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Sketches of Early American Architecture
By O. R. Eggers Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2016 O. R. Eggers
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-81666-1
CHAPTER 1
MONOGRAPHS DESCRIPTIVE OF A SERIES OF SKETCHES BY OTTO R. EGGERS OF EARLY AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL, NEW YORK McBean, Architect
When, in 1764, this venerable chapel of Trinity Parish was begun, it was placed to face the river whose banks at that time were many hundred feet nearer to the church than they are today. Its eastern end was close to what is now known as Broadway and owing to the pedimented portico that adorns it, is often mistakenly believed to be the front of the church.
One McBean was the architect. It is gleaned from the records of the church that, owing to slow means of transportation of material and a scarcity of competent labor, this chapel was three years under construction. It has been claimed that McBean was at one time a pupil of Gibbs of London and this claim is bolstered by the fact that this church strongly resembles St, Martin's-in-the-Field in London, which was designed by Gibbs. The fact remains that "old St. Paul's," as it is affectionately called by New Yorkers, is one of the most satisfactory examples of our extant Colonial ecclesiastical architecture. It stands in the center of its churchyard on the block bounded by Vesey, Fulton, Broadway and Church streets and is today, as for more than a century past, a spot hallowed by every association, religious and civic, that is part of the heritage of every New Yorker. Its interior preserves all of the aspects of its English origin even to the three ostrich plumes (the crest of the Prince of Wales) that surmount the canopy over the altar. Here Washington came after his inauguration as President of the United States to attend the solemn service that formed a part of his inauguration ceremony. The pew in which he sat has been kept exactly as it was at that time.
One may judge the influence of the quiet dignity of this church if on any noonday he will visit it. Either within the dimly lighted interior, or the steps of its front or western entrance, or along the pleasant paths of the graveyard, there will be seen many office workers in the neighborhood. Here they daily seek for an all too brief spell the quietness and rest that such a sanctuary will afford.
On the wall of the eastern or Broadway end of the church there is a wall monument placed there as a record to the memory of General Richard Montgomery who lies buried in the churchyard.
DOORWAY OF A HOUSE ON WASHINGTON SQUARE NORTH, NEW YORK
One of the most interesting periods of the architectural development of New York City is that called by architectural writers as of the Greek Revival. Men of large means and of much culture who located their homes in the then aristocratic Washington Square section, which included lower Fifth Avenue, readily availed of the suggestion that their houses be designed after these classic and refined motives. The portico illustrated is of the house standing on the northwest corner of Fifth avenue and Washington Square North and is typical of the majority of the houses in its neighborhood. Mr. Eggers has with characteristic skill retained in his sketch all the beauty of proportion and classical adaptation of this entrance detail. Of the various well known architects that lived and worked during the early thirties, Robert Mills is on good authority believed to be the man who first designed in the style now known as "the Greek Revival." The late Montgomery Schuyler, in a series of articles contributed to The American Architect in 1010 expressed the conviction that it was largely through the examples of Robert Mills that this dignified method of architectural expression found favor not only in the domestic architecture of all of our then large cities, but was also plainly shown in all of the important work on which Mill's was engaged.
Undoubtedly good architecture is influential in setting a good example wherever it is successfully grouped. In spite of the many vicissitudes through which the Washington Square section has passed, the northern boundary of the "Square" yet presents a quiet dignity, a staid respectability, even though its neighboring boundaries on the south and east and west have long since lost all architectural coherence. The well appointed phaeton with two liveried men on the box no longer waits in front of these houses. Where once the future aristocrats played in the Square under the watchful eye of nurses and grooms, the "Villagers" congregate under the shadows of the Washington Arch or overspread the walks and lawns to listen to the music of the city band. And these stately old houses, closely shuttered, sit in all their isolation of a past splendor calmly awaiting the day when the wreckers for speculative building interests will fall upon them and raze them to the ground.
EARLY HOME OF COLONEL VAN VREDENBURGH, NO. 7 STATE STREET, NEW YORK
This fine example of architecture in New York was erected about the year 1800. It was then considered one of the best mansions of the locality. It fronts on Bowling Green, and stands today as it did then, an example of the quiet dignity of well considered design. And, while the rapid march of time has served entirely to change the character of the buildings which surround this house, there are yet unspoiled those elements of architectural excellence that are so well accented by Mr. Eggers' pencil.
