the architect who designed the house (Howard Greenley) patterned it after an actual French chateau of the Renaissance period.
The style of architecture that Seaview Terrace falls into is called the French Eclectic Style. It was its most popular between 1915 and 1940. And what's probably most interesting about Seaview Terrace is that it was sort of made over into the French Eclectic Style because architect Howard Greenley took an already existing structure that had been built in 1882 and, through a series of makeovers and additions that were completed in 1925, transformed it into the Seaview Terrace we're familiar with today. (Personally, I'd love to come across some photos of what the original building looked like - but I've yet to find even one in any of the books on the architecture of Newport, RI. :() As such, Seaview Terrace contains a few features that are not commonly seen in houses of the French Eclectic Style - namely the gables. However, French Eclectic is, well, very eclectic, and the shapes/designs of this style of architecture are usually varied, in part because its precedents encompass elements taken from both formal symetrical manor houses and informal asymetrical farmhouses. To say that Seaview Terrace features an asymetrical design would be putting it mildly. ;) But quite honestly, the fact that it is so asymetrical is one of the reasons I really love the design of the house. Designwise, it just has so much going on for it.
Typically, these are the features of the French Eclectic Style:
- 1) tall, steeply pitched and often hipped roof, most often without dominant front-facing cross gable, but often featuring one or more dormer windows.
- 2) eaves frequently flared outward at roof-wall junction.
- 3) brick, stone, or stucco walls, sometimes with half-timbering
However, often it will also feature:
- circular or octagonal tower(s), often with a decorative capping.
- prominent chimneys.
- upper story balconies and porches.
- and a roof covered with heavy tiles.
features that Seaview Terrace definitely possesses to beautiful effect.
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/fe-2b.jpg)
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Seaview-1.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Seaview-2.jpg)
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/fe-2a.jpg)
The illustration above is of a house name Falaise, which is an excellent example of French Eclectic and which is located in Sands Point, Long Island, NY - and it's interesting to note that it's front facade features a design that can also be seen in the facade of a wing of Seaview Terrace's which is rarely seen on DS and which is never seen once the show switches to color:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Falaise.jpg)
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Seaview.jpg)
Originally, the bottom floor of that wing at Seaview Terrace was used as the kitchen and the top floors as servants quarters. But nowadays the bottom floor is used as a communal laundry room and the top floors are used as (very small) dormatory rooms and bathrooms/showers.
these days it's quite sad to see that the stucco is actually falling off the building in a few places :(
As you can see below, the bricks are actually exposed in spots where the stucco topcoating of Seaview Terrace has cracked and fallen away:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Seaview-3.jpg)
And in closeup:(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Seaview-4.jpg)
Though, quite sadly, much of the house has fallen into disrepair and ruin...
I'm curious whether you just happen to have these architecture books lying around, or if you went to the library
No, I have architecture books lying around (I suppose one might say I'm almost as much of an architecture geek, er, buff as I am a DS, er, buff [wink2]) - and the reason it's taken me so long to get back to you is because I've been going through several of my books to try to further flesh out the look of Seaview Terrace and how it compares to some other examples of the French Eclectic Style and the architecture of French chateaux in general. :)
it seems the oft-repeated statement found in various sources that Seaview Terrace was built to resemble a French chateau is inaccurate. From what you say, the French aspects were a later re-design of the house. That point aside, the French Eclectic Style by definition does not seem to be the same thing as modeling a building on a chateau, would you agree?
Well, when it comes to most descriptions of Seaview Terrace, the operative word is usually that the house is "patterned" after a French chateau of the Renaissance period, not that it's necessarily an exact duplicate. And even though Howard Greenley took an already existing structure, which not incidentally was named Seaview, and, for want of another term, French Eclecticized it and rechristened it as the Seaview Terrace we know and love, that doesn't really mean that Seaview Terrace as it exists isn't as much an example of French Eclectic as if Greenley had built the entire structure from the ground up. By its own definition French Eclectic "patterns" itself after elements of the manor houses and farmhouses of rural-France. And, unfortunately, there seems to be painfully little info concerning just what Greenley did to the existing exteriors/interiors during the reconstruction, so for all we know they may bear little resemblance to how they once looked. (That's one of the reasons I would love to find photos of the original Seaview before the reconstruction/additions.)
