The Architecture of Colonial AmericaEberlein, Harold Donaldson
History
The Architecture of Colonial America
Eberlein, Harold Donaldson
Architecture -- United States; Architecture, Colonial
For the first Georgian phase, we cannot do better than study such houses
as Carter’s Grove on the James River, built about 1737, and Westover,
finished several years prior to that date. In both places we find many
of the characteristics that we should be disposed to look for after a
careful perusal of the notes on the earliest type of Georgian houses
given in Chapter VIII. In general contour and the treatment of the roof,
Carter’s Grove is not unlike Stenton. In addition, however, to the
particulars alluded to in Chapter VIII, we find at Carter’s Grove the
exceptionally broad hallway peculiar to the South, twenty-eight feet
wide. It is to be noted also that there and at other places, too, in the
South, are to be seen richly wrought baluster spindles, spiral turned or
carved, just as in some of the finer houses in New England. In this
connexion it is important to remember that at Tuckahoe, in addition to
the spiral turned balusters, there is some unusually fine carving on the
staircase executed in a more expansive and flowing style than the
carving of the middle or end of the century. The rich pilasters and
pediment of the doorway at Westover also show kinship to an earlier
tradition just as do some of the adornments of contemporary doorways in
New England.
Tulip Hill at West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, offers an
excellent example of the Southern Georgian house erected about the
middle of the eighteenth century. In point of detail it has the usual
earmarks of the date of its erection which it is unnecessary to revert
to. Several other points, however, are to be noted. Decorative panels in
relief at each side of the circular window in the front gable and a
decorative device in the pediment of the portico are touches of
embellishment of a kind not frequently found in the North and they have
their counterpart in many similar ornaments to be found on other
Southern houses built about this period. It is to be noted, too, that
the portico or porch is beginning to have a recognised architectural
place in the South. A few years later it assumed more imposing
proportions in the shape of the great white pillars, two storeys in
height, supporting a massive pediment carried forward as an integral
part of the roof. While speaking of porches it must not be forgotten
that credit is due the South Carolina type of Georgian house for the
double-decked or two storey porch so frequently met with in that state.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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