ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES OF AN ITALIANATE
The country villas found in rural Indiana were influenced by A.J. Downing, a pattern-book author from New York. His floor plans demonstrate the trend setting Italianate floor plan with multiple doors to the outdoors, family spaces, and cozy nooks. Much of the architectural features look like northern Italian country houses in Tuscany with square towers, irregular shaped mansions, and deep eaves. The heydey of the Italianate is from about 1842 to 1876 when the fancier Queen Anne style become more dominant.
START AT THE TOP
The height of the home is very tall (about 34') with a third story attic and roof access. As is typical with this type of house, there a wide-eaves along the hipped roof with a beautiful cornice line with scrolled brackets. In between the double brackets are narrow paneled friezes. There are two original chimneys and one from the 1950s. The original chimneys have corbelled caps (not pictured).
It has been suggested that this home had probably six original chimneys, remnants which can be seen in the attic space. Many rooms that had fireplaces were covered up! In addition, the home had built-in gutters made out of copper with a slate roof. The original slate tiles are found on the property - some of which have been used as mulch. There are symmetrical porticos on the north and south sides of the home. The porticos are decorated with impressive scroll work and thin doric posts as typical in early Victorian period. Windows are 5-6' in height with two over two arched panes. The external windows are capped with two-thick brick arch caps and a limestone lintel. The original door to the home sits at the center hallway. A second original door is the entrance to the north portico. Both doors have similar qualities with custom scrollwork in the door frame surrounded by doric columns that reach in a beveled arch. This same beveled arch is found throughout many of the interior windows too. All interior doors on the main level are four panel doors, some with door knobs dating from the 1920s or 30s. Several doorknobs are reproduced with bright brass face plate and sculpted door knob. The hinges are of equal brilliance with matching inlaid design. Interior doors have transoms that let light and air throughout the rooms. |
GOING INSIDE
The interior walls are comprised of 3' thick red brick with lathe and plaster. The wallpaper has been removed leaving evidence of the Disney decoration scheme from the 1930s. There is chair rail in the dining room, crown molding in the sitting room and parlor, and bead molding along the edge of the stairs. The molding and casings throughout the home are made of poplar wood and are covered in paint. Years ago, an owner stripped the paint and found the original graining (a technique used to make poplar wood look like oak or an expensive wood).
The staircase is modest in detail but boasts a thick formed rail, a turned newel post made of walnut (or darker hard wood), and balustrade with bracket design. The rails are slightly convex and appear to be in a darker wood as well, perhaps walnut.
In keeping with conventions, it seems baseboard trim may have been added around on the main level (a pattern book shows tall baseboard trim in vogue between 1907 and 1934), and unadorned simple trim is evident on the second floor. There are no molded door casings with corner and head blocks. Mr. Harrington, a previous owner, mentioned that a heat source present in the home was hot water radiators and baseboard heating was used. When the radiators were removed, the piping was left underneath the home because it was so heavy! There are wooden patches in the original flooring that show were the heaters would have been located.
There are wood panels under the sills of each window. The front parlor is adorned with a plaster ceiling medallion. The mantel over the main fireplace is modest in size adorned with scrollwork. This scroll motif is found on the porticos, doors, and staircase. (Ironically, I was watching a show that takes place in New England, and the very same scrollwork was present on a staircase. Perhaps the scrollwork is from a catalog?). Mr. Harrington mentioned that this same scrollwork can be found at the Benjamin Harrison home. It probably is a catalog feature.
The staircase is modest in detail but boasts a thick formed rail, a turned newel post made of walnut (or darker hard wood), and balustrade with bracket design. The rails are slightly convex and appear to be in a darker wood as well, perhaps walnut.
In keeping with conventions, it seems baseboard trim may have been added around on the main level (a pattern book shows tall baseboard trim in vogue between 1907 and 1934), and unadorned simple trim is evident on the second floor. There are no molded door casings with corner and head blocks. Mr. Harrington, a previous owner, mentioned that a heat source present in the home was hot water radiators and baseboard heating was used. When the radiators were removed, the piping was left underneath the home because it was so heavy! There are wooden patches in the original flooring that show were the heaters would have been located.
There are wood panels under the sills of each window. The front parlor is adorned with a plaster ceiling medallion. The mantel over the main fireplace is modest in size adorned with scrollwork. This scroll motif is found on the porticos, doors, and staircase. (Ironically, I was watching a show that takes place in New England, and the very same scrollwork was present on a staircase. Perhaps the scrollwork is from a catalog?). Mr. Harrington mentioned that this same scrollwork can be found at the Benjamin Harrison home. It probably is a catalog feature.
