An Architectural History and Theory Essay submitted towards
Part One of the Diploma in Architecture, Cambridge University,
by Michael Trinder.
April 1993
Contents
List of Plates iii
Latrobe's Doric Revival at Hammerwood Park
Introduction 1
Early History 3
The Moravian Church 3
Latrobe's Education 5
Hammerwood Lodge 7
The Spirit of Apollo 10
Apollo and Hammerwood 11
Conclusions 13
Bibliography 14
Acknowledgements.
I would like to thank David Pinnegar for the initial opportunity
to study his house in detail and for all his support, Patrick
Snadon of Mississippi State University for looking over the
first draft and Dr David Watkin for his interest.
List of Plates
(to be inserted)
The Coade Stone plaque above the western portico Cover
Hammerwood Park South Front 16
2 Benjamin Henry Latrobe 17
3 Rev. Benjamin Latrobe 17
4 Thomas Jefferson by B.H. Latrobe 18
5 The Capitol, South Elevation 19
6 The Capitol, West Elevation 19
7 Derelict Bathroom at Hammerwood Park 20
8 Derelict Corridor 20
9 The Library in 1982 21
10 The Library, today 21
11 Plans of Herrnhut, Niesky and Klein Welke 22
12 Latrobe's drawing of Kirkstall Abbey 23
13 The western portico 24
14 Part of the Temple of Hera I 24
15 1816 Map of Hammerwood 25
16 Plan of Paestum 26
17 Temple of Hera I 27
18 Temple of Hera II 28
19 Capital from Temple of Hera I 29
20 Details of Paestum by Thomas Major 30
21 View of Paestum by Thomas Major 31
22 Temple of Hera I and II in the landscape 32
23 Landscape with Temple, JC Reinhart 33
24 Greek Landscape, GB Steinkopf 34
25 Hammerwood Park from the southeast 35
26 The eastern portico 35
27 Plan and Elevation of Porticoes 36
28 Sections through the site 38
29 Detail of western portico 39
30 Eastern Borghese plaque 39
31 Western Borghese plaque 39
32 Doric Temple , Hagley Park 40
33 Shepherd's Monument, Shugborough 40
34 Doric Temple, Shugborough 41
35 Temple of Apollo, Delos 42
36 New St. Lawrence Church 42
37 Crypt of Sainte Genevieve 43
38 Section through Sainte Genevieve 43
39 Princes Street Vestibule, Bank of England 44
40 Ashdown House porch 45
41 Ashdown House 45
42 The White House, South Portico 45
Introduction
At first they excited nothing but stupefaction. I found myself
in a world which was completely strange to me. Our eyes and, through them, our whole sensibility have become so conditioned
to a more slender style of architecture that these crowded
masses of stumpy conical columns appear offensive and even
terrifying. But I pulled myself together, remembered the history
of art. and in less than an hour I found myself reconciled to
them and even thanking my guardian angel for having allowed me
to see these well preserved remains with my own eyes.
Reproductions give a false impression. It is only by walking
through them and round them that one can attune one's life to
theirs and experience the emotional effects which the architect
intended. I spent the whole day doing this.1
Goethe's passionate description of his first encounter with the
ruins of Paestum in 1787 shows their true force it took a
re-evaluation of taste to appreciate their sublime quality, a
re-evaluation which led Europe to a passionate revival of all
things Greek.
When I first saw Hammerwood Park (fig 1) in 1991, my reaction to
its almost ugly forms was somewhat similar here were columns
based on Paestum used on a country house with the utmost
confidence and to radical effect. This house was the first work
of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (fig 2), one of only two solo works
executed before leaving for America.
Latrobe is probably best known in America for his friendship
with Thomas Jefferson (fig 4) and his architectural involvement
in the Capitol (figs 5,6), the Bank of Pennsylvania and the
south portico of the White House (fig 43). His status as
America's first qualified architect, and his shared love of
Classical architecture with Jefferson, helped him set a style
for US civil architecture which so enraged later architects such
as Sullivan and Wright, but continues in use today. His two
English works, Hammerwood Lodge (now Park) and Ashdown House
(figs 42,43) are often overlooked, overshadowed by the glare of
his later career.2 Even Latrobe is somewhat dismissive of these
works writing
Had I, in England, executed what I have done here, I should now
be able to sit down quietly and enjoy otium cum dignitate. But
in England the crowd of those whose talents are superior to mine
is so great, that I should perhaps never have elbowed through
them.3
Add to this that Hammerwood Park was brutally subdivided, and
then until 1982 lay derelict, see figures 7 and 8, the general
dismissal of the house becomes clear.
