CITY HALL AND COUNTY COURT HOUSE, NEW HAVEN, CONN.
(figure available in print form)
New Haven City Hall, 1861, Henry Austin.
ITALIANATE
At mid century the United States was a land of diverse interests, cultures and tastes. A new class of people, in American society, was on the rise. A group that would change the face of the country forever. These people were optimistic, they believed that any person with three important qualities; skill, imagination and energy, had the opportunity to earn a good living and even become a member of the
nouveau
riches
, new rich. Members of the newly developing middle class lived comfortable lives and as the wealth of the nation increased many were able to enjoy more pleasures of the good life.
The transformation of the cities of the Northeast, from mercantile centers to manufacturing centers, was an important step and the impact was felt in every aspect of urban life. When the first census was taken in 1790 five percent of all Americans lived in urban centers. Seventy years later, in 1860, fifteen percent of all Americans lived in urban areas. The 1860 census listed thirty five urban centers with populations exceeding 25,000. New Haven, fast becoming one of the most important manufacturing centers in New England, had a population of approximately 40,000. Traveling throughout the city one could see a number of factories producing goods to be sold not only in the United States but throughout the world. The India and Candee Rubber Companies, Volcanic Repeating Arms, Mallory-Wheeler Hardware Company, New Haven Clock Company, and the carriage companies of Brewster, G.D.Cook and Collins and Lawrence were just a few of the many that added wealth to the city and its residences.
Urban centers, like New Haven, continued to spread out from the center of the city. To meet the needs of the expanding population New Haven set upon a program of improving its transportation system. With transportation by horse trolley a man could move his family out of the center of town to a residential neighborhood in the suburbs that was more fitting their life style.
Within the rising class of the newly and nearly rich were many who had little interest in the “long ago” and “far away”. To these the world of fantasy created by writers such as Scott were out of touch with reality. It was to this group in American society that the villa style of architecture of the Italian provinces of Tuscany, Urbina, Lombard and Vevetro had great appeal. The word “villa” in Europe simply meant a country home. To many Americans the “villa” was a country home of a person of sufficient wealth to build and maintain it with taste and elegance. Again it was the plans of Davis circulated by Downing’s books that helped to popularize the style. The home became a reflection of the family, where beauty, taste and moral culture flourished. Downing stated it very well in his 1850
Architecture of Country Houses
; “It is in such a house that we should look for the happiness, social and moral development of our people . . . . It is there that the social virtues are more honestly practiced, that the duties and grace of life have more meaning.”
The first Italianate villas built in America were dignified structures of brick and stone. Since few people could afford the expense of stone the design s were transformed into the less costly wood frame construction. The wood was scored to resemble stone and painted in tones of red, blue, green, violet, and gray giving a rich effect to the structure. The hallmark of the villa was the three to four story square tower with arched openings. These homes were also designed with large sliding doors allowing the first floor rooms to open into terraces and verandas where in the warm summer months the family would gather.
The interior rooms, or apartments as they were called, were designed to reflect the intellectual and moral character of the family’s culture and taste. On the main floor there were at least three to four rooms beside the kitchen. Even in a villa of moderate size there was a separate room devoted to meals—called the dining room; another devoted to social conversation—the drawing room; and a third devoted to intellectual pursuits—the library. On the second floor were found the bedrooms, ladies boudoir (private room), and an office or private room for the master of the house and always a back stairway leading to the servants quarters.
The Italianate villa was in vogue throughout the Civil War period. Despite the war great building activity took place in New Haven leaving us many beautiful and distinctive homes.