UNDERNEATH
The wood work detail in the flooring is exquisite. The strip wood floors are elaborate parquet designs. Another great defining term is marquetry, although certainly not as grand as some post Italianate homes. The designs reveal geometric designs from multiple woods like mahogany, golden oak and cherry. as was common in high quality flooring of that era. The sitting room embraces a large diamond with parquet rectangles that form into diamonds at each corner. The main entrance hall is a striped horizontal parquet that has a diamond focal point in the center, and the music room is adorned with an incredible six-pointed star with horizontal striped parquet as a boundary. The flooring in the dining room is newer, perhaps 1880s and is thin strips of oak plank tongue and groove style. In my interview with Mr. Harrington on June 20, 2013, he described the flooring as elaborate catalog designs that were custom fit to the particular room. Apparently the floor kits from Sears & Roebuck in the 1800s is just slightly above the designs you find today (!). Patterns in the flooring might match patterns on the ceiling during this time period according to historical documents describing interiors.
The ceilings in this home have all been painted white so this is just something we will never know. (American Vernacular: Building and INteriors - 1870-1960 by Herbert Gottfried and Jan Jennings, c. 2009)
The ceilings in this home have all been painted white so this is just something we will never know. (American Vernacular: Building and INteriors - 1870-1960 by Herbert Gottfried and Jan Jennings, c. 2009)
The rooms upstairs have changed over the years. Some of the original walls still boast a bead on the outside corner. The upstairs does not use wainscoting. A separate section of the home is very sparse compared to the original part of the home. The servants quarters had smaller windows with square based trim. There is evidence that a fireplace was present in the servant's main room and in the master bedroom (it is brick and follows the line of the chimney from first level to roof-line). (An interesting strategy for chimney maintenance / ease of building is a Y chimney channel connecting two main rooms to one chimney.) Solid walls indicate that these may have originally housed a fireplace.
The book American Vernacular describes the use of rooms in their original context. That helps to piece together the purpose and layout of the original house. As you entered the main door, between both porticos, a stairway is to the left. The room directly to the right would have been the drawing room or front parlor. Space under the stairs would be open and used for a bench and storing items. The staircase space has been enclosed and is used as a long utility closet. The main hall runs the length of the stairs and leads to the sitting room with the fireplace. Adjacent may have been the drawing room or library based on research into typical home layouts of the era. A dining room is connected via two passages from the sitting and drawing rooms. An external door is now the entrance to a large family room built in 1950. The dining room has a front door that perhaps connected to a portico or sheltered entrance point. Two other visible points are a door into the kitchen, added in 1880. There is a built-in china cabinet from the early 1950s (based on a home builders analysis of the wood and style of cabinet doors and handles) with pass-through window. The kitchen has three doors, one that leads to the dining room, one that led to the pantry area, the root cellar, milk barn and cow barn, now the laundry, sewing and mud room areas, and a door to the large family room. In the rear of the kitchen, a walnut curved staircase winds to the second story. The staircase was used for easy access by servants who lived in the home.
The upstairs has dark wood planks underneath laid carpet (perhaps from the 90s or early 200os). Bathroom areas upstairs may have been original bathing room or dressing rooms based on the interior brick walls and original woodwork.
The book American Vernacular describes the use of rooms in their original context. That helps to piece together the purpose and layout of the original house. As you entered the main door, between both porticos, a stairway is to the left. The room directly to the right would have been the drawing room or front parlor. Space under the stairs would be open and used for a bench and storing items. The staircase space has been enclosed and is used as a long utility closet. The main hall runs the length of the stairs and leads to the sitting room with the fireplace. Adjacent may have been the drawing room or library based on research into typical home layouts of the era. A dining room is connected via two passages from the sitting and drawing rooms. An external door is now the entrance to a large family room built in 1950. The dining room has a front door that perhaps connected to a portico or sheltered entrance point. Two other visible points are a door into the kitchen, added in 1880. There is a built-in china cabinet from the early 1950s (based on a home builders analysis of the wood and style of cabinet doors and handles) with pass-through window. The kitchen has three doors, one that leads to the dining room, one that led to the pantry area, the root cellar, milk barn and cow barn, now the laundry, sewing and mud room areas, and a door to the large family room. In the rear of the kitchen, a walnut curved staircase winds to the second story. The staircase was used for easy access by servants who lived in the home.
The upstairs has dark wood planks underneath laid carpet (perhaps from the 90s or early 200os). Bathroom areas upstairs may have been original bathing room or dressing rooms based on the interior brick walls and original woodwork.