Now the house has been almost completely restored,4 with much of
its original detailing surviving behind the false ceilings and
walls inserted during subdivision, it deserves to be re-assessed.
Early History
Despite his career in America, Latrobe was born on May 1st 1764
in Fulneck, Yorkshire, a rapidly growing community named and
founded, just west of Leeds, by the Moravian Church .5 His
father, the Reverend Benjamin Latrobe (fig 3), was a leading
figure in Fulneck and went on to become one of the most
respected members of the Church hierarchy.6 His formative years
were thus shaped almost completely by the attitudes of this
evangelical branch of Protestantism.
The Moravian Church
The Moravian Church or Unitas Fratrum, originated in
Czechoslovakia in 1457 at Kunwald.7 It was persecuted,
suppressed and exiled in the 1600's, and lay low until 1715 when
two simultaneous revivals of the religion occurred in Lititz in
Bohemia and the 'original' Fulneck in Moravia. Further
persecution led to the migration of the church in 1722 to
Herrnhut in Saxony, under the patronage of Count Zinzendorf.8
Herrnhut (fig 11), or 'watch of the lord', became the centre for
the Unitas Fratrum and the community there thrived under
Zinzendorf's care, maturing their own rules and regulations into
a strict protestant religion. As Edward Langton says,
No large body of Christians has ever exercised a finer moral
discipline over its members than the Church of the United
Brethren. We have seen how repeatedly they urged Luther to adopt
a stricter discipline among his followers.9
The Church of the United Brethren had several ideals, all
legacies from its past practice and persecution, that permeated
the lives of its followers. These were a strict moral code,
segregated communal living with little emphasis on family ties,
evangelism, pacifism and a love of education. From this
commitment to knowledge came a tolerance toward new ideas and
peoples, strange for such a fundamental religion. The community
was divided by sex and age into ten 'Choirs' which replaced any
normal family based living, each choir having its own buildings
and being responsible for the education, welfare and worship of
its members.10
The commitment to evangelism brought the religion to England and
then to America, with the first Moravian settlers arriving in
the USA in 1736, founding their first permanent settlement at
Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. The embodiment of the religion in a
planned, built fabric was an essential part of the Moravian
ideait allowed the choir system to operate with often complete
segregation, and set the brethren apart from other
communities.William Murtagh provides an insight to this process.
As oppos
ed to most immigrants who came to America for personal
gain, it must be emphasised that the Moravians came to these
shores to find religious asylum and bring Christianity to the
Indians of the American wilderness. From initial concept to
actual settlement, Moravian communities were a unified effort
pre-planned by Moravian leaders. Whether creating church
householder villages or industrial centres such as Bethlehem,
Moravians were conscious of the necessity to secure approval of
plans from the church headquarters at Herrnhut.11
This settlement at Bethlehem was masterminded by Henry Antes, a
master builder who originally purchased the land for the
Brethren.12 His daughter, Margaret Antes, followed the visiting
Count Zinzendorf back to England to be taught at the Moravian
schools in London. On graduating she became a teacher and moved
to the new settlement of Fulneck where she met the Reverend
Benjamin Latrobe. In 1756 they married, and Benjamin Henry
Latrobe appeared in 1764.13
Latrobe's Education
Latrobe was born into a community that was still building
itself, surrounded by the activities of architecture and the
need for the religious planning permission conferred by
Herrnhut. The impression this environment made is clear in the
memory of his son John H.B. Latrobe, who wrote of his father's
drawing 'of Kirkstall Abbey, from nature, made by him in his
twelfth year, the accuracy and force of which, in all its Gothic
details, would do credit to any artist.'(fig 12)14 At the time
he made this drawing he would have been about to leave the
Fulneck boarding school to venture to the Paedagogium at Niesky
in Silesia, a college set up by the Moravians for the children
of its missionaries and ministers (fig 11). Latrobe had started
school at the age of three, learning to read and write, and the
Paedagogium was merely the next stage before moving on to the
church's foremost seminary at Barby aged seventeen. Barby's
teaching excellence was a result of Moravian fascination with
education and it served as the central training school for the
officers of the church. During almost this whole period he had
had little contact with his parents, the Moravian community
substituted for family, but nevertheless it seems that he was
following them into the running of the church.
