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MONOGRAPH SERIES
ON SUBJECTS
PERTAINING TO ARCHITEC
TURE & ALLI
ED INTERESTS

PUBLISHED BY ROGERS AND MAN50N COMPANY

BOSTON

NEW YORK

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OLD COLONIAL BRICK HOUSES
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COPYRIGHT, 1917
BY ROGERS AND MANSON COMPANY
BOSTON, MASS.

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DETAIL OF THE HENRY LADD HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, N. H.
BUILT ABOUT 1815

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THE architecture of the Colonial period in 7\merica is characterized by its
adherence to the European traditions brought over b}' the colonists,
although, within the limits imposed by these traditions, it shows a remark
able degree of initiative. The earlier work derives from a Jacobean tradition,
the later follows closely Georgian precedent. This following of tradition was
natural and inevitable in the case of colonies whose population was being con
stantly renewed by fresh arrivals from Europe, and the importation of large
quantities of building materials further increased this tendency.
On the other hand, the American architects and builders of the period,
when they encountered unfamiliar problems, were able to solve them with
great ingenuity. The abundance of wood and its ease of working produced a
remarkable growth of wooden houses entirely different from an)' European
type. But besides these wooden houses, brick houses were also built, though
they were always less numerous, because of their greater cost. The oldest
examples were built with bricks imported from England and Holland, but at a
rather early period a flourishing brick-making industry grew up, particularly in
the neighborhood of the larger cities.
In general it may be stated that the brick houses in America follow
European tradition more closely than those of wood — due to the importation
of much of their material, the fact that they were built in man}- cases by European
workmen, and their location in centers of trade, usually in or near seaports
where contact with Europe was more general and intimate. Salem, Xewbury-
port, and Portsmouth, all flourishing ports in the days of the clipper ships, show
many houses of this type, while in such centers as Boston and New York they
were formerly very numerous, but have largely been demolished to make way
for later types of building.
Of the houses here illustrated, two belong to the earlier or Jacobean type,
while the others follow more or less closely Georgian models. The Cradock
house at Medford, known also as the Peter Tufts house, is probably the oldest
brick house standing in New England, although its traditional date, 1634, is
certainly erroneous. It is definitely known that Alatthew Cradock, first Gover
nor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, had established a farm at Medford before
this date, although he himself never visited it. But the contemporary maps,
while they show a group of buildings at Medford, show nothing on the site of
the particular house in question. It seems certain, therefore, that the Cradock
house was really of later date than that of tradition, and it may be stated with
reasonable probability that it was built nearh' half a century later.
One of the unusual features of the Cradock house is the existence of small
round windows, formerly used as loopholes in case of attack by the Indians,
MAY 24 1917 ^ ^ '.

OLD COLONIAL BRICK HOUSES OF NEW ENGLAND

The cornice has only a very slight projection — a general characteristic of the
period. Other peculiarities are the relieving arches over the windows and the
use of moulded brick in the base and string courses. The porch and dormers
are modern additions.
The Hazen Garrison, or General Eaton house, at Haverhill, Massachusetts,
is nearly contemporaneous with the Cradock house, and very similar in style.
The small windows at the ends of the front suggest the loopholes of the other
example, and are probably due to a survival of the same necessity. The wood
cornice is slightly more important, but the general appearance of the house is
simpler, a stone base being used, and decoration being entirely absent. The
window spacing is less pleasing than that of the Cradock house; but a feature
of some interest is the treatment of the chimneys with arched panels, the arches
being segmental, similar to the relieving arches over the windows. The diamond-
paned casements are a recent restoration, having replaced double hung windows
of the ordinary type.
The other houses shown in this monograph were built under the Georgian
influence and show a more advanced stage of building. The Richard Derby
house, built in 1761 and the oldest brick house in Salem, located at 168 Derby
Street, preserves certain characteristics of the earlier period, notably the relieving
arches over the first-floor windows, and has a general air of heaviness that is
more usual in earlier than in later American work. Moulded bricks are used
in the base and in the band course at the level of the second-floor beams. The
doorway, however, is quite Georgian in treatment, and is based closely on classic
precedent. The cornice also shows the classic influence that was beconring
important at this period, though simpler than later examples. The building is
now used as a tenement house and is in a very bad state of preservation.
The Hildreth house, built in 1763, at Concord, Massachusetts, is very
similar in character to the above. The design of the doorway is very nearly
the same, apart from the use of a complete architrave and the omission of the
transom. The window spacing is similar and the band course is stopped in the
same way, though the relieving arches have disappeared. The chief differences
are in the greater refinement of detail and in the treatment of the roof and
cornice, the roof being hipped and the cornice more elaborate than in the pre
vious example, and resembling more closely the classic stone cornice from which
it was derived.
The Johnson house, at 35 Federal Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts,
is of the same general type and very similar in proportion. It has a hipped
gambrel roof of peculiar form, showing a rudimentary monitor. The doorway
motive has in this case been developed into a porch with free-standing columns
and a complete Doric entablature and pediment, while the cornice is almost
identical with that of the Hildreth house. This house was built by Nicholas
Johnson on ground which he had bought in 1782, and remained in the possession
of his heirs until 1876.
The Cutler Bartlett house, at 32 Green Street, Newburyport, is similar to
the Johnson house, except for the addition of a third story. The roof and
entrance porch are of similar design, and the house is of the same period and
very probably by the same builder. It was bought from the estate of Jonathan

