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Fences, Gates & Garden Houses

A Book of Designs with Measured Drawings

Dover Publications, Inc.

FENCES, GATES and GARDEN HOUSES

Never shall I forget walking through Essex, Federal and Chestnut Streets in Salem, Massachusettes in the 1920's, when most of the beautiful fences were still in place. In no other city were the streets lined with so many beautiful examples of wood fencing. Here privacy and a proper regard for one's neighbors were expressed in faultless fashion. Newburyport, Portsmouth and Litchfield were not far behind; many other New England villages could boast of beautiful wooden fences.

The word "fence" is derived from the Latin "defendo," meaning to defend. It could mean any kind of construction for the purpose of enclosing an area for defence; as a bank of earth, a wall, a ditch, a paling, railing or hedge. In America crude fences or stone walls were first used as a protection against wandering cattle and hogs. Each householder had to provide and maintain his own fences.

At first fencing probably consisted of split rails or rough boards. We are all familiar with the zigzag rail fence, sometines also called "worm fence." Hundreds of miles of "dry-stone-wall" fences were built by expert craftsmen whose trade was the source of their name-dry-stone-wall masons.

In this book we are interested only in the beautiful wood fences, the best of which were erected in the years between the Revolutionary War and 1825, when the master craftsmen did not deem it beneath their dignity to devote sufficient time for the study of fences. They had the determination and the desire to excell, to do their best even in the smallest details. We do not have the time in our hurried life to take pains with the minor details, and that is the principal reason why so much of our modern architecture is crude and ill considered.

The fences varied from the very simple to the most elaborate designs as indicated in the photographs and measured drawings, depending on the financial ability and the individual taste of the owners and builders. However, elaborate or simple the designs and the various parts were always well proportioned and the mouldings appropriate to the material, wood. The fence was usually an integral part of the entire design, an introduction to the details and motifs to be found in the entrance and in the house itself. A fence should enhance the architecture of the house; it should express the characteristics of either lightness or strength. This our early 19th century builders ably accomplished. The delicate details of the Post-Colonial type fence are harmonious with the details of that style, whereas the Greek Revival builders achieved a strength and stability in their designs for wood fences that arouses our admiration. They developed new types of mouldings and a breadth of surface material that were consistent with the Classic spirit. During the 20th Century the fine proportions and the feeling for wood details were lost.

High solid brick walls, high fences of a combination of brick piers and wrought iron, and those made entirely of wrought iron were found frequently in Europe; these did not have a friendly or neighborly feeling and consequently never became popular in New England.

According to some early writers on house building, the fence was considered an important architectural feature. One writer states that "no residence can be properly protected, or regarded as complete without fencing."

For some reason Asher Benjamin and A. J. Downing, both of whom had a tremendous influence on American Architecture, did not look with favor on fences. This may have had a great deal to do with the gradual disappearance of this beautiful architectural dependency.

In "The Architect or Practical House Carpenter," published by Asher Benjamin in 1844, one plate is devoted to fence designs. (See plate 63 in this book). Benjamin states: "On this plate are three designs for fences, suitable for the enclosure of a country residence, which may be made of wood, when iron is not to be obtained, or when expense is to be avoided: also two designs for gates, to be made of the same material. Mouldings do not form any part of the composition of these designs. Their construction is bold and simple, and will, if well executed, produce a more chaste and pleasing effect than if the cornice, top rail and base were composed of small, trifling mouldings; and is the means of saving considerable expense."

"It is not supposed that the size of these examples will suit all situations which require the size of front fences to be varied: as, for instance, when the house is very large, and located on an elevated piece of ground, and at a considerable distance from the road: in this case, the fence should be of the largest dimensions. But if the house be small and so situated as to have a fence near it, the fence ought then to be small and low, so that it may not appear as a principal in the structure."

In his book, "A treatise on The Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening," A. J. Downing has much to say on the subject of fences. "Fences are often among the most unsightly and offensive objects in our country seats. Some persons appear to have a passion for subdividing their grounds into a great number of fields; a process which is scarcely ever advisable even in common farms, but for which there can be no apology in elegant residences. The close proximity of fences to the house gives the whole place a confined and mean character." "The mind," says Repton, "feels a certain disgust under a sense of confinement in any situation however beautiful." "A wide-spread lawn, on the contrary, where no boundaries are conspicuous, conveys an impression of ample extent and space for enjoyment. It is frequently the case that, on that side of the house nearest the outbuildings, fences are for convenience, brought in its close neighborhood, and here they are easily concealed by plantations; but on the other sides, open and unobstructed views should be preserved, by removing all barriers not absolutely necessary.

