TheWHITE PINESERIES OFArchitectural MonographsVolume XIII Number 3
An EasternNorth CarolinaTOWN HOUSETheSmallwood-Jones ResidenceBYKenneth Clark
AN Architectural MonographAn Eastern North Carolina Town House The Smallwood - Jones ResidenceBY Kenneth ClarkBeing the THIRD Number of Volume XIII and THE SEVENTY - THIRD MONOGRAPH OF THE WHITE PINE SERIESIntimate treatises of the ARCHITECTURE of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic presented with well ordered completeness, to further a broader understanding and to create a permanent Record of Early American ARCHITECTURE. RUSSELL F. WHITEHEAD, Editor CONTAINING ALSO Measured Drawings from the GEORGE F. LINDSAY Collection of EARLY AMERICAN Documents · The WHOLE imposingly embellished by Reproductions of Beautiful Photographs by KENNETH CLARKNEW YORKPublished Six Times a year by RUSSELL F. WHITEHEAD150 East Sixty-First Street [inssible] Copyright 1927 by Russell F. Whitehead and PRINTED by The Marchbanks Press [inssible] Yearly Subscription, Payable in advance $2.00, Canada $2.25, Foreign $3.00 [Single Monograph, Fifty Cents]
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXV |
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
THE SMALLWOOD - JONES RESIDENCE
by Kenneth Clark
THE merchant prince of today parades the arrogance of his fortunes before the world, by building a palace; a thing of magnificence, housing the treasures for which the world has been combed—Old Masters, statuary, tapestries and all the priceless objets de vertu available at the time his agents were endowed with the usual carte blanche commission to purchase.
When all is done, his friends and the public “Oh!” “Ah!”, admire and envy and there has been created another museum. The architect has earned another trip to Europe and the decorator a fleet of Rolls-Royces. The one thing lacking in the finished masterpiece is HOME! The idea of creating something in which a family can be born, grow up and die, is not part of the picture.
No one can imagine the happy group gathered before the Louis XIV mantel, seated in comfort on the delicate gold legged and petit point backed chairs, with Mother knitting and Father deep in the evening paper, while the children play on the Kermansha museum piece until it is time to go to bed. Hardly! Mother and Father are in Europe, different parts of Europe, perhaps. The son is spoofing the professors at Yale or Harvard, while the daughter is wearing out her $40 slippers and her constitution at some night club. The house, the people and the age are attuned, and the tune is “She's My Baby” not “Home Sweet Home.”
Could anything be in greater contrast physically and spiritually to the homes of the Colonial Period and of the Early Republic? The rich men of that day, allowing for the change in values and the comparative amounts called fortunes, were privileged to pick and choose as to their house and its contents just as they are today. The resulting houses, that have survived, are a monument to the taste and the sense of the fitness of things of our forefathers. These old houses radiate the warmth of feeling that inspired their conception and bespeak in a quiet, dignified, yet powerful voice the qualities and characteristics which went into the making of the American Nation. They reflect the home loving natures and appreciation of the beautiful that these sturdy farmers and merchants possessed before the U. S. of our country was combined to make a dollar sign on which the Eagle could perch and scream his financial defiance to the world.
The Smallwood-Jones House at New Bern, North Carolina, is a survival of a prosperous period in the early days of that community. Built by an architect and a builder of whom research does not reveal the names, it is an excellent example of what the well-to-do merchant of that place and time considered to be the proper thing for himself and family. It is a small house, the entire original building being enclosed with a space of 36x40 feet, but the interior gives an impression of spaciousness and stateliness which belie the actual dimensions. Facing on East Front Street, with its rear overlooking a long grassy vista sloping to the banks of the River Nuse, it has seen the coming and passing of many generations, and survived the vicissitudes of fire, flood and war. It has been tenderly cared for through succeeding generations and is today in the hands of sympathetic and appreciative people who are restoring it and placing it in condition to survive the coming years, that posterity may see, admire and reflect.