Today the house stands well back from the Battery wall, as between it and the bay lies the broad expanse of Battery Park, and to the westward, the Bowling Green. At the time of its erection, this house stood almost at the water's edge. Shackleton in the "Book of New York," relates: "When Colonel Van Vredenburgh, who had served in the Revolution, moved away in 1801, he loaded his furniture into a boat at his front door, and then he and his family started on their journey up the Hudson to a new home in the Mohawk Valley." This is interesting as showing the very radical changes of a century in the topography of lower Manhattan Island.
No record has been discovered as to the name of the architect.
At present the building is occupied by the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary. This occupancy is perhaps the reason that has saved this building until today from a fate similar to other fine structures that at one time graced the neighborhood.
LOOKING ALONG THE SOUTHERN FACADE OF THE CITY HALL IN NEW YORK
John MacComb, Architect
Concededly one of the best extant examples of early architecture in America, the City Hall in New York maintains in spite of towering neighbors the distinction that has ever rightfully belonged to it. When John MacComb set about the design and erection of the City Hall he perfected a set of drawings that were then, and remain today, examples of the most excellent artistic skill. Slowly this building grew to its present proportions until finally in 1804 it was completed.
It is significant of the honesty and integrity of those days, that the Council of the City, strong in the belief that the area north of the City Hall would not become important and desiring to rid the taxpayers of an unnecessary burden, decided as a means of economy to make the northern facade of brownstone. This splendid building fortunately has been able to withstand the misdirected efforts of city governments. Many so-called improvements have been carried forward under different administrations.
About twelve years ago there was accidentally discovered in an old chest in the rooms of the Historical Society, all of MacComb's original drawings. With these invaluable guides and due to the generosity of Mrs. Russell Sage and the city administration's concerted action, Mr. Grosvenor Atterbury has been enabled to restore the interior to its original condition. The Mayor's office, the Governor's room and the Council Chamber may now be viewed in almost exactly the same architectural state that marked the original interiors.
The exterior is practically unchanged with perhaps the exception of the cupola. This feature has been twice destroyed by fire. As at present restored by Mr. Atterburv, it is entirely fire-resisting and in design follows exactly along the major lines as shown in a series of tentative sketches made by MacComb.
PORTICO OF ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, VARICK STREET, NEW YORK
New York's growth is glacier-like in its movement. Slow, but irresistible. Whatever obstructs its progress is swept aside or over ridden. Dignified St. John's has shared the fate of many another of our venerable and venerated structures. The extension of Seventh avenue and the building of the subway caused the passing of this church.
A chapel of Trinity Parish and while not as old as St. Paul's, having been built about 1807, it was none the less a structure that all New Yorkers regarded with great respect and many with the attachment of actual association.
The master builders, which in those clays was equivalent to being the architects, were T. C. Taylor, Henry Hedley, Daniel Domanick and Isaac McComb. The original location of this church was one of the most attractive in New York. It stood on the easterly side of St. John's Park whose embowered walks were a favorite recreative spot for the well-to-do residents of the neighborhood.
In the early 70's the New York Central Railroad secured this park for a downtown freight terminal. This unfortunate occurrence not only changed the character of the residential section nearby, but the influence of so undesirable a location was felt for many blocks in every direction. What had been a neighborhood of aristocratic' dwellings was reduced to a slovenly purlieu of ramshackle buildings.
St. John's was deserted, and its services became those of a strictly mission chapel. At last as a church it has ceased to exist. Those who venerate the traditions of New York could calmly watch its passing. The building was too good to have sunk to so low an estate and it was better that it should be razed. The memory of its graceful spire, its resonant bells and the shade of the portico, shown in Mr. Eggers' admirable sketch is to many, a reminiscence fraught with deep satisfaction and quiet contentment.
EASTERN PORTICO, ST PAUL'S CHAPEL, NEW YORK
McBean, Architect
The view presented is one looking along Broadway from a point where Fid ton Street crosses.