One of the things that I find most fascinating about the portion of Seaview Terrace that originally existed as Seaview is that it's often described as having been "Elizabethan," by which I'm assuming from the present look to mean it was either Tudor or at least Tudoresque in design. And the reason I say that is because Seaview Terrace in its current form still exhibits what could be considered Tudor elements. For example:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/arch01a.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/tudor_style.jpg)
These photos of Stan Hywet Hall (aka "My Dream Collinwood" ;)) and a house at Bodnant Gardens in Wales showcase typical examples of Tudor style gables with half-timbering. Look familiar? But in fact, half-timbering is a feature that's displayed at least once on every one of Seaview Terrace's wings (and not just as a decorative gables feature but also under a few of the flat roof lines) - from the main portion of the house (in the photos I've already posted in reply #19), to the formerly used as the kitchen/servant's wing (photo below left and already posted in reply #19), and to what we could call the drawing room wing by virture of the fact it's where DS always indicated Collinwood's drawing room was located (photo below right):
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/timbering-1.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/timbering-2.jpg)
All that being said, however, the very elements of Seaview Terrace that resemble Tudor are also elements that can and often do show up in French Eclectic, which leads me to believe that may have been the reason why Greenley chose to go with the French Eclectic Style for the renovations rather than some other form of French architecture - the original structure was easily adaptable. (Well, that and also the fact that French Eclectic was already a popular style in the 1920s.) Half-timbering is a Tudor feature, but as I pointed out in reply #19, it's also one of the three main features of French Eclectic. And while gables are not a common element in French Eclectic, the style can exhibit them, as can be seen in these two examples:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/gable-1.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/gable-2.jpg)
And as can also be seen, the roof design of the wing on the left in the photo on the right definitely shares a few elements in common with Seaview Terrace. And both of these houses also share elements with the two examples of Tudor that I cited at the outset. In fact, French and English architecture share several elements in common. The French and the English may have often been bitter enemies and/or even at war with each other at several points along their histories, but even when they weren't on the best of terms, they were still, um, "borrowing" from one another when it came to matters of style and taste (though, of course, despite the facts of how much they often resembled one another, each considered their own style and taste to be far better than the other). :D Which leads me to the fact that the French and English influences aren't simply "warring" within the outside elements of Seaview Terrace - and that can be seen from the very outset as you enter the main entrance. Why? Well one of the first things one is faced with upon entering the entrance hall is a sculpture of England's St. George of St. George and the Dragon fame:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/stgeorge.jpg)
And if you've been observant, you will have noticed that you've passed several dragons on your way inside because they appear not only above the outside door but the inner door as well:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/dragons_stgeorge.jpg)
(And as a side note, St. George is by no means the only religious iconography inside Seaview Terrace. It's actually on abundant display througout the house. Just some examples:
| (http://www.dsboards.com/clw/window_angels.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/ceiling_chandelier.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/ceiling_angel.jpg) | (http://www.dsboards.com/clw/stained.jpg) |
However, as English as St.George might be, the outside of the main entrance showcases what is one of Seaview Terrace's most pronouncely French features, and that is the window (which, BTW, David is seen looking from as Roger drives off to his car accident in Ep #15) above the portico, the design of which is actually more reminiscent of the deeply French Chateauesque Style (which was recently on display on the forum via this (http://www.dsboards.com/images/Biltmore.jpg) linked photo of Biltmore):
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/window.jpg)
And the peak of the portico itself is classic French Eclectic design:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/window_peak.jpg)
As can be seen here (http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Falaise_peak.jpg) in a linked photo of Falaise (the house whose illustration is featured in reply #19).
Another pronouncely French feature is the tower:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/tower.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/Pierrefonds_tower.jpg)
which is very reminiscent of such tower designs as that of (right) Chateau de Pierrefonds, located a short distance northwest of Paris.
And speaking of Seaview Terrace's tower (which is quite probably the most iconic image associated with Collinwood), it's interesting to note that it and several rooms which had been imported intact from France were dismantled by the Bradleys (the family that commissioned the French Eclecticizing of Seaview) from their extravagant home in Washington D.C. and transported in their entirety (along with several other interesting details from the house, like stained glass, windows, wrought iron, entire mantels, ceilings and doorways) by train from Washington D.C. to Newport and then connected to the already existing Seaview structure - which is the very likely reason why the second and third story rooms in the tower require stairs to access them (stairs to go down to the second floor and stairs to go up to the third). (If you think David could have really just opened his door and walked into his bedroom on the same level as the hallway, think again. That first step in would have resulted in quite a fall! :o)
But getting back on track to discussing the French Eclectic aspects of the house, another interesting bit about the former kitchen/servants wing is how, in a classic French Eclectic touch, three of the dormer windows above the servants entrance are recessed into the porch roof above the entryway:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/servants.jpg)
(The middle dormer is hidden by the trees.) This view of the house was never seen on DS. And if you're wondering how it fits into the scheme of things, here's a wider shot:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/chapel_servants.jpg)
(you can partially see all three dormers in this view) which also happens to showcase the former chapel (and, yes, that's also my barely 14-year-old self standing at the stone wall ;)).
The look of the former chapel (which has also been used as a ballroom and simply (and amazingly wastefully) for storage) is actually a classic vaulted bay design that appears frequently in French Eclectic:
(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/chapel.jpg)(http://www.dsboards.com/clw/eclectic_vault_bay.jpg)
And thus concludes today's discussion on how the French Eclectic Style relates to Seview Terrace. [wink2]