The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-02-21
III AM n"
An Old Colonial Mansion and Gardens Near
Towson, Maryland.
By LAURENCE HALL FOWLER.

DetLer example OF true COlOn1al eS-
tablishment can be named, has been
in the possession of the well-known
Ridgely family for a hundred and
seventy-fve years. Colonel Charles
Ridgely. grandson OF Robert Ridge
ly of ST. Mary's county, the first of
the Hampton family to come to
Maryland, was settled in Baltimore
county by 1884, and had built him
self simple gambrel-roofed farm
house, which is standing today with
in quarter of a mile of the present
Hampton" At Colonel Ridgely's S
death this part of his estate passed to
his son, Captain Charles Ridgely, a
man of energy and force. Since, in
England, a large estate with a great
mansion was the outward sign of po-
sition and influence, it was natural
that the Captain should have cherish
ed desire to place upon his many
acres a house that would surpass any
for miles around. Hampton" was
the shaping of his dream.
AS there is no definite information
about the architectural origin of the
building, curiosity is excited as to the
source of its design, not only because
it is so distinctive among the dwell
ings of the so-called Colonel Pc
riod," but because it seems to have
caught more than was usual of the
air of an eighteenth century English
country mansion. Indeed it is thought
that it was suggested by such a pre-
tentious structure as Castle Howard.
But this probable connection does not
rest altogether upon broad architec-
tural resemblance of the two build
ings, for it seems that the Captains S
ambitions came to be early associated
with that particular castle. His
mother being a Howard, it is very
likely that lie often saw the castle
during his visits to England while in
the merchant service.
Whatever the prototype of the
house, its cupola, at the time of its
completion in 1890, was the most ele-
CANT, both in proportion and detail of
any in this country, and seems to
have been the first instance, upon a
Colonial domestic building, in which
such feature was treated with mon
umental Importance.
There is no record as to exactly
when the plans were matured.* Per-
haps it was before the Revolution,
and their execution was prevented by
the war but the date 1883, in lead
Ell characters embedded in the wall
of the east wing near the caves, shows
that preparations for building must
have been started just after the cessa-
ton of hostilities, and that considera-
Bile progress had been made before
completion of the house in 1890, Cap
tain Ridgely died, having divided his
estate among the children of his sis
ters, Hampton" going to his name
sake, Charles Ridgely Carnan, upon
the condition that he would change
his name to Ridgely. General"
Ridgely, as this second master of the
house was popularity called, was Gov
ernor of Maryland from 1875 to 1913,
and it was he who laid out the gar
dens at the south of the house some
time between 1910 and 1920.
The approach to Hampton" along
the Dulany's Valley pike affords a
distant view of the white cupola and
tall chimneys standing out against a
dark background of trees. The drive,
mile long, from the turnpike to the
house, lies, for part of the way,
within lane of cherry trees, maple,
oak and ailanthus beyond which are
fields of wheat, corn and clover. On
passing marble gateway, park is
entered and after several turns of
the road, one comes suddenly upon
the west end of the house. 1t is
built of rubble masonary of COM
posite limestone obtained on the place,
apparently without much difficulty,
for all the exterior walls are two and
half feet thick and the interior ones
two feet. Several years after the
completion of the building, the exte-
rior was covered with stucco. The
house is a hundred and seventy-fve
feet long by seventy-fve feet in its
widest part; very considerable di-
mensions for those early days. The
main building, or central mass-both
the facades Of which are the same
contains the living g-rooms arranged in
two high stories and a dormer story.
The wings, composed of two low
stories and an attic, are connected
with the central building by one
story passage, and they contain the
Offices. This disposition of mass and
plan is typical of Colonial architecture
in Maryland where it received its
highest development, at white
hail." near Annapolis, in 1888; at
Hampton" in 1885; at "Home-
wood" on the outskirts of Baltimore,
in 1904 and in several town houses
at Annapolis the Harwood, Brice
and Paca houses all built about 1910.
Inside, the rooms are arranged
with the simplicity that is character
istic of Colonial planning. An arch
ed entrance door in the north porch
opens directly into large hallway
(measuring 20 by so feet) that runs
through the center of the house, un-
obstructed by stairs or by dividing
arches, to south porch. West of
the hall are the drawing-room and
the music room and on the east, are
two smaller rooms-the dining room
and the library-between which is a
stairway hall opening through ali
archway into the main hall.
The plan of the second floor is sim
liar to that of the first, except that
the space over the central hall below
is taken up by two bed rooms with
hall between. The dormer story is
still further subdivided and the center