Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

MAIN ENTRANCE HALL (STAIR HALL #1)

The floor plans, II, pp. 197, 198, should be referred to here, as well as the photographs of the Entrance Hall, II, p. 206 and the drawings, II, p. 208. The room is about 18'-0" in length and 9'-8" in width.

FLOORS

These are composed of old random width yellow pine boards, surface nailed with old type nails. The boards were selected from warehouse stock which was derived from old Virginia houses. The floors are finished with wax.

WALLS AND CEILING

The walls and ceiling are covered with modern plaster applied in three coats over metal lath. The final coat is troweled smooth and given a slightly wavy surface to suggest the unevenness of eighteenth century plaster.

BASEBOARD

The base is 5" high and 1 1/8" thick and has a ½" bead at the top. This is a common baseboard type found in many old Virginia houses. An old example is the baseboard of the northeast first floor room of the Brush-Everard House.

CHAIR RAIL

The chair rail consists of a series of projecting moldings applied to a flat board, beaded top and bottom. The board is 6¼" high and the profiled rail 3" high. The latter is returned upon itself at all openings. The profile is not typical of Virginia chair railings and consists of (top to bottom) a cavetto, fillet, half round, fillet and cyma recta. It was copied from a chair rail in the hall of Mill's Point, a house in Charles County, Maryland.

CORNICE

The cornice consists of a crown mold resting upon a beaded fascia, the whole element being 5¾" high. The crown mold is 208 TWO VIEWS OF MAIN ENTRANCE HALLWAY, KING'S ARMS TAVERN
ABOVE, VIEW LOOKING NORTH, SHOWING DOOR TO STREET; THE STAIRCASE, ONE STRINGER OF WHICH RUNS DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE FULL-LENGTH, 28-LIGHT WINDOW AND, AT LEFT, DOOR TO UTILITY CLOSET UNDER STAIR. AT LEFT, VIEW TOWARD WEST, SHOWING DOOR LEADING INTO NORTHWEST FIRST FLOOR DINING ROOM AND STAIRCASE WITH ITS UNUSUAL SHORT BOTTOM FLIGHT OF STEPS PERPENDICULAR TO THE NORTH WALL. THE "SADDLE BACK" HANDRAIL OWES ITS INSPIRATION TO SIMILAR RAILS OF THE BRUSH-EVERARD HOUSE STAIR AND OF STAIRCASES OF TUCKAGOE IN GOOCHLAND COUNTY AND OTHER OLD VIRGINIA HOUSES 209 the same one used so extensively on the exterior of the Tavern and the Purdie House (see I, p. 49 and illustrations, I, pp. 45 and 45a). The cornice of the first floor of the Entrance Hall is interrupted at two points by the stair well. On the north elevation it proceeds westward until it reaches the well opening where the fascia stops and the crown mold returns upon itself. On the west wall it continues northward until it strikes the panelled soffit of the stair.

WINDOWS AND WINDOW TRIM

The Entrance Hall has one 28-light window (see photo, II, p. 206) which has been described in the treatment of the north elevation (I, pp. 70-72). The north stair stringer cuts diagonally across the window, the stringer passing within about ¼" of the face of the framework of the lower sash and cutting into the window trim where it crosses. The part of the window below the stair brings light to the closet beneath the stairway.

The interior trim is of a very common type, consisting (top to bottom) of a cyma reversa backband superimposed upon a fascia which terminates in a bead, ½" in diameter. The entire member is about 4¼" wide. There is no interior sill, the trim continuing across the bottom of the window opening in the manner of the frames of the old first floor windows of the Tayloe House. The trim profile with the single fascia and backband is similar to that of the old interior trim of the second story window of the south gable end of the Brush-Everard House.

DOORS AND DOOR TRIM; MAIN ENTRANCE DOOR

The main entrance door with its exterior trim and its hardware has been described in I, pp. 63-68, so that only the interior trim remains to be discussed. The interior door architrave is composed of a series of moldings the combined width of which is 5½". The trim is more complex than that of the windows, consisting (top to 210 bottom) of a cyma reversa backband, unusual by virtue of the fact that it ends at the bottom in a 3/8" bead, a fascia, a smaller cyma reversa, a second fascia and a bead, ½" in diameter. This trim runs across the door head and down the sides to the floor. The transom bar is covered on the inside with a piece of trim 4½" high and ½" thick, which is beaded top and bottom. The face of this is in the same plane as the smaller of the two fascias of the door trim so that when the bar strikes the trim its flat surface becomes continuous with that of the smaller fascia. The bead of the trim strikes the upper and lower beads of the transom bar in a mitre so that the openings above and below the bar are bordered by a continuous bead (except at the bottom of the door opening). The precedent for this door trim composed of two cyma reversas, two fascias and a bead was found, among other places, in the Brush-Everard House where a number of first floor doors have it. Several of these doors also have cyma reversa backbands with a bead at the bottom.

FRAMED OPENING IN EAST WALL

Moving clockwise about the hall the next "door" opening which we encounter is the trimmed and doorless one in the east wall. This opening, which communicates with the Lounge, is about 5'-1" wide and 6'-6" high. It is located off center in the east wall, in such wise that the right hand stile touches the south wall. This opening is trimmed in the same manner on the Lounge side as on the Entrance Hall side and the architrave has the same profile as the interior trim of the front entrance door.

DOOR IN SOUTH WALL

Very near the east end of the south wall is a door opening communicating with a passage leading to the serving pantry. This has in it a door 6'-8" high, 2'-8" wide and 1 3/8" thick which has molded panels on the Hall side only, the panels on the passage side 211 being unmolded and depressed. The panels are six in number and consist of two pairs of elongated panels below a pair of smaller, "squarish" ones. The panel moldings are composed of a quarter round on the frame members and, on the "floating" panels, the customary wedge-shaped "tongue" which fits into a groove in the framework. The panel face, on the Hall side, is in the same plane as the door frame. The transition between the panel face and the sloping tongue is effected by means of a cavetto curve. The trim of this door has a profile of the same size and character as that of the front entrance door. The door and its trim are constructed with mortise and tenon joints, secured by hardwood pegs driven through them.

PRECEDENT FOR DOOR

The old north entrance door of the neighboring Charlton House is a six-panelled door, with the panels arranged in the same manner as in this door. The Charlton door also has raised and molded panels on one side only.

DOOR HARDWARE

The hardware of the door, except for the closer, is new but reproduced after colonial models. It consists of a pair of 9" wrought iron HL hinges with floriated ends similar to C.W. F-4; an iron rim lock, Reading No. C-625 with brass knobs, rose and swivel spindle, and, on the passage side, a modern Corbin automatic door closer. Concerning the HL hinges it should be noted that only the "L" part, attached to the door, and the pintle are visible, the straight part being concealed beneath the door trim. It should also be observed that the bead of the trim fascia has been cut out to receive the pintle which has the same diameter as the bead and continues this.^* The 212 visible part of the hinge is secured to the door by nails with hand hammered heads. Leather washers have been inserted between the nail heads and the hinges.

DOOR IN WEST WALL

The next door, in the west wall beneath the north-south run of the stair (see illustrations, II, pp. 206 and 208), leads from the Entrance Hall to the Northwest Dining Room. This is a six-panel door 3'-0" wide, 6'-8" high and 1 3/8" thick. It has the same panel arrangement as the preceding door but in this case the panels are raised on both sides. The construction is the same as before. The hardware is similar to that of the door just described except that there is no door closer. This door has a wood threshold 4" wide and about 5/8" thick with chamfered edges.

PRECEDENT FOR DOOR

Ampthill, formerly in Chesterfield County, now on the outskirts of Richmond; Tuckahoe in Goochland County and many other old houses have six-panelled doors, with a panel arrangement similar to that of this door and with moldings and raised panels on both sides. Old wood thresholds were found in the Robertson-Galt House, Tazewell Hall and the Brush-Everard House in Williamsburg.

PRECEDENT FOR ARCH OVER DOOR

The profile of the trim of this door is on both the Hall and Dining Room sides the same as in the case of the other Hall doors. The shape of the head is, however, different, being segmental-arched and crowned with a wood keyblock. The key block follows closely an example at Poplar Grove, Mathews County, which is found on the door between the hall and living room of the first floor of the east wing (see photo, Singleton P. Moorehead collection). Wood key blocks are common enough features in Virginia architecture of the eighteenth century, being found, as well as at Poplar Grove, on archways of Belle Farm, Gloucester County; Toddsbury, Gloucester County; Sabine Hall, 213 Richmond County and elsewhere. The arch form in which the curved element springs, on either side, from short horizontal members of the headpiece is much less common than round arches which spring directly from vertical imposts. An example in Williamsburg of this unusual feature is the rather "flat" curve of the door opening in the east wall of the main stair hall of the Brush-Everard House. Other examples are arches in the hallways of Mulberry Fields and an old house on West St. Mary's Manor, both in St. Mary's County, Maryland (see Forman, Early Manor and Plantation Houses of Maryland, pp. 47 and 54). This unusual feature was also used over fireplace openings. Examples of this use were observed on mantelpieces of Belle Farm, Gloucester County and Marmion, King George County.

DOOR TO HALL CLOSET

The last door of the Entrance Hall is the six-panelled one at the west end of the north elevation. This door opens upon a closet beneath the staircase. It is 2'-7" wide, 6'-3" high and 1 3/8" thick and has raised panels and moldings only on the Hall side. Its six panels are arranged in the same manner as in the other doors of the Hall. The precedent for this door is, again, the north entrance door of the Charlton House.

DOOR TRIM

As befits a smaller door in a rather confined position the trim is narrower than that of the neighboring doors, being 4" on the Hall side and 4¼" on the closet side. It consists, on both sides, of a cyma reversa backband resting upon a fascia which is beaded at the bottom. The backband on the Hall side, as in the case of the other door trim of the Hall, is beaded at the bottom, while the closet backband lacks the bead. There is old door trim with both of these profile types in the Brush-Everard House.

HARDWARE

The hardware visible on the Hall side of this door is reproduced after colonial models. It consists of a pair of 9" wrought iron HL hinges, similar to C.W. F-4 and a wrought iron latch similar to C.W. Hardware Folder Type I. Plate 15. On the closet side of the door is a modern rim night latch, 356 RB with a wrought iron cover plate.

STAIRCASE; NEWEL POSTS AND DROPS

Since most of the details of the staircase are visible in the two drawings, II, p. 208 and the photographs, II, p. 206 only certain of the more notable or less readily observable features will be pointed out before giving the precedent for the various details.^* It will be seen that all of the newel posts except the one at the top of the stair and its companion at the southeast corner of the stair well rise from the floor, including the one at the junction of the east-west flight of steps and the uppermost flight. The two exceptional newels on the second floor which receive the railing bordering the stair well descend below the level of the second floor and terminate in turned newel drops.

HALF-ENGAGED HANDRAIL AND NEWELS

The handrailing and newel posts have their "reflections," on the north and west walls bounding the staircase, in the form of half engaged members. The rail, it will be noted, is interrupted by the window. The railing profile is the typical one illustrated in I, p. 60 (right hand sketch).

UPSIDE-DOWN BALUSTER

It will be observed in the lower photograph on II, p. 206 that the third baluster from the top of the staircase has been turned upside down. This was an intentional "error" and follows an 215 unexplained colonial custom of deliberately placing one baluster in a stairway "head down."

TREADS, RISERS AND NOSING PROFILE

The treads, which, with the nosing, are about 11" wide, project 1" in front of the riser faces. The risers, including the tread thickness of 1 1/8", are about 7¼" high. The nosing, a half round, has beneath it a molding composed of a quarter round and a bead. The treads and risers are of new yellow pine.

PULVINATED STAIR STRING

The string is unusual in having, combined with a cyma recta and a cyma reversa above and a cyma reversa and beaded fascia below, a cushion element about 5½" high. This entire series of moldings is also used as a frieze to trim or cover the edge of the second story floor construction appearing at the south side of the stair well and is likewise continued across the bottom of the east second floor wall of the stair well.

PANELLING OF SPANDREL AND SOFF IT

The general treatment of the stair spandrel and soffit panelling is observable in the illustrations. This panelling is of the raised type with the same molding profile as the doors of the Main Entrance Hall.

STAIRCASE; PRECEDENT FOR DETAILS

FRAMED BAR OPENING IN SOUTH WALL

In the south wall of the Entrance Hall, with its right edge about 2'-8" from the west wall of the room, is a framed feature, embracing an opening and serving counter with a wainscot beneath. The opening communicates with the Bar Room just south of the Entrance Hall and its function, in the eighteenth century, would have been to permit the serving of drinks to "standees" in the Entrance Hall.

DIMENSIONS OF THIS AND ITS FRAME

The dimensions of the entire element, including the frame, are: width — 5'-7" and height — 6'-7". The width of the top and stiles of the frame is 5½" and the moldings form a profile like that of the doorway in the south wall.

SWINGING GRILLE AND ITS MEMBERS

The opening, 4'-7" wide by 2'-9½" high, is provided with a swinging wood grille which may be lowered when the Bar is closed for service and drawn up on the Bar side when the latter is open. The grille is made up of 14 vertical wood bars, 16" x 16" in cross section, which are turned on the diagonal and beaded on the two salient corners. The bars are supported and spaced by two horizontal wood rails, 1 3/8" x 3" in section, and beaded on all four edges. The bars penetrate these rails and project, top and bottom, about 3½".

METHOD OF OPERATION OF GRILLE

The grille operates by swinging up from the closed position through an arc of about 120° to a position inclined to the horizontal. It is held suspended within the Bar by means of a chain composed of short, linked rods hung from the ceiling, the hook end of the lowest rod passing through a staple driven into the middle of the bottom rail. The turning movement of the grille is made possible by two unusual "hinges" fastened to what is the top rail when the grille is in the closed position. These hinges are made of hand wrought iron rods about 9½" long flattened on the ends toward the opening so that they can be nailed to the back of the cross bar. The other (round) end passes through the loop of an eye screw which is driven into the jamb woodwork beside the opening. The rod rotates in the iron loop, enabling the grille to turn. The grille is locked when in the closed position by a padlock passing through the staple of a hasp attached to the bottom rail.

