Part 2
Blinds. The louvered (slanted slat) blinds on exterior walls at windows and front doors began to come into use about 1840. They certainly do dress up a house but otherwise have little or no use at Nantucket. A really old house is in the best of taste without them and with a saving of expense. Always (on an old house) they should be painted a dark green. The earliest were quite heavy, without moveable louvers. Most now in existence are lighter weight and usually with tilting slats, an unnecessary provision. Solid paneled shutters, general in many parts of the country, as at Philadelphia, were not used at Nantucket.
Conductors. Fortunately, modern sheet metal down spouts from gutters to take the water down to or under ground are inconspicuous. They have been freely used to replace the older spouts which have decayed. It is, however, feasible, desirable and quite inexpensive to replace with wooden down spouts of either circular or square section like the originals.
Front Doorway. This opening into the house was closed by a door of six raised panels with flush mouldings, the topmost pair of panels small, and very seldom taken out and replaced with glass. A characteristic of these doors was that the middle rail was wide, almost 10”, with the bottom rail much narrower. Many of the old doorways had no glass about them, but as time advanced glass was used across the top of the doorway, spoken of as a top light or transom, and glass was employed vertically on either side of the door, known as sidelights. Very infrequently at Nantucket the muntins of the top light radiate from the center to either a circular or oval top, known as a fanlight.
Architectural ornamentation on the exterior wall surrounding the doorway, known as the frontispiece, was not employed in the older houses, many of which had plain plank frames with a header, but after the Revolution the frontispiece came more and more into use, but even then was not highly ornate. Many frontispieces now seen on the old houses were added in the period from 1800 to 1850 and followed the designs in English architectural books. Recessed doorways appeared in the classic period, accompanied by fewer panels and heavier mouldings. Plain double-boarded outside doors were undoubtedly used in the oldest houses. Paneled doors appeared in Nantucket probably about 1730.
Entry. The modern name for this is vestibule. Reference is to the enclosed projection over the front door infrequently found on the old houses. This had a gable roof and sometimes side windows. It generally entered directly into the stairway hall or, in older times, into the kitchen. It usually occurred that entries were not constructed with the original house but added subsequently.
Windows. At Nantucket, prior to about 1720, leaded panes were used. From then on to around 1790 small panes, about 5” × 7”, were used with wooden muntins, and mostly three lights wide. From about 1790 to about 1825 glass was generally about 7” × 9” with 24 lights, except that many narrow panes were used with less number of lights. Muntins grew smaller as time advanced. From about 1825 on, 12 lights were mostly used, with 8” × 10” and 10” × 14” glass, almost invariably 3 lights wide. The large panes (sheet glass) came into general use soon after the Civil War, about 1865, using one or two such panes to a sash. While our census shows in the old houses a large proportion having but 12 panes to a front window, it is a fact that in a majority of these houses part or all of the side windows and the rear windows are apt to be of 24 panes. Therefore at some period the front windows had been replaced to conform to the even then changing mode and the improved financial status of the owner, or frequently second-hand material was employed in building a new house, when old multi-paned sash was used at the rear and the sides while new 6-light sash were built for the front.
Window frames on old houses were of plank and projected from the wall. See drawings No. 14 and No. 15. It is most important to faithfully continue this practice in all alterations and new construction. The Nantucket carpenters are accustomed to make such frames.
Roof Walks. You will observe from quotations of old writings to be found later in this book that they were most frequent. They are not today, our analysis showing but 35 in a total of 319 houses. It has been stated that after the decline of whaling these walks were taken down when they got out of repair and since they no longer served a useful purpose. They were called “walks,” and for the purpose of identification they are here spoken of as roof walks. How the late William F. Macy decried their being called “captains’ walks” or “widows’ walks!”
High Basements. The massive chimneys were frequently of large area at the lowest level. This was for a bake oven and cooking fireplace, located in the basement. These basements extended several feet above and below the ground level, with ample windows, generally four panes high, and contained the kitchen, sometimes spoken of as the winter kitchen. The basements were sheltered from the wind and cold during the winter season.
Cupolas and Roof Balustrades. These were not employed here until about 1800, mostly 1830 to 1860, and are not much in evidence.
“95% Perfect.” Manifestly this was a generalization to crystallize an impression, yet our census analysis of 365 houses in the old districts shows but 46 modern or mixed type, intermingled; say 12½%. On the old houses we find various added modern detractions, frequently several kinds on one house, but many of them not serious. So let us estimate that these old-district dwellings are still 85% perfect--an astonishingly large percentage of unharmed oldness to be found in this day and generation in over 400 closely grouped houses. We have much to be thankful for.
DATED HOUSES
Many exterior features assist in suggesting the approximate date or origin of an old house and a knowledge of what is behind the exterior would allow a more accurate conclusion. But this information is not needed for our purposes.
