Historic New England Fall 2007 by Historic New England

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Historic NEW ENGLAND

PRESENTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR T H E P R E S E RVAT I O N O F NEW ENGLAND ANTIQUITIES FA L L 2 0 0 7

BLUEPRINT FOR PRESERVATION

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S P O T L I G H T

Getting Rid of

Unwelcome Guests istoric houses and their collections are highly susceptible to insect pest infestations. Carpet beetles, webbing and case-making clothes moths, and wood boring insects are among the most common and most destructive. Recognizing signs and patterns of an infestation is crucial. The presence of live insects is an obvious indication; one should look as well for signs of activity such as cast skins, or molts; frass, or powdery excrement; tunnels in wooden objects, and holes in wool and silk fabrics. Once an object is infested, it must undergo some form of treatment to prevent further damage and spread. Instead of using highly toxic chemicals and fumigants, Historic New England favors a more sophisticated, modern method, known as a controlled-atmosphere treatment, which is both practical and safe. Historic New England’s storage facility is equipped with a unit that consists of a large wooden framework enclosed within an impermeable plastic tent-like “bubble.” After the unit has been loaded with objects to be treated, it is sealed, and carbon dioxide gas is pumped in to displace the oxygen to a percentage of 5–7 percent, which is low enough to kill all stages of the insect life cycle—adults, larvae, and pupae. Unlike alternative treatments, such as freezing, using carbon dioxide is safe for all types of museum objects because they are not exposed to extreme changes in temperature and relative humidity. During treatment, an overhead heating system and a fandriven humidification system maintains the ideal environment inside the bubble. Historic New England has safely and successfully used this method on its collections since 1992. As a service, Historic New England also offers the treatment at cost to other museums, galleries, institutions, and private clients. The treatment time is four weeks. Once objects have been treated, they can be safely returned to their location and should be inspected periodically for any future pest activity.

David Carmack

Objects inside the “Bubble” await treatment. BELOW The unit in operation. ABOVE

The “Bubble” is available to museums, institutions, galleries, and private clients. It runs on a monthly cycle, with prices charged per cubic foot, from $350 up to $1,000. For more information, contact Michael Schuetz at (978) 521-4788, ext. 720 or mschuetz@historicnewengland.org

— Michael Schuetz Collections Technician

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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Blueprint for

preservation

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A partnership develops a strategy for

saving an urban masterpiece

orty years ago, in 1967, a remarkable partnership was formed that laid the foundation for one of the

twentieth century’s most successful adaptations of a historic site, Boston’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Recent gifts to Historic New England’s Library and Archives—the professional archives of Boston architect Frederick A. (Tad) Stahl, FAIA, and preservation developer Roger S. Webb—chronicle the story of this partnership. These papers document the process undertaken by SPNEA (now Historic New England), Stahl, and Webb’s not-for profit Architectural Heritage, Inc. 1 (AH) to provide the historical research, design concept, and development strategy for preserving the market complex, a threatened masterpiece of Federal-era Boston. To fully grasp the cycle of decay and rebirth that characterized Boston’s market district, it is necessary to return to the early 1820s. At that time, the area adjacent to Faneuil

Hall had deteriorated into a maze of decrepit, ramshackle buildings and a cluster of piers surrounding the rotting Town Dock. Although Faneuil Hall itself had been enlarged in 1806, and an open shed for butchers known as the Shambles stood nearby, there was still not enough space to accommodate the expanding city’s needs for foodstuffs. Pushcarts choked the streets. At low tide, foul odors emanated from sludge trapped beneath the piers crowding the harbor. Fortunately, Boston had in its mayor, Josiah Quincy, a man of high energy dedicated to improving the city and the lives of its inhabitants. The situation compelled him to embark upon a massive undertaking of urban betterment to create a FACING PAGE Aerial view c. 1967. By this time, Parris’s masterpiece has lost its original context and entered a state of decline. Photographer unknown. ABOVE LEFT,TOP Lithograph of the market after a sketch by Alexander Jackson Davis, c. 1828. ABOVE LEFT, BOTTOM In the 1890s, meat purveyor B. Johnson chose a picture of the market as the emblem on his billhead, 1893. ABOVE RIGHT Wagons loaded with boxes of produce jam South Street, c. 1900. Photograph by F.A. Rugg.

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William L. McQueen, 1969

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Architect Tad Stahl and preservation developer Roger Webb formed a partnership with SPNEA to develop a workable strategy for preserving the markets and making them viable for ABOVE LEFT

new commercial center to house food purveyors and retail businesses. Negotiating purchases with the many landowners, the city demolished buildings and the Town Dock and filled in the adjacent flats to create the land needed for a large market complex. Alexander Parris, an architect and engineer who had worked with Charles Bulfinch, was enlisted as architect. The plan called for a 535-foot-long central market house, crowned by a dome modeled on the Pantheon, and two flanking four-story buildings—a campus of approximately 400,000 square feet. The central market building and streets were to be owned by the city, while the North and South Market buildings, comprising a total of forty-seven lots, were to be privately owned and sold at auction. To ensure uniformity of appearance, the stores were built according to Parris’s design specifications. Although some critics called this project “Quincy’s folly,” Boston businessmen recognized the creation of a new commercial district as a good opportunity and quickly purchased all of the lots. Parris’s imposing Greek Revival design combined monumentality with graceful elegance. The massive central market building was built entirely of granite, while the façades of the flanking North and South Market buildings were granite 4

Historic New England Fall 2007

modern use. This snapshot captures them strolling across City Hall Plaza after a meeting with the BRA. ABOVE RIGHT Historian and preservation advocate Walter Muir Whitehill with SPNEA’s

faced and pierced with tiers of windows that gave an appearance of lightness. When the complex opened in August 1826, the new urban center established Boston as one of the nation’s handsomest and most forward-looking cities. Equally impressive to city leaders was the fact that their investment in this commercial district returned enough revenue that public debt for “Quincy’s folly” was eliminated within twenty-two years. Less than a century and a half later, Boston in the early 1960s was again enduring a cycle of decay and change. An interstate highway now slashed through the city, separating the downtown business district from the harbor. Residents and businesses were moving to the suburbs, and many of the food purveyors who were the market’s principal tenants were relocating or closing for good. Parris’s once elegant North and South Market buildings had suffered countless indignities ever since 1855, after the Board of Aldermen ceased enforcing design restrictions that prohibited alterations. The graceful rhythm of repetitive granite bays had disappeared behind a haphazard collage of metal siding, altered windows, and awnings. The uniform gabled roofline was interrupted by two-story flat-roofed additions. As tenants abandoned the area and the tax base diminished, garbage lay uncollected,

