The Historic Dimension Series

A student publication series by the UNCG Department of Interior Architecture

Do You See the Pattern?

The use of architectural pattern books
by Laura DiPasquale
Pattern books, or books with architectural details, descriptive geometry, renderings, colorful images, and descriptions of various techniques and processes created by craftsmen or architects, have been used for centuries to provide inspiration and information to homeowners and designers. Their original intent was to be used by people who did not have direct access to an architect, but who wanted to incorporate architectural detailing into their homes. Before photography became a popular media, these books featured drawings of details, floor plans and exterior perspectives. Although pattern books had been around for centuries in Europe, they did not become extremely popular in the United States until the 19th century. The use of pattern books peaked in the mid to late 19th century and declined in the mid 20th century. Recently, there has been a revival in the use of pattern books, with new ones being created, and old ones being utilized, as people turn to historic pattern books as a way to build or renovate their homes in classical ways. Much of the literature that exists about pattern books describes homes based on their exterior details, but it is important to note that pattern books in fact gave excellent examples and descriptions of interior details as well, such as banister and mantel carvings and moldings. Pattern books can still be employed today by homeowners who wish to learn more about the existing details in their homes or to replace missing ones.

Early English Influences

Recently, there has been a revival in the use of pattern books, with new ones being created, and old ones being utilized, as people turn to historic pattern books as a way to build or renovate their homes in classical ways.

The traditions of English architecture, including the use of pattern books, greatly influenced early American architecture. Many important treatises were published and used in England from 1550-1750, including a treatise by Serlio, which took inspiration from the 16th century Italian architect Andrea Palladio. The use of pattern books in 17th century England led to the introduction of classical motifs and principles in the New World. In England, the knowledge of classical design was mostly used in highstyle buildings, rather than smaller scale ones, for which later medieval vernacular architecture remained the norm. This trend continued in America, while a gradual introduction of classical motifs into vernacular architecture took place in both England and America. During the 17th century, houses in the northern colonies were generally designed in a lobby plan, which was popular in England (i.e. Whipple House, Mass). In the South, other forms of vernacular architecture took hold, mainly due to environmental, as well as social, influences.

Colonial Period

The new America as a whole greatly differed from England on both social and architectural levels. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, architectural practices in America were rooted in the colonial experience. As design in the colonies became more sophisticated, architectural books played an increasing role. But how can one tell now what designs were derived from books? Buildings built during the 18th

Fig. 2: Plate 64 from The Designs of Inigo Jones. century that stand out dramatically from standard types of the same period, according to Daniel Reiff, provide the most direct evidence of houses designed based on plates from books. It is also evident that books were actually being used, as the importation of pattern books increased greatly during the 18th century. The only building known to have been built following a pattern book during the first half of the 18th century is Drayton Hall in Charleston, SC, the form of which was based on Palladios plate 56. Many features of Drayton Hall were common in Palladian designs, including a loggia, or porch, under which guests could stand before entering into a great hall. Also consistent with Palladios designs were a number of smaller rooms, or chambers, which flank the great hall, and a prominent, well-lit stairway that overlooks the large space. Further evidence of pattern book use in this space is shown in a 2007 publication by the Friends of Drayton Hall which notes that the mantel of the great hall was probably influenced by William Kents The Designs of Inigo Jones (1727) Plate 64, but with less ornate detailing, and that the roof design might have been an adaptation of a number of different sources, including Langleys The City and Country Builders and Workmans Treasury of Designs (1750). While Drayton Hall also contains a raised basement, and later added flanker buildings, both of which were consistent with Palladios designs, John Drayton adapted the plans to fit the hot and humid climate of South Carolina by increasing ceiling heights in the higher floors of the building, even though Palladios design called for lower ceiling heights in each consecutive floor. Designs were rarely executed to look exactly like the original image, with designers taking elements from multiple books and combining them with their own creativity and to meet their own needs. Reiff notes that designers propensity to incorporate these different elements makes it difficult sometimes to identify the direct use of pattern books. It is not readily known exactly who owned pattern books, and generally the books are not cited, as they were considered simply to be inspirational.