The front elevation presents to the street a simple, reserved aspect with components beautifully spaced in a richly textured wall of common brick. The bonding is Flemish and the brick joints, of gray mortar, are about ⅜ of an inch wide and struck flush with the surface. Both brick and mortar have weathered until they have reached the point which gives these old brick walls the quality that accounts for much of their charm; so difficult to reproduce in new work. The spacing of openings is symmetrical except for the dormers which do not center over the windows below. The main cornice, the porch and the dormer pediments are lavishly decorated with hand carved ornament. Because New England has always been extolled as the source of nicely executed detail, etc., while the South has been considered as lacking the proper craftsmen, it is hard to realize that the
ornamental work on the Smallwood-Jones house was done locally. However, there is every reason to believe that the carving was done here and it ranks with the best of the old work irrespective of time and place.
The detail, molding systems and other individual parts of the cornices, etc., are decidedly original in design and placing and, where most of the New England detail can be assigned to a definite inspirational source, such as Langly, Paine, or other authorities of the period, this work has an originality and freshness that is individual to it and the similar houses of this town. There is a very indefinitely founded tradition in New Bern that these houses were done by one James Coor, a naval architect or builder of ships who came there in 1800 to practice his profession and turned his talents to architecture. Such a tradition might account for some of the unorthodox detail, which, with the use of the rope molding so consistently, has a decidedly “shippy” look.
The ugly block which terminates the porch capitols shown on Plate XXX is a modern repair, the originals being similar to the pilaster caps shown on Plate XXIX. The roof was originally shingled, but was replaced at a later day by one of the less sympathetic standing seam tin. With the exception of the few changes mentioned, the exterior presents its original appearance.
The plan is unusual in that it has a hall 11′ 2″ wide at the right side running through the house with a door in the rear wall and another at the side. This seems at first glance an uneconomical feature, but in reality this hall forms a second living room, well ventilated from three exposures, and in the warm summer must be a comfortable and practical room. To the left of this hall as one enters is the room known as the “Counting Room” which a former owner set aside as an office and which was at one time entered direct from the street by the cutting down of the left hand window of the elevation to form a door; this was probably done long after the house was built and it has since been filled in and the elevation restored to its original appearance. The Counting room has a fine mantel to which has been added an overmantel treatment that does not agree in scale with the original. Back of the Counting room and also opening off the hall at the right, is the dining room, with a gem of a mantel and wainscot and a cornice that caps the room with a real feeling of scale (see Plate XXXVII). The relation in size of the cornice and its members to those of the overmantel cornice and the pediment just below is a remarkable example of judgment of scale on the part of the designer meriting serious consideration, for were one or the other too large or too small by the smallest amount the scale of the entire room would suffer. The relation is, however, perfect and contributes in no small measure to the “handsomeness” and dignity of the whole. The service to the dining room was originally from the basement, which accounts in part for the modern addition of kitchen, pantry, etc., at the rear.
The second floor is unique in that it has the formal drawing room necessitated by the use of the usual first floor space for the Counting room. In this second floor drawing room, we see the genius of the architect and the skill of his craftsmen, who executed the work, at their best. Here was lavished all they knew of decoration in its architectural sense. All the old gagets, dentils, ropes, frets, wave motives, interlacement bands and carved sunbursts are here, but all are used in their proper place, so well designed and scaled that each goes to make up the ensemble without intruding its individuality. The ornament is of carved wood, the work of a master craftsman; the rope moldings are cut in the round and applied; the fret and the interlacement band are jig-sawed out of ″ stuff and nailed on with hand made nails, of which there is hardly an evidence on the surface. The panelling has the molds cut on the stiles and the panel set in solid without a back mold. All is dovetailed and dowelled together in the manner of the ancient cabinetmaker who had the time and the inclination to do things right, once, and for all time. There is a new door in this room which was added to the East wall in modern times and though the workmen tried to copy the old work exactly the “Touch” is not there. Even on close examination, it is difficult to point out any apparent variation, but the whole thing has a different look. The craftsman has been succeeded by the mechanic, the artist by the plane pusher.
