CHAPTER IX

THE GEORGIAN ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUTH

If ever the architecture of a region or period truly reflected the personality and manner of life of the people, it was surely the Georgian architecture of the South in the eighteenth century. The planters of that region were affluent and highly cultured and so eminently gifted with the social instinct that the manor houses and mansions could not fail to indicate by their material aspect the lavish hospitality and splendid estate that it was the wont of their owners to maintain. The great Georgian houses, surrounded by broad plantations, that dotted the whole land, could have been erected only in a society possessed of abundant wealth. And the South was opulent. Blessed by nature, as the country was, with a genial climate and fruitful soil, and favoured by exceptional economic conditions, great fortunes had accumulated which permitted the existence of a large leisure class and encouraged a profound regard for all the comforts and refinements of physical environment. In New England we have seen that the architectural riches of the Georgian style were chiefly reserved for interior embellishment, while the majority of exteriors were allowed to go comparatively unadorned, with a few notable exceptions. In the South, on the other hand, the exuberance of nature and the seductive charm of the climate invited the builder of a house to expand his plans and take full advantage of impressive physical settings. Consequently we have the amplitude of aspect so typical of the Southern mansion, an amplitude that is also in some measure due to the extensive domestic entourage and made possible by the abundant means of the occupants.

That the wealthy Southern planters should require surroundings of domestic splendour that would have been impossible in most other parts of the Colonies, either from lack of means or lack of inclination to indulge in so lavish an expenditure, surroundings that had much in common with the conditions obtaining on many of the baronial estates in England, we may understand when we consider, by way of example, the history of the Byrd family of Westover in Virginia. Colonel William Byrd, the first of the family in America, came to Virginia in 1674. He built the first house at Westover in 1690 and at his death left, as part of his estate, a domain of 26,231 acres. His son, Colonel William Byrd 2nd, succeeding to this great wealth and further increasing his fortune by his second marriage, began the erection of the present house about 1727 and completed it some time prior to 1735. When this second William Byrd, “William the Great of Westover, died in 1744, the acres of the noble estate numbered 179,440, about 281 square miles, a veritable principality indeed.” It has been said of him that “his path through life was a path of roses. He had wealth, culture, the best private library in America, social consideration, and hosts of friends; and when he went to sleep under the monument in the garden at Westover, he left behind him not only the reputation of a good citizen, but that of the great Virginia wit and author of the century.” His epitaph, after calling attention to the educational advantages he had enjoyed and his close friendships with many of the greatest men of his day in England, goes on to relate that “he was called to the bar in the Middle Temple, studied for some time in the Low Countries, visited the Court of France, and was chosen Fellow of the Royal Society. Thus eminently fitted for the service and ornament of his country, he was made Receiver general of his Majesty’s revenues here, was thrice appointed publick agent to the Court and ministry of England, and being thirty-seven years a member, at last became President of the Council of this Colony. To all this were added a great elegancy and taste of life, the well bred gentleman and polite companion.”

It is scarcely to be wondered at that a man so endowed by nature, education and the possession of vast wealth should build in a manner suited to his condition. In fact it would have been strange if he had not. But William Byrd was not alone in his enjoyment of unusual advantages. Although the incidents of his history were not duplicated, his case was nearly paralleled by other men of his century in the South. Almost without exception these favoured children of good breeding, to which was joined the convenience of ample affluence, manifested an elegant taste and an active personal interest in the building of their homes and it is to this interest on their part that we of to-day are indebted for much of what is best in the execution of American Georgian work. Not a few of the Southern planters were themselves competent architects but, as representatives of their class in this particular, it will be sufficient to mention two of them, persons no less illustrious than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Washington always manifested a deep interest in architecture, is believed to have designed Pohick Church, had some hand in the plans of Christ Church, Alexandria, supervised building on his own estates, exercised a directing influence over the destinies of the public buildings planned or begun during his lifetime in the Federal City and left an example of his capacity as a decorative designer in the plastic ornaments of the famous mantel at Kenmore. How deeply Jefferson was concerned with architectural matters, both public and private, and how he maintained a lifelong interest in everything pertaining thereto, an interest that began in early youth and became stronger with advancing years, we well know. Pressure of onerous public duties never abated his desire for architectural betterment throughout the country nor diverted him from using all possible efforts to secure the realisation of ideals. “Architecture,” he once wrote, “is worth great attention--the most important of the arts, since it shows so much.” At another time he penned the following:--“To give buildings symmetry and taste would not increase their cost, it would only change the arrangement of the materials, form and combination of members. This would cost less than the burden of ornament with which these public buildings are often charged. But the very first principles of the art are unknown.” These views might find some application not inappropriate at the present day. Jefferson did not confine his architectural interests to matters theoretical nor to designing. He was

often to be found in the actual rôle of workman. When he began the operations at Monticello, about 1770, that left it in its present form, he not only planned and supervised the work, “but was personally responsible for such practical phases as heating, ventilation, plumbing and drainage. He planned the farm buildings and the laying out of all the roads and bridle paths about the place. In addition, he trained all his own workmen and even made experts of several of his slaves, whom he later set free to earn their living at the trades he had taught them.”