However Latrobe's interest in engineering changed all thisprior
to moving to Barby he had met a Prussian engineer and spent some
time with him.15 During the late eighteenth century, engineering
was almost totally a military concern, dealing exclusively with
the design of weapons and fortifications. Latrobe later wrote to
Thomas Jefferson saying that he had wished to enter this
profession.16 The Unity Elders Conference of 27 March 1783 felt
that this interest conflicted with their commitment to pacifism,
saying that
Doubt and disbelief concerning the truth of evangelical teaching
is expressed by a number of students, most of whom however. let
themselves be freed from their doubts by the Saviour's grace.
Only one, or at most two, find pleasure at persevering in this
state. This is particularly the case with Benjamin Latrobe,
whose continued stay here at the seminary seems very
questionable and would cause a great deal of damage.17
As a result Latrobe came back to England, arriving in 1784
having spent the intervening period travelling in Europe. He was
a well educated but disaffected man he had learned Latin, Greek,
philosophy, history, theology, physics, botany, astronomy and
pneumatics,18 but his first job was at the Stamp Office in the
City. This stopgap was soon given up in order to work for John
Smeaton's London office, fulfilling his engineering ambitions.
With Smeaton he worked as a draughtsman for two or three years
and on designs for the Basingstoke Canal in particular, but
further European travel in 1786 led to a re-assessment of his
career. He definitely visited Naples19 and, judging by the
design of Hammerwood, must have come to Paestum along with the
many other English aesthetes encouraged to do so by the
controversy surrounding the first smoulderings of the Greek
Revival (cf figs 13,14). As Goethe pointed out in his Italian
diary, the sublime power of Paestum was hard, if not impossible,
to record on paper a visit by Latrobe would only have
strengthened his decision to move from Engineering to
Architecture. He had already considered architecture after
encouragement from Baron von Schachmann whilst in Silesia,20 and
after a few years gaining his confidence working for SP
Cockerell on a variety of projects,21 a recently married Latrobe
struck out on his own in 1791.
Whilst pursuing his studies at home, he was visited by a friend,
Mr Sperling, who, finding him disengaged, and admiring his
growing talents, commissioned him to design and build a mansion
near East Grinstead, to be called Hammerwood Lodge.22
Hammerwood Lodge
From evidence of the site history and the current fabric,23 what
Sperling wanted Latrobe to do was to incorporate an existing
building into a much grander house which would show off his
wealth. The site was approached from the south along a
serpentine driveway starting across the valley (see figs 15 &
1), and so nearly all of Latrobe's effort went into the design
of the southern aspect. The house sits on the upper side of the
valley bordered by trees and overlooking carefully landscaped
fields which run right up to the facade.
The general layout of the house is a typical Palladian forma
massive central block accentuated by a giant order of shallow
pilasters is flanked by low arcaded wings terminated in
tetrastyle porticoes, while an asymmetric service wing stretches
toward the northeast, hidden behind the bulk of the house.
However the detailing of the house stems from the 6BC Graecian
forms that Latrobe had seen at Paestum (figs 16-18). This
re-working of the Palladian form was a typical starting point
for the few Greek revivalists that existed in the 1760-1800
period the architectural profession had by now become
established, riding on the back of a new Palladianism, and had
staunchly defended itself against any other style. This diatribe
was led by Sir William Chambers, who attacked the Greek revival
in the 1791 third edition of his Treatise on Civil Architecture
calling the characteristic Doric columns 'gouty'.24 Therefore to
do anything outside the mainstream meant to go it alone, and be
associated with what was seen, quite rightly, as a Francophile
style. The French Revolution was on the minds of the gentry and
the professional classes, and for Latrobe to follow such
thinking was at once limiting, but also liberating for such a
naturally free-thinker; the Moravian ideals of his upbringing
cut through any British xenophobia and class consciousness.
Latrobe and his young client, who was only a year older, fired
up by this enthusiasm, set out to design a collective ego trip
on a small budget. The house, although of modest size for the
time, is designed to look huge.
