Table Of Content
The overhanging eaves, brackets, and second-story balcony may be slightly more modest than the author's home, but the elements are there for Twain's beloved coachman, Patrick McAleer. From 1874 until 1903, McAleer and his family lived in the Carriage House to serve the Clemens family. Before he became famous for his novels, Samuel Clemens ("Mark Twain") married into a wealthy family. Samuel Clemens and his wife Olivia Langdon asked the noted architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design a lavish "poet's house" on Nook Farm, a pastoral neighborhood in Hartford, Connecticut.
Five 'haunted' locations in Hartford that are open to visitors - CT Insider
Five 'haunted' locations in Hartford that are open to visitors.
Posted: Tue, 10 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Brackets and Trusses - Mark Twain House
However, Wright, born in 1867, would have been a child when Samuel Clemens built his house in 1874. "Glass Houses," like the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, were very popular in America's Victorian era. For private homes, the conservatory room was a sure sign of affluence and culture. For the Mark Twain House in Hartford, the exterior of the conservatory room became a fine architectural addition that complemented the nearby turret. Built almost like a French-Swiss chalet, the Carriage House has architectural detailing like the main house.
Conservatory and Turret - Mark Twain House
At the Mark Twain house, the conservatory is off the library, just as the Nott Memorial used to house the college library. Built in 1874 by architect Edward Tuckerman Potter, the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut is an interesting feast for the eyes. Potter's colors, brick ornamentation, and brackets, trusses and balcony-filled gables are the architectural equivalent of Mark Twain's well-built, exciting American novels.
Library - Mark Twain House
These are the National Historic Landmarks in Hartford County - CT Insider
These are the National Historic Landmarks in Hartford County.
Posted: Thu, 31 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The leaf motif, bringing "nature" into the architectural detailing, is typical of the Arts and Crafts movement, led by English-born William Morris. Potter's architecture practice was centered in his hometown of Schenectady, New York, and the Mark Twin House was built in 1874 in Hartford, Connecticut. In between the two venues is Olana, Vaux's Persian-inspired design built in 1872 in Hudson, New York. The library at the Mark Twain house is typical of Victorian colors and interior design of the day. You can learn a lot about people by the way they treat their animals and employees. One look at the Carriage House near the Mark Twain House tells you how caring the Clemens family was.
Brick Details - Mark Twain House
Slate roofing was common during the time the Mark Twain House was being built in the 1870s. For architect Edward Tuckerman Potter, multi-colored hexagonal slate afforded another opportunity to texturize and colorize the house he was designing for Samuel Clemens. At the Mark Twain House, the conservatory is a round structure with glass walls and roof. Decorative corner brackets are characteristic of Victorian house styles, including Folk Victorian and Stick.
This first floor room of the Hartford, Connecticut home was a kind of family room, where Samuel Clemens would entertain his family and guests with his famous stories. Taking the pen name Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens wrote his most famous novels in this house, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Today, the billiard room might be called Mark Twain's "home office" or maybe even a "man cave," as the third floor was at a level separate from the rest of the house. The billiard room was often filled with as much cigar smoke as the writer and his guests could tolerate.
Architects Edward Tuckerman Potter and Alfred H. Thorp designed the outbuilding with styling similar to the main residence. Edward Tuckerman Potter's patterns of brick in 1874 are not unique to the Mark Twain House. Yet the design continues to astonish visitors to staid Hartford, Connecticut, long known as "the insurance capital of the world."
Library - Mark Twain House
In architecture, the popular is usually what gets built and surely it's what gets adapted by the eager architect. Perhaps Vaux himself was familiar with the Nott Memorial in Schenectady, the domed structure Potter designed in 1858. The Mark Twain Home in Hartford, Connecticut is often described as an example of Gothic Revival or Picturesque Gothic architecture. However, the patterned surfaces, ornamental trusses, and large decorative brackets are characteristics of another Victorian style known as Stick. But, unlike most Stick Style buildings, the Mark Twain house is constructed of brick instead of wood. Some of the bricks are painted orange and black to create intricate patterns on the facade.
Note how architect Edward Tuckerman Potter uses a variety of architectural detail to make the Mark Twain House visually interesting. The house, built in 1874, is constructed with a variety of brick patterns as well as brick color patterns. Adding these decorative brackets in the cornice creates as much excitement as a plot twist in a Mark Twain novel. No doubt, Samuel Clemens had seen or heard of the Nott Memorial at Union College, a similarly rounded structure designed by his architect, Edward Tuckerman Potter.
No comments:
Post a Comment