PRECEDENT FOR SWINGING GRILLES

This swinging grille or gate and its companion of the Bar opening to the Northwest Dining Room were inspired by an old example of such a grille in the restored Wayside Inn in South Sudbury, Massachusetts which dates back to the eighteenth century and which Joseph Everett Chandler in Early American Rooms (Portland, Maine, 1936; Editor, Russell Hawes Kettell) speaks of as "the most authentic of our old inns ." The King's Arms swinging grilles, as is evident by a comparison with drawings in the book of the Wayside Inn bar and a photograph of it in Early American Inns and Taverns by Elsie Lathrop (New York, 1926), have been constructed in essentially the same manner as the Sudbury example, except that, due to the different size and shape of the Wayside bar their proportions are different. In their case also typically Virginian beaded bars turned on the 218 diagonal have been substituted for those of the Wayside Inn which are also square in section but unbeaded and have a side rather than an edge turned out. The precedent for these beaded bars was similar bars used as balusters on the main staircase of Toddsbury in Gloucester County.^*

BAR COUNTER

The 1¼" thick counter has a semi-circular edge and projects 3" in front of the panelling beneath. On the sides it is confined between the frame stiles. A quarter round molding covers the joint between the underside of the counter and the wainscot face. This counter was also inspired by that of the Wayside Inn bar but, again, its detailing is Virginian.

WAINSCOT BELOW COUNTER

The wainscot is made up of a framework of stiles and rails and three vertical panels, each with a smaller horizontal panel above it. The panels, instead of being raised like the panelling of the stair spandrel and soffit, are recessed ½" and are unmolded while the framework carries a quarter round mold. Old depressed panelling of this design character is found in the northwest first floor room of the Chiswell House. Panelling of this sort was also discovered in several rooms of an old house which stood formerly on the present site of Casey's Store in Williamsburg. The house was demolished because it was outside of the restored area but the panelling was removed and stored by Colonial Williamsburg (see drawings in architectural files). This panel detail is also comparable with the panel treatment of doors, one side of which has sunken panel faces, the 219 OLD BAR WITH SWINGING GRILLE IN BASEMENT OF PRINTING OFFICE IN MADISON, VA. IN THIS PICTURE THE GRILLE IS SHOWN IN THE CLOSED POSITION.
The Wayside Inn bar was followed as precedent for the bar of the King's Arms Tavern for the reason that, up to the time of the reconstruction of the Tavern, no old bar with swinging grilles had been come upon in Virginia, nor was pictorial or descriptive material on eighteenth century Virginia bars available. During the time that this report was being written, however, John Graham, Colonial Williamsburg Curator, informed the writer that he had seen such an old bar in the basement of a building in Madison, Virginia. This building had at one time been a tavern but the basement was now being used as a newspaper printing office (Madison County Eagle).
On October 4, 1953, Orin M. Bullock and the writer, with their wives, visited Madison and investigated the old bar and swinging grille. The bar enclosure, the counter, the swinging grille and other equipment, which stand in a little-used back room of the basement, were found in a remarkable state of preservation. Bullock and the writer made essential measurements of the various features of the bar and the writer's wife took several photographs of them. These materials are now in the files of the Architectural Records Office.
The date of construction of both the building and the bar are uncertain. A number of the details of moldings, etc., seemed to Bullock and the writer to be post-eighteenth century, although relatively early. The bar, therefore, in its construction, may or may not go back to the eighteenth century but it is highly likely that in type it is representative of eighteenth century bars. The important thing to note here is that this bar, with its swinging grille, is very similar in character to the reconstructed King's Arms bar so that it is probable that, since the latter was copied after an old bar in Massachusetts, the general type extended throughout the colonies. 219a only difference being that in the present case a quarter round has been added to the otherwise sharp-cut edges of the stiles and rails. The Brush-Everard House has a number of doors which have depressed, unmolded panels on one side.

PEG STRIPS

Peg strips for the hanging of clothing have been placed where space was available on the east, south and west walls of the Entrance Hall. In the case of the east and south walls the strips have been doubled, one being placed above the other. The strips are wood bars, 2½" high and beaded top and bottom, which carry a row of wood pegs spaced about 1'-0" apart. The pegs are 2¾" long and slope upward, diminishing in cross-sectional area toward the tip and terminating in an up-turned "hook" or knob. All four edges are chamfered. The pegs are mortised and tenoned into the strips. Peg strips similar to these are found in the main hall of Lower Weyanoke in Charles City County. The strips and hooks are also similar to old ones used in harness racks of the stable at Mount Airy, Richmond County, although the Tavern pegs were made smaller since they do not have to carry so heavy a load as the Mount Airy ones. Old peg strips were also found in the Brush-Everard and Robertson-Galt Houses in Williamsburg.

LIGHT FIXTURES, WOOD TYPES, PAINT COLORS

Information concerning the lighting fixtures, types of wood and paint colors used in the Main Entrance Hall and in the other rooms of the King's Arms Tavern and the Alexander Purdie House will be presented in chart form following the treatment of the individual rooms.

THE BAR

BAR AUTHENTIC IN DETAILING; DESCRIPTION OF ITS PARTS; ITS EFFECT CONVINCING
BAR WOULD NOT HAVE INCLUDED CASHIER'S CAGE AND SOUTH PASSAGE IN COLONIAL TIMES BUT WOULD HAVE HAD MORE SPACE FOR LIQUORS

The King's Arms Tavern Bar, the importance of which in the functioning of the eighteenth century hostelry has been discussed on II, p. 204, is a space nearly square — 8'-10" (north to south) x 9'-4" (east to west). Just east of it is a space 4'-2" wide which is occupied by the cashier of the modern establishment and south of it is the 4'-10" wide passage which communicates with the rear entrance door and also with the Rear Stair Hall via which waiters serving the Dining Rooms pass from the Serving Pantry. Neither of the latter two spaces would have existed, probably, in the eighteenth century. The cash drawer would have been in the Bar itself and the food would have been brought from an outside rather than an inside kitchen. It is likely, then, that the Bar would have expanded into these spaces and, consequently, have been larger than at present. The only storage for drinkables (champagne and wines) in proximity to the Bar at the present time is a concealed refrigerator beneath the west counter. In the eighteenth century drinks would have played a much larger role in the Tavern economy than they are permitted to today due to the restriction in Virginia of the serving of liquors in public places, so that considerably more space would have been required for the storage of the kegs and bottles in current use. It is likely, therefore, that the service and storage facilities of the present Bar would have been inadequate in Colonial times and that in this respect they are not representative. The inclusion of refrigeration and running water is also an anachronism required by present conditions.

Having admitted these shortcomings of the Bar layout, viewed as an eighteenth century display, we should hasten to point out 221 that practically everything which meets the eye of an observer looking through one or the other of the two Bar openings, though reconstructed, is accurately eighteenth century in spirit and detailing. The eye is not apt to fall upon the modern sink and drainboard beneath the wide serving counter of the north wall or catch a glimpse of the metal refrigerator behind the two board and batten doors under the lower counter along the west wall. The observer is more likely to have his attention arrested by the counter and two shelves along the south and east walls which are lined with eighteenth century jugs, mugs, pitchers, etc. He will observe that the panelled and the boarded doors swing on authentic-looking wrought iron H hinges and are opened by brass knobs or buttons; that the shelving is supported on round-edged, ogee-shaped wood brackets and that the walls behind it are faced with vertical, random-width unbeaded boards. He will note that a small serving door has been cut out of the sheathing of the south wall, just above the counter, and a narrow door giving admission to the Bar enclosure out of the sheathing of the east wall just south of the north counter. Closer examination would reveal that these doors have battens on the side away from the Bar and that the east door swings on reproduced wrought iron HL hinges and can be locked by means of a hasp, staple and padlock while the serving door is secured by a wrought iron bolt on the Bar side. The observer will also see above the top shelf on both the south and east walls a grillework composed of bars like those of the swinging grilles, supported, top and bottom, by a rail with both edges beaded. On inquiry, he would be told that these grilles which are now closed by brown Masonite would have been left open in the eighteenth century but that due to the uses of the surrounding areas it is not practicable to do 222 this today. With the Bar, furthermore, lighted by reproduced eighteenth century lighting fixtures—a five-branched metal and wood chandelier and three old-looking tin wall candle sconces—the observer will probably conclude, and he will be correct, that the Bar is a very convincing replica of the business and liquor business headquarters of an eighteenth century Tavern.

BASES FOR DESIGN OF BAR

As was stated in II, p. 217, the bar of the Wayside Inn in South Sudbury, Massachusetts provided the basis for the general design of the Tavern Bar and for the treatment of the swinging grilles. The detailing of the features of the Wayside bar, however, had to be translated, so-to-speak, into the Virginia idiom. In the design of such features as the shelving and the brackets supporting it and the cabinet doors with their hardware, old furniture examples were followed which had been made or used in Virginia in the eighteenth century, as well as built-in cabinet work like that found in the Kitchen and Dining Room of Marmion in King George County. Furniture examples were also followed in the use of vertical wall sheathing, as well as certain old instances of this type of wall covering, such as that found in a room of the Office at Marmion (see II, p. 236 for a discussion of the precedent for vertical sheathing).

NORTHWEST DINING ROOM (#1), FIRST FLOOR, OF KING'S ARMS TAVERN, LOOKING SOUTHEAST TOWARD BAR AND FIREPLACE.

DINING ROOM (#2) OF TAVERN WING: FIRST FLOOR, LOOKING SOUTHEAST TOWARD FIREPLACE AND ARCHED DINING ALCOVES.

NORTHWEST DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #1)
(See drawings, II, 225 and photograph, II, p. 223)

DIMENSIONS OF ROOM AND ITS OPENINGS

This is the largest public room of the King's Arms Tavern-Purdie House building complex, being 23'-10" x 19'-6¾" x 10'-6½" in height. It has two door openings, in the east and south walls respectively; four windows, two each in the north and west walls; a fireplace in the southeast corner and the Bar opening, already discussed, in the east wall.

ROOM IS PANELLED FROM FLOOR TO CEILING; OLD EXAMPLES OF THIS

This room is fully panelled from floor to ceiling like rooms of many Virginia houses of the eighteenth century. The houses in Williamsburg having the most notable examples of original fully panelled rooms are the Tayloe House (Living Room) and the Peyton Randolph House in which all of the rooms except those of the wing are panelled. The general character and arrangement of the panelling of the first floor rooms, particularly, of the Peyton Randolph House were followed in the design of the panelling of the Northwest Dining Room of the King's Arms Tavern.

TREATMENT OF WALLS

The wall treatment consists of two series of panels, one above and one below a chair rail. The transition to the ceiling is effected by means of a projecting cornice and the joint with the floor is covered by a base.

CHAIR RAIL; PANEL SHAPES AND EFFECT OF OPENINGS ON THESE

The chair rail is a 3" high series of moldings copied exactly after an old chair rail in the hall of Mill's Point, Charles County, Maryland. Above this are vertical panels, 6'-2 7/8" high and varying in width according to the design circumstances. Below the chair rail the panels are 1'-11" high and more or less square. The door, window and Bar Room openings and the fireplace with its over-mantel interrupt the regularity of the panel treatment. Thus, horizontal panels have been used over the doors and the Bar Room opening, and the windows, 225 SOUTH WALL OF NORTHWEST DINING ROOM, FIRST FLOOR OF KING'S ARMS TAVERN, WITH DOOR LEADING TO SECONDARY STAIR HALL AND, AT LEFT, CORNER FIREPLACE. THE LATTER STANDS ON A DIAGONAL BETWEEN THE SOUTH AND EAST WALLS. PANELLED EAST WALL OF NORTHWEST FIRST FLOOR DINING ROOM OF THE KING'S ARMS TAVERN SHOWING, AT LEFT, DOOR TO MAIN ENTRANCE HALL AND, AT RIGHT OF THIS, THE BAR OPENING WITH ITS COUNTER AND MOVABLE WOOD GRILLE, THE LATTER DRAWN UP. A SMALL PART ONLY OF THE CORNER FIREPLACE IS VISIBLE AT THE RIGHT. 226 the heads of which rise to the height of the soffit of the cornice overhang, descend to within 2'-5" of the floor so that they curtail the height of the panels beneath them. The 7'-0" width of diagonal wall holding the fireplace opening has been given additional decorative emphasis by the use of a pair of fluted panels flanking the mantel, and the overmantel is an almost square, 4'-0½" wide by 4'-2 5/8" high, panel.

CORNICE AND ITS PRECEDENT

The cornice is a 10" wide, 7¾" high element composed of the typical crown mold used in the Main Entrance Hall, a fascia tipped outward slightly, the bottom part receding, a "drip" composed of a short edge and a cavetto which merges with the soffit of the overhang and a base mold made up of a half round and a cavetto. This cornice has nearly the same profile as an old plaster one still existing in the southeast bedroom of the Carter-Saunders House, the difference being chiefly that the bottommost curve of the bed mold in this cornice is a cyma reversa rather than a cavetto as in the Tavern cornice. An interior cornice almost exactly like the Tavern example was found at Lower Weyanoke. In that case, however, the fascia was vertical.

BASEBOARD

The base is a 5" high and 11/16" thick member superimposed upon the bottom rail of the panelled wall. It terminates at the top in an ogee curve which recedes as it moves upward. This profile was taken from an old baseboard in the two west rooms of the first floor of the Brush-Everard House.

TYPICAL PANEL PROFILE

The typical panel moldings used throughout the room consist, on the stiles and rails, of an ogee curve and on the raised panels, of a sloping "tongue" with a small quarter round between the sloping surface and the panel face. This profile was copied exactly from the panelling of the door of a wall cupboard at Brookes Bank, 227 Essex County, Virginia.

RECESSED PANELLING BENEATH BAR OPENING; BAR GRILLE

Beneath the counter in the opening from the Dining Room to the Bar, as in the similar case in the Main Entrance Hall, the panels, instead of being raised like the other panelling in the room, is recessed ½" and is unmolded. The detailing of the Bar opening, indeed, is in all respects identical with that of the Entrance Hall opening, the differences between the two arising from a difference in their widths. The Dining Room feature, including its trim, has a width of 5'-11" as against 5'-7" for that of the Entrance Hall so that two more bars have been added to the grille and the number of panel bays beneath the counter has been increased to four.

FLUTED PANELS

The elongated pilaster-like fluted panels flanking the fireplace have their precedent in very similar ones at Tuckahoe in Goochland County. There are, furthermore, a number of related motives in old Virginia houses. There are, for example, in the parlor of Little England, Gloucester County, similar elongated panels flanking the fireplace, but the panels in this case are unfluted. In the Keeling House, Princess Anne County, at either side of the fireplace, is a motive composed of a fluted pilaster resting on a panelled base. Though this differs in certain details from the Tavern feature it is nevertheless strongly suggestive of it.

MANTEL PIECE; DESCRIPTION OF THIS

The mantel piece (see photograph, II, p. 223) has been incorporated integrally into the panelling of the room. It has a segmental arched opening faced by a surround of imported breche rose marble which is enframed by woodwork. This, to mention only the main features, includes an elongated horizontal panel between the opening and a molded mantel shelf above. The latter is of the denticulated type made up, in addition to the dentils, of a top shelf with a quarter round edge 228 supported by a series of three ogee moldings separated by fillets. Above the shelf is the nearly square overmantel panel mentioned before.