Fig. 3: Mantel in Drayton Hall designed from Plate 64.

Revolutionary Era

Prior to the Revolution, pattern books started to be published in America, showing that there was in fact a market for them. According to Reiff, the importance of books heightened during the introductory period of a new style and helped designers later to work within a given mode. The use of architectural books grew steadily over the course of the 18th century, dropped around the Revolution, and increased again in the 1790s. The 18th century also saw an increase in gentlemen architects such as John Drayton, Thomas Jefferson, and William Thornton, who learned about materials and structure in their careers, but were not trained architects. In designing Monticello, Thomas Jefferson used a number of different outside sources, particularly Robert Morriss pattern book, Select Architecture, and Palladios Quattri Libri. From Morris, Jefferson derived the scale and style of the house, and from Palladio, the rules for architectural orders. Most likely, the people who used architectural books were craftsmen, carpenters, builders and homeowners, although who introduced certain details or features is not generally noted in plans.

Mid-1800s

The 19th century saw the greatest increase in the production and use of pattern books. The first original American book on architecture was The Country Builders Assistant, written by Asher Benjamin, a Massachusetts architect. The Country Builders Assistant was followed by The American Builders Companion, both of which became wildly popular, as evidenced by their frequent reprinting, and the fact that they are still in print today. Benjamins books were written for local carpenters as manual and guides to add sophistication and style to buildings. They provided rules and definitions of practical geometry, methods for drawing and cutting basic shapes, as well as designs for interior ornaments, such as moldings, banisters and ceiling decoration. Benjamin Ashers next book, published three years later in 1830, was The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter, which conUNCG Historic Dimension Series

Fig. 5: Bracket detail at Clarendon Hall, Yanceyville, NC built 1842. Fig. 4: Owen Biddle stair bracket detail (c. 1805). tained the previous Federal styles along with the new, popular Grecian styles, with Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders. As noted in the Dover edition introduction to Asher Benjamins The American Builders Companion, the book offers practical guidelines on how to construct basic geometrical forms in wood, such as how a Scroll is to be got out of the Solid or how to draw the Ionic volute (Benjamin viii). Despite having been written in Massachusetts and widely used in the Northeast, Benjamins work was particularly popular in the South as well, in states such as North Carolina and Mississippi. In Mississippi, whose population grew enormously between 1830-1850, Benjamins designs appear numerous times. Since Benjamins designs were for, as he claimed in the preface to The Builders Guide, the use of those builders who reside at a distance from cities, where they cannot have the assistance of a regular architect, up and coming frontier areas such as Mississippi provided the appropriate context for his work. According to Crocker (1979), Plate 28, a Design for a Front Door Case, from Benjamins The Practical House Carpenter can be seen at least seven times in Mississippi during this period of growth, each with its own particular adaptations. Pattern books were not intended to be copied verbatim, but provided a starting place for designers and can still fulfill this function today. This idea of individual expression can be seen in Benjamins discussion of a certain frontispiece in his The Practice of Architecture, where he states, the sculpture which crowns the entablature, if thought to be too rich or too expensive, may be left off without affecting the symmetry of the composition (75). The Mississippi Governors Mansion, designed by English architect William Nichols and constructed in 1839, appears to have incorporated plates from Benjamins Builders Guide for the second story doorway, as well as designs for architraves based off of plates by Minard Lafevers 1839 pattern book The Beauties of Modern Architecture. Nichols also appears to have used a Lafever rosette design in the lintel above the governors office door in the state Capitol. Prior to The Beauties of Modern Architecture, Lafever wrote The Modern Builders Guide, published in 1833, which is credited with the rise of the Greek revival style, and contains full elevations and plans along with structural elements. A revolution in the character of pattern books began in the 1840s with the Romantic age and the Picturesque Movement. A romantic rationalism in the 1840s brought an end to the popular Greek Revival style by the 1850s. Books which had formerly contained only plates dedicated to practical geometry, moldings, capitals, fireplaces, roof framing and staircase construction now specifically held plans and elevations. Furthermore, there was an increased interest in the social and financial needs of America, as well as American materials and climate. Andrew Jackson Downing, who published Victorian Cottage Residences in 1842, was among the first to recognize the need to adapt architecture and details to fit the clients budget and needs. He was an early popularizer of small, inexpensive, single-family homes, which were both efficient and beautiful, and was greatly influential in this shift in American domestic architecture. Focused on the Gothic Revival, Italianate and rustic styles, Downing believed that even the humblest homes should be comfortable as well as artistic (Reiff 65). In 1850, Downing published The Architecture of Country Houses..., which contained 34 plans with Gothic, French, Italianate and Elizabethan styles, all of which were for well-styled, efficient and low-priced homes. This book included elevations and floor plans, as well as discussions of the design, construction and function. Downings designs became so widespread that a copy of a Downing house was even built in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1882. Today, the book can be used by UNCG Historic Dimension Series