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Abbott Lowell Cummings, who oversaw the historic analysis of the Faneuil Hall Markets for the feasibility study. ABOVE Displays of beef, pork, venison, and lamb crowd the 512-foot-long aisle of the

rats proliferated, and water seeped into the basement. Meanwhile, Boston was being remade as part of the nationwide effort of urban renewal. Skyscrapers began to revitalize the business district, the city’s West End was entirely cleared, and a new seat of government was established in what had been Boston’s red-light district. The entire market area had become an eyesore, and there were calls for its demolition to make way for progress. However, Edward Logue, director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), urged restraint, recommending further study to determine the best course of action. And the influential Walter Muir Whitehill, the city’s unofficial historian, initiated efforts to permanently preserve the market buildings. Besides Logue and Whitehill, there were other men and women in the city who recognized the importance of preserving Parris’s masterpiece and who envisioned a restored market, adapted for twentieth-century use, as an economic catalyst for downtown Boston. SPNEA board member Tad Stahl was among them. He had become concerned about the survival of this civic monument and urged SPNEA to take an active role in its preservation. SPNEA Director Bertram K. Little, Assistant Director Abbott Lowell Cummings, and other members of the executive committee agreed that there

Central Market building, c.1890. Each purveyor had his own stall, as indicated by painted signage on the Doric columns. The photograph was evidently taken for promotional purposes.

was a dire need for the organization not only to take a public stand on the future of the markets but also to play a public role in their preservation. Therefore, in the fall of 1966, Stahl, acting on behalf of SPNEA, approached BRA official Robert Litke, who was sympathetic to restoration of the markets, and asked how he and SPNEA might become involved. Almost simultaneously, well-known preservationist Roger Webb contacted Robert Loverud, another BRA executive and supporter of the market development, to investigate possible participation. Loverud and Litke suggested that SPNEA and Stahl and Webb’s AH combine forces. The group proposed to Logue and the BRA that they undertake an in-depth study to determine the feasibility of restoring the Faneuil Hall Markets so as to ensure permanent preservation of these historically and architecturally unique buildings. The BRA accepted the AH-SPNEA proposal, and on September 27, 1967, the SPNEA board ratified a contract with the BRA and AH “to direct and produce a feasibility and planning study for the historic preservation of the Faneuil Hall 2 Markets.” The BRA agreed to contribute one half of the feasibility study’s estimated $60,000 cost. Each member of the project team assumed specific responsibilities. Stahl oversaw the Fall 2007 Historic New England

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Frederic C. Detwiller, F. A. Stahl and Associates

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The South Market, c. 1967, disfigured by two-story additions, altered fenestration, brick facing, paint, and general neglect. Some merchants had already vacated their buildings and moved ABOVE LEFT

painstaking architectural inspection of the buildings and the preparation of detailed technical drawings. Webb began to raise $30,000 to match the BRA’s contribution and also traveled across the country studying similar projects, such as the successful Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and Larimer Square in Denver, as well as the failed Gaslight Square in St. Louis. At SPNEA, Cummings and Christopher Monkhouse, together with AH’s Elizabeth Amadon, undertook a significant historical study of the area. Webb and Stahl also worked with John Bok, then of the law firm Ropes and Gray, and Gordon Hall III, of R. M. Bradley, on legal, marketing, and real estate strategies. Periodically, Stahl reported to the SPNEA board on the status of the study. At one point in April 1968, the board learned of cost overruns and made the decision that “Because of the importance of the project … the Society would contribute up to $5,000 of the total additional expense….” After months of work, the final feasibility study was submitted to the BRA, which accepted most of its recommendations; thus, the study ultimately provided the blueprint for the complex’s restoration and adaptive reuse. In his recent book, Quincy’s Market: A Boston Landmark, John Quincy, Jr., identified two key concepts in the Stahl/SPNEA-Webb/AH 6

Historic New England Fall 2007

to a new market in South Boston. ABOVE RIGHT Rendering, c. 1968, showing how a bay in the South Market building would look after restoration. FACING PAGE, LEFT The feasibility study, with volumes

feasibility study that were crucial in determining the final appearance of the marketplace as well as the strategy for its development. The first was the vision “to restore the original roof lines and granite façades of the North and South Market buildings to their 1826 appearance, thereby maintaining their historic validity and that of the market house.” The second was “the concept of a master ground lease encircling the district.…Under this master lease, one developer would be designated to hold a sublease with the BRA to all of the grounds of the marketplace in order to redevelop and maintain control of the complex in its entirety.” But before reconstruction could move forward, it was necessary to obtain funding. The feasibility study had determined that at least two million dollars would be needed to restore all three buildings and make the project even minimally attractive to commercial developers. After energetic lobbying of the Housing and Urban Development 3 Department (HUD) in Washington by Mayor Kevin White and Redevelopment Director Hale Champion, the BRA was awarded $2.3 million for the restoration of the North and South Market structures; subsequently the city and the Commonwealth allocated public funds for further restoration. The firm of Stahl/Bennett Inc., under the direction of

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John Hagen, F.A. Stahl and Associates

Frederic C. Detwiller, F. A. Stahl and Associates

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devoted to historical analysis, real estate and marketing strategy, technical drawings, specifications and cost estimates, and architectural, engineering, and urban design report.The exhaustive histori-

Tad Stahl, was engaged to prepare construction documents for the restoration of all the structures and to oversee and administer restoration of the North and South Markets’ granite exteriors and slate roofs. In 1971, four years after the formation of the SPNEA/AH partnership, and with the restoration of the North and South Market buildings about to commence, the BRA announced it would accept proposals from private real estate developers to undertake the project based on the feasibility study. A proposal from architect Benjamin Thompson was selected. Thompson showed the concept and buildings to the developer, James Rouse, stirred his enthusiasm for a new genre of urban retail, and the Rouse Company contracted with the city for a ninety-nine year lease of the historic complex. After a period of negotiation and legal and design review, in which Stahl, Bok, and Hall participated as advisors to the BRA, the Rouse/Thompson team proceeded with marketing, tenant selection, design, and construction. The importance of the highly successful rebirth of Faneuil Hall Marketplace can hardly be overstated: an internationally significant urban work of art was preserved, restored, and accorded central significance in the daily life of the city; the myth that only an enclosed suburban mega-mall

cal analysis became a model for subsequent historic property reports by preservation groups. ABOVE RIGHT Proposed view of the markets after restoration, c. 1968, included in the feasibility study.

can succeed in attracting the mass consumer was disproven, and Boston’s “festival marketplace,” to employ Rouse’s term, became a shining example for other cities to emulate. Four decades later, the marketplace continues to thrive as a focus of community life, and Boston may take pride in possessing an authentic original. —Lorna Condon, Curator of Library and Archives Nancy Curtis, Editor

A more recent donation, the archive of architect William L. McQueen, AIA, who was a key staff member of both the Stahl’s and Benjamin Thompson’s project teams, will provide additional perspective on the process of the market’s reconstruction and revitalization. 2. In 1966, Boston architect Benjamin Thompson was also concerned about the fate of the marketplace, especially in light of the urban renewal movement’s practice of tearing down old buildings. In February 1967, his firm submitted an independent proposal for full reuse of all the market buildings and streets to the BRA. That proposal, which was not considered feasible, is now preserved in the Massachusetts Historical Society. 3. John Quincy recounts that Mayor White told him he brought the fivevolume feasibility study with him to Washington to demonstrate the importance of the project to federal officials and Massachusetts representatives.