MANTEL OF TODDSBURY SIMILAR IN MANY RESPECTS TO THIS ONE

The mantel design is not an exact reproduction of any specific old example, although every element in it is found repeatedly in various old Virginia mantels. Except for the fact that the fireplace opening is square and surrounded by a molded wood frame, a mantel of Toddsbury in Gloucester County comes very close to it in character. This has an elongated panel between the opening and the molded shelf. The latter, though not identical with this one in profile, is denticulated and has a comparable series of moldings. Above the shelf is a panelled overmantel similar to the Tavern example. An old mantel in the Orrell House, though unlike the present one in other respects, has a shelf profile exactly like the Tavern example in the sequence of its moldings (see measured drawing in leather-bound sketchbook of Singleton P. Moorehead).

SEGMENTAL ARCH AND MARBLE SURROUND

Segmental arched fireplace openings were very common, an old example of one of these being that of a fireplace of an old house in Croaker near Norge. The surround is plastered in this example, but marble was very often used for this purpose. The marble surround of an old mantel of Greenway, Charles City County may be cited as an instance of this use. The fireplace opening in this case is, however, rectangular.

BRICK HEARTH

The hearth is rectangular and is composed of new handmade brick, 4¼" x 9½" in size, set in a bed of soft mortar with the joints filled with a mixture of dry sand and cement. This method of laying the hearth brick departs from the Colonial method only in that no mortar and cement were used in the latter. The pattern 229 followed in the laying of the brick was one frequently found in old brick hearths. The brickwork is enframed on all three sides by narrow wood strips, a colonial device.

FLOOR

This is the same as in the Main Entrance Hall.

CEILING

The same as in the Main Entrance Hall.

WINDOWS

Similar to that of Main Entrance Hall.

DOORS

The door to the Main Entrance Hall and its hardware, have been described in the treatment of that room. The door trim has the same profile as that of the major openings in the Main Entrance Hall, but it has a straight head piece on the Dining Room side, rather than a curved one. The door to the Rear Stair Hall, except that it is four inches lower (2'-8" as against 3'-0"), is similar to the door to the Main Entrance Hall and has the same type of hardware. The trim has the same profile on both sides of the opening and this is similar to the profile of the Entrance Hall door.

WOODWORK TREATMENT

The doors and door trim and the windows and window trim of this room (walnut) has been stained, varnished and rubbed while the panelling has been painted (see Schedule of Woods and Paint Colors, p. 297 of this volume). This combination of natural and painted woods was not the customary eighteenth century treatment but examples of it are known. One such is the woodwork of the Peyton Randolph House where the wall panelling is painted while the doors and windows and their trim are left natural.

REAR STAIR HALL (STAIR HALL #2)

MAIN FEATURES OF REAR STAIR HALL

This Stair Hall, located in the South Wing, contains the second of the two stairways mentioned by Humphrey Harwood as being in the building (see I, p. 12). It is a space approximately 19'-4" long, and 6'-10" wide (see plan, II, p. 197). Its most prominent feature is its ornamental staircase to the second floor, beneath which runs a stair to the basement. There are five door openings in this room, viz., the door, already mentioned, from the Northwest Dining Room; two doors leading to the South Dining Room (Dining Room No. 2); a door in the east wall giving access to the rear passage and a door to the basement stair. The Stair Hall has a single window in the south half of the west wall. The northwest corner is occupied by a modern dumb waiter running from the intermediate platform of the basement stair to the pantry in the second floor of the Stair Hall.

FEATURES SIMILAR TO THOSE OF MAIN ENTRANCE HALLWAY

The following features of the Rear Stair Hall are similar to the corresponding features of the Main Entrance Hall (II, p. 207 et seq.) and need not be described again here: floor, walls and wall covering, ceiling, baseboard, chair rail, cornice (exists on first floor only), panelling of stair spandrel and soffit and the door and window trim.

WINDOW

The single window, for reasons stated in I, p. 146, has 18 lights rather than the 21 lights of the other first floor windows of the South Wing.

DOORS

All of the doors have six panels arranged in the manner of those of the Main Entrance Hall. The panels are molded and raised on both sides except in the case of the door to the basement stair which has raised panelling on the Hall side and unmolded, recessed panels on the stair side. These doors are all 6'-8" high except that to the basement which is 6'-6" in height. They vary in width from 2'-4" 231 (basement door) to 2'-8" and in thickness from 1 3/8" to 2¼" (basement door). It should be added that the door to the passage has been provided with two circular glass lights located at normal eye level to enable waiters using it to see through it. Such peep holes were common in the doors to boxes in eighteenth century English theatres.

DOOR HARDWARE

The door hardware is as follows: the doors to the Northwest Dining Room and basement stairway have hardware similar to that of the door at the east end of the south wall of the Main Entrance Hall (II, p. 210). The door to the rear passage has only a modern automatic door closer in the floor with a pivot in the ceiling and brass push plates on both sides of the south stile. The two doors in the south wall leading to the South Dining Room have the same type of hinges as the door to the Northwest Dining Room, but they are equipped with colonial reproduction brass Craft House locks, 3¾" x 6", with brass knobs.

DESCRIPTION OF STAIRCASE; HANDRAILING IN CHINESE CHIPPENDALE STYLE

The staircase (see photograph, II, p. 232) is composed of two straight runs of 13 and 4 risers respectively, separated by an intermediate landing. It is of the open string type with its lower rail in contact with the tread nosings. Its most striking feature is its latticework railing in the Chinese Chippendale style.^* This 232 THE FIRST FLOOR LOUNGE OF THE TAVERN, LOOKING EAST, THE DOOR OPENS ON THE PASSAGE JOINING THE TAVERN AND THE ALEXANDER PURDIE HOUSE. CHINESE CHIPPENDALE RAILING OF REAR STAIR OF KING'S ARMS TAVERN 233 railing follows the stair throughout its length and continues along the platform edge at the second floor level to enclose the stair well. The handrail, of the same type as that of the main stair, has the profile so commonly in use in Colonial Virginia (see ill., I, p. 60, right hand sketch). The base supporting the grillwork is a rectangular block in section, modified by an ogee mold at the bottom and a bead near the top.

TREAD PROFILE

The tread nosings are half rounds with a quarter round mold beneath the overhang. Since the stair is of the open string variety the nosing and the mold beneath it are carried around the free end and are returned against the string. The treads and risers are new.

NEWEL POSTS AND DROPS

There is a newel post at the foot of the stair which rests upon the floor; there are similar posts at every change in direction of the stair, and a half newel applied to the south wall of the second floor landing to receive the part of the railing bordering the stair well. These posts are similar both in section and in the cap design to the newel posts of the front staircase. The newel post at the top of the lower flight of steps runs down to the floor as in the case of the similar newel of the main stair. The two newels located at the two ends of the short upper flight of steps drop below the adjacent stair soffit and are terminated by turned newel drops. The newel drops here are of the same type as those of the main stair, but they are much slenderer in form.

PANELLING OF SPANDREL AND SOFFIT

Mention has already been made of the panelled spandrel or triangular side of the stair and the panelled soffit. The design here, both as to the profiling of the panel moldings and as to the panel arrangement is similar to that of the main stair.

PLASTER COVE OF SECOND FLOOR LANDING

The portion of the second story floor construction which borders upon the stair well opening is treated in the case of this stair differently from the corresponding feature of the main staircase. Here the chief element of the "frieze" beneath the projecting floor edge is a plaster cove with a radius of about 8½", which provides the necessary headroom above the first flight of the stair. This is received at the top by a 3" high, beaded wood facing board and at the bottom by a narrower horizontal wood strip, also with its outside edge beaded, which forms the corner between the cove and the plastered ceiling of the first floor of the Hall.

PRECEDENT FOR COVE

The precedent for this plaster cove is a similar one at Wilton-on-the-Pianketank. Since it is a striking feature and related in principle to our cove, the old plaster cornice in the southeast bedroom of the Carter-Saunders House should be mentioned in this connection.

STAIRCASE OF LOWER WEYANOKE THE PRECEDENT FOR THIS STAIR

The detailing of the entire staircase is based upon that of an old stair at Lower Weyanoke in Charles City County. The Chippendale latticework, the handrail and bottom rail, the newels, the moldings of the stair treads and the panelling of the spandrel and soffit which were used in the King's Arms stair were all derived from the Lower Weyanoke example, which is also of the open string variety.

DRESSER AND DUMB WAITER ENCLOSURE REMAIN TO BE TREATED

Two other features of the Rear Stair Hall, the dresser and the dumb waiter enclosure, which stand beside each other against the west wall, though these would not have been in the original building, require some consideration since their external detailing is authentically eighteenth century in character.

THE DRESSER

The dresser, at the south side, is a cabinet 3'-4" high, 4'-3½" wide and 1'-9½" deep equipped with two swinging doors separated by a division and covered by a slightly projecting, round-edged top. The doors are set in a frame beaded on the edges toward the opening. Each door consists of a frame holding a single raised rectangular panel. This has the same commonly-used molding profile found on the stair panelling of both the Rear and Main Entrance Halls. On the inside faces the panels are recessed and unmolded. Each door swings on a pair of wrought iron butterfly hinges reproduced after an original colonial hinge. These are designated as Type #2 and are found on p. 4 of the C.W.I. Hardware Folder.

DESCRIPTION OF DUMB WAITER ENCLOSURE

The dumb waiter enclosure is 3'-0" wide and 2'-9" deep and runs from floor to ceiling. It is covered on the front and south sides with random width flush tongue and groove boards. The southeast corner has a bead running from the base to the crown mold, but the boarding is otherwise unbeaded. The base is the typical one used in the Hall and the crown mold is the typical crown mold of the Hall cornice. Cut from the front (east side) of the enclosure is a "concealed" door swinging on hinges which are visible only on the shaft side. This door, which gives access to the dumb waiter, has on the inside two horizontal battens with chamfered edges. The door is opened by means of a rounded horizontal wood bar applied to the front face. The bar is hollowed out underneath to form finger grips.

PRECEDENT FOR THIS IS TREATMENT OF BUILT-IN FURNITURE

Vertical boarding with the joints beaded and with them, as here, unbeaded was frequently used in Colonial Virginia for the sides of corner cupboards and similar built-in furniture and, less frequently, as wall covering. Cupboards, unlike walls, required no vertical studding since rigidity could be obtained by nailing the boards to 236 the shelving. The base and the crown mold covered up the joints between the board ends and the floor and ceiling respectively. Our dumb waiter enclosure could properly be classified as a piece of built-in furniture so that the vertical wall covering used in old Virginia cupboards and the like would serve as the precedent for its use here.

VERTICAL BOARDS ALSO OCCASIONALLY USED AS WALL COVERING

Vertical wall sheathing was much less frequently used than horizontal in eighteenth century Virginia since the latter was much more easily nailed to the vertical studding of the wall framework. Examples of its use have been found, however. An instance is two walls of a room of the office of Marmion at King George Court House, in the case of which, however, the vertical siding is beaded. The walls of what are now called the Stair Hall and Lounge of the restored Chiswell House in Williamsburg are covered with vertical boarding, which is in part old and in part renewed, since some of the old boarding was in too bad a condition to re-use. This sheathing consists of random width boards, with thicker pieces, beaded on both ends, alternating with and overlapping thinner ones, so the result is a sequence of alternating raised and recessed vertical surfaces.

PRECEDENT FOR BATTENED DOOR OF ENCLOSURE

Sheathed batten doors were customarily made of vertical or diagonal boarding since such doors were very readily constructed by the simple application of horizontal battens to the sheathing. An old example of a battened door constructed with vertical boards was the door which originally hung on the Archibald Blair Dairy.

SOUTH DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #2)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ROOM

The most arresting feature of this room (see plan, II, p. 197) is the fireplace which, on the south side, projects into it, together with the flanking alcoves thereby formed and the wood "screen" with its panelled mantelpiece and overmantel and its two archways enframing the entrances to the alcoves. The size of the room, including the fireplace and utility closet behind it and the two alcoves is 16'-6" (north-south dimension) by 19'-4" (east-west dimension). The ceiling height, as in the other rooms of this floor, is 10'-6½". The fireplace-closet element is approximately 5'-0" in width and 5'-6" deep while each alcove is about 7'-3" wide by the same depth. The room has a 21-light window in the east wall, one in the south end of the east alcove and a third in the west wall. There are three doors, the two in the north wall leading to the Rear Stair Hall and one in the east wall of the west alcove giving access to the utility closet behind the fireplace.

ELEMENTS SIMILAR TO THOSE IN ROOMS ALREADY DISCUSSED

The following elements are similar in detailing to the corresponding features of the Main Entrance Hall (II, p. 207 et seq.) and will not be discussed further here: floor; walls and wall covering, with the exception of the south "screen" wall; ceiling; baseboard; chair rail and cornice. The two doors in the north wall have been covered in the treatment of the Rear Stair Hall. The window sash and the external window trim have been discussed under the exterior of the South Wing (I, p. 124 et seq.). The internal trim is similar to that of the windows in the rooms already treated. Remaining to be discussed, therefore, are only the utility closet door and the fireplace-alcove screen.

DOOR TO UTILITY CLOSET

The door to the utility closet is 6'-1" high by 2'-0" wide and it is raised the height of the baseboard (5") off the floor. It is a two-panel door with molded raised panelling on the alcove side and unmolded recessed panelling on the closet side. The panel moldings form a profile similar to that of the other door panelling in the room. The door trim appearing on the alcove side is 1¼" wide and is beaded on the edge toward the door opening. There is a single old two-panelled door in the Brush-Everard House which furnishes precedent for this door. The Old Mansion at Bowling Green, Caroline County has a two valve door each leaf of which has only two panels. It has very narrow trim similar to the King's Arms example but this is without the bead.

CLOSET DOOR HARDWARE

The door swings on a pair of wrought iron reproductions of old H hinges, 7½" high. These are secured to the door by nails with hand hammered heads which appear on the room side. Leather washers have been inserted between these nail heads and the hinge faces. The door is opened by means of a wrought iron latch, a colonial reproduction similar to type 1 shown on plate 15 of the CWI Hardware Folder. There is a modern rim night latch on the closet side of the door, the keyhole of which is covered on the alcove side by a wrought iron cover plate.

REASONS FOR LOCATION OF FIREPLACE; ALCOVES AND WOOD SCREEN

There was no evidence for the location of the fireplace so that this was placed on the south side of the room, the side which, from the standpoint of utility and appearance, seemed most feasible. The presence of the Well House which overlapped the longitudinal axis of the wing made it more reasonable to place the fireplace and its stack wholly inside rather than partially outside of the south wall of the wing. Furthermore, this enabled the architects to 239 introduce variety into the room planning by the creation of the two alcoves, pleasantly adapted to receive a dining table each. And, in addition, it permitted them to use the two-arched wood screen, a motive which appears in a number of old houses in Virginia.

