].
Palladio, architect, [26], [44].
Parc aux cerfs, [83].
Paris cabinet makers, [95].
Patina on Swiss châlets, [147].
Patti, Adelina, and the musical critics, [61].
Peacock Inn, Derbyshire, reference, [25].
Pecksniff, architect, character from Dickens, [166].
Pennsylvania, German influence in, [59].
Pepys, Samuel, diary of, [91].
Perrault, Claude, architect, mentioned, [144].
Philadelphia, Pa., Colonial houses in, [70];
aristocratic section, [85], [86];
backbuildings, [86-88];
peculiarity of architecture in, [85-87];
municipal buildings caricature of Louvre, [146];
Morris house, [70];
Roberts house, [103-4];
restoration of an old house in, [86];
Willstack house mentioned, [103];
Dundas-Lippincott house, [103].
Pickering house, Salem, Mass., [25].
Poe, Edgar Allen, quoted, [32], [33];
Poems, [106].
Poor, H. W., House at Tuxedo, N. Y., [52], [168].
Portland, Conn., quarries at, [84].
Portsmouth, N. H., [66-68], [70];
McPhædris house, [66], [67], [153];
Ladd house, [68];
Gov. Langdon house, [68];
Rockingham Hotel, [66].
Princessgate, Wyoming, N. J., [154].
Providence, R. I., [83];
Mme. Brown mansion on Benefit Street, [35].
Psychological needs of domestic architecture, [61], [116].
Psychological preparation to understand architecture, [19].
Quartered oak, toughness of, [97].
Queen Anne architecture, [125-28].
Queen Anne and Romanesque composite style, [127].
Queen Anne house at Short Hills, N. J., [126].
Queen Anne house ultra-fashionable, [126].
Randall, T. Henry, architect, article by, referred to, [62];
architect of Mr. Poor’s house, [168-69].
Renwick, James, architect, mentioned, [134].
Restoration of houses in Philadelphia, [86].
Reveries of a Bachelor, quoted, [34].
Rich young man in Bible, cited, [39].
Richardson, H. H., architect, [27-29], [120].
Richmond-Dow house, Warren, R. I., [97].
Robespierre, his love of flowers, [159].
Rockingham Hotel, Portsmouth, N. H., [66].
Rococo style, cited, [119].
Roland, Madam, quoted, [146].
Romanesque architecture, [28], [120].
Roofs, French Renaissance, [144];
gambrel, [60];
Mansart, [117].
Rosewell, Gloucester Co., Va., [73].
Ruskin, John, [25];
advocates Gothic architecture, [95-98];
mentioned, [135].
Sabine Hall, [74].
St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, cited, [77].
St. Peter’s Cathedral, Rome, [45];
an adaptation, [141].
Saint-Simon, Memoirs of, quoted, [135], [165-66].
San Marco, Library of, [142].
Sansovino, architect, references, [26], [142].
Salem, Mass., [24], [68], [70], [82];
Derby-Ward house, [55];
Pickering house, [25];
Capt. White house, [83].
Scammozzi, architect, reference, [26].
Scaramouch houses. See chapter, Reign of Terror, [108], [117].
Scarlet Letter morals, [55].
Schopfer, Jean, articles by, [147].
Schuyler, Montgomery, quoted, [122].
Searles cottage, Block Island, [152-54].
Sesame and Lilies, [98].
Sharon, Conn., [36];
John Cotton Smith house, [36], [37].
Shingles, wide gauge, [59].
Shirley, Va., cited, [63], [74].
Skyscrapers, [37];
recipe for, [30], [31].
Southgate, Eliza, Letters of, quoted, [72].
Staccato style, [122].
Stenton-in-the-fields, Germantown, not pretty, [69].
Stratford, Conn., old house in, [59].
Stunts, architectural, [44].
Sturgis, Russell, mentioned, [43].
Style, architectural, see Chapter XI, [149].
Style an architectural comedy, [155].
Sunswick, Delafield house, Long Island, [72], [73].
Swiss châlets, [25];
travestied, [120];
adaptation of, [146].
T squares and triangles unsympathetic, [61].
Tadema, Alma, mentioned, [32].
Tale of Two Cities, quoted, [108].
Talmage, Dr., his comment on Queen Anne architecture, [127].
Temperament, artist, [156-61].
Through the Looking-glass, quoted, [46].
Todsbury, Gloucester Co., Va., [73].
Tombs, royal, at Westminster, mentioned, [47].
Tribune Building, New York City, [123].
Trinity Church, Boston, [27], [28].
Trinity Church, New York City, cited, [134].
Tudor castles, [96], [138].
Tuxedo, N. Y., H. W. Poor house, [52], [168].
Twombly, H. McK., mentioned, [122].
Ulalume, quoted, [32], [33].
Upjohn, architect, reference, [134].
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, [124].
Vanderbilt, W. K., house of, [123], [135].
Vaux le Vicomte, mentioned, [44].
Versailles, mentioned, [80], [135].
Victorian-Gothic, [120-122].
Viollet-le-Duc, architect, reference, [143].
Voyage of Life, series of paintings, [93].
Walton house, N. Y. City, mentioned, [68].
Ward, Harry, and his house, [99-101].
Ware, Prof. W. R., his philosophy, [162].
Warren, Russell, [43], [80].
Washington, George, his taste in architecture, [73].
Washington, D. C., [90];
Capitol at, [71], [134];
Library of Congress, [71].
Washington Square, North, N. Y. City, [22], [104].
Westover, Va., mentioned, [63].
White, Fred’k B., architect, [126].
Whitemarsh, Gloucester Co., Va., [73].
Wiscasset, Maine, Gov. Smith house, [19].
Witch-Colonial exemplars, [54], [57].
Witch-house, modern, plan of, [58].
Witches, Salem, [83].
Wolfert’s Roost, Tarrytown, mentioned, [106].
Wormeley, Katharine F., her translation of Saint-Simon, [164].
Wren, Sir Christopher, [25], [26];
mentioned, [27], [44], [136], [141].
Wyck, Germantown, Pa., [60], [61], [69].
Yankee, the, U. S. privateer, [81].

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This house is known by three different names.

[2] On [Plate XXXIII] is presented a modern adaptation of the Carlyle house at Alexandria, which may convey to the reader some faint suggestion of the pleasantness of the original in the hey-day of its prosperity.

[3] It was some new kind of love Julia hoped to invent.

[4] A kind of looking-glass peculiar to Philadelphia and usually attached to a second-story window, whereby the occupants of a house may “keep tab” of not only whatever is occurring up and down street, but of whoever is bold enough, under the circumstances, to ring the front door bell.

[5] The panic of 1837 broke the boom for a while, but it was practically rehabilitated by the inauguration of Harrison in 1841.

[6] Within the last year death has removed the faithful mourner, and the house has been turned into a kind of sweat shop, consequently the photograph on [Plate XLVIII] cannot be duplicated. The inner doorway of the vestibule has been taken away bodily, no doubt to adorn some modern Colonial house, also the tapering posts of wrought iron, and the starting newel of the staircase. Mockery of an intense drama!

[7] Pay no attention to the modern Swiss châlets. They are infected with the architectural maladies we have in America.

[8] There is one other kind of architect I have failed to include who I believe is indigenous to America. I refer now to the man who can neither draw, design, write specifications nor superintend, and who has no business ability, but who belongs to the genus “angel” of a theatrical company, who pays the rent of an expensive suite of offices, and becomes a special partner, perhaps, but by no stretch of courtesy, I should say, should be truthfully called an architect.