katyelliott.com » architecture

Snapshots from Annisquam, Massachusetts

Katy Elliott — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:37:41 +0000

Annisquam is small summer community within the town of Gloucester on the north shore of Boston. After brunch at The Market Restaurant on Sunday we took a stroll around the neighborhood checking out beautiful old homes overlooking the water. So cute! It’s seemed almost everyone had water views. The streets were so quiet we could here crickets. Anyone we did run into was heading down to the docks, coolers and life jackets in hand. Snapshots from some of the beautiful houses we saw. Click here to view on a map.

Pumpkin Beauty: Cogswell’s Grant House

Katy Elliott — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:21:02 +0000

On Sunday we took a drive up to Essex to check out the Cogswell’s Grant House. Situated down a long road on a 165-acre property looking out to the Essex River and east to the Atlantic ocean. The main part of house was built in 1728 and a number of additions have been added to home.

We spent some time outside before the tour checking out the exterior clapboards, cornerboards, rake and fascia—examining the similarities to the pieces we’ve renovated on our house. The house was recently painted pumpkin. How crazy is the gloss shining off the side of the house? During the tour our guide mentioned The Littles painted it pumpkin after seeing a similar house Mrs. Little loved in a painting.

The Littles purchased the property in 1937. The Littles were avid collectors of folk art and used the home as a summer house. “Though known for their meticulous research, the Littles decorated with an eye for visual delight rather than historic accuracy, and the result is a house rich in atmosphere and crowded with works of strong, even quirky character.” Mrs. Little took account for every single object she purchased including auction notices and notes on each piece. Hmm maybe I should start a file system?

Above and below snapshots from the property. Sorry, I was not allowed to take photos inside. Note the Beverly Jog #3 photo below. We’re hoping to add a door to our Jog this fall and I love this look with the transom above.

Check out more photos I snapped on flickr.

Cogswell’s Grant
60 Spring Street
Essex, MA
historicnewengland.org

Elfreth’s Alley in Philadelphia

Katy Elliott — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:45:15 +0000

One last post from Philly! After I checked out Independence Hall I heard a few guides talking about the “our nation’s oldest residential street” nearby. I walked in the 90+ degree heat feeling like I was going to pass out to check out Elfreth’s Alley, how could I miss it?

Since 1702, Elfreth’s Alley has been home to more than 3,000 people. Today thirty-two houses, built between 1728 and 1836, line the alley. They form one of the last intact early American streetscapes in the nation. Elfreth’s Alley is a National Historic Landmark District, one of the first districts that celebrates the lives of everyday Americans. (elfrethsalley.org)

I was struck by the color combinations of the doors and trims. Blues, red, greens and yellows intermix on different doors and shutters. The red door with the blue trim stopped me in my tracks, stunning! And the yellow trim with sage green door, had me thinking of my favorite yellow sofa and my green molding in my den.

I strolled down the cobble stone street entranced by the houses. Each feeling like a character in a play telling a story of the past. Below a few snapshots of the alley.

8 panel blue door and shutters.

Sage green and yellow, what a striking combination!

A red door with blue trim.

A view looking down the alley.

A beautiful eucalyptus green door.

Reds, greens and black.

A blue dutch door, check out the top of the door…Is that a crown?

A brick pathway off the main alley had me dreaming of my someday brick driveway.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia

Katy Elliott — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:18:30 +0000

I’m in Philadelphia this week and spend the afternoon checking out Independence Hall. I was in awe of the light, color, molding. Independence Hall was built between 1732 and 1753, designed by Edmund Woolley and Andrew Hamilton in Georgian style. The symmetry reminded me so much of my den. The Declaration of Independence was drafted in Assembly Hall in the summer of 1776. It’s crazy to think my house existed at this same point in history. Can I get a set of those gorgeous Windsor chairs? Below snapshots of Assembly Hall and the Supreme Court room.