FIREPLACE OPENING AND PANELLED CHIMNEY BREAST

The fireplace opening is rectangular, 2'-6" wide and 2'-8½" high, and has a 4¾" plaster surround. The wall at either side of it and above it to the ceiling is covered with wood panelling. There is no mantelpiece in the usual sense, the panelled wall merely being divided into two areas about midway between the floor and ceiling by a molded mantel shelf. Below this is a row of five "squarish" panels and, beneath the end panels, two rectangular ones flanking the fireplace opening. Essentially the same arrangement of panels is carried out in the overmantel, in which, however, there are five of the elongated panels. The panels are raised to the plane of the surrounding framework. The molding profile is the same as that of the doors in the room. The base, of the same height as the room base, 5", has at the top an ogee molding rather than the bead of the latter. The base is returned against the panel framework at either side of the fireplace opening.

MANTEL SHELF; GOUGED "DENTICULATION"
CORNICE OF WOOD SCREEN WALL

The mantel shelf is approximately 5" high and consists of a series of ogees and a quarter round which, from the top downward, recede toward a "denticulated" bottom bound 2" high. In the latter the effect of denticulation has been achieved by gouging vertical slots out of the wood band. To further increase the vivacity of the motive a circular depression has been gouged out above each rectangular one.

A cornice, more elaborate than that of the other walls of the room, runs along the upper part of the overmantel and continues 240 across the top of the woodwork above the arches at either side of the fireplace element. Since the woodwork of the chimney breast stands 2¼" in advance of the side parts of the screen the cornice breaks and retreats at either side of the chimney breast. Above the key block of each arch it advances once more to the plane of the fireplace woodwork.

COMPONENT MOLDINGS OF CORNICE

The upper parts of the cornice—crown mold and fascia—are a continuation of the room cornice. Additional elements are added below the fascia, however, giving this cornice the same general appearance of that of the Northwest Dining Room. The overhang here is less, however, than in the case of the Dining Room cornice and a cyma reversa has been used as a base mold in lieu of the cavetto of the other room.

BRICK HEARTH

The fireplace hearth is composed of brick similar to those of the hearth in the Northwest Dining Room and they have been arranged and laid in the same manner as the brick in the latter hearth.

WOOD ARCHWAYS

The two flanking wood archways are identical in size and design. They each consist of two fluted pilasters which flank the alcove opening and receive a molded wood arch. The latter is segmental rather than semicircular since the height of the screen in relation to the width of the alcove opening is insufficient to permit the completion of the semicircle.

ARCH MOLDINGS, KEY BLOCKS AND SPANDRELS
SIDE OF ARCH WOODWORK FACING ALCOVES

The arch moldings consist of two cyma reversas alternating with two fascias, the lower of which has a beaded bottom edge. The key blocks are raised and fluted and their apparent height is increased by the portion of the cornice which is brought forward above them. The spandrels between the arch moldings and the cornice are covered with flush boarding, decorated with a half round molding forming a "triangular" panel, the lower edge of which follows the curve of the arch.

Except for the various moldings superimposed upon it, the arch 241 screen is 1¼" thick. Both edges toward the opening are beaded. The side facing the alcove is plain, except that the pilaster bases and caps are carried around and stopped against the thicker woodwork of the fireplace element. The crown mold and fascia of the screen cornice also runs across the top of this rear face of the screen and connects with the room cornice which runs at the top of the three plastered walls of the alcove. The room chair rail and base are also carried around the alcove walls.

BELLE FARM WOODWORK WAS MODEL FOR DETAILING OF FIREPLACE BREAST AND ARCHWAYS

The great room at Belle Farm, Gloucester County, had a centrally-placed fireplace flanked by arched alcoves which furnished the precedent for this arrangement of features in the South Dining Room (see photos in photo collection in Colonial Williamsburg drafting room). An archway in the hallway of Belle Farm furnished the exact profiles and details of the arches in the Dining Room, the latter being copied almost literally from the Belle Farm example (see measured drawing and photograph in leather-bound detail book of Singleton P. Moorehead). It should be noted that Belle Farm has been dismantled and much of the woodwork mentioned above has been incorporated in a new house built in Williamsburg by John L. Lewis.

POPLAR GROVE EXAMPLE WAS FOLLOWED IN DESIGN OF FIREPLACE WOODWORK

As for the precedent for the woodwork design of the fireplace breast—this was derived in its entirety from a room of Poplar Grove, Mathews County. Here the number and arrangement of the panels is the same as in our dining room example and the mantel shelf has the exact profile of the shelf of the latter, even to the gouged out denticulation with the recessed circles.^*

LOUNGE

DIMENSIONS AND MAIN ELEMENTS OF ROOM

One enters the Lounge (see ill., II, p. 232) from the Main Entrance Hall by passing through the trimmed opening in the east wall of the latter. The room is about 13'-3" (east-west dimension) x 16'-2" (north-south dimension) and like the other first floor rooms, 10'-6½" high. Aside from the one just mentioned the Lounge has two openings, a 28-light window in the north wall and a six-panelled door in the east wall near the southeast corner. This leads to the passage connecting the King's Arms Tavern with the Alexander Purdie House. About two feet north of the doorway is a fireplace. All of the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with wood, either in the form of sheathing or of raised panelling.

FEATURES SIMILAR TO ONES ALREADY DISCUSSED

The floor and ceiling are treated like those of the Main Entrance Hall and the baseboard and cornice are similar to the corresponding members of that room. The door size, 6'-8" x 2'-8" x 1 3/8", is the same as that of the door in the south wall of the Entrance Hall; the door panelling is the same except that it is molded and raised on both sides, and the door hardware is likewise similar, except for the absence of the automatic door closer. The door trim and the trim of the opening in the west wall are similar in profile to the trim of the Entrance Hall door. The window sash and trim are similar in design to those of the windows of the Main Entrance Hall and Northwest Dining Room.

THREE WALLS HAVE PANELLED DADO AND HORIZONTAL SHEATHING

Except where it is interrupted by openings, the wood covering of the north, west and south walls consists of a panelled dado about 3'-3½" high, topped by a 2½" high molded rail, and, above this, random width horizontal sheathing with beaded joints. The cornice, mentioned above, covers the joint between the sheathed wall and the plastered ceiling.

DESCRIPTION OF PANELLING & SHEATHING

The dado panels are 2'-3½" high and vary in width on the three walls from 15¼" to 16½". The panel profile is similar to that of the door in the east wall. The panel framework, like that of the door, is set together with mortise and tenon joints through which hand-riven hardwood pegs have been driven. The railing profile consists, from top to bottom, of an ogee, a half round, a second ogee and a bead. The flush boarding above the dado is set together with tongue and groove joints and is secured to the studding by nails with hand hammered heads. It varies in width from about 6" to 10".

PRECEDENT FOR USE OF HORIZONTAL BOARDING WITH PANELLED DADO BELOW
PANELLING OF EAST WALL RUNS FROM FLOOR TO CEILING; FIREPLACE ELEMENT RECESSED

The combination of a panelled dado with a horizontally-sheathed wall^* above is found in the Parlor or northeast first floor room of the Market Square Tavern. Both the dado and the boarding are old but they have been repaired. The boards are beaded, as in the Lounge. The dado is also one panel high but the dado cap has a profile different from that of the Lounge dado cap. The bolection-type cap or rail is similar in profile, however, though different in size, to the chair rail of the two west first floor rooms of the Brush-Everard House and to old chair railings in the Powell-Hallam House and Bassett Hall.

The east wall (see ill., II, p. 232) holding the fireplace and door is set off from the other walls by being panelled from floor to ceiling. The fireplace opening is square, 2'-11¼" high and wide. The opening has a surround, 6 3/8" high, of veined white marble. 244 The fireplace, with the panelling above it, is set back slightly from the plane of the panelling at either side of it, so that the entire element is emphasized by being recessed rather than, as in the case of other fireplace motives in the two buildings, by being brought forward.

PANELLING OF CHIMNEY BREAST; THE HEARTH

There is no mantel shelf, the 4'-0" wide wall space above the marble surround being faced with a framework containing an elongated, horizontal panel and, above this, a large rectangular one which occupies the entire overmantel area. The hearth is of handmade brick and is treated in the manner of that of the Northwest Dining Room.

PANELLING FLANKING FIREPLACE ELEMENT DIVIDED BY CHAIR RAIL INTO TWO AREAS

The panelling flanking the fireplace-overmantel element is divided on either side into two areas by a chair rail at the same height and of the same profile as that used on the other three walls. This rail returns against the stiles of the panel framework of the fireplace element. Below the chair rail the panels are similar to the dado panelling of the other walls. Above it the panels line up with the ones below and, with their length of 6'-0", preempt the entire available height of the wall above the chair rail.

CORNICE

The woodwork of the east wall is capped by a cornice similar to that used elsewhere in the room. This breaks at the corners formed by the meeting of the recessed fireplace element with the flanking walls and itself becomes recessed above the overmantel.

PRECEDENT FOR WALL PANELLING AND RECESSED FIREPLACE ELEMENT

The panelling of the wall areas flanking the fireplace element is similar in its general design to that of the Northwest Dining Room and follows the same precedent. The recessed fireplace element was based on a similar recessed fireplace wall at Lower Weyanoke in Charles City County. The Weyanoke example has no mantel shelf and the area above the fireplace surround (plastered in this case) 245 is divided between two panels, an elongated horizontal one and a very large rectangular one occupying the entire overmantel area.

USE OF RED GUMWOOD IN WOODWORK OF LOUNGE

The woodwork of the walls of this room is of red gum which has been waxed and left natural. The extent to which this wood was used on interiors in the eighteenth century is uncertain as is the question of how it was treated—whether, when it was used, it was left natural or painted. Mr. Garland Hastings of the millwork firm, R. E. Richardson Sons, Richmond some years ago affirmed that he had seen gumwood in use for interior woodwork in the old Perrin Place (Little England) in Gloucester County and on the strength of his statement this wood was employed in both Chowning's Tavern and the King's Arms Tavern.

Gumwood is a native wood of Virginia. It is a tough-fibred wood and difficult to work but it has distinct advantages in use. Very wide boards can be obtained from the gumwood tree and the wood takes a natural finish very satisfactorily and has a very attractive appearance when so treated.

PASSAGE CONNECTING TAVERN WITH PURDIE HOUSE

DESCRIPTION OF PASSAGE

The 7'-9" long and 4'-0" wide passage linking the Lounge with the West Dining Room of the Alexander Purdie House has plastered walls and ceiling and wood floor, all of these made in the manner of the corresponding elements of the Main Entrance Hall, except that the floor is inclined upward somewhat in the direction of Purdie's since the first floor level of the latter is about 4" higher than that of the Tavern. There is a chair rail which is similar to that of the Tavern Entrance Hall and a base like that of the same room. The ceiling height is 8'-0" and there is no cornice between the ceiling and the walls. The west end of the passage is closed off by the door in the east wall of the Lounge and the east end by one which will be described in the course of the treatment of the West Dining Room of Purdie's. No link of this sort, connecting the two buildings, existed in the eighteenth century, of course, this being an element necessary to the combined functioning of the two buildings as a single restaurant.^*

LOUNGE (LOUNGE #2)

DIMENSIONS AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ROOM

This room is 15'-4" (north-south dimension) x 17'-6" (east-west dimension), exclusive of the stair well at the north side of it. Its ceiling height is 7'-11" like that of the other rooms of this floor. It is lighted by three 15-light dormer windows, counting the one in the north wall of the stair well, the other two being in the south wall of the room. A door in the west wall gives access to the Northwest Dining Room of the second floor while a series of four doors in the east wall lead to a toilet, a utility room, a telephone room, and a powder room, respectively. The walls and ceiling are plastered. The north wall starts at the east wall and runs about 5'-4" westward where it breaks around the stair well. The upper parts of the south wall and of the north wall of the stair well incline inward following the lower slope of the gambrel roof. The transition from the top of the inclined part of the south wall to the ceiling has been effected by a concave curvature in the plaster.

HYPOTHETIC ORIGINAL LAYOUT OF SECOND FLOOR

The spaces east of the Stairhall and second floor Lounge (two toilets, a powder room, a utility room and a telephone room) are, of course, unauthentic in their uses but they provide facilities necessary in a modern restaurant. Of the four doors in the east wall only the northmost can be said, with some assurance, to have existed in the eighteenth century. This is assuming that the upper story of the main part of the Tavern contained three rooms and a hall or passage. The latter, which may well have existed, would have started at the head of the stair and have run eastward. Doors in either end of this would have given access to two bedrooms, both occupying, 248 probably, the full width of the main part of the building. A third room might have existed, just south of the hallway. Fireplaces would, doubtless, have existed in all of these rooms. The middle room may have had one or more closet doors in its east wall but the door which is at present in the west wall would have been in the west end of the hallway instead. A door in the north wall of this middle room would have communicated with the hallway. Although the division of the upstairs area into the spaces just enumerated is conjectural it is a solution in keeping with eighteenth century planning practice. In the light of this hypothetic layout only the northwest room, of all the present ones on the second floor of the main part of the building, may be said to have existed in its present size and location.

ELEMENTS SIMILAR TO THOSE OF ROOMS ALREADY DISCUSSED

The treatment of the materials of the floors, walls and ceiling of the second-story Lounge is the same as that Main Entrance Hall. The baseboard is similar to that in the Entrance Hall. The dormer sash have been discussed in the treatment of the exterior, so that only the handling of the interior trim of the windows and their recesses remains to be commented upon.

CHAIR RAIL HAS MOLDINGS LIKE THOSE OF STAIRCASE HANDRAIL

The chair rail starts at the applied half newel at the head of the stair and encircles the room, being interrupted at door and window openings and terminating at the engaged newel at the southwest corner of the stair well. The rail is 5½" high and has two parts, the usual flat backboard, beaded top and bottom, and a molded rail superimposed upon this. The rail has a profile identical with the wall rail of the stair and it is, in reality, a continuation of this. It has been given, furthermore, a natural finish like the stair handrail, only the backband being painted. At window and door openings 249 the backband butts against the trim of the openings while the molded rail returns against the backband.

