Monographs Archives - Page 5 of 13

Architectural Monographs: 18th Century Builder’s Guide to Style

Posted on June 16, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Practicing architects in 18th century America relied on British handbooks packed full of hand-drawn moldings, cornices, entablatures and other architectural details to produce many of the nation’s oldest homes. The White Pine Monograph Series made this guide publicly available once again in 1931, and now modern-day architects can enjoy it at EasternWhitePine.org.

The guide, “The builder’s companion demonstrating all the principle rules or architecture,” is a re-print of the handbook made by William Pain in London in 1762. It was discovered among the working library of one of America’s most famous carpenter-builders of the eighteen century, the oldest dating to 1724, offering “elementary problems in geometry” and plates of the five orders as well as details of construction.

“The knowledge that these books on architecture were owned by ‘practicing architects’ in America in the middle of the eighteenth century strengthens our conviction that the handbooks were generally within arm’s reach of the amateur designer. They were published at a time when almost every man of culture in England interested himself in architecture and when a high standard of lay criticism existed.”

“Believing that those interested in the sources of colonial work would joy having a reprint of one of the best and least familiar of these books, we have selected ‘The Builder’s Companion’ by William Pain. The modern designer will be convinced, we feel sure, that William Pain, Architect and Joiner, endeavored to catch the spirit of classic proportion and ‘by an entire New Scale’ to show the significance of the orders and to make it easy for anyone to adapt the proportions to modern usage.”

Architectural Monographs: Essex, a Town Settled by Shipbuilders

Posted on June 6, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Like nearly any town in America, the village of Essex, located 26 miles north of Boston on the river of the same name, has changed dramatically since the early days of its founding. In 1920, the author of this issue of the historic White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs lamented the ways in which the town had lost its initial sea-flavored character, though at the time, those changes mostly consisted of a misguided Greek Revival and the addition of a couple bridges on the river.

Author H. Van Buren Magonigle would likely be shocked to see Essex as it stands today – a still-charming village, no doubt, but one that has inevitably evolved to fit 21st century life. Essex was founded by shipbuilders in 1634, and was the center of a prosperous shipbuilding trade until the early part of the 20th century. Today, the main sources of income for the town are the shellfish industry and tourism.

Magonigle’s account of historic Essex architecture, written just at the time when the shipbuilding industry had declined, is a colorful and poetic read.

“There are no black wharves now if ever there were, nor slips, and the sea tides barely reach it; the last Spanish whiskered who swaggered through her streets has long since been gathered, beard and all, to his fathers – but as by the perfume of a memory Essex is haunted still by ‘the beauty and mystery of the ships and the magic of the sea,'” he writes.

Architectural Monographs: Cooperstown in the Days of the Author

Posted on May 24, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

William Cooper, father of the author James Fenimore Cooper, wrote of the impression that the land that would later become Cooperstown in his name made upon him the first time he visited in 1785. The land, along the coast of Lake Oswego in New York, showed no traces of inhabitants, and had not a single road. “I was alone, three hundred miles from home without food, fire and fishing tackle my own means of subsistence.”

“My horse fed on the grass that grew by the edge of the waters. I laid me down to sleep in my watch coat, nothing but the wilderness around me. In this way I explored the country and formed my plans for future settlement and meditated upon the spot where a place of trade or a village should be established.”

Nearly one hundred and fifty years later, when this issue of the White Pine Monographs was written in 1923, Cooperstown was well-established, but kept its old-fashioned character thanks to its seclusion from many main line railroad. This issue examines the main historical buildings there as they were in that year, including the home where James Fenimore Cooper lived for a time.

“This region, at the time of the building of many of the early houses, abounded in the finest growth of virgin pines, growing to great heights and of ample diameters for all building purposes. This, together with a native stone which quarries like elongated brick, and other quarries at the head of the lake, where hard limestone was plentiful, must have thrilled even the humblest craftsman in his line to make and fashion from these wonderful native materials, moldings and forms and combinations which grew more pretentious and refined as house succeeded house.”