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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P R E S E R V A T I O N

t has become an all too familiar scene in New England: a small crowd of onlookers huddle together near a street curb listening to the roar of a bulldozer making its way toward a small, early to mid-twentieth century house. Soon, in place of this modest house will stand an oversized house that dwarfs the remaining original residences in the neighborhood and stands as a tribute to the current culture of private convenience over community. The following morning, a newspaper headline laments the loss of yet another example of Modernist architecture designed by a person whose name sounds vaguely familiar. People in the community shake their heads and profess that they had no idea this house was significant. If only someone had known and taken action while there was still time.

Historic New England Fall 2007

The practice of tearing down houses to build more fashionable dwellings is nothing new. What makes this generationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s propensity for demolition in residential areas of such concern is the rapid pace and the widespread extent to which the practice is occurring in urban and suburban areas. Single residences and entire neighborhoods built on Modernist principles may vanish before their contributions to history are fully recognized. This tear-down trend has become epidemic in prosperous communities like Westport, Connecticut, but the loss of twentieth-century residential houses is also taking place in more remote areas. As a result, the vulnerability of Modernist architecture has become a critical focus for preservation advocacy efforts and now reaches beyond the pioneering leadership of DOCOMOMO (Documentation and Conservation of buildings,

Paul J. Weber

A Quest for Modernist Legacies sites and neighborhoods of the Modern Movement) and The Recent Past Preservation Network. This year, Historic New England joins its architecture and preservation partners in a concerted effort to increase widespread recognition and appreciation of Modernist houses. Spurred by the recent demolition of two important Modernist houses, one designed by Paul Rudolph in Westport, and another designed by Eleanor Raymond in Belmont, Massachusetts, Historic New England will be creating a reference database showcasing the residential work of selected New England Modernist architects. The plan is to identify twentieth-century Modernist architects who worked in New England and compile a database of their residential works, using the extensive architectural collections of Historic New Englandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Library and Archives

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and similar architectural collections in the region. The database will cover all aspects of residential work, including existing Mod-ernist houses, demolished houses, and designs for houses that were never built. This will be a collaborative project involving architecture and preservation experts in all six New England states. One of the greatest challenges to preservation efforts is the lack of awareness of the historic significance of twentieth-century buildings. Relatively few Modernist houses are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or inventoried as part of architectural surveys. With the exception of perhaps a handful of houses beloved by architecture fans, most Modernist houses are essentially invisible until they are threatened by demolition or alteration. Historic New England’s Modernist Houses Database will provide scholarly research to facilitate identification of these residences so that they can be recognized and documented. Additionally,

the project will help publicize the work of talented regional architects whose names are largely unknown. By making this database available to New England state historic preservation offices as well as state and local preservation non-profit groups, Historic New England can assist ongoing regional efforts to preserve Modernist residential architecture. Historic New England also hopes to inspire grass-roots community preservation efforts, similar to what has happened with the Hollin Hills neighborhood in Fairfax County, Virginia, a Modernist neighborhood near Washington, D.C., dating from the 1940s and consisting of approximately 450 houses designed by Charles Goodman. The community published a book chronicling its fifty-year history and established its own design review process. In 2004, a committee of residents was formed to pursue National Register designation.

The quest to identify, locate, and save representative examples of Modernist New England houses is a daunting task, but one that is crucial to preserving and telling New England’s twentiethcentury story. The legacy of these homes and what future generations learn about this era depend on willingness to act in the present. —Wendy L. Price Team Leader, Historic Preservation

You can help Historic New England’s preservation efforts by sharing information on Modernist houses or architects in your community. Please contact Wendy Price at (781) 891-4882 ext. 225 or wprice@historicnewengland.org.

Chris Mottalini

9/25/07

FACING PAGE Theodore T. Miller house, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1936, designed by Eleanor Raymond. THIS PAGE, BELOW LEFT Clarence Howlett house, Belmont, Massachusetts, 1948, designed by Walter Gropius and Benjamin Thompson of The Architects Collaborative. BELOW RIGHT

Cerrito house, Watch Hill, Rhode Island, 1956, designed by Paul

Zac Sargent

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Rudolph. This house, noted for its integration with the surrounding landscape and ocean view, was demolished in June, 2007, the second loss of a Rudolph house in New England this year. To learn more, contact the Paul Rudolph Foundation at www.paulrudolph.org. Fall 2007 Historic New England

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M A K I N G

F U N

O F

H I S T O R Y

, m a j d n a s e l Did you know that pick which we think of as tasty treats, were o riginally developed to keep food from spoiling? Before refrigeration, food went bad very quickly. How has food storage change d s ? e i Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s find over the centur outâ&#x20AC;Ś

Food Preservation Native Americans and American colonists preserve food

by drying, salting, or smoking and storing it in a cool dry place.

Historic New England Fall 2007

1810

1825

1858

1864

Nicholas Appert invents canning.

Tin food containers used in America.

John L. Mason patents the Mason jar.

Louis Pasteur invents pasteurization, which uses high temperatures to kill bacteria in liquids.

do you know Can you guess what this is? These are ice tongs, which were used to carry large blocks of ice. Before electric refrigerators, people had ice boxes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; insulated wooden cabinets that stayed cold thanks to blocks of ice kept inside. Ice was harvested in winter from frozen lakes and ponds and stored in sawdust in ice houses. Delivery men used tongs like these to bring ice from wagon to house.

David Bohl

17th century

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u can find the capitalized words See if yo search: in the word

word search One of the earliest ways to preserve food was DRYING. In colonial America, slices of PUMPKINS and APPLES were hung on a string to dry.

Native Americans made meat and fruit.

PEMMICAN,

a mixture of dried

SALT can be used to preserve meat and fish. Salt draws out moisture and prevents the growth of bacteria. Sailors brought barrels of salted MEAT on long voyages. PICKLING preserves vegetables and other foods through a combination of salt and VINEGAR. CANNING keeps food from going bad by sealing it inside a sterilized, airtight container.

Milk spoils quickly without refrigeration. BUTTER and CHEESE, which are made from milk, keep much longer. The invention of the REFRIGERATOR made it possible to keep foods fresh, while the FREEZER permits long-term storage of food in nearly fresh condition.

