Andrew_JC2
C.S. French Residence
C.S. French Residence, East Orange, NJ
W. Halsey Wood, Architect
Drawn from a picture in American Country Houses of the Gilded Age by Arnold Lewis
Lewis writes:
"this was a most unusual and striking house, a distinctive manifestation of the design tendencies of the early 1880s. "
He also notes that some of the woodwork and trim gives the impression of interior trim that has mistakenly been placed on the outside. What is curious to me is the brick work. The bricks were lain rather haphazardly, some in arbitrary patterns, others in neat courses. It almost looks as though two masons were working right next to each other but paying absolutely no attention to what the other one was doing.
Lewis further writes that the house, which stood at Arlington and Park Avenues has been razed. It was built for French, a dealer in coal and wood.
It's one of my many favorites from the book. And apparently it had some contemporary fans as well, as there is a house in Cincinnati, Ohio that is clearly a copy of this plan and elevation. The designer (plagiarizer?) of the Cincinnati house however, toned down some of the starkness and razor-sharp edges of the original house and did the details in a more "traditional" Colonial Revival-esque mode.
It does not make quite as bold an artistic statement as Wood's original concept, but I'm very glad to see a derivative of his fantastic work still standing as an homage to the original.
2.24.12
C.S. French Residence
C.S. French Residence, East Orange, NJ
W. Halsey Wood, Architect
Drawn from a picture in American Country Houses of the Gilded Age by Arnold Lewis
Lewis writes:
"this was a most unusual and striking house, a distinctive manifestation of the design tendencies of the early 1880s. "
He also notes that some of the woodwork and trim gives the impression of interior trim that has mistakenly been placed on the outside. What is curious to me is the brick work. The bricks were lain rather haphazardly, some in arbitrary patterns, others in neat courses. It almost looks as though two masons were working right next to each other but paying absolutely no attention to what the other one was doing.
Lewis further writes that the house, which stood at Arlington and Park Avenues has been razed. It was built for French, a dealer in coal and wood.
It's one of my many favorites from the book. And apparently it had some contemporary fans as well, as there is a house in Cincinnati, Ohio that is clearly a copy of this plan and elevation. The designer (plagiarizer?) of the Cincinnati house however, toned down some of the starkness and razor-sharp edges of the original house and did the details in a more "traditional" Colonial Revival-esque mode.
It does not make quite as bold an artistic statement as Wood's original concept, but I'm very glad to see a derivative of his fantastic work still standing as an homage to the original.
2.24.12