See them all at the White Pine Monograph Library.

Architectural Monographs: Ornate Outbuildings of Old-Fashioned Houses

Posted on May 17, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Prior to the 19th century, living in the country meant living an entirely self-sustaining lifestyle, relying only upon what you could build, grow or prepare yourself. As a result, farmhouses back then might have had a constellation of small outbuildings surrounding them, each with a different purpose: storage for large amounts of food, sheds for certain manufacturing processes or stables close to the house for the owner’s driving horses.

The spread of development throughout America over the 19th and 20th centuries made most of those structures obsolete, and in many cases, they no longer exist outside even the oldest of farmhouses. A corner store appearing in a rural area meant locals could stop doing absolutely everything for themselves, focusing their energy on the specialities that provided the most stable income.

But in 1922, when this issue of the White Pine Monographs was written, there were still a few rural homes throughout New England where such small outbuildings could still be found, and many of these structures were notable in their attention to detail.

In fact, much of the same architectural features found on the main house could be found on the ‘accessory houses’ as well. The author of this monograph notes that such an approach was actually taken out of necessity, as builders at the time were mostly just copying ornamentation out of books. “Therefore, when they were forced to build garden structures of small size and without precedent or available designs, they copied either a small portion of some design at hand or reduced the scale of the book size to the required size.”

See more photos at the White Pine Monograph Library.

Architectural Monographs: The Unique Farmhouses of Old ‘New Netherlands’

Posted on May 10, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

The Colonial architecture of Massachusetts and Virginia tends to get all the attention and accolades when it comes to historical remembrance, but the Dutch had plenty of their own charming structures throughout their colony of ‘New Netherlands,’ in areas of what we know today as New York and New Jersey. By 1915, when this issue of the White Pine Monographs was written, many had been sadly neglected.

The ones that remained at that time were photographed and displayed throughout this issue, and they’re brimming with beautiful and unique architectural details like gently curving roofs, railings along the rooflines and artistic stained glass around the doorways.

While it’s hard to tell exactly when they were built, many seem to have been erected around the same time as the earliest remaining examples in New England and Virginia. While the English brought many of their home country’s architectural traditions with them to America, the Dutch seem to have started over altogether, with the houses remaining in Long Island and New Jersey resembling “nothing but themselves,” being even more radically different from the work of the Dutch in Holland than they were from the work of the other colonists.

“This difference is not alone a question of material, which might be expected in a new country, but is also a question of form and detail. The steep-pitched roofs of Holland were here transformed into low gentle lines, and the narrow flat cornices of the mother-country were replaced by broad overhanging eaves, from which Classic treatment in general was absent.”

See the whole gallery and read more at the White Pine Monograph Library.

Architectural Monographs: Doorways in Old Charleston

Posted on May 1, 2014October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Not that anyone needs an excuse to visit the beautiful seaside city of Charleston, South Carolina, but strolling along those streets, you’ll get an ideal opportunity to check out some of the nation’s most beautiful historic architecture, including amazingly intricate doorways. This issue of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs takes us on a virtual tour of standout doorways, as they were in the 1910s.

Charleston is an exceptionally charming city full of stately manors, spire-topped churches and old brick buildings, all in an unusual mix of English, French and West Indian building styles. While a devastating fire in 1886 destroyed many of the oldest structures, the city is still full of historic architecture, and each of these buildings has its own unique doorway reflecting the spirit of the builder or original owner.

“The development of our Early American Architecture can be traced more clearly, and with less deviation from the true path, by its doorways, than through any other detail. For in the doorway, the index of the style of the house and its period are most clearly indicated. Charleston, South Carolina, offers some interesting examples that are in a way unique as to scheme and execution.”

See photos and read more about Old Charleston’s doorways at the White Pine Monograph library.