PRECEDENT FOR CHAIR RAILING

The precedent for the profile of the rail has been discussed in connection with the stair handrailing. The use of a halved stair handrail profile as a dado cap in the stairwell and its continuation about the walls of the stair hall is seen in a number of English examples in Small and Woodbridge's Houses of the Wren and Early Georgian Periods. Among the structures where this detail may be seen are the Deaf and Dumb Asylum in Clapton (detail drawing, p. 68) and Ormeley Lodge, Ham (drawing, p. 83). The fact that in the case of the second floor Lounge of the Tavern we have the handrail profile in the form of a chair rail rather than a dado cap is not of essential importance since the principle of continuing the handrail profile beyond the stair well itself is the material consideration.

CORNICE

The cornice is composed of the same moldings as that of the Main Entrance Hall except that the fascia is lower (2" as against 2¾") which is appropriate in view of the lower height of this room (7'-11" against 10'-6½" for the Main Entrance Hall). The cornice runs along the top of all walls in the room except the south wall and also continues into the stair well where it follows around the upper part of the three walls of the latter. At the dormer window recess in the stair well the fascia is stopped by the corner trim boards but the upper moldings continue across above the head of the recess. Running southward along the east and west walls, the cornice is stopped by striking the inclined part of the south wall.

PRECEDENT FOR OMISSION OF CORNICE ON SOUTH WALL

The situation in which a wall in a room below a gambrel roof takes, for part of its height, the slope of the upper plane of the roof and in the case of which the cornice, present on the vertical walls of the room, is omitted from the top of the sloping wall is 250 not an unusual one in Virginia colonial architecture. An example of this treatment is found in second story rooms of the gambrel-roofed Moore House at Yorktown.

INTERIOR TRIM AND STOOLS OF DORMER WINDOWS

The trim of the dormer windows is of the most minimal type and consists of ¾" boards with beaded edges applied against the plastered side walls and ceiling of the dormer recess. The stiles are received at the bottom of the sash opening by a round-edged wood stool or interior sill which projects beyond a plastered apron and has beneath its overhanging edge a molding composed of a fillet and a cyma reversa. In the case of the stairwell window the stool projects beyond the face of the vertical stair well wall and the molding just described is applied to this.

CORNER STRIPS OF DORMER RECESSES

The corners formed by the junction of the plastered walls of the dormer recesses with the main walls are protected by wood strips, 2¾" wide, with their flat sides turned toward the dormer recess and their 1", beaded ends projecting slightly beyond the plaster of the room walls. These strips follow the incline of the room walls and in the case of the two south windows begin at the floor as vertical members, and are jointed and become inclined about two-thirds of the way toward the top of the window recess where the wall changes direction In the case of the stair well recess the stair well wall and, consequently, these corner boards, are inclined for the full height of the recess. The latter terminate here against the projecting window stool.

PRECEDENT FOR TRIM OF DORMER RECESSES

The plastered recess of the old dormer on the north side of the north wing of the Brush-Everard House has inclined corner boards and a projecting round-edged window stool similar to those just described. These wood members are old, though the plaster of the recess has been renewed.

PEG STRIP

A peg strip, similar to that used in the Main Entrance Hall, runs from the door in the west wall to the southwest corner and from there across the south wall of the room, except where it is interrupted by the two dormer recesses.

WALL CORNER BOARD

The corner formed by the north wall of the Lounge and the east wall of the stair well is protected by a two-faced wood corner board, 3" on a side, the salient edge of which is beaded. The meeting edge of two plastered walls was customarily protected in this manner in the eighteenth century. The Brush-Everard example just cited is an instance of this.

DOOR TO DINING ROOM

The door to the Northwest Dining Room of the second floor is a six-panelled door, 6'-8" x 2'-8" x 1 3/8", similar to those of the corresponding dining room on the first floor. It swings on a pair of 9" wrought iron HL hinges similar to the HL hinges of the floor below and it has a brass lock similar to those of the doors of the first floor of the Rear Stair Hall. The door trim is similar to the trim of the door in the south wall of the Main Entrance Hall.

DOORS IN EAST WALL

The four doors in the east wall are identical six-panelled doors, 6'-8" x 2'-6" x 1 3/8", similar to the door in the west wall. They have the same type of hardware as the door in the south wall of the Main Entrance Hall, except that the two center doors do not have the automatic door closers. The hardware of the latter two doors, which swing toward the Lounge, is visible on the Lounge side.

DOOR TRIM

The door trim has the same profile as that of the door in the west wall. The two center doors are placed so close together that the two inside stiles touch each other and the trim of these doors appears to be continuous.

STAIR WELL RAILING

The railing of the stair well and the other staircase details have been described in connection with the Main Entrance Hall.

NORTHWEST DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #3)

COMPARISON OF THIS ROOM WITH THE ROOM BELOW

This room (see photograph, II, p. 253) has approximately the same dimensions as the dining room below, except for the ceiling height, which is 7'-11". It also has a similar diagonally-placed fireplace in the southeast corner. Like the room below it has four windows, two each in the north and west walls, and two doors, in the east and south walls respectively. The windows, in this case, however, have 15 lights and the two in the north wall are set in dormer recesses. The placement of the doors in their respective walls is also not the same as that of the doors in the Northwest Dining Room of the first floor. The most striking difference between the two rooms, however, aside from the absence here of the bar opening, lies in the treatment of their walls, those of the room below being fully panelled and these being plastered. The north wall of the room, like the south wall of the Lounge, just discussed, is vertical to a point about 5'-3½" off the floor and then slopes inward following the lower slope of the gambrel roof.

FEATURES SIMILAR TO PARTS DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE

The floor, walls, ceiling, baseboard, chair rail and door trim are similar to the corresponding features of the Main Entrance Hall. The cornice is the same as that of the second floor Lounge. It follows all of the walls of the room, breaking out over the fireplace wall but being interrupted by the trim of the west windows. Its treatment over the dormer recesses is similar to the treatment of the cornice of the second floor Lounge over the dormer recess of the stair well. The dormer recesses and their trim are handled in the same way as the recesses in the south wall of the second floor Lounge. The east door has been described in the discussion of the Lounge and the south door is similar to this.

PRIVATE DINING ROOM, SECOND FLOOR OF WING OF KING'S ARMS TAVERN, WITH FIREPLACE AND FLANKING ALCOVES.

NORTHWEST DINING ROOM (#3), SECOND FLOOR, KING'S ARMS TAVERN, LOOKING SOUTHEAST. THE DOOR AT LEFT LEADS TO LOUNGE AND THAT AT RIGHT TO STAIRHALL OF WING (#2).

TRIM OF WEST WINDOWS IS SIMPLER THAN WINDOW TRIM OF FIRST FLOOR

The window sash have been discussed in connection with the exteriors of the building. The interior trim of the west windows completely enframes the openings, like that of the first floor windows but its profile is simpler. This is 4" wide and is composed only of a cyma reversa backband and a beaded fascia. The old 12-light window in the south gable end of the Brush-Everard House has interior trim with this simple profile.

FIREPLACE, MANTELPIECE AND HEARTH

The fireplace opening is 3'-0" wide and has a segmental-arched top the crown of which is 3'-1" above the hearth. The opening is enframed by a plaster surround 4½" wide. This is enclosed in a wood mantelpiece 5'-7½" wide and 5'-4" high, the surrounding wall area at the sides and top being plastered. The mantelpiece is composed of a 4¼" wide molded architrave or frame with a flat area containing two horizontal panels between this and the fireplace opening. The panels have the same profile as the door panelling of the room. Above the architrave is a 3¼" high projecting mantel shelf whose moldings are returned at either side against a beaded vertical board 3" wide which runs the height of the mantelpiece. The fireplace has a hearth before it which is similar to those of the first floor fireplaces.

PRECEDENT FOR THIS MANTELPIECE

This mantelpiece is of a not uncommon eighteenth century type used in Virginia. It is similar to several old mantelpieces which were acquired by Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated and which once formed a part of the materials stock pile kept in the Warehouse.

UPPER PART OF REAR STAIR HALL

FEATURES ALREADY DISCUSSED; THE MODERN PANTRY

All of the features of the staircase have already been discussed in the section dealing with the first floor of the Rear Stair Hall. The floor, walls, ceiling and baseboard of the second floor are similar to the same features of the first. The west end of second floor Stair Hall has been partitioned off and functions as a modern pantry. The dumb waiter terminates in this space which is provided with a modern sink, cabinets and other equipment. This room, which has a depth, including the partition, of about 6'-6", is entered through a door in its east wall.

DORMER WINDOWS & RECESSES

There is a dormer window recess and window in the south half of the east wall above the intermediate landing. The treatment of their detailing is similar to that of the dormer recess and window in the north wall of the well of the main stair. A corresponding dormer window in the west wall which falls, however, within the stair hall pantry, is treated in the same manner.

PANTRY DOOR

The door to the pantry is 6'-8" x 2'-4" x 1 3/8". The panelling treatment is the same as that of the south door in the Main Entrance Hall. For serving purposes, however, the door has been divided, Dutch door fashion, into two sections, the upper leaf being higher and containing the two upper pairs of panels of a normal Tavern door and the lower carrying the bottom pair of panels. The lower leaf has a counter attached to the top which remains out of sight from the Hall side when the door is closed. This divided door is equipped with two sets of 8" reproduced HL hinges and a Reading rim lock similar to that used on the south door of the Main Entrance Hall except that the knob on the pantry side is chromium plated.

DOORS TO DINING ROOMS

The door to the Northwest Dining Room has been discussed under that room heading and the door to the South Dining Room is of the same size and type.

SOUTH DINING ROOM (PRIVATE DINING ROOM)

DIMENSIONS OF ROOM AND OUTLINE OF ITS CHIEF FEATURES

This room (see photograph, II, p. 253) has the same plan dimensions as the room below but its height is 7'-11". Its plan arrangement is also the same as its counterpart of the first floor, with the fireplace-closet protrusion occupying the same area and being flanked by similar dining alcoves. The room is simpler, however, in its architectural detailing, the lateral arch screens and overmantel panelling being absent. Since the wing end has gambrel slopes on all three sides, all three outside walls, about midway in their height, leave the vertical and become inclined inward at the angle of the lower gambrel slope. The transition between these walls and the ceiling is effected by means of a cavetto curve in the plaster. The room has four 15-light dormer windows, one each in the east and west walls and one in the south wall of each alcove.

DETAILS ALREADY DISCUSSED ELSEWHERE

The treatment of the floor and of the plastering of the walls and ceiling is similar to that of the Main Entrance Hall. The door from the Stair Hall has been discussed under the latter heading and the door trim is similar to that of the Main Entrance Hall. The baseboard is similar to that in the Entrance Hall but the cornice is missing. The dormer windows and recesses are similar in their detailing to the dormer windows of the second floor Lounge.

DESCRIPTION OF CHAIR RAIL

A 6" high chair rail, the lower edge of which is 2'-9" above the floor, runs about the room and into the alcoves. It consists of a flat backboard, beaded top and bottom, and, superimposed upon this, a molded rail, 3" high, which consists, from top to bottom, of an ogee, a quarter round, a cavetto, an ogee and a bead. The backboard butts against the trim of the door and window openings and also against the boards which trim the corners of the chimney 258 breast. The rail is returned against the backboard at the openings and, on the chimney sides of the alcove walls, against the corner boards mentioned above.

PRECEDENT FOR CHAIR RAIL

The beaded backboard of this chair rail is found in the majority of old chair rails in Virginia. The bolection molding with its central element a quarter round above a cavetto is similar to an old rail found in the Wythe House.

FIREPLACE, MANTELPIECE AND HEARTH

The fireplace opening is segmental-arched and has 5¼" wide plaster surround. It is 2'-6" wide and 3'-0" high at the highest point of the arch. The opening and its surround are enframed by a mantelpiece extending the width of the chimney wall, 5'-1¾", and rising 4'-9¾" off the floor. The plaster surround is enclosed in a flat wood surface which, above the arch, follows the curve of the fireplace opening. This curve springs at either side from a 2½" long horizontal part of the facing. Surrounding the flat surface is a 5" wide architrave or frame composed of a cyma recta, a bead, a fascia and a cyma reversa. There is a molded mantel shelf projecting 4 5/8" from the plastered overmantel above. This returns at the ends against the flat woodwork of the mantelpiece face. The corners formed by the plastered overmantel and the alcove walls are protected by 2½" x 1" beaded corner boards, the flat sides of which are turned toward the alcoves. Below the mantel shelf these become continuous with the woodwork of the mantelpiece. The fireplace has a hearth similar in materials and manner of laying to those on the first floor.

PRECEDENT FOR DESIGN OF FIREPLACE AND MANTEL

The design of this fireplace opening and mantelpiece with the segmental arched opening and plaster surround and the various woodwork features described above is derived from an old fireplace and mantel of Wilton-on-the-Pianketank.

CLOSET DOOR AND HARDWARE AND THEIR PRECEDENT

Behind the fireplace, as in the room below, is a utility closet entered by means of a door in the east wall of the west alcove. This door is a board and batten door, 6'-0" high and 1'-8" wide. This is provided with wrought iron hardware reproduced after old models. The hardware consists of a pair of 9" wrought iron HL hinges, similar to others used in the building, and a hand latch consisting of a grip, bar and keeper. The latter details are illustrated on p. 15 of the Colonial Williamsburg Hardware Folder. The precedent for the board and batten door has been given in the discussion of the dumb waiter enclosure of the first floor of the Rear Stair Hall.

OTHER SECOND FLOOR ROOMS

The remaining rooms of the second floor of the King's Arms Tavern are of a modern, utilitarian character—toilets, powder room, etc.—and will not be treated in this report.

GENERAL

PRESENT MANNER OF ENTERING HOUSE IS UNAUTHENTIC; ENTRANCE HALL WOULD HAVE BEEN USED IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The Purdie House is entered, at present, via the passageway from the King's Arms Tavern (see II, p. 246), the main entrance door on the north side being kept locked (see plan, II, p. 197). In the eighteenth century, of course, this door would have served as the entrance to the house, since the latter and the Tavern were not joined as they are today. This being the case, we will begin our discussion of the house with the Main Entrance Hall and the adjacent Stair Hall since these are the spaces which a visitor to the house would have entered first and by means of which he would have gained access to the other rooms.

PRESENT AND FORMER USES OF FIRST FLOOR ROOMS

Aside from the Entrance and Stair Halls the first floor contains three rooms, which at present are used as dining rooms of the modern restaurant. In colonial times one of these rooms, only, would have been a dining room and this would have been served from the outside kitchen via the rear entrance. Another room would have been a living room or parlor and the third might have been a library or music room or have served some other use depending at any time upon the requirements of the particular owner.

SECOND FLOOR ROOMS AND THEIR PRESENTDAY USES

The rooms above stairs consist, at present, of a combined office and dressing room for the King's Arms Tavern staff which occupies the area east of the second floor Stair Hall and, west of the latter, an apartment or suite intended for use by the manager of the establishment. This consists of a large living-bedroom at the west end and, between this and the Stair Hall, a modern bath, a kitchen and clothes closets. Since the public is not admitted to the second 263 floor its rooms will be treated more briefly in the report than the first floor rooms.