The inclusion of temple fronts on the wings of the composition
implies the large space of a temple behind them. Their
diminution by the rest of the house gives the impression of a
massive overall construction. In fact the porticoes (figs 26,27)
are rather small and cramped the columns are two feet across at
the base, nine feet high and at 5,6 and 5 foot centres, and the
whole portico is only 18 feet 4 inches high.25 The order is
unfluted and extremely conical in form; in fact, leaving aside
the capitals, there is hardly any decoration on these porticoes-
there are no triglyphs or metopes, the frieze is a plain band-
nothing to give the design a scale, merely a constant allusion
to ponderous weight. These are certainly no refined, elegant
columns beloved of renaissance thought, they are rude
constructions, triumphant in their form.
These ideas are present to a lesser degree on the central block,
where the pilasters sit as thin vertical limestone strips
against a sandstone background. They support a plain, wide band
which gives the only horizontal element to the composition. The
block sits proud from the wings as a pure, clean form, its
dramatism emphasising scale and weight (fig 25).
The other Greek revivalists who were designing in England at
this early date had never been as free as this in their work.
Stuart and Revett were both successful at copying the details
that they had carefully drawn for the Society of Dilettanti
(figs 33-37), Bonomi was similarly reverent to the classical
precedent and Harrison's monumental Chester Castle was nowhere
near as stripped as Hammerwood.
Latrobe was clearly doing something different here. Whilst the
capitals he used on the porticoes are beautifully detailed
copies of those at Paestum, the dimensions of the portico are
Latrobe's own the exact numbers of feet in its measurements are
completely at odds with the more archeological approach of
Stuart and Revett- they speak of self-conscious design.
That the spirit of Latrobe's order lay in Paestum is of little
doubt- the capitals were fabricated to his specification by the
Coade factory from the Thomas Major drawings widely available at
this time (figs 20,21)26 and CD Lewis points out the similarity
from a visit in 196227- but these capitals have a fluted necking
band on them as part of the Coade moulding. Why use this on top
of a plain column?
This question has caused some confusion with some writers citing
Paestum and others the Delian order, which has a band of fluting
at both the neck and base of the column, as the inspiration.
Revett's drawing of the Temple at Delos (fig 36) was included in
volume three of the Antiquities of Athens which was published in
1794, but the actual plate carries the inscription 'Pubd as the
Act directs April 3, 1792' and Latrobe could easily have seen it
before this date on Revett's New St. Lawrence Church (1778-9,
fig 37). I am inclined to think that, just as Latrobe invoked
the spirit of Paestum he was also using this Delian order in a
way which will become clear.
The present owner, David Pinnegar, has noted that these necking
bands are usually in shadow and so are hidden from a distance,
only revealing themselves, and thus a scale, on closer
observation.28 On a formal level this would be sufficient
justification- it fits with the sublime scaleless quality of the
composition, but Latrobe used another Coade stone element on
each portico which leads to another explanation. Above the small
doorway in each is one of the two plaques that the Coade factory
derived from the Borghese Vase (fig 30-32).
The Borghese Vase was a very popular item in the Coade catalogue
and, as Alison Kelly describes,
'the [vase] shows Bacchanalian revellers and Apollo. the
revellers on the Borghese Vase could be divided into two groups,
each of which made a plaque.
These two plaques sold less frequently than the vase and
Hammerwood would appear to have the last remaining examples of
them.29 So Latrobe places a plaque depicting Apollo behind
columns based on the Delian order, which in turn came from
Revett's survey of the Temple to Apollo on Delos. Given
Latrobe's extensive education and classical knowledge, this can
be no coincidencethe spirit of Apollo was a primary element in
the design of Hammerwood.
The Spirit of Apollo
The nature of Apollo is a complex one as, like most early gods
and spirits, the name Apollo is merely an epithet, a euphemism.
In the same way that our word 'bear' derives from the animal's
brown colour, and the Russian one refers to its love of honey,
so Apollo is derived from the concepts of strength and power.
Calling a god by such an epithet rather than by their real name
was a kind of insurance against blasphemy still present in
today's language.30
Thus strength and power are simply Apollo's positive aspectshis
darker side can be guessed from his continual association with
the wolf.31 Apollo was the spirit of the hunt, but not in the
bloody, violent manner that Artemis embodied; in fact, on the
Parthenon frieze, Artemis and Apollo are shown facing away from
each other, as opposite poles of the act of hunting. The
character of Apollo is therefore the more Arcadian ideal of the
placid martial spirit, the calm, thoughtful Greek warrior.32
Latrobe's interest and understanding of this area of Greek
mythology becomes clear when the planning of Hammerwood is taken
into account (fig 28). His adoption of the Palladian form so
prevalent at the time results in a naturally polarised plan and
Latrobe situates his four major spaces with two in the central
block and one in each wing. He makes the symbolic layout of the
house concrete in the placing of the two Borghese plaques the
one containing Apollo is placed on the western portico, whilst
the other, which depicts only bacchanalian revellers, is placed
on the eastern wing. The western wing contains Hammerwood's
library (fig 10), whilst the revellers herald the entrance to
the dining room- the more cerebral part of the house is allowed
the closest connection to the noble spirit.