F S E B Z E Q R X I N H X C R

G L V Z P X P D R Y I N G R I

J C H E E S E M N Y P H E Y L

S N J R S L C W S N X F F B A

N P E M M I C A N R R D R M M

I P I F O N L U G I A B E K P

I I T J C T F U G V W T E E U

E C H P E H A E I K E V Z X M

P K Z X L X R N C B A A E X P

D L I Q X A E B U T T E R K K

H I A I T G M F A J G U S G I

M N K O A L W Q L L P G K F N

S G R R M K D Q D U H T D E S

M E A T L Z L A P P L E S V J

D F N W P L C A N N I N G P Q

Answers can be found on page 24.

1860s

1899

1911

1924

1938

1963

Ice boxes used widely in American homes.

Campbell’s Soup first sold at 10 cents per can.

First home refrigerators are sold.

Clarence Birdseye starts the first frozen food company.

Freeze-dried coffee, one of the first powdered food products, becomes available.

First aluminum beverage cans sold.

D av id

Make Butter Pour room-temperature cream into a clean small jar until it is onethird full. Screw the lid on tightly, and shake the jar for about ten minutes, until butter starts to form and only a small amount of liquid is left. (The liquid is buttermilk, which can be used in baking.) Drain the buttermilk, and spread the butter on crackers or bread. Add salt to taste.

Bohl

try it yourself

Before there were ice boxes and refrigerators, families would devote a north-facing room, called a “buttery,” to food storage. Because the sun never shone into these rooms, they stayed cool, making them ideal for the production and storage of dairy products and other perishables. This is the buttery at Historic New England’s 1678 Coffin House in Newbury, Massachusetts. Fall 2007 Historic New England

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M A K I N G

F U N

O F

H I S T O R Y

Raspberry Jam Not only does jam make a delicious addition to your morning toast, it is also a way of preserving summer’s bounty. The sugar in jam helps the preservation process.When fruit is boiled with sugar, acid, and pectin, it will thicken into jam. (Fruit contains pectin naturally, or you can add it, as in the recipe below.) Be sure to ask an adult for help. To make your own delicious raspberry jam you will need: Equipment 4 8-oz. jam jars with two-piece, self-sealing lids potato masher 1 large pot 1 small pot 1 medium bowl ladle wide-mouth funnel sieve (optional) Ingredients 7 to 8 pints of raspberries (enough to make 5 cups crushed) 7 cups granulated sugar 1 /2 tsp butter 1 packet SURE JELL fruit pectin

1. Run jars through the dishwasher, then boil them in a large pot for 10 minutes. (Place a circular baking rack or steamer at the base of the pot to keep the jars from bouncing around the bottom.) Put the jar seals and screw lids in a smaller pot to boil separately. Leave the jars and lids submerged until the jam is ready. 2. Mash the berries a little at a time with a potato masher, then measure into a large pot. If you don’t like a lot of seeds, put some of the berries through a sieve at this time. 3. Measure the sugar into a bowl. Be sure to use the exact amount called for or the jam will not jell.

4. Add the package of pectin and 1/2 tsp butter to the berries, and bring to a full rolling boil. Add sugar, and stirring constantly, bring to a boil and allow to boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off any foam on the surface. 5. Using a wide-mouth funnel to prevent spilling, ladle the hot jam into the jars to about 1/4" from the top. Wipe the jar rims with a clean towel, then quickly cover the jars with the lids, and screw the bands on tightly. After the jars have cooled, store them in the refrigerator. The jam will keep for several weeks. —Kathleen Corcoran Education Program Coordinator, Newbury Region

Historic New England Fall 2007

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S H O P

The Historic New England Book Store Boston’s Changeful Times: Origins of Preservation and Planning in America Winner of the 1999 SPNEA/Historic New England Book Prize Michael Holleran. This important book chronicles the relationship between historic preservation, planning, and the desire for permanence in Boston between 1860 and 1930. Boston’s preservationists pioneered new approaches to planning and development that eventually spread to other cities across the country. SC $20.95, Special Member price $17.80

How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built Winner of the 1995 SPNEA/Historic New England Book Prize Stewart Brand. A thought-provoking analysis of how buildings can be adapted to work with time rather than against it. The text is clear and to the point, and the illustrations of how buildings change are both fascinating and instructive. SC $30, Special Member price $25.50

Boston, A Topographical History Walter Muir Whitehill and Lawrence W. Kennedy. SC $16.95, Special Member price $14.40

The Winterthur Guide to Caring for Your Collection Gregory Landrey et al. SC $17.95, Special Member price $15.25

American Architecture Second edition David P. Handlin. SC $16.95, Special Member price $14.40

Orchids Simplified: An Indoor Gardening Guide Henry Jaworski. SC $22, Special Member price $18.70

To order, please call (617) 227-3957, ext.237. Shipping charges and applicable taxes apply. HC = hard cover SC = soft cover

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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C O L L E C T I O N S

“With this Ring I Thee Wed” n 1840, when Queen Victoria walked down the aisle with orange blossoms in her hair, she set a bridal fashion that crossed the Atlantic and lasted well into the twentieth century. In 1871, Harriet Fairbrother of Rhode Island wore a wreath of silk and wax orange blossoms with matching drop earrings and a gold bead necklace when she married Frank Burrough. Orange blossoms decorated the bodice of her wedding dress, which she wore with white kid slippers. Queen Victoria’s white wedding gown also established a bridal tradition. Before the royal wedding, white was often considered more appropriate for mourning, and brides wore their best clothes or had dresses made in the latest fashion. Fragments of brightly colored brocaded English silk from the dress of Prudence Jenkins of Boston, which she wore for her wedding in 1778, exemplify this practice. Prudence’s shoes sported paste buckles, probably imported from England as well. Finely made and set in silver, the buckles conveyed Prudence’s prominent status and wealth.

I Harriet Fairbrother’s silk and wax orange blossom headdress, corsage, and earrings, 1871. Prudence Jenkins’ shoe and buckle with a fragment of her wedding dress, 1778. Garnet engagement and wedding ring, 1822. Elizabeth Fish’s gold double heart ring, c. 1815, engraved “EF.” THIS

PAG E ,

CLOCKWISE

F RO M

A B OV E

Phot ograp hy by David Carm ack

Historic New England Fall 2007

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THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Bodice of Harriet Fairbrother’s wedding dress and her white kid leather slippers, 1871. She also received a chalcedony cameo of Flora from her fiancé, Frank Burrough, which he purchased from Shreve, Crump and Low of Boston. Dorothy (Quincy) Hancock’s gold wedding band, 1775.