To the east of the Drawing room is a small room, perhaps originally a library, with the same trim and embellishments as the former. There is some evidence that this was at one time part of the drawing room, making one long room entirely across the front of the house, but it seems hard to account for this in plan if the window on the East elevation which has been moved, was formerly on axis.
The entire house, inside and out, shows a careful, studied solution of a domestic architectural problem that the modern architect may study with profit. As an inspiration in designing a modern American house, it is certainly more fitting than the Italian, Spanish and other foreign styles that have been “the thing” lately. American architecture has an indigenous background that deserves more consideration at the hands of her architects than it is given. If the young American, whose steps are on the brink of an architectural career, would take heed to the slogan “See America First”, our homes would begin to reflect our ancestry and not the “Melting Pot”.
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXVI |
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXVII |
SIDE PORCH—THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXVII |
FRONT PORCH—THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXIX |
Detail of Front Porch
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXX |
Detail of Front Porch
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXI |
Detail of Window
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
EARLY AMERICAN DOCUMENTS
With MEASURED DRAWINGS from
The George F. Lindsay Collection
The SMALLWOOD-JONES HOUSE NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
EAST SIDE ELEVATION
Drawings are reproduced exactly at the scale marked
Drawings are reproduced exactly at the scale marked
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXII |
Detail of Dormer and Cornice
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXIII |
SECOND FLOOR DRAWING ROOM—THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
[Measured Drawings of this room, published in Volume XIII, Number 2]
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXIV |
FIRST FLOOR HALL—THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
[Measured Drawings of the stair, published in Volume XIII, Number 2]
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXV |
Detail at Foot of Stairs
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXVI |
Stair at Second Floor Level
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
| VOL. XIII, NO. 3 | PLATE XXXVII |
Detail of Dining Room Mantel
THE SMALLWOOD—JONES HOUSE, NEW BERN, NORTH CAROLINA
NOTES FOR THE SPECIFICATION WRITER
In Connection with Drawing on Page 71
Nationally accepted standard trade association lumber terms should be used in an architect's specification, rather than the obsolete or local grade names. This will eliminate much of the confusion now existing between the architect, builder and lumber dealer and will also save the client the possibility of having to pay a “safety premium,” necessitated by specifications which are not clearly understood by those who contract to supply the lumber. In the suggestions that follow, offered for the assistance of the specification writer in connection with the wood construction details, shown on the following page, the data is stated in terms which have become standard in the producing districts from which the different species are obtained.
Special attention is called to INSULATION: one of the most important of recent developments in the building field
LUMBER: In view of the dangers of green or only partially seasoned lumber getting into a building and to establish the authority for the grade names used in the following specifications, it is suggested that a general clause be included in all specifications where lumber is specified as follows:
Specifications-General: “All lumber for any purpose mentioned in these specifications shall be at least air dry when delivered for use and shall be in accordance with the standard lumber association grading rules of the producing district from which the particular kind of lumber furnished shall come.”
FRAMING OR STRUCTURAL LUMBER: The lumber required for framing or purely structural purposes need not, of course, be clear lumber so long as such technical defects as it contains do not impair its strength or serviceability for this use. In fact, it would be nothing short of gross extravagance to demand clear lumber for this use. Furthermore, there are several different woods from as many different lumber-producing regions of practically equal structural merit as far as all ordinary house building requirements are concerned. Which one of these woods to choose in any given locality is therefore a question as to which one can be purchased in that locality most economically, a matter determined largely by the distance from the source of production and the consequent freight haul to the market in question. For this reason the specification of Structural lumber should be more or less elastic as is suggested in the following notes:
STUDDING, PLATES, RAFTERS, JOISTS, LOOKOUTS, ETC.
