DOI Heft:
No. 214 (December 1914)
DOI Artikel:Book reviews
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43457#0224
Book Reviews
Book reviews
Early American Churches. By Aymar
Embury II. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
$2.80.
The desire to rescue from oblivion church build-
ings connected with the formative period in Amer-
ica, so many of which are disappearing through
fire, change of population from old centres and
other causes, has been the reason of this work.
The name of the writer and the cherished memo-
ries and traditions which in this collection of illus-
trations and data are offered to the reader, would
seem sufficient to ensure this book a secure posi-
tion. For five years the entire eastern portion of
the United States has been searched for material,
with the result that all buildings presenting archi-
tectural or traditional interest have been photo-
graphed and recorded. The author has ignored
churches constructed since 1815 in Greek Revival
style and has confined himself to the Colonial
period, with exception of the church at Sag Har-
bor, which is unique in style inasmuch as it repre-
sents the short-lived “Egyptian” period in Amer-
ica. There is much to interest the general reader.
In one church portrayed one sees the bell rope
dangling in the centre aisle. We read how another
sacred edifice performed civic functions; besides
being the house of God, it was also the fire house
and public arsenal. A good anecdote is recorded
of Ethan Allen. At Bennington Church the par-
son was holding a thanksgiving service during
Revolutionary times and giving all credit of a
victory to God, when Allen interrupted him by
calling out, “ Please mention to the Lord about my
being there.”
Historic Homes of New England. By Mary
H. Northend. (Little, Brown & Co.) $5.00.
It is a very fortunate circumstance that every
one is not engrossed in the contemplation of mod-
ernity, pretending to admire “modernist” decora-
tions or, pulling unwilling Time by the forelock,
indulging in hysteric rhapsodies over “futurist”
manifestations. In fact, it is a very fortunate cir-
cumstance that there are a few people like the
author of “ Historic Homes of New England,” who
combine with their sympathy, understanding and
knowledge of bygone things the ability and dili-
gence to chronicle them. We are pleasantly
familiar with Miss Northend’s “Colonial Homes
and Their Furnishings,” and hence predisposed to
welcome this new work, which is abundantly
interesting in its intimate description and illustra-
tion of twenty-one historic homes which flourished
in times which we rarely, if ever, pause to visualize
or recall.
Every year some one of our already too few
landmarks vanishes. Old Newport, as it was even
ten years ago, is a thing of the past; a recent disas-
trous fire destroyed a large part of old Salem, and
everywhere the march of “improvement” or the
hand of time or ill fortune obliterates traces
of historic interest in this country. Unless
a venerable house is bought and preserved by an
historical society or maintained by reverent
descendants of its original builders, its ultimate
destiny is a foregone and sad conclusion.
Miss Northend’s subjects are typical of Massa-
chusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island,
although she has not included an account of a cer-
HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
tain intensely interesting but little known type of
early American home in the Narragansett portion
of Rhode Island—such old slave-holding houses as
the Robinson or Potter manors.
It is obvious from the nature of this book that
its interest is manifold, for the genealogist will
find carefully prepared data on old New England
families, the antiquary and the decorator will find
a wealth of illustration of rare and seldom-seen
china and furniture, and the architect will be
rewarded by glimpses into many a charmingly
quaint and dignified interior.
There is a chapter devoted to the famous old
“House of the Seven Gables” in Salem—an archi-
tectural relic so quaint that it seems it must have
been built especially to illustrate Hawthorne’s
haunting romance. These historic homes of New
England, indeed, harboured many a romance which
never got into such dull histories as most of us
have read, and to bury oneself in these pages is to
lxii
Book reviews
Early American Churches. By Aymar
Embury II. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
$2.80.
The desire to rescue from oblivion church build-
ings connected with the formative period in Amer-
ica, so many of which are disappearing through
fire, change of population from old centres and
other causes, has been the reason of this work.
The name of the writer and the cherished memo-
ries and traditions which in this collection of illus-
trations and data are offered to the reader, would
seem sufficient to ensure this book a secure posi-
tion. For five years the entire eastern portion of
the United States has been searched for material,
with the result that all buildings presenting archi-
tectural or traditional interest have been photo-
graphed and recorded. The author has ignored
churches constructed since 1815 in Greek Revival
style and has confined himself to the Colonial
period, with exception of the church at Sag Har-
bor, which is unique in style inasmuch as it repre-
sents the short-lived “Egyptian” period in Amer-
ica. There is much to interest the general reader.
In one church portrayed one sees the bell rope
dangling in the centre aisle. We read how another
sacred edifice performed civic functions; besides
being the house of God, it was also the fire house
and public arsenal. A good anecdote is recorded
of Ethan Allen. At Bennington Church the par-
son was holding a thanksgiving service during
Revolutionary times and giving all credit of a
victory to God, when Allen interrupted him by
calling out, “ Please mention to the Lord about my
being there.”
Historic Homes of New England. By Mary
H. Northend. (Little, Brown & Co.) $5.00.
It is a very fortunate circumstance that every
one is not engrossed in the contemplation of mod-
ernity, pretending to admire “modernist” decora-
tions or, pulling unwilling Time by the forelock,
indulging in hysteric rhapsodies over “futurist”
manifestations. In fact, it is a very fortunate cir-
cumstance that there are a few people like the
author of “ Historic Homes of New England,” who
combine with their sympathy, understanding and
knowledge of bygone things the ability and dili-
gence to chronicle them. We are pleasantly
familiar with Miss Northend’s “Colonial Homes
and Their Furnishings,” and hence predisposed to
welcome this new work, which is abundantly
interesting in its intimate description and illustra-
tion of twenty-one historic homes which flourished
in times which we rarely, if ever, pause to visualize
or recall.
Every year some one of our already too few
landmarks vanishes. Old Newport, as it was even
ten years ago, is a thing of the past; a recent disas-
trous fire destroyed a large part of old Salem, and
everywhere the march of “improvement” or the
hand of time or ill fortune obliterates traces
of historic interest in this country. Unless
a venerable house is bought and preserved by an
historical society or maintained by reverent
descendants of its original builders, its ultimate
destiny is a foregone and sad conclusion.
Miss Northend’s subjects are typical of Massa-
chusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island,
although she has not included an account of a cer-
HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES
tain intensely interesting but little known type of
early American home in the Narragansett portion
of Rhode Island—such old slave-holding houses as
the Robinson or Potter manors.
It is obvious from the nature of this book that
its interest is manifold, for the genealogist will
find carefully prepared data on old New England
families, the antiquary and the decorator will find
a wealth of illustration of rare and seldom-seen
china and furniture, and the architect will be
rewarded by glimpses into many a charmingly
quaint and dignified interior.
There is a chapter devoted to the famous old
“House of the Seven Gables” in Salem—an archi-
tectural relic so quaint that it seems it must have
been built especially to illustrate Hawthorne’s
haunting romance. These historic homes of New
England, indeed, harboured many a romance which
never got into such dull histories as most of us
have read, and to bury oneself in these pages is to
lxii