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Cast iron console
One of four known surviving examples from the 4 story Italinate styled morgan-reeves dry goods store, 208-210 Public Square, Nashville.
Cast in several sections and hot riveted together, but having a separate Acanthus leaf, these weigh close to 100# each and had been simply screwed and nailed to the wood window framework where they remained from 1856 through 1975!
The Morgan- Reeves building was built in 1856 by Samuel Dold Morgan. Morgan was at once a merchant, architect, owner of an iron foundry, and builder. His firm, Morgan and Company, was one of the largest wholesale importers of dry goods and a manufacturer of clothing; the business was sufficiently sound and respected to be permitted to issue script money during the Panic of January 30, 1844 he was appointed to the new commission charged with planning a new State Capitol, becoming its president in 1854; he was instrumental in choosing William Strickland of Philadelphia as the architect of this monumental structure.
In 1856 his firm built the Morgan-Reeves Building on Public Square which survived until 1975 at which time it was demolished.
During the Civil War he engaged in manufacturing munitions for the Confederates, until Nashville's occupation by Union forces. He was also a Confederate official, serving as chairman of the Central Bureau of Military Supplies in Nashville during the War. He died an honored citizen of Tennessee, on June 10, 1880 and his remains were interred in the southeast corner of the State Capitol. Morgan was an uncle of General John Hunt Morgan of Alabama, who served with the Confederate Army and led "Morgan's Raiders."
On June 10, 1980, the hundredth anniversary of Samuel Dole Morgan's death, a ceremony was held at the Tennessee Capitol Building in honor of Mr. Morgan. The State Legislature declared that day to be "Samuel Dold Morgan Day" (Senate Joint Resolution 351).
The building history, along with photos and documentation appears in the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) archives at the Library of Congress due to being selected in 1970. The survey program measured and photographed scores of historic and unique buildings across the country, the Morgan-Reeves building is one of many which were subsequently destroyed, this one just five years after the survey.
A Nashville interior decorator paid a fee to the demolition contractor to allow him to remove and salvage a number of cast-iron elements from the facade during the demolition, most notably four window consoles were removed, and a few of the rooftop cornice consoles were also removed. The address sign, and some random iron leaves from the ground floor Corinthian capitals were also removed. From the interior support columns, several uniquely small Corinthian capitals were removed, but due to a miscommunication- all but one of these were tossed into a truck full of scrap metal, only this one capital survived.
As Morgan also owned an iron foundry which cast parts for locomotives and steam engines, it is possible all of the iron castings for the building in my collection were cast in his own foundry, their extreme weight suggests this as likely.
An ad for Morgan's new iron foundry seeking employees to work in the foundry building locomotives and steam engines.
Dated Jan 17th, 1851.
The foundry would have been sufficiently built up enough to easily have cast the decorative ironwork for Morgan's drygoods store. The castings would have been made from sand molds taken from original wood carvings used as patterns.
Cast iron console
One of four known surviving examples from the 4 story Italinate styled morgan-reeves dry goods store, 208-210 Public Square, Nashville.
Cast in several sections and hot riveted together, but having a separate Acanthus leaf, these weigh close to 100# each and had been simply screwed and nailed to the wood window framework where they remained from 1856 through 1975!
The Morgan- Reeves building was built in 1856 by Samuel Dold Morgan. Morgan was at once a merchant, architect, owner of an iron foundry, and builder. His firm, Morgan and Company, was one of the largest wholesale importers of dry goods and a manufacturer of clothing; the business was sufficiently sound and respected to be permitted to issue script money during the Panic of January 30, 1844 he was appointed to the new commission charged with planning a new State Capitol, becoming its president in 1854; he was instrumental in choosing William Strickland of Philadelphia as the architect of this monumental structure.
In 1856 his firm built the Morgan-Reeves Building on Public Square which survived until 1975 at which time it was demolished.
During the Civil War he engaged in manufacturing munitions for the Confederates, until Nashville's occupation by Union forces. He was also a Confederate official, serving as chairman of the Central Bureau of Military Supplies in Nashville during the War. He died an honored citizen of Tennessee, on June 10, 1880 and his remains were interred in the southeast corner of the State Capitol. Morgan was an uncle of General John Hunt Morgan of Alabama, who served with the Confederate Army and led "Morgan's Raiders."
On June 10, 1980, the hundredth anniversary of Samuel Dole Morgan's death, a ceremony was held at the Tennessee Capitol Building in honor of Mr. Morgan. The State Legislature declared that day to be "Samuel Dold Morgan Day" (Senate Joint Resolution 351).
The building history, along with photos and documentation appears in the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) archives at the Library of Congress due to being selected in 1970. The survey program measured and photographed scores of historic and unique buildings across the country, the Morgan-Reeves building is one of many which were subsequently destroyed, this one just five years after the survey.
A Nashville interior decorator paid a fee to the demolition contractor to allow him to remove and salvage a number of cast-iron elements from the facade during the demolition, most notably four window consoles were removed, and a few of the rooftop cornice consoles were also removed. The address sign, and some random iron leaves from the ground floor Corinthian capitals were also removed. From the interior support columns, several uniquely small Corinthian capitals were removed, but due to a miscommunication- all but one of these were tossed into a truck full of scrap metal, only this one capital survived.
As Morgan also owned an iron foundry which cast parts for locomotives and steam engines, it is possible all of the iron castings for the building in my collection were cast in his own foundry, their extreme weight suggests this as likely.
An ad for Morgan's new iron foundry seeking employees to work in the foundry building locomotives and steam engines.
Dated Jan 17th, 1851.
The foundry would have been sufficiently built up enough to easily have cast the decorative ironwork for Morgan's drygoods store. The castings would have been made from sand molds taken from original wood carvings used as patterns.