We would like to say, however, that fixing a precise year date for the building of a house is most difficult here in Nantucket, just as it has been found to be, for those attempting to do so, in respect to old houses at off-island locations. There is no evidence of building material being derived from trees growing on this Island except by the early settlers. Statements found in early writings speak of house frames being brought from the mainland. There is knowledge of much timber and lumber and shingles being brought, principally from Maine, but also from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Packets made frequent voyages to Maine in the early days. Even firewood was brought from the mainland. Hence, second-hand building material was saved and used again and even again, including window-sash and doors. Houses were frequently moved in whole or in part. There are many larger and more expensive houses on the sites of smaller, older ones. Occasionally houses were removed to make room for lawns and to give more light and air to the remaining houses. In the years after the decline and demise of the whaling industry, great numbers were taken down and the material shipped away, often to distant points, or used for local firewood. As an illustration, Messrs. George C. Gardner and Allen Smith are reported to have taken down some 270 houses during a decade or more after the Civil War, many being sent to Cape Cod, at times cut into bays and shipped on deck.
Old Deeds and Wills record a certain lot of land “with house thereon.” Frequently, this causes the present-day owner to willingly assume that his present “house thereon” is the same. The number of houses out of this 319, where evidence could be adduced which would stand in a court of law, showing the year in which the existing house was built, are very few. But what of it, so long as we do not fool ourselves. The error in fixing the precise date of the building of a house is well described by Worth in Nant. Hist. Assn. V. 2, Bul. 5, which might be read to advantage by those who set much store in exact dates.
CONCLUSION
Simplicity, directness, proportion, balance and truth of expression are the fundamentals of this architectural style. In our modern, quantity production, machine age, with forms and materials largely new and constantly changing, old Nantucket town offers to many whose taste is not for the restless experimental new but for the proven old, a haven of rest, peace, comfort and constant delight.
THE PHOTOGRAPHS
Sufficient houses have been photographed to illustrate fully the text. They have been well chosen for this purpose but are no more interesting, in their oldness, than the much greater number which we regret not showing, due to a limit of size for this book.
Here you will find houses of the three periods with all the described characteristics: old and new; good and bad.
The architectural details desired are shown as viewed in November and May. Admittedly, much more charming views of a number could be obtained from different angles or distances or when the foliage is on and the shadows present.
[Illustration: 15 PEARL ST.]
[Illustration: 109 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 19 LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: ACADEMY HILL]
[Illustration: 58 FAIR ST.]
[Illustration: 3 ACADEMY LANE]
[Illustration: 43 CENTRE ST.]
[Illustration: 47 CENTRE ST.]
[Illustration: 51 CENTRE ST.]
[Illustration: 2 CHESTER ST.]
[Illustration: 60 CLIFF ROAD]
[Illustration: 15 FAIR ST.]
[Illustration: 29 AND 31 FAIR ST.]
[Illustration: 60 FAIR ST.]
[Illustration: 10 GARDNER ST.]
[Illustration: 16 GARDNER ST.]
[Illustration: 5 GAY ST.]
[Illustration: 2 GORHAM’S COURT]
[Illustration: 15 LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: 26 LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: 27 AND 29 LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: 31 LILY ST.]
[Illustration: 72 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 75 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 78 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 85 AND 87 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 91 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 94 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 95 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 96 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 98 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 99 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 100 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 102 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 105 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 117 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 121 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 139 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 153 MAIN ST.]
[Illustration: 9 MILK ST.]
[Illustration: 11 MILK ST.]
[Illustration: 21 MILK ST.]
[Illustration: 8 MILL ST.]
[Illustration: 9 MILL ST.]
[Illustration: 17 NO. LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: 47 NO. LIBERTY ST.]
[Illustration: 15 NO. WATER ST.]
[Illustration: 23 NO. WATER ST.]
[Illustration: 5 ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: “THE BLOCK,” ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: 14 ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: 40 ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: 33 ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: 53 ORANGE ST.]
[Illustration: 18 PEARL ST.]
[Illustration: 28 PEARL ST.]
[Illustration: 43 PEARL ST.]
[Illustration: 8 PINE ST.]
[Illustration: 10 PINE ST.]
[Illustration: 18 PINE ST.]
[Illustration: 7 PLEASANT ST.]
[Illustration: 8 PLEASANT ST.]
[Illustration: 15 PLEASANT ST.]
[Illustration: 19 PLEASANT ST.]
[Illustration: 9 QUINCE ST.]
[Illustration: 2 WEST SILVER ST.]
[Illustration: SUNSET HILL]
[Illustration: 18 UNION ST.]
[Illustration: 21 UNION ST.]
