Apple Core, Baltimore

Evergreen House, Baltimore
Photo by John J. Tackett, April 25, 2012, for
The Devoted Classicist blog.

Last Wednesday was the most beautiful day in Baltimore, Maryland.  As a pre-schooler, my first association with the city's name was through the active children's game "Apple Core, Baltimore," a variation on "Red Rover," if I'm remembering correctly.  But now I associate Baltimore with early 19th century classicism.  I was in town to give a talk, A Devotion to Classicism:  The Enduring Popularity in Decorative Arts -- The South, at Evergreen House Museum & Library and was graciously shown some of the city's highlights.

Homewood House, a five-part Palladian villa in inspiration, was built
starting in 1801 as summer house for Charles Carroll, Jr., and his bride,
Harriet Chew Carroll, as a wedding gift from the groom's father,
Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Photo from HOMEWOOD HOUSE,
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

Homewood, a particularly outstanding example of architecture and decorative arts, is well known because of its having been recorded with measured drawings by out-of-work architects in the depths of The Great Depression for publication in GREAT GEORGIAN HOUSES IN AMERICA to benefit the Architects' Emergency Committee.  The house has been duplicated, to some degree, many times as exposition pavilions and private homes all over the country.  So I was very familiar with the house despite never seeing it in person.

The main floor plan of Homewood.
Image from HOMEWOOD HOUSE
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

Pictures do not do Homewood justice, however.  Originally located on 130 acres with distant views to the harbor, the siting of the main house and its relationship to the two surviving brick out-buildings, the barn/carriage house and the privy, is quite unexpected.  The scale of the house is not surprising, but the proportions, both inside and out, are even more impressive in person.

The prinicpal front of Homewood, under repair April 25, 2012.
Photo by John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist blog.

An exterior repair project is currently underway.  In stabilzing the entrance portico, grapevine mortar was found behind the marble steps, leading the curatorial staff to believe that there were wood steps first, with the grander marble steps coming soon afterwards.  (The son's insistence on only the finest materials and craftsmanship and the father's reaction to the cost is well-documented).  Also, it was discovered that the portico floor was built on vaults instead of ruble within the foundation walls as expected.  The museum's curator, Catherine Rogers Arthur, graciously showed me the finished attic, now used as administrative offices.  The dormers are not thought to be part of the original design, although they must have come soon afterwards as there was a fireplace.  The Madeira Garret, providing a safe, warm place for the liquor to mellow, is not part of the usual tour but delightful to see as an ususal hold-over from the past.

Wood shingles in a space below the later roof still cover the original rafters.
Photo from HOMEWOOD HOUSE
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

Also, it was a real treat to be invited to poke my head through a hatch (the advantage of being tall) to see the wood shingle roof in its original configuration below the existing structure, now roofed with sheets of standing seam lead-coated copper.  The original roof had an unusal form intended to collect water for cisterns, but there is evidence that it leaked almost from the beginning.  The second roof was standing seam metal, later replaced by large pieces of slate that proved too heavy for the structure.  During the 1980s renovation, the house was re-roofed in metal.


Homewood in the 1930s with a slate roof.
Photo from HOMEWOOD HOUSE
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

The interior of the house has been beatifully restored and furnished as part of the Johns Hopkins University museums.  The original estate is now the university's Homewood Campus.

The Carriage House at Homewood as it appeared in 1890.
Photo: JHU Museums.

The brick Carriage House, thought to have originally been a barn, survives with an adapted use by the university.  Although there was also a bath-house, dairy, smokehouse, springhouse, fenced-in well, and icehouse, the brick privy is the only other outbuilding to survive.

The location of the privy at Homewood.
Image from HOMEWOOD HOUSE
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

The privy, built of brick at the same time as the house but with less refined details, is impressive none-the-less.  The location is unusual, especially when viewed in person, but the siting is apparently the result of a mathematical plan, as shown in the drawing above.

The Privy at Homewood was located to the rear of the Main House,
with the interior divided into two compartments, each with its own door,
presumably for men on one side, and women & children on the other.
Photo by John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist blog.

The interior of the privy is also unusually high-style.  The walls are panelled in chesnut and painted "en grisaille" in imitation of stone as noted in HOMEWOOD HOUSE.  The pits below the seats are lined in stone and could be "sweetened" by the periodic addition of lime to neutralize the waste.

The Privy interior with panelled walls painted in imitation of stone.
The seats are painted white, as is the baseboard,
undoubtedly often repainted for sanitary reasons.
Also note the domed plaster ceiling.
Photo from HOMEWOOD HOUSE
by Catherine Rogers Arthur and Cindy Kelly.

The rear of Homewood during a period of repair, April 25, 2012.
This illustrates one of The Devoted Classicist's principal points of residential design:
all elevations are important.
Photo by John J. Tackett for The Devoted Classicist blog.

A nearby landmark is the Baltimore Museum of Art designed by John Russell Pope and built 1927-29 with later additions.  A remarkable example of twentieth century classicism, it has an impressive permanent collection that includes the world's largest holding of works by Henri Matisse and several period rooms, all open free to the public.  (Incidently, the museum's very popular restaurant Gertrude's served the best crabcakes I have ever eaten).

William Woodward Gallery designed by Billy Baldwin in circa 1956 view.
The Baltimore Museum of Art photo appears in the catalog to accompany
the exhibit "Baltimore's Billy Baldwin" by James Archer Abbott,
2010, at Evergreen Museum & Library.
(Contact the Evergreen Gift Shop to purchase a copy).

No post on Baltimore would be complete without at least a menion of one its most notable natives, Billy Baldwin.  Although no longer completely intact, the William Woodward Gallery at the Baltimore Museum of Art in the added Woodward Wing (by architects Wrenn, Lewis, and Jencks) reveals a sensitive and interesting approach to presentation.  Intended by benefactor Mrs. William Woodward, Sr., to showcase her late husband's renown collection of British sporting paintings in a setting that more resembled a Georgian country house hall than a typical museum gallery of the time, Baldwin was brought in to design the installation in conjunction with the patron, architect, and museum director. 

Completed in 1956, the catalog written by James Archer Abbott to accompany a 2010 exhibit at Evergreen Museum & Library, "Baltimore's Billy Baldwin," describes the walls and wood panelled wainscot painted in two tones of the same light fawn color, and upholstery fabric in red silk damask on a sofa and arm chair, with oxblood colored leather seats on the Queen Anne and Rococo side chairs.  A single scroll-arm easy/wing chair read as tribute to the departed Mr. Woodward, noted the catalog.  Baldwin personally selected the furnishings with approval from Mrs. Woodward, and it is believed that many if not all may have come from Woodward houses, according to Abbott who has done extensive research on the legendary decorator. The false fireplace with an 18th century English chimneypiece was a concession by Baldwin who generally thought such a feature was a sign of bad taste, notes author Abbott.  Several Persian carpets also added to atmosphere of a private home.  One of the most innovative features, created with the help of Baldwin's friend Joseph B.Platt who designed Hollywood sets, was a recess around the perimeter of the room's dropped plaster ceiling that concealed the illumination that washed the walls with light. eliminating the usually distracting lighting of the time.  Today, the rugs and some of the furnishings have been removed to allow the room to easily be adapted for use for special events, and the adjacent lobby, also designed by Baldwin, is now a catering pantry.

More highlights of The Devoted Classicist's trip to Baltimore will follow in the next post.