A quick timber frame update:
Finding wood chips in my shoes, pockets, and hair signals to me things are moving along smoothly. I’ve been cutting the joinery for this frame with a chisel, mallet, handsaws, a hand cranked boring machine, and a circular saw on occasion. It’s beginning to look like a large puzzle with each beam fitting into its opposing member. In a later post I will get into a few of these tools and types of joinery, but for now, I’d like to turn our attention to another house I’m working on.
When I’m not timber framing...
Just over three years ago, while perusing a crammed basement of The Bostonian Society’s archives, my instructors happened upon the 1730s original door to John Hancock’s Mansion. Our school was then commissioned to restore the door and give it context by reproducing the full door surround. A “door surround” includes the bordering elements that flank the sides and top of a door. Since then, (three years and counting) our department has been working on the full-scale reproduction of this two-story interior and exterior facade. You can read more about this in the Boston Globe and WBUR.
The building was originally built in 1737 by Thomas Hancock, and was later owned by his nephew, John Hancock. In 1785 John would become the first (and later) third governor of Massachusetts and was the first (and largest) signer of the Declaration of Independence. The family had suggested turning the house into the governors mansion, but instead, in 1863, the house was destroyed and handed over to developers. This instigated an outcry among the people of Boston, which in turn gave birth to the preservation movement in America. As a result, many organizations such as Historic New England and The Bostonian Society came into being.
A collaborative hunt
In order to reproduce the first and second story door surround, we’ve relied on photographs, blue prints, stereoscopic prints, and scrupulous hand-written letters from Thomas that describe the architectural details during its construction. Just before the house was destroyed, there was a huge estate sale where many of the home’s items were auctioned off and disseminated across New England. Perhaps you have John Hancock’s fire place surround in your home? If so, do let me know.
Many individuals and institutions have come to aid in this search. Most recently, the Peabody Essex Museum found in their archives two original capitals, two balusters, a window sill fragment, and fragments of the original wall paper. We were able to document and measure these items in order to determine how best to replicate them.
Carving!
Many of the architectural elements of this elaborate home are carved: egg & dart, sausage & reel moldings, medallions, corbels, busts, broken scrolled pediments. You name it, John Hancock’s got it. There are also two corinthian capitals to be reproduced (one of which I am carving), and I’ll take you down that road in the following post. The more I learn about this hand-made structure, and the effort it took to build, the more my appreciation and wonder grows for these buildings and their makers.
What been inspiring me lately?
My instructor, Michael Burrey, recently introduced me to the Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn. Read about it here.
Images:
1,2,3,5,6. Taken by Sophie Linnell
7,8. Tithe barn