THEIR USES IN COLONIAL TIMES

The second floor, in colonial times, would have been devoted to sleeping and would have had, doubtless, three bedrooms, since the space which today is occupied by the bath and kitchen would have accommodated a small sleeping room.

PRESENT PLAN A REASONABLY ACCURATE APPROXIMATION OF OLD LAYOUT; DETAILING IS AUTHENTIC

The archaeological and documentary evidence bearing upon the internal arrangements of the Purdie House has been discussed at some length in I, pp. 21-25 and will not be recapitulated here. Suffice it to say that the first floor plan is probably a reasonably accurate reconstruction of the plan of the original house. The second floor plan departs from authenticity chiefly in the inclusion of the modern kitchen and bath and in the partitioning off of the south end of the east room for use as a linen storage space. The detailing of both floors, with the exception of the modern facilities of the second, mentioned above, has been executed with scrupulous regard for authenticity.

MAIN ENTRANCE HALL AND STAIR HALL

THESE SPACES IN REALITY A SINGLE ROOM, DIVIDED BY AN ARCH

The Main Entrance Hall and Stair Hall are so intimately connected with each other that they will be considered as one room. The two form an L-shaped space, the Entrance Hall being the base of the "L" and the Stair Hall the "stem." The areas are separated only by a trimmed arch extending the width of the Stair Hall.

DIMENSIONS OF ENTRANCE AND STAIR HALIS

The rectangle of the Entrance Hall parallels the street and that of the Stair Hall is perpendicular to it and runs through to the rear wall of the house. The Entrance Hall is about 23'-4" (east to west) x 7'-5" (north to south), while the corresponding dimensions of the Stair Hall are 9'-6" x 17'-2". The ceiling height, and that of the other rooms of this floor, is 9'-7½", 11" lower than the first floor ceiling height in the Tavern.

OPENINGS IN WALLS OF ENTRANCE HALLWAY

The main entrance door is located in the center of the north wall of the Entrance Hall. At each end of this wall is one of the 18-light windows described in I, p. 175 et seq. Opposite each other on the east and west walls are doors leading to the East and West Dining Rooms, respectively. The south wall is broken by two openings, the great archway separating the Entrance Hall from the Stair Hall and, approximately in the center of the wall to the right of this, the door to the Middle Dining Room.

DOOR OPENINGS IN WALLS OF STAIR HALL
DIRECTIONS TAKEN BY STAIRCASE AND STAIR WELL

The staircase runs along the east wall of the Stair Hall to a platform against the south wall and continues from this to the second floor landing by means of a short run. At the landing the floor bounding the stair well makes a quarter-circular turn and then continues in a straight course until it strikes the east wall.

Beneath the intermediate landing of the stair at the west side of the south wall of the Stair Hall is the two-valve rear entrance 265 door described in I, p. 191. Under the landing at the south end of the east wall is a door to the East Dining Room. Near this, beneath the first run of the staircase, is a utility closet with a door opening into the hallway. About at the center of the west wall of the Stair Hall is a door to the Middle Dining Room.

PANELLED DADO RUNS ABOUT WALLS OF BOTH HALLWAYS

The walls of the combined Entrance Hall-Stair Hall are covered, to a point 4'-5½" off the floor, by a panelled dado. This follows the first flight of the staircase on the east wall of the Stair Hall, until it strikes the south wall of the intermediate landing where it terminates.

DESCRIPTION OF DADO

The dado consists, in addition to a 5" high base, similar to that of the Northwest Dining Room of the first floor of the Tavern, of a framework containing an upper row of smaller horizontal panels and a lower one of larger, vertical panels. The moldings comprising the panel profile are, on the framework, a cyma reversa, and on the panels, a sloping tongue joined to the raised panel surface by a quarter round. The panelling is capped by a 2" high molded rail composed of a half round at the top with a cyma recta and a bead beneath this. When this dado cap, in its progress about the room, meets the trim of a window or door, the half round is returned against the wood strip from which it springs and the lower moldings are stopped by the trim.

PRECEDENT FOR DADO & DADO RAIL

The panel arrangement of the Purdie dado—a series of horizontal panels over a line of vertical ones—is found in the old dado panelling of the dining room and first floor stair hall of the Tayloe House and also of two first floor rooms of Hillsborough, King and Queen County (see HABS measured drawing), but the dado cap in both of these cases is different from the Purdie example. The stair hall and staircase 266 of Bassett Hall likewise have a panelled dado but this is only one panel high and has panel moldings different from those of the Purdie House dado. Its cap, however, is very similar in profile to the Purdie example.

LOSSING DRAWING SHOWS DADO LIKE THAT OF PURDIE'S HALLWAYS

In connection with this panelled dado it is of interest to note here that a woodcut made from a drawing of ca. 1848 which appears in Benson J. Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution^* shows the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern to have had a panelled dado consisting of a horizontal panel over a vertical one. It was on the basis of this print that the Appolo Room was given this type of panelling when the Raleigh Tavern was reconstructed.

PEG STRIP

One foot above the dado cap, on all four walls of the Entrance Hall and on the south and west walls of the Stair Hall runs a peg strip similar to that in the Main Entrance Hall of the Tavern. This is interrupted, of course, by the openings in the walls.

CORNICE

The cornice is similar in height and profile to that of the Main Entrance Hall of the Tavern. It runs along the tops of all four walls of the Purdie Entrance Hall, including both sides of the wood archway element, and continues along the east wall of the Stair Hall as far as the stair well opening, where it is returned against the wall. On the west wall it runs from the archway southward until it strikes the plastered soffit of the second run of the staircase.

PLASTERING OF WALLS AND CEILING; OLD FLOORING

The walls above the dado, the ceiling, and the soffits of the intermediate stair landing and of the upper stairs run are plastered. This plastering is done in the manner of that of the Main Entrance Hall of the Tavern. The flooring is old salvaged material laid 267 and treated like that used in most of the rooms of the Tavern.

DOORS OF ENTRANCE HALL AND STAIR HALL

Except for the main entrance door which has a panel arrangement similar to that of the Tavern doors (a pair of small top panels with two rows of equal vertical panels beneath) and for the two valve rear entrance door, the doors in the Entrance and Stair Halls (six in addition to the two mentioned above) have a panel pattern consisting of two vertical panels above and two below a pair of smaller, horizontal panels. The panel profile of these doors consists of a quarter round on the framework and a sloping tongue and bead or quarter round like those of the dado panelling, on the raised panels, themselves. All of the doors have raised panels on the hall side and sunk, unmolded panels on the side toward the three dining rooms and the closet. The five dining room doors are 6'-8" high, 2'-8" wide and 1 3/8" thick. The closet door is 6'-0" x 2'-6" x 1¾". All of the doors are provided with wood thresholds.

PRECEDENT FOR DOORS

Several old doors found on the second floor of the Barraud House not only have the same panel pattern as the door just described but they have raised panels on one side only. The panel profile is the same as that of the Tavern doors except that the quarter round is missing between the panel tongue and the panel face. Several old doors of the Brush-Everard House have raised panels, with a panel profile similar to that of the Purdie doors, on one side and sunk, unmolded panels on the other.

DOOR HARDWARE

The hardware of the main entrance door has been described in I, p. 174. All the other doors in the Main Entrance and Stair Halls have the following hardware: a pair of wrought iron HL hinges, 10" high and similar to C.W. F-3 and an iron rim lock, Reading No. C-625 with brass knobs, rose and swivel spindle, A1923 x 1163 x 36½. 268 The hinges, except those of the front door, have, like those of the Tavern, their straight element concealed beneath the door frame but, unlike those of the Tavern, they have straight-cut rather than floriated ends. They are nailed to the doors in the same manner as the hinges of the main entrance door of the Tavern. All of the hardware is new but reproduced authentically after colonial models.

TRIM OF DOORS AND WINDOWS

The door and window trim in the two Halls is 5" wide and is composed of a cyma reversa backband, a fascia, a second cyma reversa and a second fascia which ends in a bead. This is the same as the typical trim of the King's Arms Tavern except that the latter is 5½" wide. There is no window stool, the trim, as in the case of the Tavern windows, continuing across the bottom.

STAIRCASE; ITS TYPE AND MAIN FEATURES

The staircase is of the open string type with turned balusters, square-sectioned newel posts and molded handrail. Starting about 4'-2" south of the archway and running along the east wall of the Stair Hall it attains an intermediate landing against the south wall with a run of 12 risers. From this landing, which is the width of the Stair Hall, it continues up the west wall and, with a flight of five risers, reaches the landing of the second floor. As was remarked earlier, the floor edge bordering the stair well at this point becomes curved and then straightens out and runs at right angles to the east wall.

TREADS, RISERS AND NOSINGS

The stair treads, including the nosings, are 11" wide and the risers, including the tread thickness, are 7½" high. Beneath the overhanging rounded edge of the treads is a mold composed of a cavetto and a bead. This tread profile is similar to that of the main stair of the Tavern. Since this is an open string staircase the tread nosings and their accompanying moldings appear also on 269 the ends of the steps, where they are carried slightly beyond the upper ends of the ornamental step brackets and returned against the stringer. The treads are made of new edge grain yellow pine and the risers of new yellow pine.

HANDRAILING SIMILAR TO THAT OF TAVERN

The railing starts at a newel post at the base of the stair, follows the latter to the second floor landing and skirts the contour of the stair well, ending at the south wall where it butts against the cap of a half-engaged newel post. Before striking the newel posts located at each change in direction of the stair it moves in a quarter-circular curve upward and then straightens out to strike the newel cap.^* The handrail has the same well-known profile as 270 that of the main staircase of the King's Arms Tavern and follows the same precedent as the latter for this and for its directional character. The railing, unlike that of the King's Arms stair, is not reflected on any of the walls bordering the staircase nor is it used on the second floor of the Stair Hall as a part of the chair rail.

NEWEL POSTS; DESCRIPTION OF LOWER TWO POSTS

There are four square-sectioned newel posts and the half newel mentioned above. The bottom post, which rests on the floor, and the one at the head of the initial stair run are 3½" on a side and have four flutes on each face. The caps are similar in profile to those of the main staircase of the Tavern except that they have a necking (half round and cavetto) missing in the latter. There is also a 5" high square base ending at the top in an ogee molding. The newel at the meeting of the first stair run with the intermediate landing descends to the floor, like the similarly-located newels of the two King's Arms staircases. In so doing it serves as a trim motive at the corner formed by the panelled stair spandrel and the boarded face of the closet beneath the stair. The flutes are extended down the two free faces of this newel elongation. This post has the same type of base as the one at the bottom of stair.

UPPER TWO NEWELS AND HALF NEWEL; NEWEL DROPS

The other two newel posts, at the junction of the intermediate landing with the second stair flight and at the top of the latter, are also square in section and 3½" on each side but these are unfluted. These fall a few inches below the nearest part of the stair soffit and end in a turned drop which is so shallow that it might rather be called a knob or boss. Its profile is a simple ogee curve. The applied half post at the northeast corner of the stair well is unfluted and has the typical cap and the base of the other 271 newels which rest on the floor.

BALUSTERS

The balusters are turned and are somewhat simpler in their profile than the balusters of the main stair of the Tavern. There are two to each tread except when the presence of the newel posts—at the beginning of the first and second runs—makes it necessary to omit a baluster.

STEP BRACKETS

The ends of the steps are decorated with flat brackets applied to the stringer beneath the tread moldings. These start at the face of the riser and by a series of curves and reverse curves run in a sloped course upward to the point where the nosing and its moldings return against the stringer. These brackets are used on the exposed side of both stair runs. They were copied exactly from brackets which decorate the step ends of the main stair of Sabine Hall, Richmond County. It should be noted also that the nosing profile of the Sabine Hall steps is also similar to that of the Purdie steps. (For drawing of brackets and nosing see Plate 31 of Brick Architecture of the Colonial Period by Lewis A. Coffin, Jr. and Arthur C. Holden.)

SPANDREL PANELLING AND SHEATHED FACE OF CLOSET UNDER STAIR

The dado panelling of the Hallways is used to cover the triangular spandrel or side of the first floor run, where it is adapted, by the inclusion of three triangular panels, to the spandrel shape. A short length of the typical dado cap is used in its same position relative to the upper panel as in the normal dado. This is returned at either side against the panel framework. Though the panel shapes are different the spandrel treatment here is similar in character to that of the main stair of the Tavern. The door under the first stair run is set in a sheathed wall surface, consisting only of two wood "stiles" and a headboard. The precedent for this sheathing is 272 amply covered in the discussions of wall sheathing in the section of the report on the interior of the Tavern.

PRECEDENT FOR STAIR DETAILS FOR WHICH BASIS HAS NOT BEEN GIVEN

The following is a tabulation of the precedent for certain of the stair features for which the design basis has not already been indicated in the discussion above:

DESCRIPTION OF ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE TWO HALLS

The archway runs from wall to wall at the north end of the Stair Hall. It is completely of wood and its thickness, exclusive of its projecting moldings, is 3¾". Its chief element is its molded trim, 4" wide, made up of a cyma recta backband and a beaded fascia. The trim follows the opening on each side of the arch, both faces of which are identical in their detailing. As in the case of the arched top of the door in the west wall of the Main Entrance Hall of the King's Arms Tavern, the curve of the arch springs not from imposts but from short horizontal parts projecting from the tops of the stiles of the trim. The center of the archway is emphasized by a "fluted" or, better a molded key block. In transverse section the "flutes" of this block are seen to consist, not in the usual semicircular depressions, but rather in a pair of reverse curves separated by a bead. The spandrels of this arch, like those the South Dining Room on the first floor of the Tavern, are faced with unbeaded horizontal boarding upon which a half round molding has been applied. This forms a triangle-like pattern, the long leg of which follows the curve of the arch. The entire 273 arch element is set back slightly from the face of the south wall of the Main Entrance Hall. In consequence of this, the hall cornice which continues across the top of the arch breaks back at the west side of its north face. On both faces of the archway the cornice breaks and comes forward above the key block. The arch has no base, the molded trim continuing to the floor.