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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Pearls, which represented purity and tears of joy, were often given to brides. RIGHT Gold link necklace with pearl cross pendant, pearl drop earrings, wedding band, and diamond engagement ring, 1871. BELOW Suite of jewelry set with miniatures on ivory, made by Stephen Twycross of London, 1796. THIS PAGE

tures an applied double heart cartouche engraved with her initials. In 1822, Harriet Homer wore a circle of round garnets, with the inscription “Remember the giver C.W. to H.H.” engraved on the inner band, a gift from her fiancé, Charles Whiting. After the Civil War, a combination of factors— a rise in disposable income, the increased availability of diamonds from South Africa, and improved diamond-cutting techniques led to an increased use of diamonds in engagement rings in America. Prior to that time, a diamond ring typically featured a closed dt l ho ar H r back-and-collet-style setting, which encased the bottom te Pe of the stone and exposed only the table, or top. In the 1870s and ’80s, open settings, which exposed the entire diamond to light and increased its brilliance, became fashionable. These settings consisted of prongs rising from the band in a basket shape to clasp the diamond around its girdle, or circumference. Jewelers competed to patent improvements on this Many items from Historic New England’s collection reflect design. In 1886, Tiffany & Co. introduced a version of the the evolution of marriage customs in the region. Rings, symsix-prong setting, the so-called “Tiffany setting,” which solidbols of fidelity and eternity, are commonly associated with ified the diamond’s position as the preferred style of American matrimonial rituals and were required for marriage cereengagement ring. By 1925, Emily Post recommended diamonies by the Church of England. In Colonial America howmond rings over other types because “the great majority will ever, the use of wedding rings was not universal, especially in probably always consider a diamond the only ring to have,” New England, where Puritans rejected many traditions of the and indeed the diamond ring continues its reign today. English church. A wedding band that purportedly belonged That not every bride wanted a diamond is evident from to Dorothy Quincy, who in 1775 married John Hancock, is an engagement ring and wedding band made in 1946 for utterly plain. Dorothy was marrying one of the richest merMarguerite Woodworth Wriston by the Boston Arts and chants in Massachusetts, but her unadorned band indicates Crafts jewelry maker, Edward Everett Oakes. Oakes closely that Puritan attitudes towards wedding rings still prevailed in examined his clients’ hands before designing jewelry for them. the late eighteenth century. After her husband's death in Both Wriston rings feature characteristics of Oakes’s work— 1793, Dorothy had the ring enameled in black and wore it as the use of two kinds of metals, pierced floral designs, colleta mourning ring. (The enamel has since worn off.) set stones, and oak leaf patterns, the designer’s signature motif. By the nineteenth century the use of wedding rings in Before diamonds became associated with matrimony, America became more widespread. Rings came in many seed pearls were the traditional gift to brides. Seed pearls are styles and often served as both engagement rings and wedtiny natural pearls produced by the Unio mussel, commonly ding bands. Elizabeth Fish’s c. 1815 gold wedding ring fea16

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During the Victorian era, jewelry containing woven human hair carried sentimental associations. RIGHT LEFT

found in freshwater rivers. In the late eighteenth century and continuing through much of the nineteenth, suites of seed pearls were a traditional gift for brides, particularly in America, where the fashion endured long after it had waned in Europe. In 1796, the prominent Charlestown, Massachusetts, merchant, Joseph Barrell, commissioned a parure, or matching suite, from the London jeweler Stephen Twycross, as a wedding present for his daughter Hannah. The set, with its symmetrical shapes, light and airy materials, and classical symbols, is typical of the Neoclassic style. While seed pearls remained popular throughout the nineteenth century, larger, rounder oyster pearls became available after 1850, when Asian markets opened to the West, and soon had an impact on fashion. In 1871, Stephen H. Phillips gave his fiancée, Margaret Duncan, a suite of jewelry set with oyster pearls, purchased from the Boston retailer, Shreve, Crump & Low, for $790. This set, combining bridal pearls with the Victorian taste for oversized jewelry, adapts tradition to the latest fashion. In addition to pearls, jewelry made from other materials was also deemed appropriate as a wedding gift in the Victorian era. Carved ivory suites, including sheaves of wheat representing plenty and fertility, were considered suitable for young brides in the 1850s. In the second half of the nineteenth century, hair jewelry was used both as tokens of love and friendship and as memorials to the dead. Anna Wigglesworth gave her sister, Mary, a hair bracelet as an engagement present in 1864. One could either provide one’s own hair to a local hairworker, of which there were many in Boston, or buy a finished piece from a retailer. Those who wanted a more personal touch made their hair jewelry at home with kits advertised in women’s periodicals such as Godey’s Lady’s Book.

Carved ivory brooch and earrings in original fitted case, c.1850. BELOW Engagement and wedding ring made by Edward Everett Oakes, Boston, Massachusetts, 1946.

Historic New England’s collection illustrates that jewelry has always played an integral role in the ritual of matrimony as it evolved from a simple religious ceremony to a more elaborate event. These personal symbols of sentiment and family bonds endure as insightful records of the fashions surrounding courtship and marriage at different moments in American history. —Sarah Brierley Tiffany Curatorial Fellow

Visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org to see an online exhibition of jewelry, based on a research project funded by the Tiffany & Co. Foundation to catalogue more than 2,000 items in Historic New England’s jewelry collection.

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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David Carmack

S T E W A R D S H I P

Threatened No More he c. 1800 John Robbins House in Acton, Massachusetts, has been a prominent landmark for generations of travelers making their way along Great Road. Today, both sides of this early highway are lined by shopping centers, auto dealerships, and small commercial buildings, making it difficult to imagine the house’s original setting of 230 acres of farmland. Nonetheless, the house itself remains in a remarkable state of preservation and has recently embarked on a new life as a thriving art gallery, whose historic features are protected through Historic New England’s Stewardship Program. Known locally as one of Acton’s “Lottery Houses,” this imposing, twostory transitional Georgian-to-Federalstyle house was constructed with the winnings from a lottery sponsored in

Historic New England Fall 2007

1794 by Harvard College to raise funds for the construction of Stoughton Hall. Acton residents John Robbins, Abraham Skinner, Abel Conant, and Horace Tuttle, who had each purchased shares of the winning $5 lottery ticket, split the $10,000 grand prize and used their winnings to construct fashionable homes for themselves and their families. The John Robbins House, the most ambitious of the four houses, boasts a formal classical entry door surround, lavish interior woodcarvings based upon plates from William Pain’s 1792 Practical Builder, stencil work attributed to Moses Eaton, and iron and brass door hardware. The house remained in the Robbins family through the early twentieth century, but in 1918 its farmland was reduced to seventy-five acres. In 1944,

dealers William and Belle Hinckley purchased the property and established a small antique business on the premises; at that time, the land was further reduced to just slightly over two acres. In 1965, Donald and Barbara Nylander purchased the house and dedicated years of painstaking work to preserving the building and its remaining land. Having witnessed the continuing encroachment of commercial development on Great Road, when it came time to sell in 2004, the Nylander children generously donated perpetual preservation restrictions on the property to Historic New England, to protect house and land from their likely fate of demolition and subdivision. The restrictions protect all exterior elevations of the house and carriage shed, as well as interior features such as room configuration, plaster walls, woodwork,

