Houses Archives - Page 4 of 5

Diagonal White Pine Paneling Gives a Fresh Look to Maine Cottage

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

Diagonally installed wood paneling can be a fresh, visually interesting, modern update on the warm, cozy wood-lined look. The lines create a sense of movement, making a room feel more dynamic than it would with horizontal or vertical paneling. In this case, it was installed in a gorgeous green cottage getaway on an island 20 miles off the coast of Maine.

Designed for a journalist and retired professor, who has owned the lot on this off-grid island for years, the cottage has lots of floor-to-ceiling windows to take advantage of the views of both the forest and the sea. Most of the construction work on the home was done without the aid of power tools. (See more photos at Dwell.)

Want to get this look in your home? Wood paneled walls have made a big comeback in recent years, so there are plenty of inspirational projects online that’ll give you ideas of your own. Check out a gallery of diagonal paneling at Houzz.com, which features everything from dark and dramatic focus walls in a living room to modern bathroom installations.

Architectural Monographs: Interior Woodwork in New England

Posted on September 6, 2013October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

From the earliest interiors of colonial houses, which were almost medieval in nature, to the more refined details of subsequent periods throughout history, American interiors have one thing in common: woodwork rich in character, lending a sense of time and place. Volume XI, Issue II of the historic White Pine Architectural Monographs explores the evolution of interior woodwork in New England, and how it related to furnishings and other elements of the home.

“Every joiner, cabinet-maker, housewright, carpenter, or carpenter-builder of the 18th century worked in the style of the time freely interpreted,” writes author Edwin J. Hipkiss. “All moulded work from the cornice of a high chest to the cornice of a mansion was cut by hand with planes formed to make the curved elements of this simple architecture of classical origin.”

“In the woodwork of both the 17th and the 18th centuries the element of craftsmanship is important. The work of intelligent men, proud of a manual skill passed on from master to apprentice or from father to son, produced an ever fresh handling of well-known forms that were acceptable to several generations.”

While some modern architectural styles of the 21st century have done away with detailed woodwork in favor of cleaner lines, there’s still an appreciation for such craftsmanship to this day, and contemporary woodworkers strive to preserve these arts. This volume of the White Pine Monographs goes into detail about the wooden elements that could be found in the homes of various time periods, with lots of photos and architectural drawings.

Architectural Monographs: Early Wooden Architecture of Massachusetts

Posted on August 30, 2013October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Since they were founded in 1646, the towns of Andover and North Andover in Essex County, Massachusetts have served as an example of typical New England tradition and civilization, and that includes their architecture. These towns may have changed, like the rest of America, since this issue of the White Pine Architectural Monographs was written in 1917, but many of the homes featured here as illustrations of early wooden architecture still stand.

Of particular note is Andover Hill, where a group of about fifty houses sprung up after the establishment of the Phillips Academy in 1778. The author of this monograph, Addison B. LeBoutillier, notes that the occupants of these houses “left names well known in history, literature and theology.” Among notable early Andover residents are New England’s first published poet, Anne Bradstreet, and her husband, Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet. When this monograph was written, the house labeled ‘Governor Bradstreet House’ was believed to have truly been that of the Bradstreets, built in 1667, but historians have since realized that it was misidentified. It’s now known as the Parson Barnard House, believed to have been built in 1715.

Other interesting wooden buildings in Andover and what is now West Andover include a number of gambrel houses, and spacious three-story houses “of a courtly period when the aristocratic ideas of old-country traditions still held in the style of living and social customs of the Colonies.”

Learn more about the history of America’s earliest architecture in Volume III, Issue II of the historic White Pine Architectural Monographs.

Hand-Hewn Eastern White Pine ‘Jupiter Barn’ by Vermont Timber Works

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Jeff Easterling

With a frame cut from native Eastern White Pine and hewn by hand with an adze and slick, the Jupiter Barn house in Hunter, New York by Vermont Timber Works is a beautiful example of handcrafted traditional architecture made of a sustainable material. This home features a gambrel-style frame, traditional wood joinery, a wrap-around porch on the lower level and a balcony.

The post and beam frame not only provides the basic structure for this standout home, it’s also a main architectural feature of the interior. The rustic, rough finish of the wood provides striking visual flair, especially in contrast to the smoother finishes of drywall and contemporary-style wood flooring.

Vermont Timber Works chose Eastern White Pine not only because it’s a material that grows locally, and is therefore economical and environmentally friendly to procure, but also because of its stability. White Pine is a popular choice for residential timber frames, because it’s less expensive than alternatives like Douglas Fir.

Jupiter Barn is just one of many striking hand-crafted structures with traditional framing styles produced by Vermont Timber Works. The company, based in North Springfield, provides lots of details about the whole building process (accompanied by plenty of photos) on their website, VermontTimberWorks.com.

Architectural Monographs: Houses of the Middle and Southern Colonies

Posted on July 5, 2013October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

In the latter eighteenth century, American architects rediscovered the simple and classic Colonial style found in the earliest architecture of New England, and brought it to the middle and southern colonies of the United States. Written in 1916, Volume II, Issue I of the White Pine Series of Architectural Monographs explains how this revival came about, and shows off examples throughout Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and other modern-day states.

A personal account of travels to these homes by architectural historian Frank E. Wallis, this monograph is an ode to what Wallis deems the true American typology of architecture. The buildings in which many of our nation’s most important historical events have occurred, including the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was Colonial.

Fresh from a trip to Europe, Wallis drew comparisons between the venerated architecture of the Old World and the unpretentious Colonial style, nothing that “architecture does catch some of the characteristics of those people who create it; the manners and customs of the people, who must necessarily express themselves in brick, wood, and stone and color, must be and are reflected in the buildings.”

Virginia gets special attention in this historical record. “The streets in the little villages of the South are lined with these charming and restful homes, and you will also find in the type which we will call the outhouses of the great mansions, the same care in design and the same restraint in composition and ornament which are illustrated in the charming Williamsburg, Falmouth, and Fredericksburg examples: all of them supreme in their place, and all of them creating a restful atmosphere such as you may find between the covers of ‘Cranford,” writes Wallis.

Architectural Monographs: The Boston Post Road

Posted on June 28, 2013October 21, 2021 by Jeff Easterling

Connecticut’s earliest settlements were made not along the water, like most, but inland, in the center of the state. This fact may seem surprising at first, but it’s because the first outsiders to arrive there came not from the sea, but overland from Massachusetts to found a small group of colonial communities in the fertile bottomlands along the Connecticut River. Smaller towns that cropped up around it were often found along the Boston Post Road, the route between Boston and New York City.

Written in 1920, Volume VI, Issue I of the White Pine Architectural Monographs examines the homes in these towns. “Where in the big and prosperous cities the proportion of old houses is almost negligible, and the absolute number very few, in the small old towns one could almost fancy one was miraculously returned to the Colonial period, so many old wood-built houses remain.”

The houses along Boston Post Road are described as “alike as beads on the string – beads of the same pattern and the same color.” Each little town was centered around the “green”, which was dominated by a church. The houses are simple square boxes with low-pitched gable roofs. Architectural details in cornices, doorways and windows were sparingly deployed, resulting in homes as unfussy as the English names of the towns. Yet one one looks closer, there is still variety to be found.

Read more at the White Pine Monograph Library.