BRIDGEPORT'S GOTHIC ORNAMENT / he tiarral= Wheeler House SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY J NUMBER 18 BRIDGEPORT'S GOTHIC ORNAMENT / he Harral= Wheeler Hiouse Anne Castrodale Golovin SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS { CITY OF WASHINGTON \ 1972 Figure i. An 1850 map of Bridgeport, Connecticut, illustrating in vignettes at the top right and left corners the Harral House and P. T. Barnum's "Oranistan." Arrow in center shows location of Harral House. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress.) Ems^m^wmy^' B m 13 ^»MMaM««^fc mwrtkimmM LMPOSING DWELLINGS in the Gothic Revival style were among the most dramatic symbols of affluence in mid-nineteenth-century America. With the rise of industrialization in this periods an increasing number of men from humble beginnings attained wealth and prominence. It was impor­ tant to them as well as to gentlemen of established means that their dwell­ ings reflect an elevated social standing. The Harral-Wheeler residence in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was an eloquent proclamation of the success of its owners and the excellence of the architect Alexander Jackson Davis. Al­ though the house no longer stands, one room, a selection of furniture, orig­ inal architectural designs, architectural fragments, and other supporting drawings and photographs are now in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution. These remnants of Bridgeport's Gothic "ornament" serve as the basis for this study. AUTHOR.—Anne Castrodale Golovin is an associ­ ate curator in the Department of Cultural History in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of History and Technology. B>RIDGEPORT, , CONNECTICUT, was fast be­ speak of the Eastern glories of Iranistan, we have coming a center of industry by the middle of the and are to have in this vicinity, many dwelling- nineteenth century; carriages, leather goods, and houses worthy of particular notice as specimens of metal wares were among the products for which it architecture. So say strangers who pass through was known. As was characteristic of developing Fairfield, or over our Golden Hill. The edifices industrial towns of this era, there was a consider­ recently erected, and those now in progress, add able amount of building activity resulting from the and will add greatly to the attractions of the lat­ 2 rapidly increasing population. The Bridgeport ter locality. Republican Standard noted in 1846 that ". an Aside from "Iranistan," P. T. Barnum's "magnif­ unusual number of dwelling-houses are going up, 1 icent Oriental Villa" in Bridgeport which was com­ and there is a loud call for carpenters, masons, &c." pleted in 1847,3 tne house begun in that year on Local newspapers commented on current construc­ Golden Hill for Henry Kollock Harral most in­ tion projects with wonder and pride. By Novem­ trigued the mid-century inhabitants of the city. A ber of 1847 it was observed that writer for The Evening Star of June 30, 1847, obvi­ . a great improvement in the manner of build­ ously pleased by what he saw, described an un­ ing is perceptable here and hereabouts. Not to named site but doubtless that of Harral. SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY ', rUH. M.X-MAggAf.r.. r.3ft ,BY rA^i.XJAYt $ ^AXLCl!Ci...XJj- Figure 2. As an "architectural composer," Davis used details from actual Gothic buildings illustrated in books on architecture, arranging them in an original and picturesque manner. The departure from complete medieval models of construction was characteristic of the Gothic Revival style in mid-nineteenth-century America. A comparison of the Harral House with another Davis-designed residence reveals a close relationship between its front facade and that of the Waddell House in New York City (Figure 3) dating from 1844. Davis reversed his design for the Waddell dwelling, added a first-story window on one side and a veranda. By making these major changes—and some more subtle—Davis achieved a more pleasing balance in the front of the Harral House. (Smithsonian negative 61190.) There are workmen busy upon this estate. They Long before the house was finished, it was recog­ are behind that grove of trees and they are engaged nized that it would be an architectural attraction in rearing an edifice, which all know will add great in Bridgeport. interest to our lovely town. I cannot inform you what is to be the general style of the main build­ The man for whom this house was being built ing—but see those finished small ones. Everybody was a newcomer to the city who "began the world takes that pretty stable for a cottage of itself, and poor."4 Henry Harral, born in 1808 in Savan­ I do not wonder; I have always coveted it for my nah, Georgia, had learned the saddle and harness- horse. making trade, probably in Newark, New Jersey. His NUMBER l8 <- i r n I Figure 3. The Waddell House which was erected