The Henry Z. Pratt House, Hartford, CT

The Henry Z. Pratt House, Hartford, CT. 1847 Photo: Samuel Taylor Col.

The Henry Z. Pratt house which stood on Washington Avenue in Hartford, once a street of mansions that is now mostly parking lots and government buildings, was probably designed by Henry Austin in 1847, a few years after the Willis Bristol house. Although most of the Indian Italianates we have looked at have followed the Bristol plan, this house is somewhat different. Some of Austin's drawings survive for a house similar to this, and though it is very likely that they depict the designs for this house, it is uncertain whether he was the direct designer. The drawings appear below and are from Yale University.

The Pratt house is a symmetrical plan villa like those of the Bristol type. The body of the house is similar, covered with stucco, with paired brackets, simple window surrounds, lacy iron balconies, and a low monitor. the unique feature of this house is the massive two story chhattri porch, which gives a completely different feel to the facade. The porch has particularly leafy versions of the candelabra columns in which the supporting urn, the lower shaft, and the capital are all covered with foliage. A bizarrely large echinus (the flat part above a capital) is a strange feature. The four point arch is scalloped, but the ends of each scallop have trefoil designs, which suggest Gothic architecture. Gothis is also suggested in the spandrels where elongated trefoil cut outs fill the space. The double s-curve brackets are very sinuous on this example. Another strange feature is that the frieze of the porch is open between the brackets, creating a very airy porch that is not as dark as it could be. The front of the house features a patio that runs the length of the house. The balustrade pictured makes me think that it might be later, but the patio could be original since it was once a more common feature than it is now.

The drawings of Austin show a house somewhat different. The main variation is the extra ornament, especially the eared moldings around the windows, a specialty of Austin, and the leafy ornaments all over, including above the window cornices and the scroll saw supports on top of the cupola. If these do represent two designs for the Pratt house, it seems that the fantastic porch was already enough for the family, and they dispensed with the extras to prevent the house from being overwhelming. Austin's design show no balconies on the house as well. Perhaps he added them in because of the popularity of the Bristol type. A lot can happen to a house between design and finish. This represents the second variety of Indian Italianate, but there is a very poorly attested third I will look at in my next post.

The B. F. Young House, Bath, NY

The B. F. Young house, Bath, NY. 1850s

This is the B. F. Young house at 220 Liberty Street in Bath, NY, a town famous for its fine Italianate homes. The house was designed in the early 1850s by Merwin Austin, whose work we saw in the Brewster house in Rochester, for B. F. Young, an agent for the Pulteney land office. It's another example of Henry Austin's Indian Italianate that was brought to upstate New York by his brother. This house is an interesting example of the style because, unlike the other examples, it is sided with clapboard rather than stucco. The house has all the pieces of the style. There is a chhattri porch with an elaborate scalloped arch, large brackets, candelabra columns of the common variety, and arabesques. The brackets on the main cornice are paired without an entablature, and there are small brackets running between the longer ones. The windows in this house differ from other examples, following a much more traditional style (with a molding surround topped by a cornice) than other Indian Italianates, which often have no window surround. Elaborate wooden balconies are attached to each of the front windows, which seems to be essential to this style. The house has a wooden monitor on the roof. There seem to have been a few changes to the house; originally there was a balustrade atop the porch, and the front doors are a particularly poor replacement. I believe the house is now a double house.

The Erastus Brainerd Jr. House, Portland, CT

The Erastus Brainerd House, Portland, CT. 1852

I know the picture of this house covered in overgrown vines and trees might suggest a glamorously abandoned southern mansion, but it is actually near the center of downtown Portland, CT. My friend, pictured above, and I wandered onto the property so that he could gather information on the house for a project, so I got these pictures. The Erastus Brainerd house in Portland is another fascinating Indian Italianate, but it is also one in peril. Built in 1852 as a symmetrical plan house, probably by Henry Austin, the originator of this style in the US, the Brainerd house exhibits many of the characteristics associated with this style and found in the Bristol house in New Haven. Brainerd was the son of a quarry owner, an important role in a town which revolved around its famous brownstone quarries. Interestingly, Brainerd decided not to build out of brownstone, preferring the exotic Indian style.

It has a very large chhattri porch with an unscalloped ogee arch, candelabra columns, long s curve brackets, arabesque strapwork, and multi-foil piercings in the spandrels. A very cool aspect to the porch is that the arabesques are continued on the inside. These types of candelabra columns, with the lotus base, fluted shaft, and dripping echinus (the flat piece at the top of the column) sitting atop a plinth with chamfered edges, are an example of the standard design of candelabra columns in Connecticut houses. The door follows Greek Revival precedents with sidelights and a transom. The bulk of the house is like the Bristol house, stuccoed with iron balconies, a wide eave, paired, simple brackets, and a low roof monitor. The lacy iron balconies look original. A side wing to the left has a porch with very odd ogee arches and paired simplified candelabra columns that seem to sit on impossibly small turned bases. The rear of the house has a strange low addition with a fenestration I can't quite make sense of. There might be a strange shift in the house's floor as you near the back. The house also includes a matching carriage house.

The house was part of a hospital complex which is slated for demolition along with a lovely temple front Greek Revival house and a Stick Style home. It was used for years as an administration building and clinic, but the house seems quite sturdy and the interiors, though unused for a while, also seem intact, at least from what I saw. The plan is to demolish the houses for a CVS and condos, a travesty since both are in a registered district and since the house is a rare example of the impressive Indian Italianate style. Developers seem stymied over parking access to the site, and there even was a possibility they would tear down the house and build a simplified version elsewhere on the property with some details (a particularly bizarre plan that I can't make sense of). Fingers crossed that the plan will never go through! The following pictures show all the sides of the house and some of the interior.

The other house slated for demolition:

The William Binney House, Providence, RI

The William Binney House, Providence, RI. 1859

Photo: HABS

The William Binney house is another work by Alpheus Morse on College Hill in Providence. Built in 1859, it is another fine example of the Anglo-Italianate features of Providence's symmetrical plan homes for the wealthy. It is brick with brownstone detailing, divided into two sections by a belt course above the first floor, and has a small bracketed cornice without a frieze. Hood moldings are cornices with brackets on the first and second floor with simple moldings on the third floor's small windows. The central window on the second floor is enlivened by a pediment. What I find lovely about this house is the delicate Federal style doorway. It projects from the house with Tuscan pilasters surrounding an arched doorway. Morse seemed to like these projecting classical styled entrances. The balustrade over the entrance is a real treat, made of carved interlocking rings, an expensive element. The house has a massive classically styled monitor, a low cupola on the peak of the roof. That is a feature that definitely does not occur often in Providence Italianates. That Again, Providence's architects chose fineness of detail and harmonious proportions over elaborate ornament in their design.