Given this careful arrangement of the plan, it is strange that
missing from this sequence of rooms is any sort of entrance
space to deal with the arrival of people from the driveway to
the southwest.33 The layout of the house gives the major spaces
an ample southerly aspect, but the most obvious entrance doors,
within the porticoes, are tiny things three feet wide. The
central block's entertaining rooms only have windows that open
directly onto the terrace via a few steps (fig 25). It could be
argued that Latrobe's communal upbringing had given him a
different interpretation of the needs of a house, but that would
deny his skill at interpreting his client's brief; his next work
at Ashdown House has a grand entrance space. In fact the lack of
an entrance implies these rooms are being treated not as primary
spaces, but as secondary refuges from Latrobe's most important
space in his composition- the landscape. The house acts as a
series of side chapels to the grand nave of the valley below.
This interpretation is confirmed by the inscription placed high
up behind the capitals of the library portico
(Can anyone help us to iunsert the proper Greek text here?)
THC. TOU IWANNOU CPERLINGOU EPAULEWC PROS TULH PRWTH.
ARCITEKTWN LATROBE. EPOIE TON AYQB ENEAUTON. IHCOU CRICTOU KAI.
TON. DE U TERON THC CMB OLUMPIADAC
This inscription roughly translates as, 'This is the first
portico of John Sperling's home. The architect is Latrobe. He
made it in the 1792nd year of Jesus Christ and the second year
of the 642nd Olympiad.' However the word EPAULEWC, here meaning
home, actually originally meant a cattle-fold. Latrobe's
deliberate use of this word implies a view of the house as a
series of rustic pens designed as a retreat from the landscape,
thoroughly consistent with Hammerwood's intended use as a
hunting lodge. Latrobe has taken his client's request for a
house in the country and saturated it with the symbolism of
Apollo and the Arcadian myth.34 Hammerwood's heroic stance,
carefully situated on an outcrop to sit slightly aloof from, but
at the same time within the landscape (figs 1 & 29), would have
pleased its young owner on both an egoistic and an intellectual
level.35 Latrobe's design speaks of an ancient attitude to the
landscape and its relation to architecture that was the
powder-keg behind much of the Greek Revival.
Conclusion
Hammerwood is therefore more than a collection of interesting,
and early, Greek Doric details used in an exuberant fashion.
Latrobe was tying together his composition with a feeling for
the true spirit of the architecture, using the Greek precedent
symbolically rather than formally. In this way, Latrobe was
coming closer to the more intellectual Greek Revival in France
than most of his contemporary Englishmen, throwing away the
creative shackles of Stuart and Revett's intensely archeological
approach.36 Soufflot's Ste GeneviSve in Paris with its massive
Doric columns as symbolically heroic supporting members in the
crypt (See figs 38,39)37 must have certainly featured on
Latrobe's European travels, and his natural, Moravian freedom of
thought and internationalist outlook was therefore both his
creative saviour and social downfall.
For Latrobe's emigration to America was inevitable. He didn't
fit into the class-driven British social scene; his support of
France and radical politics severely limited his potential
clients, and building in a Francophile manner merely compounded
this. His wife's death and his impending bankruptcy left
claiming his mother's lands in Pennsylvania the most sensible
option.38 He took with him an Arcadian symbolism perfect for the
heroic New World so recently declared independent.
Whilst Soane, among others, eventually promoted the symbolic
values of the Greek Revival with stunning virtuosity (fig 40),
had Latrobe continued to build in England, Hammerwood Park would
be better remembered as a turning point in the English
interpretation of the Greek Revival.
Bibliography
Cranz, David A History of the Brethren (translated by Benjamin
Latrobe)
Strahan, London 1780
Crook, JM The Greek Revival
John Murray, London 1972
Formwalt & Van Horne, Eds.