In the South, as in New England and the Middle Colonies, we may without much difficulty discern three phases of the Georgian modes of expression, all of them with characteristics more or less clearly defined. In view of the extended analysis of those phases made in the chapter devoted to the Georgian period in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, it will be unnecessary to dwell at length upon the corresponding characteristics to be found in the domestic architecture of the South, a course that would merely involve bootless repetition. As occasion arises, therefore, in considering typical examples of Southern building, attention will be directed chiefly to points of divergence and local peculiarities and modifications. The practices of building kitchens and offices in structures apart from the body of the house; of planning bedchambers on the ground floor and of making the hall of ample enough proportions to be used as a living-room, when so desired, have already been adverted to in the chapter on the Southern Colonial style. All three practices were developed during the seventeenth century and by practical usage proved their excellence so that they were retained when a new and more elegant architectural mode supplanted the fashion of an earlier day.

In several instances, such as Tuckahoe, erected about 1707, Belvoir in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, built about the same date, and Gunston Hall, finished after the middle of the eighteenth century, we may trace a transitional form, retained from seventeenth century precedents. The general contour of these houses exhibits strong affinities with the truly Southern Colonial type of dwelling but in the manner of execution and the employment of ornamental detail we are on the Georgian side of the boundary.

For the first Georgian phase, we cannot do better than study such houses as Carter’s Grove on the James River, built about 1737, and Westover, finished several years prior to that date. In both places we find many of the characteristics that we should be disposed to look for after a careful perusal of the notes on the earliest type of Georgian houses given in Chapter VIII. In general contour and the treatment of the roof, Carter’s Grove is not unlike Stenton. In addition, however, to the particulars alluded to in Chapter VIII, we find at Carter’s Grove the exceptionally broad hallway peculiar to the South, twenty-eight feet wide. It is to be noted also that there and at other places, too, in the South, are to be seen richly wrought baluster spindles, spiral turned or carved, just as in some of the finer houses in New England. In this connexion it is important to remember that at Tuckahoe, in addition to the spiral turned balusters, there is some unusually fine carving on the staircase executed in a more expansive and flowing style than the carving of the middle or end of the century. The rich pilasters and pediment of the doorway at Westover also show kinship to an earlier tradition just as do some of the adornments of contemporary doorways in New England.

Tulip Hill at West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland, offers an excellent example of the Southern Georgian house erected about the middle of the eighteenth century. In point of detail it has the usual earmarks of the date of its erection which it is unnecessary to revert to. Several other points, however, are to be noted. Decorative panels in relief at each side of the circular window in the front gable and a decorative device in the pediment of the portico are touches of embellishment of a kind not frequently found in the North and they have their counterpart in many similar ornaments to be found on other Southern houses built about this period. It is to be noted, too, that the portico or porch is beginning to have a recognised architectural place in the South. A few years later it assumed more imposing proportions in the shape of the great white pillars, two storeys in height, supporting a massive pediment carried forward as an integral part of the roof. While speaking of porches it must not be forgotten that credit is due the South Carolina type of Georgian house for the double-decked or two storey porch so frequently met with in that state.

The necessity or desirability of developing the porch feature may have hastened the welcome of the Classic Revival in the South because of the opportunity it gave of constructing that architectural adjunct in an imposing and thoroughly well-mannered and congruous method. At all events, the Classic Revival seems to have met with earlier favour in the South than elsewhere and its vogue was practically synchronous with the third or Adam type of Georgian expression. As a case in point, there is Monticello but it should be observed that Jefferson’s conception of the Classic Revival

mode, if Monticello is to be regarded as a specimen of Classic Revival work, had a dignity, honesty and sincerity about it that was afterwards often lost sight of when employed by other men.

One cannot quit the task of reviewing the Georgian architecture of the South without feeling deeply impressed with the great dignity and breadth manifested in all its forms. It was a sincere expression of the architectural needs of an important social condition and while it was founded on time-honoured precedent, at the same time its application was thoroughly American and full of vitality.