Evening star., 1932-08-13
OLD ARCHITECTURE
AN HONEST TYPE
New England Gets Valuable
Example in Eighteenth
Century Structures.
BY CHARLES MEssER STOW.

SEt1hASc IAACo1kS - AoF'
There are comparatively few houses
of the seventeenth century still stand
ing in New England. There are plenty
which were built between l7o0 and 1900,
however, and from them we get an idea
of the innate dignity Of New England
character as expressed through the art
of the carpenters and joiners. 1t was a
sober, four square art, unaffected ana
honest. It knew nothing Of the rococo.
but stayed soundly architectural.
Connecticut possibly was more dense
" settled than the other New England
States, and therefore architecture may
have f1ourished there to greater de-
gree than elsewhere, but this Is oe-
batable and extremely controversial
However, it seems safe to argue that the
houses standing in small groups in the
villages and by themselves in the rural
districts of that colony had more at
tention paid their architecture than
similar houses in Massachusetts, or
Rhode Island.
elaborate" Country Home.
In these latter one expects to find fine
eighteenth century houses in the cities
and towns, but hardly In the country
In Connecticut country home was as
elaborately adorned as one in me-
tropolis. This word deliberately" must
be considered relatively. however. foI
excursions outside the limits OF the four
orders of architecture were few. =,
Elaborate paneling and architectural
embellishments were not practlced 10
any extent in the seventeenth century,
but with the advent of the eighteenth
century the desire for more ornamen-
tation arose. and then began a progress
sive series of degrees in elaborate WOOD
working up to the time when the ReVo-
luton stopped all but the most neces-
sary work.
A valuable study Of Connecticut
houses called early Domestic Archi-
lecture of Connecticut" has been made
by ]. Frederick Kelly, A. I. A., which
has been published by the Yale Uni
versity Press.
Artistic Sense In Woodwork.
Most Of those interested in old houses
care less about the construction than
they do about the woodwork. for the
reason that here was expressed the ar
tistic sense of the builder. Paneling,
holdings and architectural details, ac-
cording to their fineness and elaoora-
LlOn, l0QlCdpcQ IlUt OiiAy SIAc obaiAAAAAS 49,
the community Of the owner OF the
house, but hts taste as well. We have
come in the last few years to appreciate
the artistic abilities of the makers OF
furniture and houses in the eighteenth
century and we make use Of their ideas
to enhance our own home surroundings.
We are forced to conclude that the
exercise of taste shown by the work.
men Of the eighteenth century was in
stinctive, even though it was invariably
unerring. The fireplace walls before
1900 In Connecticut houses were more
or less elaborately paneled, and always
the proportions were good, whether the
panels were symmetrical or not. In
general the elaboration of the woodwork
was done by means of holdings rather
than by carvings or applied ornaments.
though an occasional bit of carving ap-
pears.
This use OF holdings required a just
eye and an ability to adapt q design
to eccentricities of construction, because
the fireplace opening did not always
come in the exact center of the wall.
No matter what the odds against him,
however. the eighteenth century worker
in wood always managed to turn out an
| artistic Job.