Fig. 7: Plate from Asher Benjamins Architect; or Practical House Carpenter. Fig. 6: Floor plan and elevation from The Country Builders Assistant by Asher Benjamin. anyone with an interest in early Victorian houses, since the book addresses such a multitude of issues, including: aesthetic concerns, materials, construction, costs, interior woodwork, furnishings, ventilation, decoration, shingling and landscaping. Samuel Sloans popular book, The Model Architect (1852, 53), was equally thorough, containing designs for houses, schools and churches, with descriptions of foundations, joinery, ventilation, etc... Sloans book was aimed at the general reader as well as the artizan, with large pages, perspective views and lithographs. Sloan, who feared that contemporary pattern books would decrease the professionalism of architects, sought to underlie the importance of the profession in his book. Along with 15 Italianate houses with two villa types, his was the first book to depict the squarish Italianate villa with central roof cupolas, which became a popular style. Published around the same time, Orson Squire Fowlers book A Home for All (1853), created a fad for octagonal houses during the 19th century. the war, architect Henry Hudson Hollys pattern book Hollys Country Seats: Containing Lithographic Designs for Cottages, Villas, Mansions, Etc... followed the Downing type with perspective drawings and floor plans, along with descriptions and detailed text. It contained new and traditional designs-- Gothic and Medieval Revival, Italianate, mansard dwellings, and two Stick Style homes. Immediately following the war, George E. Woodards Woodwards Country Homes (1865), included elevation drawing of traditional styles such as Gothic and Medieval Revival, English vernacular, Italianate, mansarded, and Stick Style, but with a variety of building types -- stables, schools, churches -- as well as home remodeling. However, this book contained smaller images, which made it more difficult for craftsmen to adapt plans, so subsequent publications returned to larger-scale drawings of architectural features that could be used to update and enrich traditional vernacular domestic and commercial structures (Reiff, 2000, p. 88). The first of these was Marcus F. Cummings and Charles C. Millers Architecture: Designs for Street Fronts, Suburban Houses, and Cottages, including Details for both Exterior and Interior (1868). This book returned to pre-Downing type, containing only details, and no house plans. The authors, who were both trained as carpenters and gained architectural knowledge in architecture firms, wrote that the book was meant for anyone who desires to incorporate the features of any particular style in a building they UNCG Historic Dimension Series

Civil War to the Turn of the Century

While the publication of books on architecture declined during the Civil War, books on the design of houses did not see such a decrease. Initially published during