at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 37th Street, New York City. (Courtesy of I. N. Phelps Stokes Collection, Prints Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations.) business ability had been proven both in Charleston, resolved to build a new home on his Golden Hill South Carolina, and in New York before he went property overlooking Long Island Sound.6 to Bridgeport in about 1836. In Bridgeport, he At a time when builders more frequently than became associated with Philo C. Calhoun, and to­ architects were responsible for the plan and ap­ gether they established a firm for the manufacture pearance of houses, Harral employed an architect of saddles and harnesses. Although he had been a to provide him with designs for a villa and the resident of Bridgeport for less than a decade, Henry necessary outbuildings. His choice may have been Harral was elected mayor of the city in 1845 and influenced by having seen the splendid William subsequently served several one-year terms in this Waddell residence in New York City 7 (Figure 3), office. He was also a senator in the state legislature or possibly by architectural illustrations included for one year.5 His quickly gained prominence in in Andrew Jackson Downing's books A Treatise city affairs, as well as his financial success, war­ on the Theory and Practise of Landscape Garden­ ranted an elaborate dwelling. By 1846, Harral ing . with Remarks on Rural Architecture and SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Cottage Residences.8 Whatever the reason, he se­ the styles and temperaments he considered com­ lected Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892) of patible, concluding: New York, and directed that his house be designed . there are the men of imagination—men whose in the "Gothic order." Although Davis was com­ aspirations never leave them at rest—men whose petent in the Greek Revival and the Italianate ambition and energy will give them no peace with­ styles, he was an undisputed master of the neo- in the mere bounds of rationality. These are the Gothic style. Davis had gained invaluable experi­ men for picturesque villas—country houses with ence during his partnership with the well-known high roofs, steep gables, unsymmetrical and capri­ architect and originator of the lattice truss, Ithiel cious forms. It is for such that the architect may Town, between 1829 anc* 1835 an(^ later in 1842 safely introduce the tower and the campanile—any and 1843. This alliance allowed Davis access to and every feature that indicates originality, bold­ Town's superb collection of architectural books- ness, energy, and variety of character.13 said to have been the best in the United States— which provided a basis for the formation of his The residence designed for Henry Harral suited Gothic vocabulary.9 him well since he was Emerging for the first time from a tradition in ... a man of great activity and energy, and in which possibilities for whimsy and variety in archi­ business matters had very few equals. In every tecture were limited, a taste for the picturesque was situation, public and private, he discharged his developing in America by the 1840s. Contemporary duties promptly and faithfully. He was always frank, books of designs for domestic architecture pub­ open-hearted and liberal. He began the world poor, lished in the United States followed English pro­ and though only in the forty-sixth year of his age, 10 totypes. They contained plans for modest as well he died possessed of a handsome fortune. ."14 as elaborate dwellings in various styles—Gothic, Italian, Elizabethan, and Swiss, to name a few. The picturesque Gothic Revival style was indeed These widely consulted volumes were more than appropriate for a man of imagination in the 1840s. builders' guides; accompanying the illustrations and A house bristling with pinnacles, towers, battle­ descriptions of houses, there were often statements ments, and other irregularities in decoration as well of the author's philosophy of architecture, a decla­ as in conformation was a radical departure from ration of the moral effects of buildings, and recom­ the symmetrical designs which had dominated mendations for interior finishing and furnishing. American architecture. The character of such mid- Building a home was an acknowledged means of century dwellings was largely dictated by Down­ proclaiming one's individuality. A. J. Downing, the ing and Davis. Of the "Gothic" houses erected in 15 most influential American advisor on the subject this country, Harral's was one of the finest. of domestic architecture during the decades border­ Davis began working on the Harral commission ing 1850, made this explicit. in mid-February of 1846, first producing designs for the coach house and stable and "Studies upon We believe not only that a house may have an a plan for dwelling." He completed the coach house absolute beauty of its own, growing out of its and stable designs on March 7.