"Nothing is more common, in the places of cockneys who become inhabitants of the country, than a display immediately around the dwelling of a spruce paling of carpentry, neatly made, and painted white or green; an abomination among the fresh fields, of which no person of taste could be guilty. To fence off a small plot around a fine house, in the midst of a lawn of fifty acres, is a perversity which we could never reconcile with even the lowest perception of beauty. An old stone wall covered with creepers and climbing plants, may become a picturesque barrier a thousand times superior to such a fence. But there is never one instance in a thousand where any barrier is necessary. Where it is desirable to separate the house from the level grass of the lawn, let it be done by an architectural terrace of stone, or a raised platform of gravel supported by turf, which will confer importance and dignity upon the building, instead of giving it a petty and trifling expression."

"Verdant hedges are elegant substitutes for stone or wooden fences, and we are surprised that their use has not been hitherto more general."

One is often amazed at the beauty of the simple fences built during the nineteenth century, especially those built during the first third of the century. Using but one or two simple mouldings, and sometimes without the use of any mouldings, the craftsmen achieved a simple rhythm and harmony of solids and voids that defies the modern designer. Plates 21, 39, 42, 43, 46 and 52 show examples of their skill.

A fence consists of a shell of boards enclosing the wood posts, a top and bottom rail with facing strips, and turned, square or flat cut-out pickets. With these elements we can achieve beauty and charm. It is the relationship of the size and height of the pickets to the space between the pickets, the relationship of picket and spacing to the width and the height of the posts, and the relationship of the post caps and their embellishments to the height and thickness of the posts that produce the beautiful proportions of a fence. Somehow our nineteenth century craftsmen sensed these refinements.

The fence at 471 Mount Hope Avenue, Rochester, New York, is an interesting Victorian example. The eight-inch square posts have champhered edges and the tops are finished with a miniature gable or gablet. A one-half-inch thick board with a moulded edge is applied to the face of the posts.

The wood fence setting on a low stone wall that once extended along the front and Troup Street side of the Lyon-Chapin House in Rochester was in perfect harmony with the beautiful Greek Revival house. The posts were about twenty-two inches square with paneled faces, moulded caps and beautifully carved finials, as shown on plate 5. The round pickets with rounded tops were 1-1/8 inches in diameter and spaced five inches on centers.

The low wood fence resting on a seventeen-inch high stone wall in front of the Genesee Valley Club (the Erickson-Perkins House) on East Avenue in Rochester is another good example in the Greek Revival style. The entrance gate is recessed in the form of a half circle, which is a simple and effective way to create an inviting feeling. The pickets are two inches square and set four inches apart. Short posts consisting of thirteen-and-one-half-inch wide pilasters, each projecting four and one-half inches, form a post with a total width of twenty-two and one-half inches. The exposed pilasters have deeply recessed panels. See plate 6.

The only Post-Colonial type fence remaining in Monroe County is located in front of the Jewett-Pattison House in Clarkson, New York. See plate 11. The posts are only six inches square with simple moulded caps, and the pickets, one and three-sixteenths inches square with beveled tops, are set on a high solid-paneled base, about eight and one-half inches on centers. From moulded wood collars in the center of the pickets, thin wood strips extend diagonally to the center of the spaces between the pickets.

Plates 12 and 13 illustrate the fence that once enclosed Belcoda Cemetery in Monroe County. The horizontal boards diminish in width from bottom to top; the spaces between the boards increase from two and one-half inches at the bottom to five inches at the top. On each side of the gates and at each corner of the lot, posts seven and one-quarter inches square were set with moulded cast iron caps. The wide carriage gate had a wood arch supported between high posts.

Plates 20 and 22 illustrate interesting fences in Caledonia and Canawaugus, New York, in the Victorian style. They are very simple fences made without the use of mouldings and are probably the work of the same carpenter.

The fence in front of the Sackett-Ault House near Canandaigua, New York, as shown on plate 28, is in the Greek Revival spirit. The upper part of the post cap is made of moulded cast iron.

Plate 32 illustrates one of the well-known "peacock" gates in the fence in front of the Charles Waldrun House in Rensselaerville, New York. The pickets are about one and three-sixteenths inches square with beveled tops and spaced four inches on centers. The edges of the six-inch square posts are chamfered to form an octagon and the tops shaped into a ball. (See photograph, page 23) for carriage gate in the same fence.

