The John T. Leigh House, Clinton, NJ

The John T. Leigh House, Clinton, NJ. 1860.

John T. Leigh was one of the major leaders of Clinton. He founded the towns major bank and helped it incorporate in 1865 along with Bosenbury. He also provided the land on which the town's major institutions were established. Leigh suitably built himself a grand Italianate house to reflect his influence (on the appropriately named Leigh street). The house suffered a fire in 1971 and then became the town municipal building with additions added to provide needed office space.

The house is a five bay, symmetrical plan block articulated in fine brick and brownstone. The first floor features five almost floor to ceiling windows with a grand porch that bears much in common with that at the town's Bosenbury house, including the chamfered columns, filleted flat arches and the central engaged pediment over the entrance. The columns of the porch are themselves interesting for their extremely exaggerated moldings, making them look a bit exotic. The cornice of the porch features a cut out fringe. On the side porches, only one of which survives, the columns are pierced with cut out designs. The second floor features a typical brownstone lintel design over the windows with a palladian window in the center with a corresponding hood molding on brackets. A projecting brick architrave molding sets off the third floor with its windows that correspond even to the proportions of the palladian window. The brackets are executed with a high degree of carpenter's elaboration with the main body being a large c scroll and then a rosette with a small s scroll below, rather layering on bracket type over bracket type. The whole is topped with a cute little cupola also with three windows. I suspect that there are some missing doo-dads like a finial.

Overall this is a beautifully preserved house with an imposing presence (standing in front of it, its proportions are very grand and it's rather tall). Design-wise, there is much to remind us of Samuel Sloan's work.

The Francis C. Sessions House, Columbus, OH

The Francis C. Session House, Columbus, OH. 1840, alt. 1862

From: Columbus Illustrated

From: Illustrated History of Columbus

The Sessions house, built for a banker on E Town Street, certainly started life as a Greek Revival house, given its 1840 construction date. But it appears that it was transformed into a fine Italianate residence in an 1862 remodel. The house was torn down in 1924 to make room for the current Beaux Arts Columbus museum. The house was a symmetrical plan villa, with a projecting central bay with a shallow gable. While the central bay was decidedly flat, the side bays were articulated with elaborate brick work which formed a thick set of quoins at the corners and recessed frames for the central sections of each bay. Whether these were part of the original house is unknown, although it would be very atypical for a Greek Revival house to have such fripperies. On the first floor, the sides featured rectangular windows framed by delicate fringed porches (with almost invisible balustrades atop), perhaps of iron (that wisteria really makes it unclear), while above, the windows had small wooden awnings with a fringe. The central bay had a recessed entrance with, again, a porch with triple arches and a rather weird set of three arches in the central span. Above was an iron balcony with fancy urns at the corners in front of a wide arched window with a bracketed wooden awning forming a Palladian form. Above, the cornice has a strong resemblance to the Baldwin house which survives up the street, with elongated brackets the break into strong s curves. These enclosed a pair of windows with concave corners, another reminiscence of the Baldwin house. The whole was topped with an octagonal cupola, with pierced s curve brackets, paired windows (also seeming to have concave corners), and a lacy iron cresting. All the bells and whistles abounded, with a conservatory and a whole other cube built on back. A shame it didn't survive, but it was replaced by an exceptionally fine museum building.

'Evergreen on the Falls' the Albert H. Carroll House, Baltimore, MD

The Albert H. Caroll House, Baltimore, MD. 1860 Photo: Wikimedia

'Evergreen' was built by the owner of a cotton mill, Albert H. Carroll, in 1860, following an irregular plan, but an idiosyncratic design. The house does not have a tower, nor, like many tower-less irregular plans, does it suggest a tower with a cupola, fenestration, or the placement of the entrance in the center. Rather, this house places the entrance on the projecting pavilion. While the façade is painted brick, the windows have no surrounds, but the emphasis is placed on a series of elaborate wooden awnings that project further than any typical wooden awning. The entablature is nonexistent, with the s scroll brackets projecting right from the façade without any framing. The projecting pavilion has the main entrance, a triple arched palladian design; above, the window is a normal palladian design, but oddly the central window is especially long with the sides placed high up, a very unclassical formula. This is topped by a wooden awning with an engaged rounded pediment in the center and very elongated c and s scroll brackets. On the recessed façade, a double window on the first floor with a wooden awning with a tent roof design sits underneath a single window. The simple side façade has a spare bay window with a round window in the gable. A unique house, unfortunately much of it was destroyed by a fire in 1970, but it was well restored by the Maryland SPCA.

