TAMING THE BROWNSTONE MONSTER (1921)
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
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By the 1920s, many New Yorkers had moved on from the brownstone. In fact, articles were being written on just how exactly to move on from what was seen as these “monstrosities.” Following the recommendations of self-appointed design entusiasts and contractors with an eye for the moderne, many brownstone townhouses were shaved of their detail and turned into drab brown boxes. The following story, dripping with sarcasm and barely veiled condescension, appeared in the New York Herald, showing just how the monstrosity at No. 17 East 75th Street was tamed.
– Courtesy of The New York Herald, Sun., 23 January 1921
By HARRIET SISSON GILLESPIE.
With each passing year one sees in New York city fewer and fewer of the relics of the horror period in American architecture the brownstone age. The grim old dwelling of the early 80’s with its sulky facade and its atmosphere of oppressive respectability is passing from our midst, but no one seems broken hearted over the fact. During the acute stage of the housing panic the hasty conversion of anything available into a hive of small suites rid the city of a few of the old time monstrosities, but by no means all of them have passed into the limbo of the kitchenette.
Architectural beauty doctors discovered long ago that the brownstone freak had its possibilities, and that after a comparatively minor operation It could take Its place as an attractive member of society. To-day New York city owes many of Its fine homes, such, for example, as that of William Beard at 17 East Seventy-fifth street, to the practice of structural dermatology.
The Beard home was recently done over by Howard Major, who had carte blanche to carry out his ideas as regards both exterior and Interior. In its present state no one would ever suspect that it sprang from the same bourgeois origin as Its two brownstone neighbors. It presents the charming simplicity of the Adam period, and the decorations and furnishings of the rooms are Louis XVI.
All the numerous excrescences of cornice and coping have been removed and in an entirely new front of creamy gray limestone added, the facade depending for effect entirely on the proportions of the windows and the way they are spaced in the walls. A picturesque note Is afforded by the quaint iron arch over the entrance, so much used in London, within which hangs a wrought Iron lantern. The door Is of rich red lacquer. A moderately sloping roof Is covered with gray slate shingles, and two small dormers treated In a conservative way lend character to the top story.
While as a rule the entrance to the American basement house is readied by two steps down, here one enters the house directly from the street and then descends a couple of steps to the floor level. This plan has the advantage of preserving the integrity of the exterior and is by no means an objectionable feature within. In carrying out the French style of treatment the architect has also Introduced a bit of polychrome coloring here and there, which strikes a wholly new note in the brownstone dwelling of form years. Even more than the structural changes he has brought about, it serves to emphasize the fact that with imagination and artistic feeling much may be done to transfuse new life into the seemingly impossible type of dwelling.
Certainly, the entrance hall, reached from the street, bears little or no resemblance to the old time basement from which it was altered. A black and white marble floor strikes the first note of contrast and the Empire background does the rest. The walls are painted a soft gray in paneled effect and polychrome motifs are employed in the frieze. Empire chairs and a Louis XVI console with an ancient French landscape hanging on the wall above form one striking bit of composition and a black marble fireplace and mirror overhead another.
The staircase is well worthy of especial notice, since as a reproduction of the French style of the late Louis it is a gem. With its small hand rail and slender balusters it winds in graceful curves from the basement to the top story, lending a peculiarly notable effect to the ensemble. It is decorated, too, in in a piquant fashion. The hand rail is red, and the spindles have touches of blue and white to pick out the ornamentation.
What formerly was the old time drawing room is now the living room, totally transformed by oaken paneling which covers the walls. The rounded corners have the effect of softening up the room considerably. Here again blue and red in soft tones are used, the scheme being carried out in the covering of the antique Louis XVI furniture and the hangings as well as in the large Aubusson rug on the floor. One whole wall Is devoted to book shelves that run from floor to ceiling, and this feature lends both dignity and character to the environment.
The dining room also possesses many unusual effects, the walls in particular being marbleized, with the trim of black marble pilasters, the frieze, architrave and cornice painted in dark blue. The furniture is French to correspond. The remaining floors are similarly treated, so that the effect is one of originality and unusual beauty, all of which goes to show that the ugly duckling may in time become a swan.
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