Rights and reproductions]]> View of Ayscough Shop from Francis Street, 1933. The Ayscough Shop once housed the Forge and Wheel, a retail establishment, which sold decorative ironwork, pottery, and other items.

Christopher Ayscough, the namesake of the shop, tried operating a tavern on the site between 1768-1770. Other shopkeepers, including Catherine Rathell, Matthew Holt, and Jacob Bruce, briefly occupied the store and sold various goods to townspeople.

The structure survived from the eighteenth century, although it was hardly recognizable due to the enlargements and modifications made in the nineteenth century. Once restored to its eighteenth-century appearance, the building exhibited such features typical of a commercial establishment as a gable end entrance and large shop window.


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Exterior of the John Blair House, viewed from Duke of Gloucester Street, 1933. "The John Blair House and Kitchen on the north side of Duke of Gloucester Street was the home of a prominent family of Virginians. The Reverend James Blair (1655-1743), founder and first president of the College of William and Mary, came to Virginia in 1685....The original, easterly part of the John Blair House was built early in the eighteenth century. It is one of the oldest houses in Williamsburg. Town tradition has it that the stone steps at both doors came from the Palace Street theater. The steps were added when the house was lengthened twenty-eight feet to the west sometime during the second quarter of the eighteenth century."

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 103-104).

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The statue of Lord Botetourt serves as a focal point on the path leading towards the Wren Building, whose features are thought to be based upon an adaptation of a Sir Christopher Wren design. Due to preservation concerns, the statue has since been moved to an indoor location. The Wren Building is one of the oldest academic structures in the United States, and retains a large portion of its original outside walls, despite being damaged by several fires in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

(Source: Special Collections Research Center web page, "Lord Botetourt," The College of William and Mary's Earl Gregg Swem Library/Special Collections Research Center, 9 December 2013, <http://scdb.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Lord_Botetourt> [accessed 12 March 2014]). ]]>
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Exterior of the Bracken Tenement (formerly known as the Montague House), view of the east façade, 1928. “The Reverend Mr. John Bracken, who had extensive real estate holdings along Francis Street, owned the…Bracken Tenement...and the Bracken Kitchen. … Bracken’s rise to social and financial prominence began in 1776 with his marriage to Sally Burwell of Carter’s Grove plantation. He was the rector of Bruton Parish Church for forty-five years, mayor of Williamsburg in 1796, and president of the College of William and Mary from 1812 to 1814. … The one-and-a-half-story Bracken Tenement has a steep A-shaped gable roof and massive T-shaped chimneys, each characteristic of early eighteenth-century architecture in Virginia.”

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 132-133).

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View of Colonial Brickyard Company workmen filling brick molds with clay at the Todd and Brown Brickyard, located behind the Williamsburg Inn, 1933.  In the colonial period, clay was mixed and made pliant for brickmaking by adding water to clay pits and treading on it by foot.  During the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, however, clay was mixed in a “pug mill,” an industrial technology that came into use by the mid-nineteenth century.  The pug mill (pictured as the tall, square, wood-paneled box under the lean-to) was powered by a horse or mule. The animal was harnessed and tethered to a long wooden lever, which connected to a vertical shaft within the pug mill.  As the animal circled around the mill, the rotation of the wooden lever turned the vertical shaft within the mill, which was outfitted with blades and served as a mixing paddle.  The paddle stirred and mixed the clay, while workmen periodically added water to the mixture to keep it at the right consistency for packing into brick molds (also known as clay molds).  Once packed into molds, the clay bricks were then removed and set in the sun to dry.  After a thorough drying process, bricks were fired in a brick kiln and allowed to cool, after which time they were ready for use.  This Todd and Brown Brickyard was set up in an open area behind the Williamsburg Inn, where bricks were fashioned for use for the early restoration and building of Williamsburg.  Today, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's colonial Brickyard is located on Nicholson Street, in the area behind the Peyton Randolph House and Cabinetmaker's Shop.