Fig. 8: Front Elevation of Greek Revival home in Minard Lafevers Modern Builders Guide. propose to erect (as quoted in Reiff, 2000, p. 89). This book contained a full range of details including: front entrances, belt courses, quoins, windows, window caps, cornices, mansard roofs, dormers, bargeboards, porches, verandas, door and window canopies, bay windows, balcony railings and chimney caps. Their next book, Modern American Architecture, contained plans and elevations, because there was a high consumer demand for such. During the 1870s, E.C. Hussey, a New York architect, published Home Building: A Reliable Book for Facts, Relative to Building, Living, Materials, Costs... This unique volume contained vignettes and accounts of cities across America with their advantages and disadvantages, along with comparative prices and labor. He popularized his own designs in a pattern book, which also contained advertisements of working plans and specifications by mail. A year after Husseys book came out, George Palliser published Pallisers Model Homes for the People (1876), which developed plans by mail as well as architectural design by mail. It was inexpensive due to the fact that it contained fewer pictures and more advertisements for materials. As Reiff notes, Palliser created his own boxy vernacular, incorporating Gothic and Italianate details into smaller, more humble dwellings to give them some sophisticated, architectural style. Prices for complete sets of plans with full lithographs were relatively cheap and were listed in the book itself. Furthermore, Palliser set himself apart by promoting his business of designing buildings for clients through mail- not just of providing them with plans and specifications for their study or use (Reiff 98). Fig. 9: Mississippi Governors Mansion, details of which were inspired by Minard Lafever patterns. Recently, however, there has been a resurgence in the use of historic and new architectural pattern books. In the 1980s, tax incentive programs offered by the federal government for the rehabilitation of historic buildings inspired developers and homeowners to seek out craftsmen and look at pattern books to restore intricate details to buildings. In 1995, according to an article by William Hamilton in the New York Times, a man named Geoffery Carter set out to build an entire home by hand, using Asher Benjamins The American Builders Companion as a guide for the exterior. Carter, then director of preservation at Historic Hudson Valley in New York, noted that pattern books were designed for people like me, those who had no formal architectural training. Carter utilized the books geometric formulas, which gave him a quick and easy design for Doric columns. Far from giving lengthy and convoluted descriptions, Carter marveled at the books concise and understandable instructions. As a reaction to widespread, mass produced new construction (or cookie-cutter neighborhoods) and the destruction caused to the South by hurricane Katrina in 2006, a number of modern cities and towns have created their own pattern books, with images and descriptions of historic homes specific to local styles and history. These government-endorsed pattern books are free to local homeowners, and seek to protect local architectural styles that were destroyed. One of the largest redevelopment projects in the nation-- the Mississippi Gulf Coast project-- which encompasses eleven towns in three counties-- created a pattern book using four local styles: Acadian-Creole, Victorian, Classical and Arts and Crafts. The project hoped that people would want to build or rebuild in a historic style if they were aware what local historic homes looked like. This project, among others, faced much opposition, but nonetheless is an interesting phenomena. UNCG Historic Dimension Series

20th Century to Present

House catalogues and mail-order companies became increasingly popular during the early decades of the 20th century, with designs based on efficiencies and economies of standardization and mass production. Companies such as Alladin, Standard, and Sears and Roebuck marketed house plans and kits in their books, but the use of traditional pattern books declined after WWII.

Fig. 11: Detail of the Timothy Cobb house, based off of a Downing plate, Design II. Fig. 10: Front Elevation of an A.J. Downing home, Design II On an individual level, families have been able to use city pattern books to create and preserve their historic homes. A Washington Post article from 2006 highlights one family, the Fiveashes, who used a Norfolk, VA, city pattern book to design and construct a porch to fit the style of their Craftsman style house, since the original one was in disrepair. The family was appreciative of the book, which allowed them to look at designs to which, as average homeowners, they might not have had immediate access. Figure 10-- Wikipedia: Andrew Jackson Downing Figures 12 & 13--Mississippi Renewal Forum. Available: http://www.mississippirenewal.com/info/plansReports.html