COMPARABLE ARCHWAYS SEPARATING ENTRANCE & STAIR HALLS; PRECEDENT FOR DETAILS OF PURDIE ARCH

No exact counterpart of this arch is found in any Virginia house of colonial times, its inspiration being derived from several. Monumental wood arches of this general type were employed in a number of old mansions to set the Stair Hall off from the Entrance Hall. Notable examples of this usage are found in Sabine Hall, Richmond County; Carter's Grove, James City County; Berkeley, Charles City County and Elmwood, Essex County. The arches in all of these cases spring directly from pilasters, which have the customary caps and bases. The motive in which an arch springs from short horizontal extensions of the stile, however impracticable a detail this might be in stone, is a feasible thing in wood and it serves about the same purpose as the more usual pilaster cap, i.e., to emphasize the junction between the arch and its vertical "supports." Precedent for this arch type has been given in II, p. 213 in connection with the similar arch over the west door of the Main Stair Hall of the Tavern. Examples of an architrave running to the floor without cap or base can also be found, an instance being a pair of pilaster-enframed archways at Kittewan in Charles City County. The archways in that case are normal width door openings. Another example is an archway of the porch chamber of Cedar Hill in Maryland. Wilton-on-the-James (now in Richmond) has wood arches with key blocks carved 274 to a profile like the one used here. The spandrels or spaces between the cornice and the arch were very frequently, in colonial times, garnished by "panels" formed by moldings applied to them. An example of this device, already mentioned in connection with the arches of the South Dining Room of the first floor of the Tavern, is found at Toddsbury in Gloucester County.

EAST DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #1)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR SIZE AND POSITION OF THIS ROOM AND LOCATION OF SUMMER BEAM AND FIREPLACE

Of all the rooms of the Alexander Purdie House this one has the most authentic plan basis. It is located over the position of the foundations of the earliest part of the building (see archaeological plan, p. 42). Because of the existence of a transverse internal foundation wall which ran between the east and west exterior walls of the early building it was assumed that the original house had two rooms, a larger north one and a smaller south one. There is considerable likelihood that when the house was extended to the west the transverse partition would have been removed to obtain a more commodious east room and, of course, a larger room would be more serviceable for restaurant dining room use in the reconstructed building. The architects decided, therefore, to omit the partition, but to call attention to its former existence they ran a summer beam from east to west across the ceiling of the room about 8'-9" from the south wall and approximately over the position of the old transverse foundation. A further element for the location of which there was archaeological basis is the fireplace in the west wall. This stands over the spot where, in the course of the excavations, burnt brick fragments and wood ashes were discovered.

DIMENSIONS AND MAIN ELEMENTS OF ROOM

The East Dining Room (see ill., II, p. 261) is 17'-2½" wide (east to west), 25'-4½" long (north to south) and, like the Hallways, 9'-7½" high. Its walls, except for the chimney element, are plastered from floor to ceiling and they carry a cornice, chair rail and base. There are two door openings in the west wall, one leading to the Entrance Hall and the other to the Stair Hall, and four 18-light windows, two each in its three exterior walls. The chimney breast extends 2'-10" into the room on the west side and 276 its three faces are panelled throughout.

FEATURES ALREADY COVERED IN DISCUSSION OF SIMILAR DETAILS

The floors are of old pine boards like those of the other rooms of exhibition character in the two buildings and they were treated in the manner described in the discussion of the floor of the Main Entrance Hall of the Tavern. The plastering of the walls and ceiling was also handled in the manner of that of the last named room. The cornice is similar in size and profile to that of the Northwest Dining Room of the Tavern except that, since the walls here are unpanelled, a terminal beaded fascia was added. The baseboard, with its ogee mold rather than the more customary bead, is similar to the base in the two first floor Dining Rooms of the Tavern. The chair rail has the same profile as the rail of the South Dining Room on the second floor of that building. The doors have been discussed in the treatment of the two Hallways and the trim is similar to the door trim of those two spaces. The windows and window trim are similar to those of the Main Entrance Hall of Purdie's.

CHIMNEY-FIREPLACE ELEMENT; DIMENSIONS AND MAIN FEATURES
COMPONENTS OF FRONT FACE OF CHIMNEY WOODWORK

The chimney-fireplace element is about 8'-0" wide and has a centered fireplace opening with a segmental arched head. The fireplace is 3'-8" wide and 3'-2½" high at the crown of the arch. Enclosing the opening is a 5½" wide plastered band. The chimney breast and the end walls are, otherwise, fully panelled. There is a brick hearth, 5'-10½" wide and 1'-7" deep which is laid with the same type of handmade brick and in the same manner as the hearths in the Tavern. In this case, however, the 2½" wide border strip was placed on the long edge only.

On the front face a 6'-1" wide and 4" high shelf the top of which is about 4'-2" off the floor divides this face into a lower, mantelpiece area, so-to-speak, and an upper, overmantel area. Between 277 the mantel shelf and the plaster surround of the fireplace opening are a horizontal band of three panels and a 4 1/8" high molded architrave or frame. Above the shelf is a large horizontal panel flanked by two vertical ones. Outside of this mantel-overmantel area, on either side, is an elongated "column" or band made up of three panels of varying sizes. This band is divided at chair rail height (about 3'-0" to the center line) into two sections by a 10" length of the same bolection mold used on the chair rail. The bolection is superimposed upon the panel framework and returns against it.

TREATMENT OF END WALLS

The treatment of the two end walls is uniform. The bolection molding of the chair rail is found here also and it divides each face into two parts. Below the rail is a single "squarish" panelled cabinet door; above it a 3'-8" high cabinet door with a round-headed panel in it and a horizontal panel over it. The profile of the panelling on all three sides of the fireplace-chimney element is the same as that of the Hallway panelling.

CORNICE AND BASEBOARD OF CHIMNEY ELEMENT

The room cornice is carried around all three sides of the fireplace element. The room baseboard is likewise superimposed upon the woodwork of the three sides. On the front face, where it is interrupted by the fireplace opening, it is returned against the framework adjacent to the architrave.

ROUND-HEADED PANELLING OF CABINET DOORS; DOOR HARDWARE

The two cabinet doors in each end give access to storage spaces for table linen, the larger of which has four shelves. The semi-circular head of the door panel of this upper cabinet is unusual in that the semicircle is not a continuation of the vertical sides of the panel but is set in about 1¼" and a special shape—a reverse curve—is used to join the two. The upper door is equipped with a 278 pair of wrought iron butterfly hinges and a brass drop handle, #350. The lower door also swings on butterfly hinges but is opened by a brass knob handle, #347. This hardware is new but reproduced after colonial models. In the case of the butterfly hinges the models were old examples found in the Benjamin Waller House. This hinge design is shown on p. 12 of the Hardware Folder where it is designated as Type 5.

PRECEDENT FOR WOODWORK DESIGN OF CHIMNEY BREAST AND FOR ROUND-HEADED DOOR PANELLING

The various parts of the front face of the fireplace-chimney element were derived from the woodwork facings of chimney breasts of several old houses, among them Wilton-on-the-James (formerly Henrico County; now rebuilt in Richmond); London Bridge, Princess Anne County; Marmion, King George County and Toddsbury, Gloucester County. Built-in wall cabinets equipped with panelled doors are found in a number of colonial dwellings, among them the Rolfe House, Surry County; Brooke's Bank Essex County and Marmion. Of the examples mentioned only those of Brooke's Bank and Marmion have offset round-headed panelling. In the Marmion example the door head is also semicircular but in a two-valve cabinet door at Brooke's Bank the round-headed panels are set in square-headed doors like those of the Purdie East Dining Room. The element linking the vertical sides of the panelling with the curved top in the case of the Marmion door is horizontal whereas in the double cabinet doors of Brooke's Bank it takes the same reverse curve form which it has in the Purdie doors.

DESCRIPTION OF SUMMER BEAM; ITS PRECEDENT

The summer beam runs across the ceiling of the room at such a point that it strikes the chimney breast directly above the vertical side band of panelling at the south end of the face of the fireplace-chimney element. It drops about 5" below the ceiling, a depth calculated to make its soffit line up with that of the cornice. The 279 crown molding of the cornice continues across the upper part of both sides of the beam and both of its lower edges are beaded. Without the moldings the beam is about 16" wide. The beam is actually constructed of five pieces of ¾" wood (two crown moldings, two beaded fascia boards and a soffit board) nailed to blocking which supports them. This is comparable to cased beams of the type which can be seen at Bacon's Castle, Surry County in the case of which original solid chamfered summer beams have been boxed with eighteenth-century crown molds and beaded boards. An old example exactly like the Purdie beam occurs at Mansfield in the ceiling of the ballroom in the ballroom wing. Summer beams are also found in such old houses as the Tabb House, York County; Christ's Cross (Criss Cross), New Kent County and elsewhere. In the first example the edges are chamfered, the chamfers terminating in lamb's tongues, while in the second they have quarter rounds very much like the beads of the Purdie beam.

MIDDLE DINING ROOM (#2), ALEXANDER PURDIE HOUSE, LOOKING WEST. THE DOOR LEADS TO THE WEST DINING ROOM (BELOW).

WEST DINING ROOM OF PURDIE'S LOOKING NORTHEAST. THE DOOR AT LEFT LEADS TO THE PURDIE ENTRANCE HALL AND THAT BARELY VISIBLE AT RIGHT TO THE ROOM SHOWN ABOVE.

MIDDLE DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #2)

DIMENSIONS AND MAIN ELEMENTS OF ROOM

The Middle Dining Room, between the Stair Hall and the West Dining Room (see plan, II, p. 197 and photograph, II, p. 280) is 13'-2½" from east to west, 17'-4½" from north to south and 9'-7½" high. It may be entered from the Stair Hall by a door in its east wall; from the Entrance Hall by door in its north wall and from the West Dining Room by a door near the south end of its west wall. There are wood thresholds at all of these doors. It has a single 18-light window about in the center of its south wall. There are a fireplace and mantelpiece in the west wall about on the transverse center line of the room. The walls and ceiling are plastered. The room has a cornice, chair rail and base.

PARTS SIMILAR TO FEATURES OF HALLWAY

The plastering, flooring, cornice, baseboard, doors and door trim and hardware, window and window trim are similar to the corresponding elements of the Main Entrance Hall of the Alexander Purdie House.

CHAIR RAIL

The chair rail has the customary flat backboard and superimposed molded rail. The backboard is 6" high and is beaded top and bottom. The railing is 2 5/8" high and is composed, top to bottom, of a cavetto, an incomplete half round and a cavetto similar to the one at the top. The center of the railing is about 3'-0" above the floor. The backboard butts against the frames of window and door openings and of the mantelpiece and the railing is returned against the backboard. The precedent for the profile of the railing is a similar old railing at Little England, Gloucester County.

FIREPLACE AND MANTELPIECE

The fireplace opening is segmental arched and enclosed in a plastered surround 5" wide. The opening is 2'-6" wide and 3'-0" high at the crown of the arch. The wood mantelpiece is 4'-9½" 282 high and 4'-6¾" wide. It is composed of two chief elements, a molded architrave 4'-0" high and the same width as the mantelpiece and a mantel shelf which, with the moldings beneath it, is 3 3/8" high. The profile consists, top to bottom, of a half round, cavetto, cyma recta, fillet and cyma reversa. The shelf projects 4 5/8" from the plastered wall. Between the shelf and the top of the architrave is a 6" high flat band with ends cut out in an "S" curve composed of a scotia above a torus, a combination of curves resembling the two lowest curves of an Ionic column base. The architrave is composed, outside to inside, of a cyma recta backband with bead, a fascia, a cyma reversa, a second fascia and a bead. A flat wood surface separates the frame from the plaster surround. The bottom of this has the same curve as the fireplace opening and this curve, like that of the archway between the Halls, starts at either end from a short horizontal member.

BRICK HEARTH

The fireplace has a brick hearth, 4'-5" wide and 1"-0½" deep similar in materials and construction to those of the Tavern. As in the case of all the hearths in the Purdie House, the wood border strip runs only along the front edge.

PRECEDENT FOR THIS MANTELPIECE
THE "S" CURVE IN FREQUENT USE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA

The various elements of this mantelpiece are derived from several old examples. A number of old mantelpieces formerly in the Warehouse stock pile had architraves extending the width of the mantels and some of these had flat wood surrounds between the architrave and the opening left for the fireplace and its plastered enframement. In certain cases the lower edge of this wood surround was curved and started from horizontal members at either side.

The "S" curve, similar to that used on the cut-out ends of the facing above the architrave was a common enough motive in Virginia 283 colonial architecture, finding frequent use in pilaster bases. An old mantelpiece of the James Semple House has essentially this same reverse curve at the ends of a band between the architrave and molded shelf of a mantelpiece having a number of details similar to those of the Purdie mantel. The moldings of both the architrave and mantel shelf are all familiar ones in general use in the eighteenth century.

WEST DINING ROOM (DINING ROOM #3)

DIMENSIONS OF ROOM AND GENERAL FACTS ABOUT IT; WINDOW AND DOOR LOCATIONS

This room (see photograph, II, p. 280) has approximately the same dimensions as its counterpart at the east end of the Purdie House. Were it not for the fact that its south wall for about three-quarters of the distance from the southwest corner is joined to the dish pantry and its west wall for more than half its length northward from the same corner is attached to the serving pantry and the passage leading to the Tavern, this room would have, like the East Dining Room, three outside walls and six windows. As things have worked out, however, only the north wall, the north half of the west wall and the eastern quarter of the south wall stand free of other structures, with the result that the windows are reduced to four. These, which like the other first floor windows, have 18 lights, are located as follows: two in the north wall and one in the west wall in positions similar to the corresponding windows of the East Dining Room, and one in the short free part of the south wall. Only two of the five doors may said to be authentic and these lead to spaces which, it is likely, existed in the eighteenth century in more or less the same form as at present. These doors are the one to the Main Entrance Hall at the north end of the east wall and the other is the door to the Middle Dining Room which is located in about the same relative position at the south end of the east wall. The other three doors are unauthentic since they lead to spaces which did not exist in colonial times. These doors are the one in the south wall leading to the dish pantry; that in the west wall directly opposite the one at the south end of the east wall, which leads to the serving pantry, and the door at about the center of the west wall. The latter door opens upon the passage leading to the Tavern.

EAST WALL PANELLED; OTHERS ARE PLASTERED

This room has a fireplace-chimney element similar to that of the East Dining Room. This advances into the room at the east side. The entire east wall of the room, including the chimney breast protrusion, is panelled, while the other three walls are plastered.

ELEMENTS SIMILAR TO FEATURES ALREADY DISCUSSED

The plastering, flooring, baseboard, doors and door trim and windows and window trim are similar to the same features of the Entrance Hall. The chair rail is identical with that of the Middle Dining Room. The doors have wood thresholds, except those leading to the dish and serving pantries which have metal saddles.

