What did a “modern” house look like in the year 1800?
Hi everyone, Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse"
In the earliest days of the United States, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the
signatories of the Declaration of Independence, decided to give his son and new daughter-in-law
an impressive wedding present.
In 1800, he set aside 10,000 dollars, the modern equivalent of a quarter million, for
the newlyweds to build their first home.
His son, Charles Junior, became over involved in the design process, causing the construction
of, what was supposed to be, a modest house to drag on for 8 years.
It was designed in the Palladian style with a main body branching out to mirrored wings
through hyphens.
The façade became a blend of Georgian and Federal styling, which was considered extremely
modern for the time.
When it was all said and done, the house ended up costing over 40,000 dollars, the modern
equivalent of about a million dollars.
When Charles Senior received the bill, he was furious that his son had squandered his
money by going so far over budget.
He paid for the title to the house, and out of spite, passed it along to his grandson,
Charles the third who moved in around 1824 when he was ready to start his own family.
To enter the home, we will climb the steps on the south side of the house, and find the
front door centered on the portico.
The double doors, set in a deep encasement, are flanked by fluted columns, a fitting frame
for what awaits us inside.
Upon entering, we arrive in the reception hall, a grand entrance boasting artisan millwork
on every surface with groin vault over the cross hall featuring a massive plaster rosette.
We can take a moment to see some of these ornate details, such as the pattern found
in the crown molding carrying the theme of varying rosettes.
Brining our eyes back down, we can see the elaborate patterns found on the baseboards,
door surrounds, and notice that the rooms corners are finished out with fluted pilasters
above a 5 layered chair rail.
To one side of the reception hall, we will find the passageway to the dining room.
The dining room is finished out with carpeted floors below wainscotting and is decorated
with stylish early 1800s American furniture, fitting for a descendant of a Founding Father.
From here, we can turn around and make our way back across the reception hall to find
the entrance to the drawing room mirroring the dining room.
The drawing room is staged, once again, with early 19th century American furniture and
includes instruments, allowing it to double as a music room.
Looking up, the crown molding and frieze feature delicate plaster vines and rosettes.
With all of this artisan craftsmanship, it is easy for us to imagine how this house ended
up so far over budget.
From here we can move towards the back of the house, just across the hall to find the
Guest Room.
Guests would have been treated to a luxurious room on the first floor with a fourposter,
canopy bed and their own fireplace.
And if they were there for business, they would only need to open the door on the side
of the room to step down into the office.
This cozy room was flooded with natural light, perfect for reading and writing above the
canvas floors.
The far side of the room featured built in book shelves on either side of the fireplace
which could be sealed off and locked away out of sight from guests.
Though, if you had noticed earlier on the house plan, there are no bathrooms inside
the house.
Guests would have shared the family privy located a bit away from the house.
We can take a peek inside, but we won’t linger here for long.
We can come back inside from the hyphen and find the door to the Carroll’s bedroom flanked
by doric columns below another groin vault.
Their bedroom is massive and occupies most of the wing.
In the center of the room, their canopy bed allowed for privacy in the morning while their
housekeeper readied their breakfast.
A point of interest in this space is the built in bookcase concealed on the side of the fireplace,
by bumping out this wall, the fireplace was able to be centered, an ingenious bit of space
planning provided by the architect.
On the other side of the wall, the dressing room allowed the couple modest for readying
themselves in the morning and picking out outfits from their armoires.
Let’s make our way back down the hall to see a few more of the private rooms in the
house.
First we will see the back parlor, a more intimate gathering space for the family to
gather, read stories, and play board games.
Nearby we will find the butler’s office doubling as a butler’s pantry with a desk
cozied up to a fireplace.
This is where the butler would have planned out the daily activities for the rest of the
staff.
To either side of the fireplace are built in storage cabinets for the family’s fine
collection of china and silverware.
Across the hall, the housekeeper’s room, while devoid of artisan details, is rather
large for the time period.
She would have woken up before the family and headed straight to the adjoining kitchen
to prepare breakfast for the entire family and live-in staff.
Even though it is staged as a gift shop in this old photo, we can see past the nick-nacks
to imagine what it would have been like to work in the kitchen.
And of course, no house of such grandeur would have been complete without a wine cellar where
grapes could be pressed on the property and wine could be manufactured exactly to the
family’s tastes.
Charles Carroll the third enjoyed the mansion with his family, but chose to move into his
grandfather’s house after inheriting it.
Eventually the mansion was named Homewood, and it passed through many hands over the
years.
By the turn of the century, it had been converted into a school, then, in the early 1900s, it
was donated to Johns Hopkins university and used as offices.
By the 1980s, a movement had started within the university to restore the house to its
original appearance, and, in 1987, it was opened as a house museum.
Today, it continues to be open to the public as the Homewood Museum.
Did you have a favorite room?
Let me know down below in the comments section.
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