The Vail House, c. 1805, Bennington, Vermont

 

The Vail House was deconstructed this past summer for repair and reconstruction in another town.


 

It was once one of the most stylish houses in Bennington, its architraves and columns more complex than most local houses, its fanlight and surround unique to this part of Vermont. 
Similar details exist on a few houses across the border in New York.

The Victorian updating can be seen here - the double windows on the first floor, right, and the porch with curly brackets   Well executed at the time and then let go.
  I measured and photographed it about 4 years ago. I wish I had documented it more carefully. I have no image of the front of the house!

On September 16, I will include its  geometry as part of my presentation  'Practical Geometry' for the Bennington Historical Society lecture series at the Bennington Museum.

The family wanted a broad front hall with space for a sweeping staircase. This was the new style. The framer's answer was to  add 1/3 of the width to each side. The red square in the center shows how this worked. It was divided into 3 equal parts using the Rule of Thirds.
The house was to be 3 parts  deep and 5 parts wide. 


As you can see the division into 3 is not quite where the posts and beams are.
While the size was set by an addition of proportional lengths, the rooms were set by a different application of the Rule of Thirds . I call it 'Crosses Squares' .
 Each side is a square, the Rule of Thirds applied to each side makes the front rooms square, the back rooms long and skinny, The posts and beams are set where the walls will be. 
Usually the front hall will be the width of the extra third. Here you can see that it is wider.  Or perhaps the house is wider... slide those 
squares on each side towards each other about a 12" and the  crosses squares would mesh.

The floor plan is traditional for this part of Vermont: 2 square front rooms, a long skinny space in the back divided into smaller rooms, the plan of a salt box. I wrote about this in an earlier post:  http://www.jgrarchitect.com/2016/06/the-persistence-of-saltbox-floor-plan.htm





 This is the west elevation. The shutters are a later addition.

Here is the Practical Geometry: a square in the middle, with the left and right sides 1/4 of the whole. The Lines locate the windows' size and placement. The sash themselves are squares, which is in keeping with the layout. The  decorative architrave's height is determined by the half of the square.

As I did not measure the exterior extensively I have not tried to layout the geometry of the corner boards or the frieze.
The photographs show that I have not accurately located the quarter circle vents in the eaves.  They are farther apart than I drew them, The proper location is probably on the 1/4 line of the square.
I think the roof pitch matches the Lines which divide the square into quarters - or the dash dot line I use to call out the left quarter of the house. This would be a logical choice:  a natural choice, using proportions the framer already is working with and also complementing the design of the house.  

Jackson, NY, House - geometry, dating, some beautiful craftsmanship, Part 6 of 6

This is the last post of 6 about a c. 1820 18' x 36' wing on a  Jackson, NY,  farm house. I assume the reader has read the earlier posts.


Practical Geometry

A measured frame is always, for me, an opportunity to learn how Practical Geometry was used.

Here is the framing for the west side of the wing.







and here the geometry:

The basic geometry for the building is 2 squares, each 18 ft x 18 ft. The floor plan is 18 ft wide by 36 ft long. The framing elevation is also 2 squares 18 ft x 18 ft. I show only the right half.

The 2nd floor height is half the height of the square - 9 ft.

The Rule of Thirds lines cross at A  the height of the wall.
The lines also cross at B  the center line of the window farthest to the right.

I have not drawn all the lines for the Rule of Thirds star. They run from all the corners to all the centers of the sides of the square.

The larger square can be divided into 4 smaller squares. One is outlined on the lower left.
The window next to the door is located at the center of the right half the lower left square  - at C. 







Dating the wing by its technology

The sheathing boards are cut by a sash saw. The house was framed 'pre-circular saw' which seems to be c. 1830.

The mortise and tendon frame is augmented by nailed framing members. The frame itself is cut, not hewn. Nails begin to be manufactured in the early 1800's and come into general use by 1820.

There is both a Rumford fireplace and space provided for a cast iron stove, especially the framing for the chimney which begins on the 2nd fl. Cast iron stoves began to be manufactured c. 1820. Rumford fireplaces were still being built.

The brick used for the fireplace, the chimneys and the nogging is soft and water struck, still baked in a kiln fired by charcoal.