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fireplaces, softwood floors, door and window hardware, and decorative paint work. In light of the preservation restrictions and the house’s location on a busy commercial highway, the future options for re-using this historic structure were limited. Fortunately, art gallery owners Lawrence and Kimberley Powers saw the property’s potential as a new location for their business. Working closely with Historic New England, the Powerses first addressed needed work to repair deteriorated structural framing members at the house and carriage shed to stabilize these buildings and prepare them for conversion into commercial use. Onsite parking was created to the west of the house, set back from the street to mitigate its visibility from Great Road. To preserve the building’s residential and historic character, the primary business entrance was created at the rear, in the location of a former sunporch. A landscaped patio and sloped sidewalk leading to the parking area

provide handicapped access. All aspects of this project were completed with the commitment to save and preserve existing intact building fabric. The John Robbins House is open to the public, who are welcome to enjoy this property, tour the sculptures on display on the grounds, and view the artwork for sale in its rooms and carriage shed. Through the preservation restrictions held by Historic New England, this significant property will endure as a link to Acton’s past, while commercial development continues to transform Great Road into a busy commercial strip.

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The recently restored John Robbins House in Acton, Massachusetts, now the home of the Powers Gallery. ABOVE Large rooms with finely detailed architectural finishes provide the perfect setting for the display of art. BELOW This c. 1869 view from Historic New England's Library and Archives shows the house surrounded by acres of farmland. FACING PAGE

—Joseph Cornish Senior Stewardship Manager

Historic New England’s Stewardship Program now protects more than seventy privately owned historic buildings. For more information visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org or call (781) 891-4882, ext 227.

Fall 2007 Historic New England

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L A N D S C A P E

Orchids From Rain Forest to Windowsill

rchids are the most abundant of all flowering plants, with more than 25,000 known species. They are found on every continent except Antarctica and grow in every type of climate except desert. The majority of the most colorful varieties are native to tropical regions. The earliest records of orchidaceous plants in European collections date from the 1730s. As the century progressed and interest in botany as a field of scientific inquiry grew, plant hunters began to accompany geographic expeditions and merchant voyages to collect specimens from the rain forests and other tropical regions—the Colombian Andes, India, Malaysia, Peru, Brazil, and the Phillippines. Orchids were literally collected by the ton; in some cases they were used for packing material for other tropical plants or even as ballast

Historic New England Fall 2007

in ships, although many did not survive the trip to Europe. Cultivation of orchids according to scientific methods was first practiced at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, outside London. In America, one of the first orchid enthusiasts was John Wright Boott of Boston, whose brother James sent him a collection of plants in 1838. Boott kept his orchids in a small greenhouse in the yard behind his house in Bowdoin Square. On his death, he bequeathed his collection to John Amory Lowell of Roxbury, Massachusetts. The taste for these exotics spread among Boston’s elite families, and soon the area was rich with large collections of orchids being grown in greenhouses. The early collections of orchids contained only species orchids, that is, plants that had not been hybridized and remained exactly as they had

grown in their natural environments. The first challenge for orchid collectors was to figure out how to provide proper growing conditions in a greenhouse. Once this was perfected, botanists began to cross breed different varieties to expand the plants’ color ranges, ease of culture, flower shape, quality, and patterns. The first recorded hybrid came from a nursery in London in 1856. Today there are more than 70,000 registered hybrids, and each year several thousand more are generated. In the past fifty years, orchid growing has gone from an expensive hobby of the privileged to one that every plant enthusiast can enjoy. Success with orchids depends on selecting the right orchid for the growing conditions in your home. The hybrids of today have made windowsill culture much easier than previously—indeed,

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there are varieties that can be grown in most windows other than those facing north. When shopping for an orchid, the key factors to consider are temperature, light, humidity, ventilation, and your own watering habits. There are orchids that require cool, warm, or hot temperatures and ones that favor low, intermediate, or high light conditions. If you have an east-facing window with a nighttime temperature between 55º to 60º F in the winter, you will have good luck with Phalaenopsis, or moth orchids. If you have a south-facing window that goes down to 50º F at night in winter, try Cymbidiums. Cattleyas, which often have a wonderful fragrance, do best in a sunny, westor south-facing window, with nighttime temperature of 55º to 60º F. Most orchids like a good periodic soaking and then should be allowed to get somewhat dry before the next watering. Orchids never like soggy roots, so care must be taken to ensure that the pots do not sit in water. Fertilizing

should be light; over-fertilizing must be avoided. Historic New England’s Lyman Estate Greenhouses in Waltham, Massachusetts, devote an entire greenhouse to orchids, with more than one thousand varieties including species and hybrids, rare specimens that do best under glass, and numerous examples that are easy to grow as house plants. The staff have extensive experience in orchid cultivation and will help you choose the right plant for your conditions and provide information on proper care. The garden shop has all the supplies you will need to get started, including suitable pots, tools, growing supplies, and books. —Lynn Ackerman Horticulturist

Photography by David Carmack

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You will find orchids to match your home environment among the huge variety available at the Lyman Estate Greenhouses year round. In addition, a special orchid sale takes place October 26–28, 2007, and three programs are offered in November for those interested in learning how to grow orchids: Orchid Growing Clinic on the 10th, Beginning Orchid Growing Workshop on the 16th, and Growing Orchids Under Lights on the 30th. For more information and to register for the programs, visit www.HistoricNewEngland.org, or call (781) 891-4882, ext 244.

