Rural Architecture

L >> Lewis Falley Allen >> Rural Architecture

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These various appointments, however, may be either carried out or
restricted, according to the requirements of the family occupying the
estate, and the prevailing local taste of the vicinity in which it is
situated; but no narrow or stingy spirit should be indicated in the
general plan or in its execution. Every appointment connected with it
should indicate a liberality of purpose in the founder, without which
its effect is painfully marred to the eye of the man of true taste and
judgment. Small yards, picketed in for small uses, have no business in
sight of the grounds in front, and all minor concerns should be thrown
into the rear, beyond observation from the main approach to the
dwelling. The trees that shade the entrance park, or lawn, should be
chiefly forest trees, as the oak, in its varieties, the elm, the maple,
the chestnut, walnut, butternut, hickory, or beech. If the soil be
favorable, a few weeping willows may throw their drooping spray around
the house; and if exotic, or foreign trees be permitted, they should
take their position in closer proximity to it than the natural forest
trees, as indicating the higher care and cultivation which attaches to
its presence. The Lombardy poplar, albeit a tree of disputed taste with
modern planters, we would now and then throw in, not in stiff and formal
rows, as guarding an avenue, but occasionally in the midst of a group of
others, above which it should rise like a church spire from amidst a
block of contiguous houses--a cheerful relief to the monotony of the
rounder-headed branches of the more spreading varieties. If a stream of
water meander the park, or spread into a little pond, trees which are
partial to moisture should shadow it at different points, and low, water
shrubs should hang over its border, or even run into its margin. Aquatic
herbs, too, may form a part of its ornaments, and a boat-house, if such
a thing be necessary, should, under the shade of a hanging tree of some
kind, be a conspicuous object in the picture. An overhanging rock, if
such a thing be native there, may be an object of great attraction to
its features, and its outlet may steal away and be hid in a dense mass
of tangled vines and brushwood. The predominating, _natural_ features of
the place should be _cultivated_, not rooted out, and metamorphosed into
something foreign and unfamiliar. It should, in short, be _nature_ with
her _hair combed_ out straight, flowing, and graceful, instead of
pinched, puffed, and curling--a thing of luxuriance and beauty under the
hand of a master.

The great difficulty with many Americans in getting up a new place of
any considerable extent is, that they seem to think whatever is common,
or natural in the features of the spot must be so changed as to show,
above all others, their own ingenuity and love of expense in fashioning
it to their peculiar tastes. Rocks must be sunk, or blasted, trees
felled, and bushes grubbed, crooked water-courses straightened--the
place gibbeted and put into stocks; in fact, that their own boasted
handiwork may rise superior to the wisdom of Him who fashioned it in his
own good pleasure; forgetting that a thousand points of natural beauty
upon the earth on which they breathe are

"When unadorned, adorned the most;"

and our eye has been frequently shocked at finding the choicest gems of
nature sacrificed to a wanton display of expense in perverting, to the
indulgence of a mistaken fancy, that, which, with an eye to truth and
propriety, and at a trifling expense, might have become a spot of
abiding interest and contentment.

DESIGN VI.

A SOUTHERN OR PLANTATION HOUSE.--The proprietor of a plantation in the
South, or South-west, requires altogether a different kind of residence
from the farmer of the Northern, or Middle States. He resides in the
midst of his own principality, surrounded by a retinue of dependents and
laborers, who dwell distant and apart from his own immediate family,
although composing a community requiring his daily care and
superintendence for a great share of his time. A portion of them are
the attaches of his household, yet so disconnected in their domestic
relations, as to require a separate accommodation, and yet be in
immediate contiguity with it, and of course, an arrangement of living
widely different from those who mingle in the same circle, and partake
at the same board.

[Illustration: FARM HOUSE. Pages 155-156.]

The usual plan of house-building at the South, we are aware, is to have
_detached_ servants' rooms, and offices, and a space of some yards of
uncovered way intervene between the family rooms of the chief dwelling
and its immediate dependents. Such arrangement, however, we consider
both unnecessary and inconvenient; and we have devised a plan of
household accommodation which will bring the family of the planter
himself, and their servants, although under different roofs, into
convenient proximity with each other. A design of this kind is here
given.