Beacon Hill Exteriors and a Rock Path

Katy Elliott — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:07:01 +0000

After the Boston Flower & Garden show (post to follow) on Saturday we took a walk over to Beacon Hill. Beacon Hill is a beautiful 19th century neighborhood in downtown Boston. It’s super fancy and I always find great inspiration. Above a house I spotted on Pickney Street. The exterior colors are a stunning collection of green/blue/cream with a gray undertone. I love the combination but I be going green overboard? The den molding will be basically the same color. My favorite exterior in Marblehead has a greenish/gray/putty clapboard and the shutters are a dark hunter green.

Below snapshots of Pickney Street and few front doors we spotted. On the left a red door with beautiful hardware and a bell jar lamp. The snapshot on the right doesn’t do the entry justice. The angle of the stairs plays with your eyes as you pass by. At the very bottom a rock pathway Greg spotted—he tried to convince we should do our driveway in rocks because we’ve found so many on our property and in the dirt basements.

Rock paths are common in New England check out these paths spotted in Marblehead and Salem. I played around with the rock driveway idea last summer too but I don’t think they’re practical for a driveway. I want to turn our driveway into a large patio in the summertime (we have a parking ban in the winter) and the bumpy rocks make me nervous that every table, chair, flower pot will be tippy. We’re a long way off from putting in the driveway, first we have to work on the rotten clapboards and painting the house this summer.

Historic Purple Window Panes

Katy Elliott — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 15:46:51 +0000

One of my lovely readers (thanks Ginger!) pointed out my new amethyst glass lamps reminded her of old crystal doorknobs with the manganese in them that turn violet over decades in the sun. In Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood old window panes can be spotted in this lovely amethyst hue too. The hued panes were originally created by accident around 1800-30. The excess of manganese oxide in the glass caused the window panes to turn purple overtime. Above a shot I took of a window in Beacon Hill back in 2008. How lovely to think my new lamps could be a reflection of this gorgeous historic glass.

Book: Get Your House Right

Katy Elliott — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:34:41 +0000

This is the book I’ve been searching for! Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid, by Marianne Cusato, Ben Pentreath, Richard Sammons, and Leon Krier. I’ve been on the hunt for a guide to explain proper historic proportions and details but most the books I came across were too heady or just an overview.

Marianne Cusato architect and author is the brains behind the project, The New Economy Home; a concept home unveiled at the 2010 Builder’s show as a reflection of the current housing downturn. The new concept is smaller, more efficient with adaptable spaces and removes wasted space found in popular American McMansions. The architecture and floorplan feels more like a historic home—older homes out of necessity had to be efficient.

Ben Pentreath co-author (and my new design crush) based in London bares mention. Literally everything this man designs I love. I think I’m most drawn to his work but he’s a geek for proportions and classicism. Symmetry just works and always feels flawless.

This book is not an overview for wanna be old homeowners. It gets into the nitty-gritty of classic design with “nearly 1,000 meticulous line-drawings illustrating errors to avoid and correct approaches to use”. Design vocabulary is defined educating homeowners to speak the language; explaining what is authentic and commonly used a modern fakes. This is key for me, I have a good eye but I don’t know all the terms to communicate those elements to my contractors.

My house has been altered significantly overtime. The old windows were ripped out in the 1970′s and replaced with new frames. Strange additions have been added without any real thought to design—at times I find these stuck on spaces charming and realistic to New England architecture over the past 250 years. I’ve been struggling with figuring out what is correct or appropriate. The theories discussed in the book are classic examples of historic architecture. Whole chapters are dedicated to exteriors doors, windows, chimneys and interior details.

The main square footprint of my house dates back to 1750. We’ve been working on stripping away any obtrusive modern elements in hopes of preserving the home’s historic character. My renovation is not meant to be a museum quality interpretation of an 18th-century home but a building that feels cohesive while retaining its historical elements. Tight stairs wells and narrow doorways are not at all practical for modern living but if I ripped them out will their be any evidence left of a 1750 home in another 250 years?