For pictures of these details please see the earlier posts in this series.



Beautiful craftsmanship

The top plate of the frame has unusual bird's mouth  - the joint which seats the rafter on the plate. Here is a quiet piece of craft known only to the carpenters until the frame was uncovered.











As the corner boards were removed from the house the boards looked worn out, rotted, junk. The framers disconnected the boards and saw how carefully shaped and pieced the boards were, not only as a graceful edge, but to resist rain and wind.












This particular corner detail was also used by the Shakers locally in Lebanon, NY, and in Harvard, MA.
It was also used on the 1837 house of Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca Falls, NY.

I keep this section in my office .

The frieze board and its molding comes to the eave return and curls into a point at the intersection of the walls.

A Look Back

This was my first view of this house.

Below is what it looked like in 1820.

The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .

My posts on this house in order:

Part 1: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2015/12/a-washington-county-ny-carpenter-used.html

Part 2: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2015/12/washington-county-ny-house.html

Part 3: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2016/01/washington-county-house-windows-and.html

Part 4: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2016/07/washington-county-ny-house-dutch.html

Part 5: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2017/03/jackson-ny-house-part-5-of-6.html

Jackson, NY, House, The Frame, Part 5 of 6

In 1981, the Washington County, NY, Information, Tourism and Historic Preservation people documented every 'old house' in the county they could. This is the picture which accompanied the form, and the only picture known showing anything of the rest of the  house.

The land was part of lot #12 of the Grand Division of Cambridge Patent. The town of Jackson, where this house is, split off from Cambridge in 1814. The Parrish family owned the farm from 1846 until  1929 when Charles T. Hayes bought the farm. His son, Charles J. Hayes was the source for those gathering information.

Who added the left wing to this house around 1820?  Who wanted stylish design - the Federal front door and moldings - and technological improvements - the cast iron wood stove in the north room?

Usually a new owner, a new wife, better finances, will mean new construction. Here there is no easy answer.  Before the Parrishes, several families owned this land. However, from 1796 to 1839, Garrit Wendell, a well-respected lawyer and leading citizen of Cambridge, the town next door, was the owner. Wendell was born in Watervliet, NY, in 1769. He married Rebekah of Dutch descent; they had 2 children. He died in 1840; his wife in 1843. I found no record that he ever lived in Jackson. Wendell may have leased this house to William Mushet who is mentioned in a deed.  Mushet was not wealthy; he contributed $6 to help build the Washington Academy in 1814, while Wendell's subscription was $500.

Why would Wendell renovate and update this farm? I have not found an answer.


The frame is 'Dutch'; it is made up of a series of  bents, here 12, approximately 3 ft apart, for the 36 ft. length.
This implies that the framer had been trained in the local Dutch vernacular tradition as practiced in upper Hudson River valley.

The last bent on the left side has been removed by the timber framers in this picture.

 An 'English' frame would have had 4 bents: one at each end, one on either side of the center door and its hall.
Mixing framing traditions is not uncommon in this part of eastern New York and western New England. Here the frame is Dutch and the exterior appearance, Federal., based on English architecture.




The south end of the frame shows the braces set just below the gable end rafters. These were on both ends of the wing. The original house had also braced this new wing. Green Mountain Timber Framers who were deconstructing the house felt the frame move and secured it with cross bracing, visible here.

Above is the west (road) facade of the frame. 12 bents. Each 6"x 6" post is mortised into the sill. The
3"x 8" joists are mortised through the posts and pegged at the second floor height. A 3" x 6" rim joist is then attached below the joist and pegged.

















The next bent can now be slid into place because its mortise is ready to receive the rim joist. Its floor joist can be slid into place because the easing on the 6"x 6" post runs across the face of the post, not just at the mortise. Then the intermediate stud is set below and above the rim joist and a 2"x 8" joist nailed to it. Some of the joists are notched to make the 2nd floor level.

Here is another set of post and joists. The setting of the secondary joists - about half on the left side, the rest on the right - might be because the framers worked from each end of the wing toward the front door.
The parts for these bents might have been cut ahead of time and assembled on site. They are quite uniform.