The style is mainly Italian, plain, substantial, yet, we think,
becoming. The broad veranda, stretching around three sides, including
the front, gives an air of sheltered repose to what might otherwise
appear an ambitious structure; and the connected apartments beyond, show
a quiet utility which divests it of an over attempt at display. Nothing
has been attempted for appearance, solely, beyond what is necessary and
proper in the dwelling of a planter of good estate, who wants his
domestic affairs well regulated, and his family, and servants duly
provided with convenient accommodation. The form of the main dwelling is
nearly square, upright, with two full stories, giving ample area of room
and ventilation, together with that appropriate indulgence to ease which
the enervating warmth of a southern climate renders necessary. The
servants' apartments, and kitchen offices are so disposed, that while
connected, to render them easy of access, they are sufficiently remote
to shut off the familiarity of association which would render them
obnoxious to the most fastidious--all, in fact, under one shelter, and
within the readiest call. Such should be the construction of a planter's
house in the United States, and such this design is intended to give.

A stable and carriage-house, in the same style, is near by, not
connected to any part of the dwelling, as in the previous designs--with
sufficient accommodation for coachman and grooms, and the number of
saddle and carriage horses that may be required for either business or
pleasure; and to it may be connected, in the rear, in the same style of
building, or plainer, and less expensive, further conveniences for such
domestic animals as may be required for family use.

The whole stands in open grounds, and may be separated from each other
by enclosures, as convenience or fancy may direct.

The roofs of all the buildings are broad and sweeping, well protecting
the walls from storm and frosts, as well as the glaring influences of
the sun, and combining that comfortable idea of shelter and repose so
grateful in a well-conditioned country house. It is true, that the
dwelling might be more extensive in room, and the purposes of luxury
enlarged; but the planter on five hundred, or five thousand acres of
land can here be sufficiently accommodated in all the reasonable
indulgences of family enjoyment, and a liberal, even an elegant and
prolonged hospitality, to which he is so generally inclined.

The chimneys of this house, different from those in the previous
designs, are placed next the outer walls, thus giving more space to the
interior, and not being required, as in the others, to promote
additional warmth than their fireplaces will give, to the rooms. A deck
on the roof affords a pleasant look-out for the family from its top,
guarded by a parapet, and giving a finish to its architectural
appearance, and yet making no ambitious attempt at expensive ornament.
It is, in fact, a plain, substantial, respectable mansion for a
gentleman of good estate, and nothing beyond it.

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN.]

INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT.

This house stands 50x40 feet on the ground. The front door opens from
the veranda into a hall, 24x14 feet, in which is a flight of stairs
leading to the chambers above. On the left a door leads into a library,
or business room, 17x17 feet, lighted by three windows. A fireplace is
inserted in the outer wall. Another door leads into a side hall, six
feet wide, which separates the library from the dining-room, which is
also 17x17 feet in area, lighted and accommodated with a fireplace like
the other, with a door leading into it from the side hall, and another
door at the further right hand corner leading into the rear hall, or
entry.

On the right of the chief entrance hall, opposite the library, a door
opens into the parlor or drawing-room, 23x19 feet in area, lighted by
three windows, and having a fireplace in the side wall. A door leads
from the rear side of the parlor into a commodious nursery, or family
bedroom, 19x16 feet in size, lighted by a window in each outer wall. A
fireplace is also inserted on the same line as in the parlor. From the
nursery a door leads into and through a large closet, 9x7 feet, into the
rear hall. This closet may also be used as a sleeping-room for the
children, or a confidential servant-maid, or nurse, or devoted to the
storage of bed-linen for family use. Further on, adjoining, is another
closet, 7x6 feet, opening from the rear hall, and lighted by a window.

