What are you hoping for, exactly? Historical accuracy? I'm not sure WHAT a rich man's house would have looked like in 1790's Maine
If we're talking the more popular styles the New England mansions were built in in the 1790s, then definitely a big NO!
The two most popluar styles were the Federal (1780-1820):
- 1) Semicircular or elliptical fanlight over paneled door
- 2) Cornice emphasized with toothlike dentils or other decorative moldings
- 3) Windows with double-hung (upper and lower) sashes, typically with six panes per sash
- 4) windows in symmetrical vertical rows around central door
and Early Classical Revival (1770-1830):
- 1) facade dominated by entry porch with four columns
- 2) Semicircular or elliptical fanlight over paneled door
- 3) windows in symmetrical vertical rows around central door
In most instances, the Federal facade is way too uninteresting for my taste. Early Classical Revial is a bit more interesting - but my main problem with both is the symmetry of everything around the central door. BORING! Also, the interiors of both styles are generally way too plain. But the worst part about both is that neither design was used to build a mansion of the magnitude we associate with Collinwood and its closed off wings filled with secrets just waiting to spring out at us.
![[wink2]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/wink2.gif "Wink #2")
but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have looked anything like the one used for the original series.
Well, it is and it isn't. Seaview is patterned after a French chateau rather than an English or Colonial design. Who can say for sure if someone like Joshua Collins would have actually gone with something French rather than English? (Though, considering the attitudes he displays in the 1795 storyline, I'd be inclined to say no.
) But the style isn't wholely inappropriate for something that might have been built in the 1790s. And truthfully, some of the house's actual interiors were taken from 17th century European mansions - something I suspect Joshua might have definitely done. And, of course, we have to remember that when they chose Seaview, the original backstory was that Jeremiah had built Collinwood for Josette back in the 1830s, which would have not only made its design more period appropriate but a whole lot more plausible. But once the decision was made to shift the backstory to 1795 and completely drop the Josette angle, they couldn't very well find a completely new house to stand in as Collinwood.
Outside of the shear magnitude of the house, one of my favorite aspects of it is that no one could ever say that Seaview has a symmetrical desgin. And that brings me to a style that I think would certainly be appropriate for Collinwood - and that's English Tudor.
Say what you will about the LA location for the '91 series, but Greystone, with its classic Tudor design:
- 1) facade dominated by one or more prominent cross gables, sometimes with half-timbering
- 2) massive chimneys, commonly crowned by decorative chimney pots
- 3) tall, narrow windows, commonly in multiple groups and with multipane glazing
- 4) steeply pitched roof, usually side-gabled
- 5) entry has round arch or flattened, pointed arch
was a perfect choice for Collinwood - particularly when one realizes that Barnabas explained during his first visit to the family that the house was actually built on the moors near Lime Regis on the southwest coast of England, disassemled, transported piece by piece and loaded aboard ships, and sailed to Collinsport, where it was reassembled. I felt that opened a whole slew of storyline opportunities, possibly dating as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries. But alas...
My hope, though, is that the WB DS will have a similar backstory for Collinwood. And if so, I'm hoping that they might go with a slightly different Tudor design - one similar to the 65 room
Stan Hywet Hall (which, unfortuantely for DS' filming puposes, is located in Akron, Ohio):
According to the book
Great American Houses and their Archetectural styles (which Midnite kindly gifted me with because she knows one of my hobbies is studying archetecture - hence my keen interest in what type of house will be chosen as Collinwood), this house was patterned after three Tudor mansions in England:
Ockwells Manor in Bershire (c. 1450),
Compton Wynyates in Warwickshire (c. 1500), and
Haddon Hall in Derbyshire (c. 1550). One of the reasons I love the style of this house as one that has great potential for Collinwood is because it combines aspects of both Seaview and Lyndhurst into a wholely appropriate design style:
A partial view of the front facade
A partial view of the back facade
The interiors of Stan Hywet Hall are even the way I picture Collinwood could easily look. Check out:
The tower stairs, where one can easily imagine Barnabas' portrait hanging in place of the one there
The Great Hall, which is slightly reminiscent of the set built for the '91 series and the drawing room at Seaview (right down to the moose (at Seaview - elk or whatever here) head)
The dining room, with a ceiling that's very similar to one at Seaview
and
The breakfast room.
And even though this particular house is located in Ohio, there are mansions in the LA area that have an extremely similar style. I've seen them used as locations in such series as Murder She Wrote and The Father Dowling Mysteries. IMHO, we should only be so lucky as to find out that a house similar to this is playing the part of our beloved Collinwood.
Of course, there's always Second Empire....the quintisential "haunted house"....mansard roofs and French doors. That's MY favorite style of house and I'd love to see it....but it certainly wouldn't be correct for the time Collinwood was built.
No, but I love that style too. We have several wonderful examples of Second Empire homes in the city I live in. When I actually had more free time (think BI - Before Internet
) and did volunteer work for the local Architectual Society, I used to love to lead tours through them as well as others in the city. Alas, those days are a thing of the past... (Though I did get to meet and watch Aerosmith shoot a video in a local church the society was involved in saving, and which, I'm happy to say, has since been completely restored and turned into an incredible banquet hall because its administration building has been restored/coverted into a culinary arts school.)