The fine architectural expression of this church may here be studied more in detail. The columns of this portico stand as will be seen, at the very edge of the sidewalk line. Here six days in every week hundreds of thousands of people pass, but neither the roar of traffic nor the restlessness of the city's populace can destroy the calm of this enclosure.
On every Sunday, as for a century past, the religious services call to this chapel people whose families for generations have worshipped at its altar and whose ancestors lie buried in its churchyard, while daily, in its interior, hallowed by many momentous observances devout workers of the neighborhood find a restful spot for quiet meditation.
DETAIL OF HOUSE OX WASHINGTON SQUARE NORTH, NEW YORK
This interesting detail of a house on Washington Square North, in New York, is pendant to a view of the portico of the same building illustrated and described in another plate. This Ionic detail is the porch at the rear with a glimpse of the house and iron balcony and fence. The view is looking north along Fifth avenue. The trellis is evidently of later placing but having been well designed adds to the generally good effect.
The house, standing at the southmost edge of Greenwich Village, shows an example of the hand wrought iron that was so extensively used in that section in the early part of the nineteenth century. Every well considered element of good design was lavished on the railings, porch rails and balconies of these houses. Unfortunately much of this good iron work has disappeared, but there are yet extant, if one seeks them out, many examples to prove how carefully the architects of those days designed every detail that formed a part of their buildings.
Neighborhoods in New York in the early thirties were more nearly communities than they will ever be again. Here on summer evenings either seated on the balconies or on the "stoops" there was much visiting to and fro. It was for this reason that these places became as much a location of social activities as did the drawing rooms of the interiors during the winter. The same pride of well designed surroundings was ever present.
The yard at the rear of this house abuts on the easterly end of Macdougal Alley, widely known as the place where numerous artists of fame, wealth and social position have created a picturesque locality, the mecca of every rural visitor to New York.
It is pathetic to men born and residing in New York for more than sixty years to mark the changes that have occurred in the Washington Square district. In the early 70's, North Washington Square, on which is located the subject of this sketch, was occupied by the stately houses of those among whom the late Ward McAllister counted the "400" as constituting the very cream of New York Society. These one-time prominent people have with few exceptions moved from the neighborhood. The aristocratic seclusion that was once maintained became no longer possible. The towering apartment house, the church settlement, on the south, and the gradual encroachment of an undesirable lot of citizens have robbed the neighborhood of its semi-isolation.
Yet, today, there may be seen a solitary but well appointed carriage with two well groomed horses; on the box a portly coachman and by his side a slender footman, both in the most correct livery. There they await the coming of the mistress of the house who in spite of the dangers of the swiftly moving motor car, proceeds to ride as she has done for many years past, up Fifth Avenue and into the park for the daily airing.
But the march of progress is irresistible. It will not be long before this, last of an old order, will have passed, and we shall only know customs as recent as a quarter of a century as traditions.
OLD TOWN HALL, HARTFORD, CONN.
In 1639, the freemen of Newton, Conn., now called Hartford, met and adopted the famous Fundamental Order of Connecticut, the first written constitution adopted by a people that ever organized a government. For this reason, historians are wont to declare Hartford "The Birthplace of American Democracy."
The sentiment of Independence thus early displayed and which grew to such successful proportions more than a hundred years later, found Hartford ever the center of the political activity that led to the Revolutionary War and the independence of the Colonies.
It is fortunate that the spirit of patriotism should so warmly be espoused by the people of Hartford from so early a period. It is for this reason that we have had preserved to us so many splendid examples of our Colonial building. The old town hall at Hartford was built as a state house in 1796. Its classic lines and correct proportions are the pride of the citizens of Hartford and the delight of those who have been so fortunate as to visit that city.
So carefully have all the various details of this fine old building been preserved, so reverentially have its restorers proceeded with their work, that the building may today be viewed almost exactly as it stood 125 years ago.
Who designed this fine old building we do not know but it is known, for there is much tangible evidence all over New England, that the master builders of our Colonial period, founded everything they created on the most classically correct principles of good architecture. The longer they remain as evidence of good, honest and well considered structures, the stronger is their appeal. One is led to wonder why with such excellent examples close at hand there should be erected buildings that suffer so badly by comparison.
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Excerpted from Sketches of Early American Architecture by O. R. Eggers. Copyright © 2016 O. R. Eggers. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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