Come Spring we’ll be doing more exterior work: replacing rotten clapboards, rotten window frames, corner boards, and rebuilding a frame around my front door that feels like the original—a drunk driver hit and ripped out the front corner in the 1980′s. I’m hoping this book will be great source and guide for all of those upcoming projects.

Dutch Doors

Katy Elliott — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:01:37 +0000

I was a bit scattered brained yesterday and was throwing out back door ideas without really researching the origins. Dutch doors were typical exterior doors found in pre-Revolutionary Dutch settlements homes of New York and New Jersey. Split doors of this type are indigenous to the Netherlands and appear in seventeenth-century Dutch interior genre paintings. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art).

The two-part split door system allows each piece to function independently; open the top section for light and air circulation but keep the bottom section closed to corral small children. The Dutch door pictured above from The Metropolitan Museum of Art features eight fielded panels, the topmost pair pierced by oval lights of green “bull’s-eye” glass. Bull’s eye is the term used for hand blown window glass that has an eye. Reproductions are available through trained glassblowers.

So it’s true Dutch doors are an early American door style but not typical for Massachusetts. I love the look but I’m not sure it will work for our back door because the door has to swing out. Greg is having apprehensions that the split will cause a major draft into my kitchen. I have to keep looking…

“New York Dutch Room, Bethlehem, New York (NYDR.2003.1)”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.(December 2009)

Source: “Dutch” door [American] (34.79a,b) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Beverly Jog

Katy Elliott — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:03:00 +0000

Found exclusively on the north shore of Boston a “Beverly Jog” is an addition added to Georgian style homes in the late 1700s. The jog originated in the Essex county town of Beverly, Massachusetts, hence the name. Typically, the jog is added to one side of the back of the house. The narrow addition jets out from the side of the house allowing for a door, staircase and or a window on the second floor and third floors. The door often leads straight into the kitchen. (Old House Journal)

Above the Josiah Woodbury House in Salem, Massachusetts c.1774, showcasing a typical Beverly Jog with a separate entrance. (Architecture in Salem: An Illustrated Guide)

On the backside of our house we have a jog. I’m not really sure if our addition was built in the 1700′s but added later mimicking the style. The foundation in the addition is extremely poor but the materials used don’t match up to the structure found in the main part of the house. I have to do some more research to confirm the actual dates.

Our addition is in really bad shape—rotten walls, beams and floors. We started by adding in a new sill, rebuilding parts of the foundation and restoring the corners. When Greg was demoing the area he found an old wood door behind a wall. From the outside the door was clapboarded over so we had no idea it was there.

We’ve been talking about adding the door back in. I would have to have it approved by my Historic Society but I assume it won’t be an issue since the door is typical of the jog and we found an old door. Eventually the door will lead right into our kitchen. How cool right? Below photos of the addition restoration in process as well as the door we found.

Architecture In Woodstock, VT

Katy Elliott — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:07:59 +0000

Woodstock is a small rural village located in central Vermont. As you drive into town the Ottauquechee river meanders alongside as large rolling fields dotted with spectacular farm houses reach out into the distance. My first thought as I awe struck by the landscape, “Beautiful.” My second, “Who the heck lives here?” The views are so stunning, the houses so well kept and elaborate, it almost feels like a storybook version of New England.

First settled in 1768 the historic downtown boasts stately homes around a village green. Ornate detailing above the windows and doors caught my eye. The homes looked Georgian (1690-1830) and Federal (1780-1840) but different then anything I have ever seen in New England. The ornamentation above the windows and columns were intricate and elaborate. I snapped a few photos of my favorites below. Sorry if the photos are little shaky it was 6 degrees out at 9 in the morning. My right hand felt like it was going to fall off as I ran up and down the street snapping photos.

p.s. could someone buy me this house in Woodstock?