'Locust Grove' the Samuel F. B. Morse House, Poughkeepsie, NY

'Locust Grove' the Samuel F. B. Morse House, Poughkeepsie, NY. 1850

Photo: Wikimedia

Photo: Wikimedia

Photo: Wikimedia

Thinking of remodels into the Italianate style, the Samuel F. B. Morse house, Locust Grove, originally a 1771 five bay house, was remodeled extensively by the famous painter and telegraph developer (think Morse code) to the designs by Alexander Jackson Davis, America's premier Italianate designer of the period. The house, especially in its large arches, finish, and tower proportions very much resembles John Notman's Riverside in NJ. Davis successfully disguised the five bay house so that it is difficult to imagine what it originally looked like today, and because it was a remodel, the house does not follow any regular plan but is a custom design. The five bay façade, with the exception of the two outermost bays was completely hidden behind a massive projecting pavilion that covered the three central bays and entrance and sheltered a port cochere. This pavilion featured a large arched entrance in the center with a palladian window above. On the right side, Davis extended the façade with a polygonal bay framed by a large porch with thin, iron lattice supports. The left bay was originally supposed to be polygonal as well, but something seems to have changed in the design. Davis placed the tower to the rear, overlooking the Hudson, but aligned it so that it is centered on the projecting pavilion, making it look like a cupola from the front, a central tower design from the back. The whole façade is flushboarded with simple details reflecting its early period, a plain entablature board with c scroll brackets on the house (beam brackets on the porch). The window surrounds are complete moldings. The paint scheme for this house is certainly one of the most historically accurate, reflecting the pale colors favored by Downing and Davis. The house is now a museum.

The H. R. Newberry House, Detroit, MI

The H. R. Newberry House, Detroit, MI. 1875 Photo: Scott Weir

And now for something totally different than the Detroit symmetrical plan, the H. R. Newberry house, built by a railroad executive in 1875, presents us with a very different design concept. Following the rotated side hall plan, the Newberry house has such bulk and verticality, rising all across to a full three stories, it almost looks like an apartment building. It seems that there are two different building phases here, given the disparity of elements, with the left three bays being different than the others and apparently an addition of the 1880s. The house features a typical 1870s style for the region, with brick and stone accents dividing the surface into bands and Eastlake incised designs. The first floor windows are simple rectangles, while the second floor features windows with convex fillets in the corners, and the third floor has segmental arched windows with convex fillets, with each stage become more complex geometrically. This is topped by an entablature with very shallow angular brackets and a row of dentils. A small engaged pediment characterizes the right hand bay while a more elaborate broken pediment with spiral ends characterizes the left; this is a particular favorite design in Queen Anne architecture. The tower features brick panels and pilasters and a hefty palladian window, a rather ponderous design that looks more like a castle or Renaissance tower. The cornice is broken three times, with an engaged triangular pediment flanked by two engaged rounded pediments, a rather elaborate, almost baroque touch. The porch as well is particularly lovely (note the cute balcony at the corner to the right. The first stage has horseshoe arches on thin banded columns, but above is an exquisite glassed conservatory with a series of alternating thick and thin arched windows, a triangular pediment on the front, arched on the sides, and to top it all a cut out Vitruvian scroll and anthemion, providing a nicely frilly contrast to the house's bulk. Note as well the delicate iron fence of rinceaux.

The John G. Schenck House, Neshanic, NJ

The John G. Schenck House, Neshanic, NJ 1858 Photo: Wikimedia

The John G. Schenck house at 305 Maple Ave. in Neshanic was built in 1858 (finished 1865) for a wealthy farmer and was originally named "Shadow Lawn". The house is an exquisite, high style, example of Italianate design with plenty of bells and whistles. Like the Munro house yesterday and the Bartles house in Flemington, this seems to be another example of the central New Jersey vernacular, with large semi-circular open pediments centrally placed on each facade and a broad porch that crosses the width of the front. The house is a symmetrical plan villa without the typical projections emphasizing the central bay. This example is especially noteworthy for the finesse of its design. The facade, for instance is clapboard, but note the the entablature has flushboarding, a subtle but elegant choice to differentiate elements of the design.

