Round-headed doorways here and there, not only at the front entrance,
but elsewhere, as in the hall at Hope Lodge, provided a welcome
variation from the customary square-headed types and have been a
pleasing feature of Colonial interiors since early times. As framing the
glazed doorways of china closets already referred to, they were a
charming feature of the interior wood finish. At the front entrance the
round-headed doorway was utilized to provide an ornamental yet practical
fanlight transom over the door which admitted considerable light to
brighten the hall. As contrasted with this more graceful arrangement,
the broad front entrance to Whitby Hall, with its severely plain
unmolded four-panel double doors and wrought-iron strap hinges, bolts,
latch and great rim lock, is of quaint interest. The accompanying
photograph shows well the dado effect secured by a surbase and skirting,
and one notes with interest the cornice with its prominent modillions
and the heavy plinth blocks on which the architrave casings of the doors
stand.
Round-headed windows were employed for landing windows in stair halls,
as at Whitby Hall, and in the central part of the Palladian windows over
entrances, as at Mount Pleasant, where they became decorative interior
features of the front end of the second-floor halls.
Elliptical-headed openings are rare in Philadelphia, and in most
instances were arches across the main hall, as at Hope Lodge. Sometimes
they framed the staircase vista at the head or foot of the flight,
where they became one of the most charming features of the best Colonial
interiors.
The illustrations of interiors at Stenton accompanying this chapter,
serve, as might many others, to show that white-painted interior
woodwork, although one of the greatest charms of the Colonial house,
finds its principal mission in providing the only architectural
background that sets off satisfactorily the warmth of color and grace of
line possessed by eighteenth-century furniture in mahogany and other
dark woods. Bright and cheerful, chaste and beautiful, it emphasizes the
beauties of everything before it, yet seldom forces itself into undue
prominence. It is a scheme of interior treatment which has stood the
test of time and indicates what excellent taste the Colonial builders
manifested in resorting to its subtle influence to display their rare
pieces of furniture brought from England and the Continent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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