Leading from the outer door of the rear hall is a covered passage six
feet wide, 16 feet long, and one and a half stories high, leading to the
kitchen offices, and lighted by a window on the left, with a door
opening in the same side beyond, on to the side front of the
establishment. On the right, opposite, a door leads on to the kitchen
porch, which is six feet wide, passing on to the bath-room and
water-closet, in the far rear. At the end of the connecting passage from
the main dwelling, a door opens into the kitchen, which is 24x18 feet in
size, accommodated with two windows looking on to the porch just
described. At one end is an open fireplace with a cooking range on one
side, and an oven on the other. At the left of the entrance door is a
large, commodious store-room and pantry, 12x9 feet, lighted by a window;
and adjoining it, (and may be connected with it by a door, if
necessary,) a kitchen closet of the same size, also connected by a
corresponding door from the opposite corner of the kitchen. Between
these doors is a flight of stairs leading to the sleeping-rooms above,
and a cellar passage beneath them. In the farther right corner of the
kitchen a door leads into a smaller closet, 8x6 feet, lighted by a small
window looking on to the rear porch at the end. A door at the rear of
the kitchen leads out into the porch of the wash-room beyond, which is
six feet wide, and another door into the wash-room itself, which is
20x16 feet, and furnished with a chimney and boilers. A window looks out
on the extreme right hand, and two windows on to the porch in front.
A door opens from its rear wall into the wood-house, 32x12 feet, which
stands open on two sides, supported by posts, and under the extended
roof of the wash-room and its porch just mentioned. A servants'
water-closet is attached to the extreme right corner of the wood-house,
by way of lean-to.

The bath-room is 10x6 feet in area, and supplied with water from the
kitchen boilers adjoining. The water-closet beyond is 6 feet square, and
architecturally, in its roof, may be made a fitting termination to that
of the porch leading to it.

[Illustration: CHAMBER PLAN.]

The main flight of stairs in the entrance hall leads on to a broad
landing in the spacious upper hall, from which doors pass into the
several chambers, which may be duly accommodated with closets. The
passage connecting with the upper story of the servants' offices, opens
from the rear section of this upper hall, and by the flight of rear
stairs communicates with the kitchen and out-buildings. A garret flight
of steps may be made in the rear section of the main upper hall, by
which that apartment may be reached, and the upper deck of the roof
ascended.

The sleeping-rooms of the kitchen may be divided off as convenience may
dictate, and the entire structure thus appropriated to every
accommodation which a well-regulated family need require.

[Illustration: CARRIAGE HOUSE.]

The carriage-house is 48x24 feet in size, with a projection of five feet
on the entrance front, the door of which leads both into the
carriage-room and stables. On the right is a bedroom, 10x8 feet, for the
grooms, lighted by a window; and beyond are six stalls for horses, with
a window in the rear wall beyond them. A flight of stairs leads to the
hayloft above. In the rear of the carriage-room is a harness-room, 12x4
feet, and a granary of the same size, each lighted by a window. If
farther attachments be required for the accommodation of out-building
conveniences, they may be continued indefinitely in the rear.

MISCELLANEOUS.

It may strike the reader that the house just described has a lavish
appropriation of veranda, and a needless side-front, which latter may
detract from the _precise_ architectural keeping that a dwelling of this
pretension should maintain. In regard to the first, it may be remarked,
that no feature of the house in a southern climate can be more
expressive of easy, comfortable enjoyment, than a spacious veranda. The
habits of southern life demand it as a place of exercise in wet weather,
and the cooler seasons of the year, as well as a place of recreation and
social intercourse during the fervid heats of the summer. Indeed, many
southern people almost live under the shade of their verandas. It is a
delightful place to take their meals, to receive their visitors and
friends; and the veranda gives to a dwelling the very expression of
hospitality, so far as any one feature of a dwelling can do it. No equal
amount of accommodation can be provided for the same cost. It adds
infinitely to the _room_ of the house itself, and is, in fact,
indispensable to the full enjoyment of a southern house.

The side front in this design is simply a matter of convenience to the
owner and occupant of the estate, who has usually much office business
in its management; and in the almost daily use of his library, where
such business may be done, a side door and front is both appropriate and
convenient. The _chief_ front entrance belongs to his family and guests,
and should be devoted to their exclusive use; and as a light fence may
be thrown off from the extreme end of the side porch, separating the
front lawn from the rear approach to the house, the veranda on that side
may be reached from its rear end, for business purposes, without
intruding upon the lawn at all. So we would arrange it.