The Correspondance & Miscellaneous Papers of B.H. Latrobe
Vols I-III Yale University Press, New Haven 1984
Gershenson, Daniel E. Apollo the Wolf-God
McLean, Virginia 1991
Gollin, Gillian Lindt Moravians in two Worlds
Columbia University Press, New York 1967
Guirand, Felix Greek Mythology (trans. Delano Ames)
Hamlyn, London 1963
Hamlin, Talbot Benjamin Henry Latrobe
New York 1955
Harrison, Tony The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus
Faber, London 1991
Havill, John Eleanor CoadeArtificial Stone Manufacturer
Self Published 1986
Kelly, Alison Mrs Coade's Stone
Upton-upon-Severn 1990
Krauss, Friedrich Paestum- Die Griechischen Tempel
Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1984
Laloux, V. L'Architecture Grecque
Maison Quantin, Paris 1888
Langton, Edward History of the Moravian Church
George Unwin, London 1956
Le Roy Ruines des plus beaux monuments de la GrSce
Paris and Amsterdam 1758
Murtagh, William J. Moravian Architecture and Town Planning
University of N.Carolina Press 1967
Pedley, John G. PaestumGreeks and Romans in Southern Italy
Thames & Hudson, London 1990
Pinnegar, D. Hammerwood Park Guidebook
Hammerwood Park Society 1992
Rykwert, Joseph The First Moderns
MIT Press 1980
Stuart & Revett The Antiquities of Athens measured and
delineated (4 vols)
London 1762-1816
Summerson, John Architecture in Britain 1530-1830 VII edition
Harmondsworth 1983
Watkin, David Athenian Stuart. Pioneer of the Greek Revival
Allen & Unwin, London 1982
Wiebenson, Dora Sources of Greek Revival Architecture
Zwemmer, London 1969
Articles
Braham, Allen "The Drawings for Soufflot's Sainte-GeneviSve"
From Burlington Magazine Vol CXIII (October 1978), pp. 582 ff
Lewis, CD "The Influence of Archaeological Publications in the
Emergence of a Greek Revivial Style 1759-1809"
Unpublished Thesis, Department of
Architecture, Cambridge University 1962
Serra, Joselita Raspi "Paestum and the Neo-Doric"
From Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830 pp. 94-97
Centro Di, Florence 1986
Simoncini, Giorgio "Forms of the Neo-Doric"
From Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830 pp. 100-103
Centro Di, Florence 1986
Wiebenson, Dora "From Palladianism to Greek Revival Architecture
in America"
From Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830 pp. 176-181
Centro Di, Florence 1986
Zanni, Nicoletta "The Doric Revival in England"
From Paestum and the Doric Revival 1750-1830 pp. 158-160
Centro Di, Florence 1986
Footnotes
1 From Goethe's Italian Diary, quoted in JM Crook The Greek
Revival pp. 22-23
2 For example Talbot Hamlin in Benjamin Henry Latrobe NY 1955
dedicates only 48 pages to his time in Europe and over 500 to
the last 25 years of his life in America.
3 From a letter to his brother Christian Ignatius Latrobe dated
4 November 1804. Correspondence of BH Latrobe Vol I, p 563
4 The present owners of the house purchased the wreck in 1982.
At this time it had little in the way of roof or floors, and
merely the occasional hint of its former self and was becoming
structurally unsafe. The restoration of the house is almost
complete and the rebuilding process has thrown up much of the
initial insights to the design. (see figs 7-9)
5 Edward Langton History of the Moravian Church Unwin 1956 p 130
6 Ibid. p 144. The London Chronicle speaks of him firmly
establishing the reputation of the Church.
7 Ibid. p 30
8 Cranz History of the brethren (Trans. Benjamin Latrobe) London
1780. The copy in the Cambridge University Library has a
hand-written dedication "Presented to the Publick Library in
Cambridge By the Editor B. La Trobe."
9 Langton Op.Cit. p 129
10 Ibid. p 143 The Choirs were designated 1 Married
Choir 2 Widowers
3 Widows 4 Single Brethren 5 Single Sisters 6 Youths 7 Big
Girls 8 Little Boys
9 Little Girls 10 Infants in arms
11 Murtagh Moravian Architecture and Town Planning 1967 p 9
12 Ibid. p 104
13 Hamlin Op. Cit. p 7
14 Ibid. p 11, quoting The Journal of Latrobe by JHB Latrobe, p
viii
15 This was Heinrich August Reidel, a Prussian Engineer, see
Correspondence of BH Latrobe Vol I pp 6-7. Latrobe's military
involvement is hinted at by Talbot Hamlin, Op. Cit. p 14
16 Letter to Jefferson July 4th 1807, Correspondence of BH
Latrobe.