Specifications: “All structural members, including studding, plates, rafters, joists, blocking, etc., shall be No. 1 Common grade Douglas Fir (or Pacific Coast Hemlock) or (Northern Pine) or (Fir and Larch) and shall be at least air dry when delivered on the job.”
SHEATHING & ROOF BOARDS: The structural requirements of these items being less rigid than for the structural items listed above, lower grades should be permitted for reasons of economy.
The common grades suggested in the following specification may be run to a Shiplap pattern or dressed and matched (D&M) as preferred.
The choice of species for these uses is even more inclusive than that suggested above for dimension lumber.
Specification: “All sheathing lumber and roof boards shall be No. 3 Common grade (or No. 4 Common grade) Northern Pine (or Pondosa Pine) or (No. 3 Common Fir and Larch) or (White Fir) or (No. 1 Common) or (No. 2 Common Douglas Fir) or (Pacific Coast Hemlock 6″ (or 8″ or 10″) D&M (or run to standard shiplap).”
SUB FLOORS: For sub floors the same specification may be used unless for reasons of economy it may be desired to permit the use of “random widths” and “mixed lengths” square-edged lumber.
INSULATION: As suggested at the top of this page no single item in the construction of the modern house is more essential to comfort, both winter and summer, than a proper job of wall and roof insulation. Nor is there a more important factor in making a house easy and economical to heat. The brand of insulation recommended, namely, Balsam-Wool, is a Weyerhaeuser product, made from chemically treated, fire-resistant, sanitary wood fibre made waterproof and windproof between two sheets of tough, asphalt-lined kraft paper. It is a blanket form of insulation; flexible to permit a good, tight job and of greater practical insulating efficiency than any other similar product on the market today.
A good job of insulation requires that the insulation material be flexible and capable of tucking in to calk the cracks. This is particularly essential around window frames.
It may be a new thought to many that exterior brick walls should be insulated. Various researches on the subject have proven conclusively, however, that approximately 31% more heat escapes through an uninsulated 8″ brick wall than through the ordinary uninsulated frame wall. The reason, of course, is not hard to understand. Brick is a conductor of heat. It is also porous enough to absorb moisture, which, if any thing, increases its conductivity.
Tests on actual wall sections show that the result of insulating an 8″ brick wall with one layer of Balsam-Wool is to reduce the heat loss 59% from which it would appear that the elimination of “cold damp walls” and the reduction in the amount of fuel required to heat the uninsulated house make insulation a matter not of expense, but of comfort and actual economy.
Suggested specifications for a complete job of insulation are on file in most architects’ offices or may be secured from any of the branch offices of the Wood Conversion Company (Weyerhaeuser By-Products Division), at 1955 University Avenue, Saint Paul; 1849 Straus Building, Chicago; and 103 Park Avenue, New York.
[Continued on page 72]
Wood Construction · Details · Suggested · By Weyerhaeuser · Forest · Products Saint · Paul · Minnesota
Wood Construction · Details · Suggested · By Weyerhaeuser · Forest · Products Saint · Paul · Minnesota
WOOD CONSTRUCTION DETAILS INSULATION (Continued)
Specifications-General: “Heat insulation shall be standard ½″ thick Balsam-Wool, except for roof or top-floor ceiling insulation which shall be 1″ thick Balsam-Wool, manufactured by the Wood Conversion Company (Weyerhaeuser By-Products Division), Cloquet, Minnesota. Continuity of insulation shall be maintained. Where floors, ceilings or roofs are insulated, as well as outside walls, insulate thoroughly between joists and rafter ends. Throughout, all joints shall be made airtight, especially at door and window openings. Use full-length strips of insulation. End joints, where necessary, shall be butted and covered with lath, nailed through insulation to boarding or header. Insulation strips shall in all cases run in the same direction as studding, joists and rafters.”