OLD COLONIAL BRICK HOUSES OF NEW ENGLAND

Milliken by John Balson in 1782, when in process of construction, and in iSlo
was divided into two separate houses, occupied by different families.
The two houses at Danvers, Massachusetts, although later in date, show a
continuation of the same arrangement, and are even simpler in character. The
greatest difference between them is in the window spacing. The Samuel Fowler
house, dating from 1809, has its windows spaced almost equally across the front,
while the other house, of unknown date, has a grouping of windows that is more
varied and pleasing. Both houses have the same type of doorway, a modifi
cation of the Palladian motive, with a door and side-lights grouped under a
semi-elliptical fan-light. This type of doorway was much used in Salem at this
period, an example being the three-story Mansfield-Bolles house. No. 8 Chestnut
Street, built about 1795. This house has an interesting form of cornice, with a
brick bed-mould, and that of the Fowler house is also of brick, painted white,
with a soffit of tile. In these three houses the brick wall is carried over the
window heads with no visible arch or lintel, a treatment seldom used at the
time. This fact, coupled with their similarity in other respects, indicates that
they may have been the work of the same builder.
The same type of doorway was used by Samuel Mclntire, the best known
of Salem architects, in many of his works, of which the Gardner-White-Pingree
house, at 128 Essex Street, built about 1810, is an excellent example. Here the
doorway is preceded b)- a semi-circular portico, similar to those built by the same
designer on, a number of other houses in Salem. The balustrade and the white
marble lintels and band courses form horizontals that add to the repose and
the domestic character of the building, and this effect is further enhanced by
the equal spacing of the windows.
Another front very similar to this in its proportion, though more simply
handled, is that of the Rice house at Portsmouth, N. H. The portico at the
entrance is of an unusual type, with coupled columns. The balustrade around
the deck at the top of the roof is a feature often found in this and other New
England seaports.
The Henry Ladd house, on Middle Street, Portsmouth, built about 1815,
is one of the most remarkable, not only in this series but in all New England.
While the type of roof is similar to the Rice house, the front resembles certain
types of Southern work. The wide spacing of the windows, eft'ective as it is,
denotes a Southern influence, and must cause very poor lighting in the interiors.
The door-frame is of marble, an unusual luxury for the period, and the entire
work is carried out with considerable richness of detail, though the repetition
of the same window treatment on the two main floors, with only the omission
of the side-lights on the second floor, tends to an appearance of monotony.
During the nineteenth centur}- the earh' American work suffered from
great neglect, and it is only within recent years that its excellent qualities have
again received proper appreciation, not only from the house-building public,
but from the architectural profession as well. The drawings illustrating
this monograph have been carefully made and reproduced to a uniform scale,
so as to render them of the greatest possible use to architects who may employ
them as documents in work that they are designing, and to show the relative
size and importance of the various buildings.

.vf^ INDEX TO
PLATE ILLUSTRATIONS

Detail of the Henry Ladd House, Portsmouth, N. H.
Cradock House, Medford, Mass. ....
Hazen Garrison House, Haverhill, Mass. .
Richard Derby House, Salem, Mass 
Hildreth House, Concord, Mass. .....
Johnson House, Newburyport, Mass 
Cutler Bartlett House, Newburyport, Mass.
Samuel Fowler House, Danvers, Mass.
House at Danvers, Mass 
Mansfield-Bolles House, Salem, Mass.
Gardner-White-Pingree House, Salem, Mass. .
Rice House, Portsmouth, N. II. .
Henry Ladd House, Portsmouth, N. II. .

Page
Frontispiece 9, II
13, 15
17, 19
21, 23
2S, 27
29, 31
33, 35
37, 39
41,43 45,4749, 51
53, 55

CRADOCK HOUSE, MEDFO

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RICE HOUSE, PORTSMOUTH, N. H.
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Scale: One-Eighth Inch Equals One Foot

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