DOOR HARDWARE

The hardware of the two doors leading to the authentically reconstructed spaces is similar to that of the west door of the Main Entrance Hall of the Tavern except that the HL hinges are 10" high rather than 9" and have straight rather than floriated ends. These hinges, like those of the Tavern, have their straight element concealed beneath the door trim. The door to the dish pantry has the following hardware: three stock butt hinges, BB242P, 3½ x 3½; one stock closer, PC 3; one brass knob and rose and key escutcheon on the Dining Room side intended to suggest the presence of a Reading rim lock on the pantry side; one walnut push plate and one stock dead bolt. The door to the serving pantry has reproduced colonial hinges and an iron rim lock similar to those of the other doors but with a chromium-plated knob, rose and key escutcheon instead of brass ones on the pantry side. In addition, the door has the following modern hardware: a closer, PC 3; a bracket, PC 26½-3 and a push plate, CR 2325½-14 x 3½. All of the colonial type hardware was reproduced authentically after old models.

CORNICE

The cornice is the most prominent and elaborate in the Purdie House. It is 9½" in height and has a projection of 7" from the 286 wall. It consists, from top to bottom, of a typical crown mold (cyma recta over cyma reversa); a fascia; a soffit, 1¾" deep; a molding, 1¼" high, composed of a fascia and a cyma recta; a 13/16" setback holding a dentil band 1 1/8" high and an incomplete quarter round. The dentils are square wood blocks, 13/16" on a side, and they are spaced 1¼" on centers. The cornice runs about all four walls of the room breaking and advancing three times to attain the foremost plane of the chimney breast.

PRECEDENT FOR CORNICE

This cornice has the same profile as an old denticulated cornice at Poplar Grove, Mathews County. The old cornice of the Tayloe House living room is denticulated and very similar in character but it is considerably more robust and has a different arrangement of moldings above and below the dentil course.

PANELLING ARRANGEMENT AND PROFILE
CHAIR RAIL MOLDINGS

The east wall of the West Dining Room is, as was remarked above, fully panelled. The basic arrangement of the panelling, an elongated upper panel separated by the moldings of the chair rail from a shorter dado panel, is similar to the panel treatment of the Northwest Dining Room of the first floor of the Tavern and has the same precedent as the latter. This basic pattern, of course, is modified over the doorways, each of which has a single horizontal panel above it, and on the chimney breast which will be discussed in detail presently. The panel profile is simpler than that of the panelling of the Hallways and East Dining Room of the Purdie House. It consists, on the framework, of a quarter round and, on the panel, of an inset sloping blade without moldings. This panel profile is found at Bassett Hall, Tuckahoe in Goochland County and elsewhere.

The chair rail moldings, which are the same as those used on the other walls of the room, return against the panelling framework 287 at the doorways and adjacent to the marble surround of the fireplace opening. The rail follows without interruption all changes in plane of the fireplace-chimney element, even to continuing across the pilaster faces.

FIREPLACE OPENING AND SURROUND; MANTEL SHELF; OVERMANTEL PANELLING

The fireplace, which is located at the center of the east wall, has a square-headed opening 3'-8" wide and 2'-9" high. The opening is enframed by a 6" surround of breche rose marble. The 1'-6" high area between the surround the mantel shelf is occupied by three equal horizontal panels. The 5'-1" long and 3" high wood mantel shelf is simple in its profile, the moldings consisting of a cyma recta on the projecting shelf edge and, beneath the shelf, the combined cyma recta over cyma reversa molding used so frequently in various situations on the exterior and interior of the two buildings. The shelf projects 5¼". The overmantel above the shelf consists of three rows of panels, the top and bottom ones holding two horizontal panels and the middle one a large central horizontal panel flanked by two small vertical panels.

DESCRIPTION OF FLUTED PILASTERS

The mantel and overmantel are flanked by a pair of 7½" wide fluted pilasters which reach from the floor to the cornice. These have 10½" high bases which, from bottom to top, are composed of a 5" high plinth block followed by a torus, scotia and upper torus, the transition between the latter and the pilaster face being made by a cavetto mold. The capital consists, from top to bottom, of an incomplete quarter round and fillet and, about 5" under this, a necking made up of a half round and a cavetto. The pilaster has five flutes on its face. Its thickness, 1¼", is sufficient to permit the use of a single flute on each side surface, as well.

CHIMNEY BREAST IS DEFINED BY SETBACKS

At a distance of about 3'-7" at either side of the fireplace center line, the panelled chimney breast is set back about 5". A panelled bay, 1'-8" wide, intervenes between this setback and a major one of about 2'-3½" which carries us to the main east wall of the room. It is the latter break which, at either side, delimits the chimney breast area. This is about 10'-6" in width.

PANELLED END WALLS; CLOSET DOORS OF NORTH SIDE

The north and south ends of the chimney element are panelled and have the typical chair rail moldings. Behind the panelled front of the north end are two linen closets, one above and one below the chair rail. Access to these is gained by two square headed panelled doors which are provided with the same type of hardware as the doors of the corresponding cabinets in the chimney wall of the East Dining Room. Above the higher upper door is a horizontal fixed panel. The south end wall holds no cabinets, fixed panelling occupying the entire surface. The panel divisions here are similar to those of north end although the two lower panels are somewhat larger than the latter, since no space is consumed here by door framework.

PRECEDENT FOR DESIGN OF CHIMNEY BREAST WAS FOUND AT POPLAR GROVE

The treatment of the chimney breast (mantel and overmantel areas), the mantel shelf and the flanking pilasters is a very literal adaptation to the requirements of this room of the design of an old chimney breast at Poplar Grove, Mathews County, the mansion from which, as we learned above, the cornice of the West Dining Room was also derived. Three differences should be noted, viz., that the surround of the fireplace opening of Poplar Grove is plastered; the cornice breaks back above the overmantel so that each pilaster carries its own short length of cornice and there is no intermediate break, as there is here, just outside of each pilaster. Double breaks of this sort at either side of a chimney breast may be observed at 289 Shirley, Charles City County where the chimney breasts of the drawing room and the dining room are treated in this manner (see photographs in Thomas T. Waterman, The Mansions of Virginia). It should be noted that in these cases, however, there are no superimposed pilasters.

PRECEDENT FOR USE OF MARBLE IN SURROUND

The use of marble for fireplace surrounds was not unusual in the eighteenth century. Marble fragments which could be identified as having been parts of the surrounds of fireplace openings were discovered in the course of excavating the site of the Governor's Palace. These were sufficient in number to permit the reconstruction of the marble surrounds in the main lobby, the small dining room and the parlor of the Palace.

STAIR HALL

BASEBOARD AND CHAIR RAILING

This is a continuation of the Stair Hall space below so that only those elements will be discussed which have not already been treated. The baseboard is a flat surface 4½" high, topped by a bead. There is a chair rail 6" high similar to that of the South Dining Room of the second floor of the Tavern. This is found on the north wall, from which it runs south as far, on the east wall, as the engaged newel and on the west, as the frame of the door leading to the passage to the West Room. There is no cornice.

DOORS, DOOR HARDWARE AND TRIM

There are two doors, one to the East Room and one to the passage. These are both 2'-8" x 6'-8" x 1 3/8" in size. They have the same panel arrangement and hardware as the typical doors of the first floor Hallways. The door trim is a simple 2" high molding consisting of a 5/8" flat band at the top below which is an inset quarter round. This molding was frequently used in colonial Virginia, as an alternate to the common cyma reversa backband, on door and window architraves and for other purposes. It is found at Lower Weyanoke, Charles City County in use as an architrave backband.

TREATMENT OF DORMER WINDOW ENCLOSURES

Two dormer windows light this hallway, one over the west side of the intermediate stair landing and the other at the east side of the north wall. The treatment of the window enclosures is the same in principle as that of the dormer windows described in the second floor Lounge of the King's Arms Tavern (II, p. 250) but due to the fact that Purdie's has an A-roof while the Tavern has a gambrel the shape of the Purdie enclosures and the slope of the corner boards protecting the junctions of the enclosure walls with the main walls are somewhat different from these features of the Tavern enclosures. 291 The treatment of the dormer windows of the Purdie hallway and of the other dormer windows of the second floor of the House also varies in minor detail from window to window because of differences in the situation of the dormer enclosures.

EAST ROOM (OFFICE)

ROOM HAS AUTHENTIC AND UNAUTHENTIC AREAS; ITS DIMENSIONS

This room is in part old in its treatment and in part devoted to modern uses which require a departure from authenticity. The south portion of the room has been partitioned off at a point about 6'-4" from the south wall and is used as a clothes closet and linen storage room. The light weight partition is wholly modern, as is the equipment of the storage room. The remaining, authentically treated, part of the room is 17'-4½" (east to west) and 12'-0" (north to south). The ceiling height of this and of the other rooms of the second floor of the Purdie House is 8'-5".

ELEMENTS SIMILAR TO FEATURES ALREADY TREATED ELSEWHERE

The door from this room to the Hallway has been discussed under the latter space. The three dormer windows (one in the north wall and two in the south wall within the closet space) are covered by a note under the treatment of the second floor Stair Hall. The sash of the 15-light east window is covered under the exterior of the building and the interior frame, which runs across the bottom of the window, is similar to the interior window frames on the lower floor. The walls and ceiling are plastered in the same manner as the walls and ceiling of the first floor rooms, and old flooring similar to that used below was also used here. The baseboard is similar to that in the second floor Stair Hall. The "chair rail" is a chair board only, 6" high and beaded top and bottom. This runs on the east and west walls and continues across the modern (south) partition.

FIREPLACE OPENING AND HEARTH

There is a fireplace in the west wall of the room on what would be the center line if the modern storage closet did not exist. The opening, which has a segmental arched head, is 2'-8" wide, while the crown of the arch is 2'-10¼" above the hearth. The hearth has a surface composed of 8" x 8" x 2½" brick tiles separated by 3/16" 293 joints. The tiles were laid in the same manner as the brick of the first floor hearths and then hand smoothed with carborundum stone. Only the long hearth edge at the front, as is also the case with the hearths below stairs, has a 2½" wood strip between the tile and the floor boards.

MANTELPIECE AND ITS COMPONENTS

The fireplace opening has a plaster surround 4 1/8" wide. A wood mantelpiece, 4'-4½" wide and 5'-1 1/8" high, enframes the opening. This is, compared with most of the fireplace woodwork used on the first floor, very simple. It consists of a molded architrave, 4 1/8" high, with a panelled area, 1'-2" high, and a mantel shelf, 3¼" high, above it. The architrave moldings, from outside to inside, consist of a cyma reversa backband, a fascia and a cyma reversa, a second fascia and a bead. The panels are equal horizontal ones with moldings similar to those of the second floor doors. The mantel shelf consists of a ¾" inch board with a 6" projection. This has a 2½" high molding beneath it. The edge of the board on all three sides is cut to the shape of a cyma reversa and the supporting molding consists, from top to bottom, of a cyma reversa, a quarter round and a second cyma reversa.

PRECEDENT FOR DESIGN OF MANTELPIECE

A number of old mantels formerly in the Warehouse collection furnished the inspiration for this mantel, although it was not copied directly from any one of them. It is most similar to one of these which was used in the dining room of Burdette's Ordinary. The Burdette example has all of the elements of the Purdie mantelpiece except the architrave. The latter, however, is found in a number of the other Warehouse mantels, used in the same way as it is here.

PRECEDENT FOR MOLDING UNDER SHELF

The molding used beneath the shelf, an alternate for the more commonly employed cyma recta over cyma reversa molding, was found in Williamsburg on the old kitchen of the Robert Waller House. In that building it serves as the bed mold of the exterior cornice.

PASSAGE AND ENTRY TO WEST ROOM

SPACE BETWEEN STAIR HALL AND WEST ROOM CONTAINS PASSAGE, ENTRY, KITCHEN AND BATH; LATTER TWO ROOMS ARE UNAUTHENTIC

Between the Stair Hall and West Room intervenes a portion of the building (see second floor plan) about 13'-8" in width which at present accommodates a modern kitchen and bath and a Passage and Entry to the West Room (called "Apartment") on the plan. There is a clothes closet off the Passage and one off the Entry and between these a dormer window enclosure. The kitchen and bath each have one dormer window. Only the Passage and Entry and the dormer windows in this area are treated authentically so that only these will be discussed.

DOORS AND DOOR TRIM

The floor, walls and ceiling, baseboard and dormer window enclosures are similar in materials and treatment to these same features of the second floor Stair Hall. The doors, six in number, have the same panel pattern as the other typical doors of the Purdie House. All six of these doors are 6'-8" high and 1 3/8" thick. The doors to the Stair Hall and West Room and between the Passage and Entry are 2'-8" wide; the two closet doors and that to the kitchen are 2'-6" wide and the door to the bath is 2'-4" wide. The door trim of all the doors is of the same type and this has been described in our treatment of the second floor Stair Hall.

DOOR HARDWARE

Three of the doors have hardware similar to that of the typical doors of the first floor Hallways. These doors are the ones to the Stair Hall, West Room and between the Passage and Entry. All the other doors have the same type of 10" HL hinges as the ones just mentioned. The doors to the kitchen and bath also have the same kind of rim locks but their finish is polished chromium, since they are located in rooms with modern treatment. These locks have a brass 295 knob, rose and key escutcheon on the Hall side and a chromium plated knob on the room side. The doors to the closets are both provided with a wrought iron latch and brass knobs similar to Type 1 on Plate 15 of the Hardware Folder. All of this hardware is reproduced after old colonial models.

WEST ROOM (APARTMENT)

TREATMENT OF WEST ROOM IS AUTHENTIC; DIMENSIONS AND MAIN ELEMENTS OF ROOM

The West Room, originally intended as the living-bedroom of the apartment designed for the occupancy of the manager of the restaurant, but at present used only as a sitting room for the staff, is 17'-6½" (east to west), 18'-5" (north to south) and 8'-5" high. Architecturally, its treatment is authentic throughout. It has a single door, that to the Entry; three dormer windows, one in the center of the north wall and two asymmetrically placed in the south wall and a single centrally placed window in the west wall. There is a fireplace in the east wall, on the east-west axis of the room. The room has no cornice.

ELEMENTS SIMILAR TO CORRESPONDING FEATURES OF OTHER ROOMS; THE CHAIR RAIL

The walls, ceiling, floor, dormer windows and their enclosures, west window and baseboard are treated as the same elements are treated in the East Room. The chair rail, which is similar to that of the Hall, runs only on the east and west walls. It is interrupted by the west window, the door and the mantelpiece, the backboard striking the window and door frames and mantelpiece and the railing returning against the backboard.

MANTELPIECE AND HEARTH

The fireplace opening is embellished by a mantelpiece which is similar to the one in the East Room. The hearth is also the same as that of the East Room fireplace in materials and treatment.

KING'S ARMS TAVERN

ALEXANDER PURDIE HOUSE

LIGHTING FIXTURES
KING's ARMS TAVERN

LIGHTING FIXTURES
ALEXANDER PURDIE HOUSE