DESCRIPTIONS OF NANTUCKET
The people for whom the old dwellings were built and the conditions under which they lived were responsible for the architecture.
Here are extracts from most of the older writings, and some later ones, which writings should be read in full by those interested.
1772--This is the date the author (Crevecoeur) of Letters From An American Farmer, by J. Hector St. John, visited this island. The “Letters” were written in English and first published in London in 1782. There was a French edition of 1784 and one of 1787. This is the earliest descriptive writing of Nantucket with which we are familiar. It consists of nearly one hundred pages, with a map, and should be read entire by all who love their old Nantucket. Subsequent articles and histories of the Island have not failed to make use of what St. John wrote.
It is best to state that M. St. Jean de Crevecoeur may not have been accurate in some details, as for instance the extent to which building frames and foundations were brought from the mainland. The writer of 1807 quoted hereinafter says of St. John’s Letters.
… “his pictures, though striking likenesses, are always flattering. Another objection is that he is frequently erroneous in minute and unimportant circumstances. He gives the contour and character of the face exactly though, as said before, in too favorable a light, but he makes strange mistakes in the sleeve of a coat or the strap of a shoe. If the reader has good nature enough to pardon these two faults, he will peruse the Letters with perpetual delight.”
The following quotations are assembled from the “Letters:”
“The Island has nothing deserving of notice but its inhabitants; here you meet with neither ancient monuments, spacious halls, solemn temples nor elegant dwellings; not a citadel nor any kind of fortification, not even a battery to rend the air. Their rural improvements are all of the most simple and useful kind. Sherburn is the only town on the Island, which consists of about 530 houses that have been framed on the main. They are lathed and plastered within, handsomely painted and boarded without. Each has a cellar underneath, built with stones also fetched from the main. They are all of a similar construction in appearance, plain and entirely devoid of exterior or interior ornament. I observed but one which was built of bricks, belonging to Mr. ----, but like the rest it is unadorned. Quayes is a small but valuable tract long since purchased by Mr. Coffin where he has erected the best house on the Island. The differences which I observed in the people are founded on nothing more than the good or ill success of their maritime enterprises and do not proceed from education. That is the same through every class: simple, useful and unadorned, like their dress and their houses. They are well acquainted with the cheapest method of procuring lumber from the Kennebeck and Penobscot Rivers. All their houses are neat, convenient and comfortable. Some of them are filled with two families, for when the husbands are at sea the wives require less house room. Those who possess the greatest fortunes at present belong to the Society of Friends. They yearly go to different parts of this continent, constantly engaged in sea affairs. Sometimes they have emigrated like bees. Some have settled on the famous river Kennebeck, clearing the heaviest timbered land in America, and instead of entirely consuming their timber as we are obliged to do, some parts of it are converted into useful articles for exportation, such as staves, boards, hoops, barrels, etc. For that purpose they keep a correspondence with their native island, and I know many of the principal inhabitants of Sherburn, who though merchants and living at Nantucket, yet possess valuable farms, on that river, from whence they draw a great part of their substance, meat, grain, firewood, etc. Yet there are not at Nantucket so many wealthy people, after having considered their great successes. The reason of this, I believe, is that their island supplies the town with little or nothing (with few families excepted). Everyone must procure what they want from the main. Here are neither Scotch, Irish nor French, as in the case in most other settlements. They are an unmixed English breed.”
1791--By Walter Folger, jun., dated Nantucket, May 21, (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.)
“In 1790 the whole number of inhabitants was 4619. They for the most part are a robust and enterprising people, mostly seamen and mechanics. It is no strange thing to see the same man occupy the station of a merchant, at other times that of a husbandman or of a blacksmith or of a cooper or of a number of other occupations.”
1792--By Zaccheus Macy, dated Nantucket, 15th of 5th mo. 1792 (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.)
“In the year 1659 Thomas Macy removed with his family from Salisbury to the west end of the island to a place called Madakit harbour. Thither came four from Martha’s Vineyard for the sake of gunning and lived with them as boarders. At that time there were near 3000 Indians on Nantucket. They were willing to sell their land and the English went on purchasing, beginning at the west end of the island.”
Further on, Mr. Macy, alluding to the then (1792) status of affairs on the island, states:
“A great many of our most substantial men, lured by the hope of large bounties, have moved from the island, some to England, some to France and others to Halifax, where they carry on the whale fishery. This is a great damage to us. If these persons had carried away with them their part of the poor it would have lightened our burden, for we now have 215 widows, of whom not thirty are able to support themselves without the assistance of friends and neighbors and some are maintained by the town. We have besides a great number of poor, but we have a considerable number of able and industrious men who carry on the whale fishery.”