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H O U S E

Aaron Usher

O P E N

Making the House Work “

uesday, 4th March, 1919…. Dinner party here 10 young people.” Thus Anna Phillips noted another party at 34 Chestnut Street, in Salem, Massachusetts, the house she purchased in June 1911, for herself, husband Stephen Willard Phillips, and son, Stephen (born 1907). Her busy schedule included meetings for the Salem chapter of the WWI Special Aid Society for American Preparedness, her bridge club, and endless rounds of calls received and paid by her on a daily basis. Stephen Willard was president of the Essex Institute from 1936 to 1955, and honorary curator of Pacific Ethnology at Salem’s Peabody Museum from the 1920s until his death in 1955. Several times a week family and friends came to lunch or dinner. A wealthy woman, Anna knew how to run an economical, efficient, and elegant home and relied on her staff of five domestic servants to perform the duties required to maintain a household of this complexity and status. The makeup of the Phillips household was typical of upper-class families in the early twentieth century. The presence of servants indicated a family’s status, and employing a specialized staff was not only a signifier of wealth but also a necessity. Home electrification and a proliferation of new labor-saving devices had begun to transform domestic work,

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but the Phillipses’ large home and frequent entertaining still required the labor of many hands. During this period, the average servant was likely to be female, white, an immigrant or first-generation American, under twenty-five, and single. Traditionally, servants lived in the house and received room and board as part of their compensation. In 1919, the Phillips’ female staff included three Irish-born single women who lived in the third floor servants’ quarters. Anna hired Catherine Shaughnessy in 1910 to be young Stephen’s second nursemaid. “Catty” became a favorite with Stephen, and the two corresponded when he went to Milton Academy and she sent him his favorite comic strip “Cap’n Stubbs.” When Stephen left home for boarding school, Catherine became more of an upstairs maid and assistant to The 1821 Phillips House is one of seventeen Federal-era buildings on Chestnut Street in Salem, Massachusetts. FACING PAGE, TOP Delia Cawley, who worked for the Phillips family from 1918 to 1949. BOTTOM LEFT The kitchen was the main work area for the female servants. BOTTOM RIGHT An excursion, c. 1913, with chauffeur Patrick O'Hara, Anna Phillips (in white), nursemaid Catherine Shaughnessy, and young Stephen. ABOVE

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Anna and remained with the family for fifty-two years. Many families struggled with rapid and regular turnover of their domestic staff. Although the Phillipses employed a remarkably stable and dedicated staff, they also faced frustrations with replacing servants. On June 20, 1919, Anna noted in her calendar, in which she recorded both her daily activities and her payments to the staff, that “Kitty,” the cook, had been “Paid in full.” (Presumably, she had quit; cooks, being skilled workers, tended to change jobs frequently.) Bridget Durgin (or “Durkin”) started as the cook in July 1919. Scarcely five years later, she died suddenly while walking on Chestnut Street on February 13, 1925. Shortly thereafter, Anna wrote to young Stephen: I haven’t got a cook yet but hope to by tomorrow. I am getting tired of going out to all my meals and Catherine is getting tired of doing the little cooking she has to do and I miss her upstairs. Many young women worked as domestics only until they married. Such was the case for a waitress known to us only as Lizzie. Delia Cawley replaced her on February 13, 1918. Waitresses served meals and oversaw the dining room and pantry. Unlike her predecessor, but like many professional servants, Delia never married, and instead worked for the Phillipses for 31 years. The servants ate their meals in the kitchen, and there Gertrude, Delia’s niece, spent time after school. She recalled that when Mr. Phillips wished to speak to a servant, he would not enter the kitchen but stand in the china closet doorway and then retreat to the family space in the house. Menus in the Phillips archives tell of five-course meals, especially for special occasions like Thanksgiving. Bills from S.S. Pierce, the Boston grocery emporium, the Wenham Lake Ice Corporation, and J. W. Fuller for chickens and eggs (three

dozen were delivered weekly), speak to the complexity of the meals, the frequency of the entertaining, and the fact that the ice box required a new block of ice every day or two. The Phillipses also employed several Irish-American men, who worked primarily outside the house. Unlike the female house staff, the men maintained separate households, in some cases with spouses and families, and came daily to perform their duties. Just as technology was making an impact on women’s work inside the house, advancements in transportation changed the jobs of the male staff as well. When Anna and Stephen established their Chestnut Street household in 1912, they relied on Cornelius Flynn (“Con”) as their coachman. Even after the automobiles and the chauffeur arrived, Con maintained the horses for several more years but was mainly the caretaker and groundskeeper. The Salem City Directory still listed Con as “caretaker of the Stephen Phillips estate” in 1960, the year of his death at the age of eighty-one. Patrick O’Hara was the family’s first chauffeur, hired between 1910-1911, when the Phillipses began renting autos for trips to Topsfield and New Hampshire. Chauffeurs had to have mechanical skills in addition to being good drivers. They kept the family cars clean and performed regular maintenance. Patrick worked for the family into the 1920s, driving Mr. Phillips’ magnificent Pierce-Arrow cars, followed by Clarence Sullivan, who eventually took the wheel of the 1936 Pierce-Arrow Limousine. Clarence remained in the family’s employ for two generations, and after the Phillips House opened to the public in 1973, stayed on to give entertaining tours to visitors into the 1980s. Mary Johnson

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—Margherita M. Desy Phillips House Site Manager

Gregory Wostrel

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News

New England & Beyond

A palette for the recent past As Historic New England’s reputation for expertise in historic paints becomes more widely known, increasing numbers of homeowners and design professionals are requesting advice on twentieth-century colors. In response to this demand, staff from Historic New England and California Products are examining Historic New England’s buildings, wallpaper collection, and paint and builders’ catalogues for color evidence. A new twentieth-century color chart, with colors suitable for American homes built between 1900 and 1980, will be available to the public next spring. The chart will include deep earth tones for Arts and Crafts and Bungalow styles; whites, grays, and primary colors for International and Modern; warm neutrals for Mission and Prairie; and, yes, avocado, turquoise, and gold for the 1960s. A web component, with downloadable color guide showing suggestions for color schemes, also will be available. Intended for a range of architectural styles across the country, the chart will satisfy the demand from homeowners who want to preserve the distinctive character of their twentieth-century homes.

Fifty years old, but nearly new Adding to its growing twentieth-century collection, Historic New England recently acquired a complete 1950s Westinghouse kitchen with turquoise blue cabinets, a stainless-steel wall oven, cooking range and hood, and yellow Formica countertops. The kitchen belonged to the Koravos family of Andover, Massachusetts, who operated Ford’s Coffee Shop in downtown Andover for forty years. The kitchen is in pristine condition because it was the family’s “show” kitchen, situated on the main floor near the dining room and used only on special occasions. In the mid-twentieth century, it was not uncommon for GreekAmerican families to do most of their cooking and eating Solution to puzzle on page 11. in a second, much simpler F G J S N I I E P D H M S M D kitchen in the basement, S L C N P P I C K L I N G E F E V H J E I T H Z I A K R A N B Z E R M F J P X Q I O R T W reserving the better kitchen Z P E S M O C E L X T A M L P E X S L I N T H X A G L K Z L for formal entertaining and Q P E C C L F A R E M W D L C R D M W A U U E N B F Q Q A A holidays. X R N S N G G I C U A L D P N I N H X C R

ABOVE

Historic New England staff dismantles kitchen for removal.