For Masonry Outside Wall Insulation: “Fur the wall with 1″ × 2″ furring strips, 16″ O. C. shimmed plumb and true. Insulate with 33″ width Balsam-Wool applied on inside faces of furring, edges butted together on every other strip. Fur over insulation with 1″ × 2″ furring strip, on each wall; furring strips to receive lath and plaster.”
For Frame Outside Wall Insulation: Insulate with 17″ width Balsam-Wool applied vertically between studding with back of insulation against inside face of sheathing. The flanges or turnouts shall be continuously fastened by means of laths or strips nailed securely through insulation to the studding on the sides and to sills, plates or headers at the top and bottom.
For Roof Insulation: Insulate with 17″ width Balsam-Wool 1″ thick applied between the rafters with back of insulation against inside face of roof boarding. The flanges or turnouts shall be continuously fastened by means of laths or strips nailed securely through insulation to the sides of rafters, plates, ridges, etc.
SHINGLES: For roof covering of maximum service and lower cost plus the further important advantages of pleasing appearance, no roofing has yet been found to replace the better grades of wood shingle such as are obtainable in all markets today. The White Pine shingles of early days have given way to Western Red Cedar and practically all wood shingles these days are made of this wood. The inherent durability of Western Red Cedar meets the needs fully; the only precautions necessary are to see that the proper grade and thickness of shingles is specified and that they are properly laid with double galvanized or other durable nails.
To cover only the proper specification of the best grade of material the following specification is suggested:
Specification: “Shingles shall be 5 to 2 (5 butts measuring 2 inches) Western Red Cedar, “A” grade and 100% vertical grain as per the new American Lumber Standard Specifications for 16″ shingles.”
SIDING: For siding two woods suggest themselves, and both are obtainable out of the average lumber dealer's stock in the size indicated in the construction drawing on the preceding page. Bevel Siding, for instance, is regularly made and stocked by most dealers in 4″ and 6″ widths (finished to 3½″ and 5½″) in both Genuine White Pine and Western Red Cedar. Wider siding 8″, 10″ and 12″ wide (finished to 7½″, 9½″ and 11½″ respectively) is called Bungalow Siding but is of exactly the same pattern as the Bevel Siding referred to above and is also available out of stock in either of the woods just mentioned.
The following specification is suggested:
Specification: “Siding shall be 6″ standard Bevel Siding, or ¾″ × 8″ or 10″ or 12″ standard Bungalow Siding, ‘B and Better’ grade (or “C” grade) Genuine White Pine,” or “Siding shall be 6″ Standard Bevel Siding, Clear grade (or “A” grade) Western Red Cedar,” or (¾″ × 8″ or 10″ or 12″ standard Bungalow Siding, No. 2 ‘Clear and Better’ grade Western Red Cedar).
CORNICE AND OUTSIDE TRIM: For outside trim, including casings, cornice lumber, mouldings, and all finished woodwork, etc., there is no satisfactory substitute for Genuine White Pine in the better class of building construction. A naturally durable wood, White Pine does not shrink, swell, check, crack, split, twist, warp or rot under exposure to the most exacting climatic conditions. It does not creep or crawl or open at the joints. In fine, close fitted mitres or in delicately moulded, carved work its joints hold close. It is light and soft—yet strong; no other wood works so easily under the carpenter's tools and once in place it forever “stays put”.
Because of its close grain and freedom from objectionable acids and oils it has the further advantage of taking and holding paints and stains perfectly.
Inasmuch as these items are usually furnished by the millwork house, manufactured from “shop” or “factory grades,” no grade specification is recommended beyond that suggested in the following specification:
Specification: “All exterior trim, including casings, cornice lumber, mouldings, and all finished woodwork, etc., shall be cut from Genuine White Pine (Pinus Strobus or Pinus Monticola), free from sapwood and of such grade as to yield practically clear faces on all exposed surfaces.”