1801--Josiah Quincy made a journey through the southeast parts of New England in 1801. He kept a diary which is most interesting reading. (Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc.) The following are brief quotations from it:
“The town of Nantucket appears from the harbor as large as Salem but exhibits no marks of elegance or splendour. With one or two exceptions they (the houses) are built wholly of wood and have but two stories. By far the greater number are without paint and with those which have it, red is the predominant color. They are built generally upon the street. The almost total want of trees, houses and fences in the interior part of the island makes the road very uninteresting. Once in every two or three miles a single farmhouse appears, surrounded by half a dozen dwarf cherry trees. Such an assemblage is a wood on Nantucket, where there is not a tree of native growth. We dined with Dr. and Mrs. Easton.”
1807--A writer, under date of Aug. 1, 1807, (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.) states:
“The town stands on the west side of the harbour and is a mile and a half in length and a third of a mile in breadth. It contains 850 dwelling houses (including 15 at Podpis, Quayz, Squam, etc.) 63 stores, a great number of shops, besides candle works, rope walks, etc., five wharves and five windmills. The town, with exception of one or two houses, is built of wood. The houses are generally two stories in height; some of them have clapboards in front; but the greatest part of them are covered with shingles. Several of them are painted green. They are convenient buildings, but there is not much elegance in their appearance.”
Later on in his notes, he states:
“House lots in the town sell for from $100 to $200 a square rod; rents are low, few exceeding $100 a year. The greatest part of the houses are owned by those who live in them. The present number of inhabitants is estimated at 6730.”
1811--Joseph Sansom, in The Port Folio, Jan. 1811:
“The Nantucket stores and houses are built of timber, are mostly painted red or white and are crowned by the steeples, or rather towers, of two Presbyterian meeting houses. Several new streets have been laid out in straight lines and a number of houses have been built within a year or two with ceilings of 10 feet high. This, however, is considered a piece of useless extravagance, the old-fashioned stories of eight or nine feet being generally reckoned high enough, and to spare. Every other house in this seafaring place has a lookout upon the roof or a vane at the gable end; to see what ships have arrived from sea or whether the wind is fair for the packets.”
1850 (before and after)--
Joseph E. C. Farnham was born in Nantucket in 1849. He was a keen observer of the people of the Island and their customs and wrote at considerable length “Brief Historical Data and Memories of My Boyhood Days at Nantucket.” It delightfully describes the town at the close of the whaling era.
Worth observes that “the gambrel-roofed house never attracted the attention of the Nantucket people. The few that are still standing were erected after 1750. After the Revolution, when prosperity dawned on the Island, the common type of house was the square two-story structure, with large center chimney, numerous examples of which are to be seen. The same regard for ancient houses has also led people to retain the large center chimney. While in many towns desire for increased room or for the appearance of a small chimney has led house owners to replace the old structure with one greatly inferior in size, at Nantucket the disposition has prevailed to keep without change this distinguishing mark of the 18th century construction.”
1876--Nantucket after the end of the whaling, at its lowest ebb. Read “Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast” by S. A. Drake.
1882--This date is early in a new period of prosperity due to the summer visitors. The back log and fore log of this growing and practically only sizeable remaining “industry” are now the owners and renters of houses. Visitors used to come for a “vacation” of a few days or weeks, but now they stay the season or longer. Read “Island of Nantucket, What It Was and What It Is” by E. K. Godfrey.
1924--From an article by Walter Prichard Eaton:
Individually, and in the mass, the architecture of old Nantucket was and is extraordinarily dignified in its quiet simplicity and nice proportions, and often really exquisite in its use of ornamental detail.
Nearly every other American town, once rich in Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century architecture, has been injured by the intermingling of later buildings, but by a curious set of economic chances, old Nantucket has almost entirely escaped, and remains today architecturally much as it was when the crest of the whaling prosperity enabled the islanders to build it more than a century ago.
Then came sophisticated moderns, and the best these moderns could do were hideous casinos, sprawling cottages with verandas stuck all over them helter-skelter, houses with broken and meaningless roof lines, windows badly spaced and without style, ornamentation without dignity, gingerbread trimmings and nothing, anywhere, that had repose, unity, beauty of outline, or even adaptability to its site.
The Puritans of Nantucket left behind no poems or plays, but to say they left behind no art is ridiculous. They left behind an entire town which is a work of art, in its way as charming and as nearly perfect as anything in the Old World, and utterly different from anything in the Old World--a unique expression. They were able to do this because, to them, art was expressed through the crafts, and every man who used a tool (which meant almost every man) was an artist.
[Illustration: CHIMNEYS, OLD AND NEW]
Transcriber’s Note
Words may have inconsistent hyphenation in the text; these were not changed. Quotation marks and final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. “Hits.” was changed to “Hist.” “… Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.…”