Here is a look along the 2nd floor joists on the east side, Reused posts are visible. The south sill was also a reused timber, a plate with notches for rafters and the necessary holes for pegs.







The door frame is not neat. There is some fudging - an extra post to set the door in the center, Framing for the stair opening seems to have been  figured out on the job.


Similarly the extra 2 joists, one 6"x 8",  the other 2"x 8", which carry the chimney above the stove pipe seems to intrude into the rhythm of the frame a decision made on the spot.




The framing of  the gable ends includes both mortised and nailed joints.

Mortise and tendon framing does not need nails. We used it extensively as a framing system before 1800  partly because nails were hand made from scarce iron ore not easily processed.
The invention in the early 1800's of nail making machines changed how we framed. Here, c. 1820, both wood pegs and iron nails  are used to hold the wood together. This is a transitional frame.

Here are details at the gable and at the 2nd floor. The left photograph shows the nailed north gable on the ground after it was taken down.  The right photograph is the braces mortised into the 2nd floor beam.







Here is the plate, with its unusual bird's mouth - the mortise which holds the rafters.  I and the framers, and others who know historic framing in the Hudson River Valley, had never seen this joint before. The plate is mortised to the posts.

Notice on the framing layout that the rafters do not line up with the posts. This means the walls and the roof were thought of as separate entities.


The last part of this 6 part series will review some of the exterior details and the geometry based on the frame. http://www.jgrarchitect.com/2017/03/jackson-ny-house-geometry-dating-some.html

The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .

The pattern books of Asher Benjamin

This is a post about 2 of Asher Benjamin's pattern books: The American Builder's Companion and The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter.

I like reading Asher Benjamin's pattern books.
He says practical and personal things when you least expect it.In  his notes about chimney pieces, he adds," Care should be taken, however, not to overload them (the whole mantle) with ornaments, as they are exposed and liable to be broken."* 1
This is a real person. He writes for "all practical house carpenters... particularly those who reside in the country, where they have no opportunity of consulting with an architect." *2  He is talking directly to them.

 My friends have just bought a farm with fields, barns - and an old house - in Ohio  They have many questions. The land was first settled in 1805. The house may have been built soon after that. Its shape and proportions are Federal: center entrance, 2 windows each side, 5 above, end chimneys.

Since Benjamin's pattern books were used extensively as guides by house wrights and joiners in the states west of the Appalachians from before 1800 through the 1860's, I mailed my friends two of his pattern books for their use: The American Builder's Companion, first published in 1806, the 6th edition (which I sent) in 1827,  and The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter, published in 1830, and reprinted through 1850.

This post is an addendum to the books - to help them discover Asher Benjamin's writing for themselves, especially since I live so far away. I also wanted my friends to see how design  and construction techniques evolved in those years and how to read them in their new house.

Three examples:
The mantle of this fireplace in the dining room appears to be original. (The firebox was reconfigured and then closed over the years as central heat became possible and then efficient.)

The mantle  - called a 'Chimney Piece' by Asher Benjamin - has only proportions - barely any moldings, no pattern, no emphasis or flourish.  Those proportions, however, are closely aligned with the shape of the  mantle -  illustrated in Plate 37 of  The American Builder's Companion (shown here). The shelf is narrow and extended on the ends; the board below it is wide; the side pieces are topped with a bead so that they read as columns. It is as if the joiner created a background, a base ready for embellishment.

 


This would seem to imply that the chimney piece was built before 1830, following the late Georgian style. This style is often referred to as Federal, Adamesque, or Neo-Classical by historians, but also called 'Colonial' by many.

But... What often happened was that the joiner simply copied what he remembered from where he came from - which might have been 30 years ago. Unless someone signed and dated his work, the age of a piece cannot be easily pinned down.

Still, the joiner who built the mantel in my friends' house did not know or disdained this mantle illustrated in Benjamin's next book, The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter, published in 1830.

This is a dramatic departure from the designs in the earlier book: Greek Revival in no uncertain terms!
The chimney piece thrusts itself into the room. The side pieces are real columns set in front of the sides of the mantle. The shelf above has become an unadorned detail with no softening molding above that frieze with its bold, dramatic Greek Key.


