Pages

Friday, June 27, 2008

Hamilton Grange's Final Resting Place

After 120 years of being placed in an inappropriate and disrespectful location, and with an impending uncertain future, Alexander Hamilton's Country Seat, The Grange, is in its final and permanent resting place. Thanks to the efforts of the National Park Service, Hamilton's Federal Style Mansion will be renovated and restored to accurately reflect Hamilton's interpretation of the prevailing style of architecture in the new nation in 1800. John McCombe, Jr. integrated many of Hamilton's design ideas for The Grange. The architecture draws on Classical Roman architecture of the Roman Republic, which in turn was inspired by Classical Greek architecture.

A shallow hipped roof, which is hidden behind a classic ballestrade encircles the top floor at the roofline. Dental moulding forms the cornice under the eaves on all four sides of the house. Symetry was very inportant, so the house resemples an almost square shape with window bays equally spaced on all sides. The octagonal rooms at the central access of the house was considered state of the art, regardless of the unusual shape of the two parlors on the main floor was inspired by unusually shaped rooms from Classical Rome.

The main entrance will be restored to its original appearance with slender Tuscan columns supporting a porch over the doorway. The doorway will have a leaded glass transom above and leaded glass sidelights on either side.
Hamilton insisted on state-of-the art Rumford fireplaces, which were smokeless and heated the rooms more efficiently.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This makes me very happy. I can't wait to visit!