17 Correspondence of BH Latrobe Vol I p 9
18 Ibid.
19 Hamlin Op. Cit. p 16, n 14.
20 Ibid. p 15
21 The Admiralty Building in particular. Ibid. p 28. Hamlin
suggests that Latrobe's entry into the profession was eased
somewhat by family connections. Ibid.
22 Quoted by Hamlin Op. Cit. p 45 from Latrobe's Obituary
23 The history of the site has been carefully researched by
Jonathan Small in Hammerwood Park Guidebook (pp 4-5) and shows
that a house called The Bower existed on the site, overlooking
the Iron Forge in the valley. The foundations of another house
are visible on the west side of the central block, and my survey
of the building showed that the north and south walls of the
library are not parallel one of them is following an old
foundation. A blocked up window and evidence of a roof junction
are visible in an upstairs room which the owners have left
unplastered.
24 JM Crook Op.Cit. p 86 quotes James Elmes as in 1823
remembering how many architects had hated 'the newfangled Doric
without a base as much as they did a shirt without ruffles.
[they] lamented the shocking innovations of Wyatt and Soane, the
more dreadful importations of Stuart, and were nearly going into
a fever when the portico at Covent Garden Theatre was opened.'
25 This slightly wider central module is as much a necessity to
allow entry as a compositional device. These measurements were
made in 1991 by the author
26 That these capitals were specifically designed for Hammerwood
is obvious from Alison Kelly's extensive research on Coade stone
Mrs Coade's Stone 1990 p 102 & 148
27 CD Lewis Greek Revival Style Unpublished thesis in Library of
Department of Architecture and History of Art, Cambridge
University. P 27 and note 103.
28 See fig 26. Low sun in the mornings and evenings does light
the necking bands, but the point is a valid one.
29 Kelly Op. Cit. p 200 Alison Kelly writes of watching the only
other pair she had found being smashed on site during the
demolition of a house in Ascot.
30 See DE Gershenson Apollo the Wolf God 1991 p 127
31 Ibid. Gershenson not only cites the statue of the wolf at
Delphi, the centre of Greek Apollo worship, but also shows how
most folk tales involving wolves are mythic in their basis and
tend back to Apollo as their source.
32 Ibid. p 129. Gershenson points out Nietzsche's interest in
the Apolline warrior as a basis for his superman. Latrobe's
military interest that alienated him from the Moravians could
well have been founded on this romantic view of the martial
spirit.
33 The large entrance portico to the north is a later addition
to the house after the southern approach route was dropped in
favour of the northern driveway. For a diagram of the original
route see fig 15
34 See figs 23 and 24 as examples of later, German, paintings
depicting the ruggedness of Arcadia complete with 6BC Doric
temples, and fig 22, Paestum in its setting.
35 The existence of a cellar under only the eastern most part of
the house, connected to the servants wing by a long corridor
suggests that the land was built up on this side to form an
outcrop and the cellars created opportunely it would be easier
to bury them at a distance from the service wing than dig them
closer by. The sudden steepness of the hill behind the house
suggests that the earth needed for this landscaping came from
the area immediately beside the present building.
The landscape below the house was certainly 'enhanced' at the
same time as construction of the building, perhaps by Repton
(see Hammerwood Park Guidebook p 47) oaks blown down in the 1988
storms were planted between 1793 and 1796.
36 Many of their careful measurements turned out to be
inaccurateas JM Crook says, the best revivalists realised there
was no future in pure copying. Op. Cit. p 91
37 The crypt was one of the only elements of the scheme that was
not altered over time, and was built between 1760 and 1763, see
Rykwert The First Moderns p 450 ff. The columns were based on
those at Paestum, which Soufflot had visited in 1750. See Braham
"The Drawings for Soufflot's Sainte-GeneviSve" Burlington
Magazine CXIII (Oct 1978) p 585
38 Latrobe's wife, Lydia Sellon died in November 1793. Hamlin
Op.Cit. p 53 notes that Latrobe was declared bankrupt in the
European Magazine for July-December 1795 on December 5th.
Latrobe left for America aboard the Eliza on November 25th.