Here is the floor plan. The columns are not just round, but fluted.  The mantel shelf is thin, but wide and deep, adding to the sense of the fireplace jutting into the room.

My friends' dining room is quiet - not like this!







The farm house staircase is the second example.
The newel shown here is elegant and flowing, a fitting ending to the rail and balusters.

Not Greek Revival. Maybe tinged with Gothic Revival and Italianate sentiments, or inspired by Renaissance Revival furniture.

Definitely not late Georgian.


Below is Plate XLIII on stair construction from The American Builder's Companion. It includes practical drawings including diagrams for laying out curved stairs. In the upper right is a careful drawing showing where to place newel posts on stair landings. I've added a circle to highlight that detail.





On the right side is drawn a newel post, a very plain newel that is securely anchored to the step, has a little entasis in the shaft, and ends with an elliptic knob that fits the hand.  It comes from a different era than the one in the photograph.


Below is part of Plate XXXIV from The American Builder's Companion, showing what Benjamin calls 'Banisters' and we now refer to as balusters.
There is some relationship between these illustrations and those in the photograph - a solid base, a tapering of the shaft. but not much else.



On the right side of the Plate a line is divided into 6 equal parts. The placement of the curves and ornamentation, the size of the base, is determined by those parts. The balusters in the photograph do not follow those proportions.


If the rest of the house was built c.1810, then the newel and its balusters now in the house are later renovations.



The final example is the hand rail, sinuous, beautiful.  That smooth changing slope of wood was the goal of stair builders since the first awkward attempts in the 1750's.


Benjamin dedicated 10 Plates and more than 15 pages of text in his 1806 and 1830 pattern books to the design and fabrication of that curve.

This is highly technical, and hard to explain on paper with words. Benjamin does it so well that craftsmen today look to his directions.
The railing does not fall at a consistent rate. Lumber is not necessarily curved to match the changes in direction; and yet, the aim is achieved: a smooth continuous flow of wood from the upper landing to the newel at the bottom step.




I have added circles on the smaller print - Plate 48  from The American Builder's Companion- to highlight where Benjamin said the curve was to be to be modified.

Plate LXI from  The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter  shows how "to find the moulds for a stair rail with a semi-circle of 8 winders." Figure 6, upper left, shows how to lay them out on a plank.












The polished sloping hand rail invites us to run our hand along its length, and perhaps even to try sliding down around that curve! It is a beautiful work of art.

revised 1/19/2017
*1 The American Builder's Companion,the sixth edition (1827), Plate XXXVII

*2  The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter, 1830, Third Edition, Preface, page v.

Jackson, NY, House - a Dutch vernacular frame, 4 of 6 posts

 

written January, 2016

The house has been stripped to its frame. The sheathing removed, each board numbered as it came down. The stair and moldings (inside and out) carefully moved into storage.

Now the frame is visible -
no ridge beam,
12 bents: each is a post on either end mortised to a 2nd floor joist.
The plate across the top holds them all together; The 14 rafters sit on the plate and are not spaced to match the bents.

The joists on each end are mortised into posts.
Plates, mortised into the sides of the  posts, space the bents and carry the intermediate 2nd floor joists.

Here is a post with its joist and the pegs that hold the tenons of the plates seen from the outside.

Here seen from the inside, are: 2 posts, an intermediate stud; 2nd floor joists, plates and intermediate joists.
.







.
We think it was assembled bent by bent, the intermediate plates added one at a time as each bent was set into the sill.







I have measured the first floor - twice The first time it was just too cold. I hurried. I wasn't careful.

The framer used Hudson Valley Dutch framing. The house was clothed in the latest Federal style with possible Shaker influences. Inside it retains the traditional system.  

I need to add more, especially about the Dutch way of framing.
An orthographic perspective would make the frame easier to read.
The frame details deserve a post of their own.
So does the careful cleaning and repair of the frame by Green Mountain Timber Frames.
I want to redraw the front elevation to reflect the frame we saw and measured compared to the plaster and clapboard surfaces I saw and measured in the beginning.

However, it is July, months later.  Time to share!


The link to  the men who took down and repaired this house, Green Mountain Timber Frames:  https://www.greenmountaintimberframes.com .