It is a large, square house two and a half stories high, its hipped roof
broken by handsome pedimental dormers with round-topped windows. The
front is of brick laid up in characteristic Flemish bond, while the
other walls are of plastered rubble stone masonry, the brickwork and
stonework being quoined together at the front corners. A broad plaster
coving is the principal feature of the simple molded cornice, and one
notes the much used double belt formed by two projecting courses of
brick at the second-floor level. The fenestration differs in several
respects from that of similar houses erected a quarter century later.
The arrangement of the ranging windows is quite conventional, but
instead of marble lintels above them there are nicely gauged flat brick
arches, while the basement windows are set in openings beneath segmental
relieving arches with brick cores. The latter are reflected in effect by
the recessed elliptical arches above all the windows in the walls of
plastered rubble masonry. The windows themselves, with nine-paned upper
and lower sashes having unusually heavy muntins, likewise the shutters
on the lower story and the heavy paneled doors, are higher and narrower
than was the rule a few years later. The entrance, with its
characteristic double doors, is reached by a porch and four stone steps,
its low hip roof with molded cornice being supported by two curious,
square, tapering columns. Porches were an unusual circumstance in the
neighborhood, and this one is so unlike any others of Colonial times
which are worthy of note as to suggest its having been a subsequent
addition. Above, a round-arched recess with projecting brick sill
replaces the conventional Palladian window.
Indoors, an exceptionally wide hall extends entirely through the house
from front to back, opening into spacious rooms on both sides through
round-topped doorways with narrow double doors heavily paneled. An
elliptical arch supported by fluted pilasters spans the hall about
midway of its length, and a handsome staircase ascends laterally from
the rear part after the common English manner of that day. Throughout
the house the woodwork is of good design and execution, the paneled
wainscots, molded cornices, door and window casings all being very
heavy, and the broad fireplaces and massive chimney pieces in complete
accord. Deep paneled window seats, very common in contemporary houses,
are a feature of the first-floor rooms. The kitchens and the servants'
quarters are located in a separate building to the rear, a brick-paved
porch connecting the two. This custom, as in the South, was
characteristic of the locality and period.
[Illustration: PLATE X.--Glen Fern, on Wissahickon Creek, Germantown.
Erected about 1747 by Thomas Shoemaker; Grumblethorpe, 5261 Germantown
Avenue, Germantown. Erected in 1744 by John Wister.]
[Illustration: PLATE XI.--Upsala, Germantown Avenue and Upsala Streets,
Germantown. Erected in 1798 by John Johnson; End Perspective of Upsala.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account