WEYERHAEUSER FOREST PRODUCTS
Merchants National Bank Building
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA
WEYERHAEUSER FOREST PRODUCTSSERVICE AND SALES DEPARTMENTS OF THE
WEYERHAEUSER AFFILIATED COMPANIES
PRODUCERS of Northern White Pine and Norway Pine in the LAKE STATES; Idaho White Pine, Pondosa Pine, Idaho Spruce, Red Fir and Larch in the INLAND EMPIRE; Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar and Pacific Coast Hemlock on the PACIFIC COAST.
SERVICE DEPARTMENT
WEYERHAEUSER FOREST PRODUCTS
MERCHANTS NATIONAL BANK BUILDING
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA
Telephone: CEDAR 6789
SALES DEPARTMENT
WEYERHAEUSER SALES COMPANY
OLD NATIONAL BANK BUILDING
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
Telephone: MAIN 984
Weyerhaeuser Forest Products
BRANCH SERVICE & SALES OFFICES
| MINNEAPOLIS | CHICAGO | BALTIMORE | PHILADELPHIA | NEW YORK |
| 806 Plymouth Building | 208 South LaSalle Street | Lexington Building | 1600 Arch Street | 285 Madison Avenue |
| Telephone Geneva 7329 | Telephone Wabash 3365 | Telephone Plaza 6061 | Telephone Rittenhouse 7866 | Telephone Caledonia 2187 |
| PITTSBURGH | TOLEDO | PORTSMOUTH | SAINT PAUL |
| 2401 First Nat. Bank Bldg. | 1313 Sec. Nat. Bank Bldg. | Rhode Island | 2563 Franklin Avenue |
| Telephone Atlantic 2652 | Telephone Main 6503 | Telephone 79 ring 2 | Telephone Midway 7510 |
DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVES IN 75 PRINCIPAL CITIES IN:
| COLORADO | IOWA | MISSOURI | NEW YORK | SOUTH DAKOTA |
| CONNECTICUT | MASSACHUSETTS | MONTANA | NORTH DAKOTA | UTAH |
| ILLINOIS | MICHIGAN | NEBRASKA | OHIO | WEST VIRGINIA |
| INDIANA | MINNESOTA | NEW JERSEY | PENNSYLVANIA | WISCONSIN |
| SPECIES OF WOODS | |||
| WHITE PINE | PONDOSA PINE | IDAHO SPRUCE | DOUGLAS FIR |
| NORWAY PINE | RED FIR AND LARCH | PACIFIC COAST HEMLOCK | WESTERN RED CEDAR |
PRODUCTS MANUFACTURED
ROUGH and FINISHED LUMBER
POSTS, POLES and PILING
“BALSAM-WOOL”—Building Insulation
BOOK, NEWS-PRINT and WRAPPING PAPER
| NAME AND LOCATION OF MANUFACTURING PLANTS | |
| BOISE PAYETTE LUMBER CO., Boise, Idaho | THE NORTHWEST PAPER CO., Cloquet, Minnesota |
| BONNERS FERRY LUMBER CO., Bonners Ferry, Idaho | POTLATCH LUMBER CO., Potlatch, Idaho |
| CLOQUET LUMBER CO., Cloquet, Minn. | EDWARD RUTLEDGE TIMBER CO., Coeur D'Alene, Idaho |
| HUMBIRD LUMBER CO., Sandpoint, Idaho | SNOQUALMIE FALLS LUMBER CO., Snoqualmie Falls, Wash. |
| JOHNSON-WENTWORTH CO., Cloquet, Minn. | WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO., Everett, Washington |
| THE NORTHERN LUMBER CO., Cloquet, Minn. | WOOD CONVERSION CO., Cloquet, Minn. |
| DISTRIBUTING YARDS | |
| WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO., Baltimore, Maryland | WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO., SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA |
| WEYERHAEUSER TIMBER CO., Portsmouth, Rhode Island |