Objections may be made to the _sameness_ of plan, in the arrangement of
the lower rooms of the several designs which we have submitted, such as
having the nursery, or family sleeping-room, on the main floor of the
house, and the uniformity, in location, of the others; and that there
are no _new_ and _striking_ features in them. The answer to these may
be, that the room appropriated for the nursery, or bedroom, may be used
for other purposes, equally as well; that when a mode of accommodation
is already as convenient as may be, it is poorly worth while to make it
less convenient, merely for the sake of variety; and, that utility and
convenience are the main objects to be attained in any well-ordered
dwelling. These two requisites, utility and convenience, attained, the
third and principal one--comfort--is secured. Cellar kitchens--the most
abominable nuisances that ever crept into a country dwelling--might have
been adopted, no doubt, to the especial delight of some who know nothing
of the experimental duties of housekeeping; but the recommendation of
these is an offence which we have no stomach to answer for hereafter.
Steep, winding, and complicated staircases might have given a new
feature to one or another of the designs; dark closets, intricate
passages, unique cubby-holes, and all sorts of inside gimcrackery might
have amused our pencil; but we have avoided them, as well as everything
which would stand in the way of the simplest, cheapest, and most direct
mode of reaching the object in view: a convenient, comfortably-arranged
dwelling within, having a respectable, dignified appearance without--and
such, we trust, have been thus far presented in our designs.

LAWN, AND PARK SURROUNDINGS.

The trees and shrubbery which ornament the approach to this house,
should be rather of the graceful varieties, than otherwise. The
weeping-willow, the horse-chesnut, the mountain-ash, if suitable to the
climate; or the china-tree of the south, or the linden, the weeping-elm,
and the silver-maple, with its long slender branches and hanging leaves,
would add most to the beauty, and comport more closely with the
character of this establishment, than the more upright, stiff, and
unbending trees of our American forests. The Lombardy-poplar--albeit,
an object of fashionable derision with many tree-fanciers in these more
_tasty_ days, as it was equally the admiration of our fathers, of forty
years ago--would set off and give effect to a mansion of this character,
either in a clump at the back-ground, as shown in the design, or
occasionally shooting up its spire-like top through a group of the other
trees. Yet, if built in a fine natural park or lawn of oaks, with a few
other trees, such as we have named, planted immediately around it, this
house would still show with fine effect.

The style of finish given to this dwelling may appear too ornate and
expensive for the position it is supposed to occupy. If so, a plainer
mode of finish may be adopted, to the cheapest degree consistent with
the manner of its construction. Still, on examination, there will be
found little intricate or really expensive work upon it. Strength,
substance, durability, should all enter into its composition; and
without these elements, a house of this appearance is a mere bauble, not
fit to stand upon the premises of any man of substantial estate.

If a more extensive accommodation be necessary, than the size of this
house can afford, its style will admit of a wing, of any desirable
length, on each side, in place of the rear part of the side verandas,
without prejudice to its character or effect. Indeed, such wings may add
to its dignity, and consequence, as comporting with the standing and
influence which its occupant may hold in the community wherein he
resides. A man of mark, indeed, should, if he live in the country,
occupy a dwelling somewhat indicating the position which he holds, both
in society and in public affairs. By this remark, we may be treading on
questionable ground, in our democratic country; but, practically, there
is a fitness in it which no one can dispute. Not that extravagance,
pretension, or any other _assumption_ of superiority should mark the
dwelling of the distinguished man, but that his dwelling be of like
character with himself: plain, dignified, solid, and, as a matter of
course, altogether respectable.

It is a happy feature in the composition of our republican institutions,
both social and political, that we can afford to let the flashy men of
the _day_--not of _time_--flaunter in all their purchased fancy in
house-building, without prejudice to the prevailing sober sentiment of
their neighbors, in such particulars. The man of money, simply, may
build his "villa," and squander his tens of thousands upon it. He may
riot within it, and fidget about it for a few brief years; he may even
hang his coat of arms upon it, if he can fortunately do so without
stumbling over a lapstone, or greasing his coat against the pans of a
cook-shop; but it is equally sure that no child of his will occupy it
after him, even if his own changeable fancy or circumstances permit him
to retain it for his natural life. Such are the episodes of country
house-building, and of frequent attempts at agricultural life, by those
who affect it as a matter of ostentation or display. For the subjects of
these, we do not write. But there is something exceedingly grateful to
the feelings of one of stable views in life, to look upon an estate
which has been long in an individual family, still maintaining its
primitive character and respectability. Some five-and-twenty years ago,
when too young to have any established opinions in matters of this sort,
as we were driving through one of the old farming towns in
Massachusetts, about twenty miles west of Boston, we approached a
comfortable, well-conditioned farm, with a tavern-house upon the high
road, and several great elms standing about it. The road passed between
two of the trees, and from a cross-beam, lodged across their branches,
swung a large square sign, with names and dates painted upon it--name
and date we have forgotten; it was a good old Puritan name, however--in
this wise:

"John Endicott, 1652."
"John Endicott, 1696."
"John Endicott, 1749."
"John Endicott, 1784."
"John Endicott, 1817."

As our eyes read over this list, we were struck with the stability of a
family who for many consecutive generations had occupied, by the same
name, that venerable spot, and ministered to the comfort of as many
generations of travelers, and incontinently took off our hat in respect
to the record of so much worth, drove our horse under the shed, had him
fed, went in, and took a quiet family dinner with the civil,
good-tempered host, and the equally kind-mannered hostess, then in the
prime of life, surrounded with a fine family of children, and heard from
his own lips the history of his ancestors, from their first emigration
from England--not in the Mayflower, to whose immeasurable accommodations
our good New England ancestors are so prone to refer--but in one of her
early successors.

All over the old thirteen states, from Maine to Georgia, can be found
agricultural estates now containing families, the descendants of those
who founded them--exceptions to the general rule, we admit, of American
stability of residence, but none the less gratifying to the
contemplation of those who respect a deep love of home, wherever it may
be found. For the moral of our episode on this subject, we cannot
refrain from a description of a fine old estate which we have frequently
seen, minus now the buildings which then existed, and long since
supplanted by others equally respectable and commodious, and erected by
the successor of the original occupant, the late Dr. Boylston, of
Roxbury, who long made the farm his summer residence. The description is
from an old work, "The History of the County of Worcester, in the State
of Massachusetts, by the Rev. Peter Whitney, 1793:"

"Many of the houses (in Princeton,) are large and elegant. This
leads to a particular mention, that in this town is the country seat
of the Hon. Moses Gill, Esq., ('Honorable' meant something in those
days,) who has been from the year 1775 one of the Judges of the
Court of Common Pleas for the county of Worcester, and for several
years a counsellor of this commonwealth. His noble and elegant seat
is about one mile and a quarter from the meeting-house, to the
south. The farm contains upwards of three thousand acres. The county
road from Princeton to Worcester passes through it, in front of the
house, which faces to the west. The buildings stand upon the highest
land of the whole farm; but it is level round about them for many
rods, and then there is a very gradual descent. The land on which
these buildings stand is elevated between twelve hundred and
thirteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, as the Hon. James
Winthrop, Esq. informs me. The mansion house is large, being 50x50
feet, with four stacks of chimnies. The farm house is 40 feet by 36:
In a line with this stand the coach and chaise-house, 50 feet by 36.
This is joined to the barn by a shed 70 feet in length--the barn is
200 feet by 32. Very elegant fences are erected around the mansion
house, the out-houses, and the garden.

"The prospect from this seat is extensive and grand, taking in a
horizon to the east, of seventy miles, at least. The blue hills in
Milton are discernible with the naked eye, from the windows of this
superb edifice, distant not less than sixty miles; as also the
waters in the harbor of Boston, at certain seasons of the year. When
we view this seat, these buildings, and this farm of so many hundred
acres, now under a high degree of profitable cultivation, and are
told that in the year 1766 it was a perfect wilderness, we are
struck with wonder, admiration, and astonishment. The honorable
proprietor thereof must have great satisfaction in contemplating
these improvements, so extensive, made under his direction, and,
I may add, by his own active industry. Judge Gill is a gentleman of
singular vivacity and activity, and indefatigable in his endeavors
to bring forward the cultivation of his lands; of great and
essential service, by his example, in the employment he finds for so
many persons, and in all his attempts to serve the interests of the
place where he dwells, and in his acts of private munificence, and
public generosity, and deserves great respect and esteem, not only
from individuals, but from the town and country he has so greatly
benefited, and especially by the ways in which he makes use of that
vast estate wherewith a kind Providence has blessed him."

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