The first story has simple molded paired windows and the expected porch, with very thin paired columns and a central rounded pediment, echoing the touchstone of the design, the segmental arch. The second story has paired arched tombstone windows in the side bays with elaborately eared moldings connecting the two windows (note the several ears). These are topped with keystones that become brackets supporting the hood molding. The central bay features a palladian window with a segmental arched central element and a conforming molding. The entablature construction is complex. The architrave molding here is a unique Greek key design, while a second molding is bead and reel, an expensive carved choice. The dramatic paired s scroll brackets terminating in acanthus leaves interrupting a run of elongated dentils divide bays with paired segmental arched windows in between. Round arched tombstone windows differentiate the central bay. Noteworthy is that the high level of decoration seems to continue on the sides. Finally, the cupola is magnificent. It's low with a run of five arched windows, brackets that run the length of the wall, a cornice that has an engaged rounded pediment (again the echoes of the arch), and a Moorish fringe forming the entablature decoration. This house uses its curves and echoes them in each element of the design to form harmony and a likeness of parts, drawing the house into a unified vehicle of design. It's definitely one of my favorites.

The Florence Luling House, New Orleans, LA

The Florence Luling House, New Orleans, LA. 1865 Photo: Infrogmation

Photo: Wikimedia

Located off of Esplanade Avenue far out of central New Orleans at 1436 Leda Ct. is one of the most impressive Italianates in the area, the Florence Luling House, built in 1865 and designed by the famous architect James Gallier Jr. Luling lost is fortune soon after the Civil War and the home was sold to the Jockey Club of New Orleans who stayed there until 1905, after which its grounds were parceled off, outbuildings demolished, and was divided into apartments. Currently, it is in a state of decay, but the following historic images show the house's extensive grounds and outbuildings in its heyday.

The house has a five bay plan and is at once distinctly Anglo-Italianate and characteristic of New Orleans. Built of stone, the house displays its Anglo-Italianate characteristics in its reliance on Renaissance precedents in its design: there are quoins on the corners as well as a string of quoins defining the central bay, strong but simple string course moldings that connect all of the arched windows, and traditional palladian windows in the center of the front and side bays on the second floor. The door as well assumes a palladian shape with Ionic columns. The whole stands on a full story, very European rusticated base with a grand staircase and patio. Like the Gauche house, it has a balcony that wraps around three sides of the facade with a Renaissance style balustrade. The cornice is extremely heavy and thick; no doubt its thickness was necessary because of the house's height to maintain a sense of proportion and scale. The brackets themselves are suitably long to fill the deep eave and are deeply carved s-curves. The whole is topped by a simple cupola. In ostentation, this house resembles some of the "Fruit Palaces", Italianate homes built in Australia by wealthy fruit barons.

Unfortunately, the rear of the house remains unfinished and is a bit of a let-down. Clearly, this was built for frontal show. Perhaps the greatest loss are the outbuildings, which were connected to the main house by arches, a unique and grand feature. Also lost are the gardens of the house, which featured statues, circular walks, and even a lake with an island. Hopefuly the house will get some attention soon.

Photo: Wikimedia

'Fountain Elms' the James and Helen Williams House, Utica, NY

'Fountain Elms', Utica, NY. 1852 Photo: Wikimedia

Following Photos: mrsmecomber

'Fountain Elms' is a fine house on Utica's Genesee Street, a major thoroughfare. Built for Helen and James Williams in 1852 by architect William Woollett it is currently a museum space for the Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute. Because the Williams planned to make the house a museum space, the interiors (created in a much higher style than the house featured originally) and exterior are well preserved and feature an exceptional collection of mid-19th century furniture and artwork. As with the other houses of the 1850s I have been exploring, it is severe in its design, but it employs an uncommon plan, the pavilioned plan with two symmetrical projecting pavilions connecting a central entrance bay. The pavilion design seems to be reflected on the right side of the house as well, where two bays strongly project at the ends (pictured below).

Interesting features of the house include thick brownstone moldings around the windows, fine rafter brackets typical of early Italianates, and blind arches (even in the chimneys). The thickness of the moldings on the second floor round headed windows gives the house a top-heavy appearance because of the simplicity of the bracket and cornices on the first floor windows. The Palladian window in the center is uncommon, but particularly unique is the Palladian configuration of the door with detached side lights. The porch and balustrades are dignified and Renaissance-inspired. Finally, the color scheme of this house is particularly historical and well conceived. Here, the stucco is painted yellow, while the trim is all a uniform brown to simulate the brownstone of the moldings. This house allows us to consider the effect of using simple and historically correct colors for an Italianate house.