References
(2006). Architectural Resources at the American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved November 8, 2008, from American Antiquarian Society: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Architecture/ (2008). Beauty and the Brick: Illustrated Books and Nineteenth- Century Domestic Design. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from Historic Hudson Valleys Library: http://www.hudsonvalley.org/beauty/pattern.html Benjamin, A., & Morgan, W. D. (1969). American Builders Companion : Or, a System of Architecture, Particularly Adapted to the Present Style of Building. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated. Cameron, C. (1989). Charles Baillairge: Architect and Engineer. McGill-Queens Press. Cowell, E. (2007). Samuel Sloan, Pattern Books, and the Question of Professional Identity. In K. Hafertepe (Ed.), American Architects and their Books, 18401915 (pp. 95-128). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. Crocker, M. W. (1979, October). Asher Benjamin: The Influence of His Handbooks on Mississippi Buildings. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 38, 3. Retrieved November 8, 2008, from JSTOR database. Downey, K. (2006, February 25). Recognizing a Revival in Pattern Books: Guides Provide Builders, Homeowners With Inspiratin From Earlier Times. Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/24/ar2006022400823.html UNCG Historic Dimension Series

Conclusion

Many people today are unaware of the impact that pattern books had historically, and their potential use today. Popular pattern books, such as those by Asher Benjamin, are still in print and readily available from a number of different sources (see bibliography for some books still in print). The clarity of the designs and the thoughtfulness of the descriptions in these historic pattern books makes them legible and practical for people with little or no architectural training, who desire to learn more about the features of their homes or to repair or replace details that are missing or damaged.

Image References

Figures 2 &3-- Drayton Hall: Available: http://www. draytonhall.org/research/architecture/ Figures 4 & 5-- Courtesy of Jo Leimenstoll, UNCG. Figure 6-- University of Delaware Special Collections Available: http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/ udla/arts.htm Figure 7-- Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Available: http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/PicturingWords/ PW_AllImages.cfm Figure 8-- American Antiquarian Society Figures 9& 11-- Library of Congress

Fig. 12: Modern day pattern books: Page from A Pattern Book for Gult Coast Neighborhoods (2005). Hamilton, W. L. (1995, October 15). Handmade House. The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=9E0CE1D61339F936A25753C1A963958260&sec= &spon=&pagewanted=2 McLaughlin, J. (1990). Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder. Macmillian Press. Mitchell, P. B. (2008). Architecture and Design: Reprints, Used, and Rare Chronological List. Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Mitchells Publications: http://www.mitchellspublications.com/ur/ah/chr. htm#early Reiff, D. D. (2000). Houses from Books: Treatises, Pattern Books and Catalogs in America, 1738-1950. Pennsylvania State UP . Webster, M. (2007, January). From Mantel to Roof: The Influence of Pattern Books on Drayton Hall. Friends of Drayton Hall Interiors, Retrieved November 8, 2008, from http://www.draytonhall.org/news/ newsletter/pdf/2007_autumn.pdf

Fig. 13: Modern day pattern books: Page from A Pattern Book for Gult Coast Neighborhoods (2005). Downing, Andrew J., and J. S. Johnson. The Architecture of Country Houses. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1969. Sloan, Samuel, and Harold N. Cooledge. Sloans Victorian Buildings : Illustrations and Floor Plans for 60 Residences and Other Structures. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1981. Cummings, Marcus F., and Charles C. Miller. Designs for Street Fronts, Suburban Houses and Cottages. Troy, NY: Young & Benson, 1865. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1998. Downing, Andrew J., and Adolf K. Placzek. Victorian Cottage Residences. Ed. George E. Harney. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1982. Downing, Andrew J., and J. S. Johnson. The Architecture of Country Houses. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1969. Sloan, Samuel, and Harold N. Cooledge. Sloans Victorian Buildings : Illustrations and Floor Plans for 60 Residences and Other Structures. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1981.
The Historic Dimension Series is a collection of briefs prepared by UNCG students under the direction of Professor Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll. For information on other topics in the series please visit the website at www.uncg.edu/iar/hds

Some Available Reprints:

Benjamin, Asher. The Architect, or Practical House Carpenter 1844. Minneapolis: Dover Publications, Incorporated, 1989.

UNCG Historic Dimension Series