In the eighteenth century, "bricks used for buildings of the town were burned on or near the site and were laid in a coarse oyster-shell lime mortar. The gray-green glaze seen on some headers was imparted by burning the bricks in a kiln fired with oakwood. Only those bricks nearest the heat acquired the glazed surface. The use of bricks rubbed down to a smooth surface or to a molded profile was a favorite means of imparting finish to a building."

(Source:  A. Lawrence Kocher and Howard Dearstyne, Colonial Williamsburg: Its Buildings and Gardens, rev. ed. [Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1961], 16).

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View of a Colonial Brickyard Company workman filling brick molds with clay at the Todd and Brown Brickyard, located behind the Williamsburg Inn, 1933. Clay bricks were then removed from their brick molds (also known as clay molds) and set in the sun to dry. After a thorough drying process, bricks were fired in a brick kiln. This brickyard was set up as a temporary location for making bricks for use in the early historic restoration of Williamsburg. Today, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's colonial Brickyard is located on Nicholson Street, in the area behind the Peyton Randolph House and Cabinetmaker's Shop.

In the eighteenth century, "bricks used for buildings of the town were burned on or near the site and were laid in a coarse oyster-shell lime mortar. The gray-green glaze seen on some headers was imparted by burning the bricks in a kiln fired with oakwood. Only those bricks nearest the heat acquired the glazed surface. The use of bricks rubbed down to a smooth surface or to a molded profile was a favorite means of imparting finish to a building."

(Source: A. Lawrence Kocher and Howard Dearstyne, Colonial Williamsburg: Its Buildings and Gardens, rev. ed. [Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1961], 16).

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Exterior of the Capitol building, south facade, viewed from the southwest, 1933. The brick wall and southern entry gate are in the foreground, and in the background, the royal coat of arms is visible on the cupola above the entrance to the building. (Completed during the reign of Queen Anne, the building’s original cupola displayed the ruler’s coat of arms). The Union Jack is unfurled atop the cupola, where it flaps in the breeze. Above the central arch, a crest is featured in cut brick bearing the inscription "Her Majesty Queen Anne Her Royall Capitol," including cut-brick carvings of the sun, moon, and the planet Jupiter.

The rounded apsidal ends of the Capitol derive from Roman basilicas which contained such features in which public magistrates officiated. "The H-shaped plan of the Capitol reflects the division of the government between the lower and upper houses of the legislature....As the General Assembly evolved, it comprised the Council [meeting in the west wing, to the left] and the House of Burgesses [in the east wing, to the right], each of which met separately."

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 68).

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The garden features a combination of boxwood hedges, formal parterres, and shrubs. Paths laid out in geometric formations offer various vistas of the house, outbuildings, and garden ornaments. Several brick paths lead past geometric parterres towards a circular parterre in the garden's center. Each parterre is outlined with rows of small boxwood plants and filled in with flowers and shrubs. A few graceful crape myrtles provide additional shade and beauty to the garden.]]>
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The Finnie House holds the distinction of retaining an appearance most closely matching its eighteenth-century form throughout the time period of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The building is admired as an early example of Federal architecture – especially for its Doric-style entrance porch – which reflects colonial familiarity with architectural pattern books of the period. Restoration efforts in 1932 and 1952 mainly focused upon bringing a few elements of the entrance porch, such as the Doric columns and architrave, back to their original classical forms.
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Exterior view of the Public Gaol, north façade, 1933. Opened as an exhibition building in April 1936, the Public Gaol is one of eighty-eight original buildings in the Historic Area that have been restored to their eighteenth-century appearance. "In its present form, the Public Gaol has three rooms on the first floor -- a hall and chamber for the gaoler and his family and a cell at the rear for debtors -- and 'chambers' in the attic for the gaoler's use and the confinement of prisoners."

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 74).

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Exterior view of the Public Gaol and pillory, 1933. Opened as an exhibition building in April 1936, the Public Gaol is one of eighty-eight original buildings in the Historic Area that have been restored to their eighteenth-century appearance. "In its present form, the Public Gaol has three rooms on the first floor -- a hall and chamber for the gaoler and his family and a cell at the rear for debtors -- and 'chambers' in the attic for the gaoler's use and the confinement of prisoners."