Historic New England Fall 2007

Y I N G R I

Y P H E Y L

N X F F B A

R R D R M M

I A B E K P

V W T E E U

K E V Z X M

B A A E X P

T T E R K K

J G U S G I

L P G K F N

U H T D E S

P L E S V J

N I N G P Q

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Historic New England welcomes new officers and trustees At its June meeting, the Board of Trustees elected a new slate of officers and trustees to lead the organization. “We are honored that so many dedicated and distinguished individuals are participating in furthering the goals of Historic New England,” said President and CEO Carl R. Nold. William C.S. Hicks will assume the chair and, on a temporary basis, will continue in the role of treasurer. Robert A. Pemberton becomes secretary, Theodore Alfond is first vice chair, and Maureen Fennessy Bousa is second vice chair. The five new trustees welcomed to the board are: George C. Ballantyne, senior vice president of Sotheby’s International Realty Distinguished Markets, brings a scholar’s love of architecture to his professional handling of sales of luxury residential properties. In addition to holding an MBA, he has written about Frank Lloyd Wright, eighteenth-century houses in Newport, Rhode Island, and

Austrian Baroque architecture. Notable sales Mr. Ballantyne has managed include the former home of Nelson Rockefeller and present home of Martha Stewart. Arleyn A. Levee maintains a practice in consulting for historic landscape preservation/rehabilitation projects, particularly those involving the designs of the Olmsted Brothers firm. She also is a landscape designer, primarily for private residential projects. In 2001, Ms. Levee received the Olmsted Award from Historic Massachusetts, Inc. Joan M. Berndt has a lifelong interest in decorative arts and has at various times collected silver, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century furniture, and nineteenth- and twentiethcentury art, both American and French. She worked for Merck & Co. for fifteen years before moving to the Boston area, where she plays as active role in supporting a variety of cultural organizations. Susan P. Sloan has a background in the brokerage industry and was vice

president of O’Connor and Associates, an options and arbitrage firm headquartered in Chicago. In 1989, she founded the biennial publication Sloan’s Green Guide to Antiquing in New England, a travel guide to more than 2,500 antique shops and auctioneers in the region. Another of her interests is genealogy, and she recently served as a trustee of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 2007, Ms. Sloan co-chaired the highly successful 2007 Historic New England gala, a role she is repeating in 2008. Colin L. M. Smith, FAIA, is a principal of Architectural Resources Cambridge (ARC), a nationally known design firm whose buildings include the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University and the Boston University Boathouse, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Genzyme Building in Boston. A native of England, he studied architecture at Harvard and worked at Benjamin Thompson Architects and at The Architects Collaborative before founding ARC.

Members’ Month Highlights In June, members flocked to exclusive Members’ Month events. They attended programs on early aviation, seventeenth-century architecture, and mid-twentieth-century furniture. They feasted on local produce at a strawberry shortcake feast in Rhode Island and sipped Roseland Red wine at a wine tasting in Connecticut. We were delighted to welcome so many members to share our collections, sites, landscapes, and passion for the region.

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A C Q U I S I T I O N S

The Hand of the Master

amuel McIntire’s name is synonymous with the grand mansions, public buildings, and elegant carvings of Federal era Salem, Massachusetts. Born into a family of housewrights and craftsmen, he began as a carpenter, became an architect, and later adorned his houses with handsome carved garlands and sheaves of wheat. Described as “one of the most ingenious men” in Salem, he also provided carvings for ships and furniture. One of the few commissions he undertook outside his native town was the handsome country seat in Waltham, Massachusetts, Historic New England’s Lyman Estate, The Vale, which he designed in 1793 for shipbuilder and merchant Theodore Lyman and his second wife, Lydia Williams of Salem. McIntire also supplied furnishings for the house, including custom-made benches that fit snugly into the window embrasures. Recently, a high-post bed carved by McIntire, which descended in the Lyman family and is believed to have been part of the estate’s original furnishings, was donated to Historic

New England. The bedpost carving will be illustrated in Samuel McIntire, Carving an American Style, the catalogue for the major exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of McIntire’s birth that will be on view at Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum, from October 13, 2007, to February 24, 2008. Historic New England is lending to the exhibition two examples of McIntire’s carving— an ionic capital and an over door from McIntire’s 1803 South Church. —Richard C. Nylander Senior Curator

RIGHT Samuel McIntire embellished the mahogany foot posts of the Lyman bed with carved acanthus leaves, roses, and drapery festoons. Gift of Cynthia Forbes Lyman.

141 Cambridge Street Boston MA 02114-2702 Presented by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities

David Carmack

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Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Boston, Massachusetts Permit No. 58621

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FROM THE CHAIR

Historic NEW ENGLAND Fall 2007 Vol. 8, No.2

Blueprint for Preservation 2

David Carmack

I am honored to serve as chairman of the board of trustees as we approach the centennial of this wonderful organization. Our trustees strive to continue the vision of Historic New England’s founder, William Sumner Appleton, for the preservation of the region’s cultural and architectural heritage. Appleton knew that not every old building of merit would be viable as a museum, so he sought creative ways to make a building support itself while continuing to play an active role in its community’s daily life. This magazine contains two articles that demonstrate practical applications of Appleton’s goal. The cover story narrates Historic New England’s involvement in the preservation of Boston’s Quincy Market complex, whose transformation into the vibrant Faneuil Hall Marketplace is one of the twentieth century’s great urban success stories. A second article chronicles the preservation of the John Robbins House in Acton, Massachusetts, thanks to the dedication and vision of both its former and its present owners, who worked with staff of Historic New England’s Stewardship Program to ensure its protection. This program, based on principles Appleton articulated nearly a century ago, now protects seventy-five properties throughout the region. I think he would be very pleased.

“With this Ring I Thee Wed” 14

S P OT L I G H T

Getting Rid of Unwelcome Guests 8

P R E S E RVAT I O N

A Quest for Modernist Legacies M A K I N G F U N O F H I S TO RY

Food Preservation

—Bill Hicks

MUSEUM SHOP

The Historic New England Book Store S T E WA R D S H I P

Threatened No More Historic New England 141 Cambridge Street Boston MA 02114-2702 (617) 227-3956 HISTORIC NEW ENGLAND magazine is a benefit of membership. To join Historic New England, please visit our website, HistoricNew England.org or call (617) 227-3957, ext.273. Comments? Please call Nancy Curtis, editor at (617) 227-3957, ext.235. Historic New England is funded in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Executive Editor Diane Viera

Editor Nancy Curtis

Design DeFrancis Carbone

LANDSCAPE

From Rain Forest to Windowsill OPEN HOUSE

Making the House Work N E W S : N E W E N G L A N D & B E YO N D AC Q U I S I T I O N S

The Hand of the Master

Except where noted, all historic photographs and ephemera are from Historic New England’s Library and Archives.

V I S I T U S O N L I N E AT

w w w. H i s t o r i c N ew E n g l a n d . o r g