The fence on the property of Mrs. Margaret Thompson in Claverack, New York, is a transitional design with both Greek Revival and Victorian characteristics. The one-and-one-half inch square pickets are grooved in the center of the front and rear sides so they do not appear so heavy. In the gate, the turned one-and-one-half inch pickets are alternately long and short. See plates 34 and 35.

A good example of a fence with a protective lower section is that at the Chase House, Annapolis, Maryland. A solid wood paneled section, sixteen inches high, forms the base for the pickets. The four-inch square posts are about eight feet on centers with turned acorn-shaped caps; the pickets are round, one and one-eight inches in diameter with sharp pointed tops. See plate 38.

The brick wall separating the garden from the street at the Read House in New Castle, Delaware, is four feet nine inches high with brick piers about eight feet high. The space above the wall and between the piers is filled with a two-foot-six-inch high fencing, consisting of one-and-one-quarter inch diameter balusters with rounded tops, which are spaced about five inches on centers as shown on plate 40.

The Quay House fence in Litchfield, Connecticut, is a beautiful example of the Post-Colonial type. See plate 44. It consists of turned one and one-eighth inch diameter pickets, spaced about four inches on centers. The posts are accentuated with fluted pilasters, well-proportioned caps and beautiful carved finials. The horizontal members have two small half round mouldings on the face which enhance the delicate appearance of these structural members. Raising the upper rail and increasing the height of the pickets at the posts are one of the most successful methods of tying together fence and posts into a unit.

One of the most successful fences in Salem, Massachusetts, is the one in front of the Ropes Memorial, illustrated in plate 53. The posts are faced with small fluted Ionic pilasters and finished with well-proportioned caps and urns. The upward sweep of the top rail at the posts is an ideal way to unify the low fencing with the posts. Turned pickets, one and one-eighth inches in diameter, with pine-cone endings are spaced four and three-quarters inches from center to center of pickets.

The posts of the Pierce-Nichols fence in Salem, Massachusetts, as shown on plate 55, are plain and solid looking, but the mouldings of the post caps and horizontal rails are delicate and refined. The beautifully proportioned carved urns with conventional flame top, which crown the posts, are out-standing features. The pickets are only seven-eighths of an inch square with beveled tops and are spaced five inches from center to center.

Another beautiful example in Salem, Massachusetts, is the Baldwin-Lyman fence as shown on plate 56. High ten-inch square posts, faced with narrow Ionic pilasters, increase the feeling of height in the posts. The small carved Ionic capitals, the elaborate cap mouldings of the posts, and the urns with flame tops are beautifully proportioned. The pickets are one inch square with beveled tops.

In the Ropes Memorial, the Pierce-Nichols and Baldwin-Lyman fences, we have fence design in its most beautiful and appropriate expression.

On plates 57 and 58 are shown two fences on Middle Road in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which are usually referred to as the Cape Cod type. These fences are usually lower than we find in the rest of New England. The posts are six inches in diameter, turned and ending in ball-shaped tops. At number 546 Middle Road the pickets are one and one-quarter inches in diameter with cone-shaped tops, while those at 569 Middle Road are sawed from two and three-quarter inch wide strips of wood.

The picket fence has a light Insistence on privacy; relatively speaking a solid paneled wood fence does not appear as heavy as a brick or stone wall. The Larkin-R ice House fence, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, plate 59, Is a good example of this type. This fence makes us think of a piece of cabinet work instead of a solid wall.

The fence near Hampton, New Hampshire, as shown on plate 61, Is an example of simplicity, without mouldings or ornament, The eight-inch-square posts have a simple beveled cap board with a seven-eighth Inch thick strip of wood under it. The top rail is made of a beveled cap over a one and three-quarter inch by three and three-quarter inch piece of wood with a small one-half inch by seven-eighths inch strip at the Intersection. The fence height is divided in the center by a horizontal rail, one and three-quarters by one-and three-quarters inch, and vertically by one and one-quarter inch square pieces to form panels, which are filled with diagonal strips.

There was also a type of fencing or lattice used to separate the garden from the service yard. Plates 1 and 8 illustrate two such fences in Rochester, New York. The lower part of the fence was either solid vertical boards or closely-spaced lattice strips, and the upper part a more open lattice pattern. A cresting cut from a board, three to six inches high, was usually installed above the top rail.

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Excerpted from Fences, Gates & Garden Houses by Carl F. Schmidt. Copyright © 2012 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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