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Traditional House Forms with Millwork DecorationA majority of dwellings in the expansion area of the Elizabeth City Historic District were erected during the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. Many of these follow one of three traditional two-story house types that dominated domestic construction in Elizabeth City during the period. They are, listed in order of popularity, the double-pile, gable-front, side-hall plan house; the T- and L-plan house; and the single-pile center-hall-plan house. Each house type was exclusively of frame construction and decorated by a scheme of ornamental millwork that reflected either the owner's economic status or the house's intended use. Victorian period woodwork in the expansion area displayed a variety of forms. The focus of ornamentation was the porch, where turned posts are most common. Posts are usually (or were originally) accented on the side by sawn scrolls, the most prevalent variety being curvilinear scrolls as illustrated on the ca. 1909 Mary I. Reid Morgan House (#3). Sometimes these scrolls are connected by a simple sawn frieze, such as that on the ca. 1900 Sherlock-Hooper-Price House (#386). Porches are usually enclosed with turned balusters and are often invigorated with sawn "webs" between balusters as illustrated by the Swain-Owens House; however, square-in-section balusters are not uncommon, particularly on more modest dwellings. |
One of the primary porch embellishments employed on dwellings erected in the expansion area between 1880 and 1910 consists of sawn or turned millwork friezes extending between posts. Such spindlework friezes, and other highly articulated and lavish millwork, are from the Eastlake vocabulary of woodwork, named for the English architect and furniture designer Charles Eastlake (1833-1906) who advocated similar designs. Most popular are friezes composed of diminutive turned balusters. Some, such as those on the ca. 1902 J. J. White House (#40) and the ca. 1897 Wood-Pritchard House (#212), are straightforward in their application and, as the latter example illustrates, invigorates the porch considerably. A more stylish example is the frieze on the 1891 Selig-Parker House (#416), in which diminutive turned balusters are encased between sculpted rails. Other frieze patterns include connected circles and pendants, as shown on the gable-front house at 504 Cedar Street (#7), and robust star motif panels on the 1904 T-plan Miles Jennings House (#347). Roof gables are also prominent in the Victorian scheme of decoration on traditional houses. Some dwellings, particularly those with front gables, feature ornaments composed of sawn, turned, and/or drilled millwork that are applied to the gable peak. The variety of ornaments is remarkable, the most common being a round arch enclosed by sawn fascias as shown on the ca. 1894 J. J. White House (#40) and the gable-front house at 315 West Fearing Street (#201). These two examples also illustrate the popular use of decorative sheathing to further accentuate the gable, employing diagonally-laid beaded boards on the first example and wood shingles on the second. Gable ornaments of more complex designs include those with delicate radiating spindles as illustrated at the ca. 1897 Wood Pritchard House (#212), and intricate sawn details as seen on the ca. 1895 gable-front house at 319 West Fearing Street (#202). | |
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