The pillory - "or 'stretch-neck,' called 'the essence of punishment' in England - stood in the main squares of towns up and down the colonies. An upright board, hinged or divided in half with a hole in which the head was set fast, it usually also had two openings for the hands. Often the ears of the subject were nailed to the wood on either side of the head hole."

(Sources: on the Public Gaol, see Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 74; on the pillory, see Colonial Williamsburg Foundation website, "Bilboes, Brands, and Branks: Colonial Crimes and Punishments," Colonial Williamsburg Journal (Spring 2003) <http://www.history.org/Foundation/journal/spring03/branks.cfm> (accessed 14 March 2014).

 

 

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Exterior of Governor's Palace, looking to the northeast from the Robert Carter house, 1933. “The Governor’s Palace was an important element in [Williamsburg’s] great civic design. Sited at the end of a broad, imposing green, the governor’s residence terminated in the primary north-south axis of the town. The high visibility and symmetrical formality of this complex did much to reinforce the importance of the governorship in the eyes of Virginians.” Construction began on the Governor’s Palace in 1706 under Governor Edward Nott, and finished in 1722 under Governor Alexander Spotswood. In the early 1750s, Governor Robert Dinwiddie commissioned the construction of a Ballroom Wing addition behind the Palace.

The Robert Carter House (out of view, but whose front yard is pictured here) is one of the original eighty-eight buildings at Colonial Williamsburg. It served as the gentry-class townhouse residence of various members of the Carter family throughout the eighteenth century, beginning with Charles Carter, the son of Robert "King" Carter, and ending with Robert Carter III of Nomini Hall. Governor Dinwiddie also briefly resided in the house during the renovations of the Governor's Palace between 1751 and 1752. 

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 88-89).

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Exterior of the Governor's Palace, looking out through the front gate at the arrival of a carriage and costumed interpreters, 1933. “The Governor’s Palace was an important element in [Williamsburg’s] great civic design. Sited at the end of a broad, imposing green, the governor’s residence terminated in the primary north-south axis of the town. The high visibility and symmetrical formality of this complex did much to reinforce the importance of the governorship in the eyes of Virginians.” Construction began on the Governor’s Palace in 1706 under Governor Edward Nott, and finished in 1722 under Governor Alexander Spotswood. In the early 1750s, Governor Robert Dinwiddie commissioned the construction of a Ballroom Wing addition behind the Palace.

(Source: Michael Olmert and Suzanne Coffman, Official Guide to Colonial Williamsburg [Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2007], 88-89).

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Exterior of the western Advance Building of the Governor's Palace, 1933.  Reconstructed between March 1932 and April 1934, the western Advance Building likely served varying functions over time.  According to architectural historian Ed Chappel (the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's Shirley and Richard Roberts Director of Architectural and Archaeological  Research), the structure probably served originally as a kitchen in the Palace's early years. Based on archaeological evidence found in the western Advance Building's original eighteenth-century foundations, the hearth was found to be of a larger size, which would correspond to the functional needs of a kitchen.  Today, the location of the present-day Palace Kitchen correlates closely with the site of what may have been a later eighteenth-century kitchen outbuilding within the Palace complex.

Historical documentation also suggests, however, that the building may have been repurposed later as a guardhouse.  “In July 1730 the Governor’s House was reported as being ‘very inconvenient for want of a covered way from the offices into the House’ and ‘a Sum not exceeding one Hundred Pounds’ was appropriated ‘for Building a Covered Way from the Offices belonging to the Governor’s House into the said House.”  In 1745, historian Henry Howe apparently referred to the Palace’s Advance Buildings as “’…two small brick structures, the remains of the Palace…that on the right was the office, and the one on the left the guard house.’”   

(Sources: A. Lawrence Kocher and Thomas T. Waterman, “Governor’s Palace Advance Outbuildings: Block 20, Buildings 3B & 3C Architectural Report,” [Williamsburg, Va.: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1952], 6-7; Ed Chappel, in-person communication in Special Collections Dept., John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, 11 April 2014, Williamsburg, Va.).

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