Photo: Mike Christoferson

The George R. Fairbanks House, Fernandina Beach, FL

The George Fairbanks House, Fernandina Beach, FL. 1885 Wikimedia

The Fairbanks house is a late Italianate, built in 1885, very late in the career of this style. Apparently, George built it for his wife as a surprise and she was not amused. Perhaps it was because he had built her a house 5 years out of date stylistically (she could never have her 'artistic home' she read about in contemporary publications), or perhaps nothing pleased Mrs. Faribanks (Victorian women could be a bit high strung). At any rate, the house is currently a bed and breakfast; check out their website. There are some good interior photos, which show how the interior is an odd mishmash of Renaissance Revival, Queen Ann, and even Arts and Crafts elements.

The house is an irregular plan Italianate, a plan which had by this time gotten a lot of mileage. In this case, the projecting pavilion is flush with the tower, although a board defines the tower from the pavilion, keeping the elements in their place. Stylistically, the house actually looks like it was built in the 1850s. It is sided in wood, and the ornamentation is kept to a minimum. The cornice is simple, with plan brackets and an architrave molding. The windows have simple moldings, although the balcony attached to the double tombstone window is a neat flourish. The pediments on the doubled windows on the left side is also a bit of spice. The porch has heavy, very Italian looking arches framed by pilasters. At the entrance, the arches form a triple arched Palladian window, a very American feature. Even the side porch incorporates the Palladian motif. It seems very appropriate to Florida to emphasize porches and balconies; at the beach everyone wants to be outside. Unlike the usual triple windows, the tower top has quadruple arched windows, no doubt to allow a better panorama. Although the house is Italianate, it has not escape the influence of Queen Ann. The box window over the entrance, especially the type of windows it has with heavy dividers, are very Queen Ann in style, as are the railings and the elaborate brickwork on the chimney. The double height box windows at the sides also smack of Queen Ann, and look more like San Francisco architecture than that of the East Coast. I suppose though that they participate in the eccentricity of shore architecture. A cute feature is the little dormer window in the hip roof. If someone built this for me, I wouldn't complain!

The Thomas F. Hoppin House, Providence, RI

The Thomas Hoppin House, Providence, RI. 1852-5 Photo: Tom Bastin

The east facade. Photo: Wikimedia

The west facade. Photo: HABS

Just when you thought Providence would only offer another cube, here is a truly interesting composition! The Hoppin house is built across the street from the Bowen house, but couldn't be more different in design, at least from the sides. Hoppin was a dramatic artist, according to Guide to Providence Architecture, who had just returned from a European tour. He hired Alpheus Morse as an architect because of his speed of design. It is likely that Hoppin and Morse's experiences in Europe influenced the sophistication of the design. The house is currently the home of Annenberg Institute for School Reform, a rather gloomy sounding fate for an artist's house. It is an Anglo-Italianate design that is meant to be enjoyed from all of its sides, each of which differs. The front (south) facade is a normal symmetrical plan, however the sides are both examples of a very European scaled pavilion plan with extended side wings and a recessed center. On the west facade, facing Benefit Street, there is an enclosed porch between two slightly projecting pavilions. The east facade has more dramatically projecting pavilions and an open porch. This side is next to the carriage house pictured below by HABS, which served as the entrance for those arriving by horse.

The window treatments are similar on all three facades with backeted cornices on the first floor, simple cornices on the second, and eared moldings on the third. All the windows are rectangular. As in other Providence homes, like the Lippitt house, there is a belt course between first and second floors, and quoins on the first floor. The bricklaying like the Lippitt house suggests corner pilasters. The cornice is simple and expected with brackets and dentils (no large frieze of course). The central bay of the south facade above the front door has a series of triple windows, the second floor's surmounted by a round pediment that gives it a Palladian air. The front porch is very classical in design with Corinthian pilasters and a full entablature. Although it is enclosed now, it probably was open in the past, as the older HABS image shows. The porches on the side facades are simpler with a belt course and three arches with moldings. A fancy flourish occurs on the east facade. On the second floor in the recessed section there are no windows. Instead in the center is a large brownstone niche with a classical statue, no doubt a touch of grandiosity suggested by European precedents with exterior statuary. It's a piece of high style design that must have seemed impressive in sober Providence. The house is brick, but it is painted to simulate stucco in a very Downing style palette, making the house look like a stuccoed brownstone, which seems very period appropriate and accentuates the elements of the design. The surrounding balustrade survives on the property with dramatic pillars at the carriage entrance.