The
The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and
Printed Ephemera
Henry Francis du Pont
5105 Kennett Pike,
302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883
OVERVIEW OF
THE COLLECTION
Creator: Long, Robert Cary, \d
1810-1849.
Title: Architectural drawings,
Dates: [ca. 1839-1846].
Call No.: Col 422
Acc. No.: 68x198
Quantity: 19 items
Location: map case C, drawer 7
BIOGRAPHICAL
STATEMENT
Robert Cary Long, Jr. was a well-known architect
from Baltimore, Maryland, working during the 1820s-1840s. He learned the trade from his father, Robert
Cary Long, also a Baltimore architect.
In 1826, Robert, Jr. moved to New York City to study with Martin E.
Thompson and Ithiel Town. He was also
influenced by the work of Alexander Jackson Davis. By 1835, Long had
returned to Baltimore where he opened his own business and became best known
for the designs of churches, many of which were in the Gothic style. In 1848, he once again moved to New York City
where not only was he noted for his designs, but for his numerous publications
as well; he wrote regularly for The
Literary World from 1848-1849. Long
died unexpectedly from cholera in Morristown, New Jersey
in 1849.
SCOPE AND
CONTENT
This collection contains 19 drawings by architect
Robert Cary Long, Jr. One watercolor
shows the south and west views of a private home. Another series labeled
"No. 13" shows two exterior drawings and two floor plans of a gothic
style house. These are signed and dated
1846. Plans for a boarding school (five
items) show the front elevations and four sets of floor layouts (basement,
first and second floors, and attic). The elevation is painted in
watercolor. The remaining nine items
depict the Institute for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind in Staunton, Virginia, from
1840-1841. This series includes a
watercolor elevation, numerous floor plans, and some detailed drawings of
capitals of columns and entablatures.
Some of the sheets were reused, with remnants of earlier drawings found
on the reverse side.
ORGANIZATION
LANGUAGE OF
MATERIALS
The materials are in English.
RESTRICTIONS
ON ACCESS
Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.
PROVENANCE
Purchased from Timothy Trace.
ACCESS POINTS
Topics:
Institute for
Deaf, Dumb, and Blind (Staunton, Va.)
Dwellings -
Designs and plans.
Architectural
drawing - 19th century.
Architecture -
Details.
School
buildings - Designs and plans.
Boarding
schools - Designs and plans.
Room layout
(Dwellings)
Pen
drawing.
Watercolor
painting.
Architectural
design.
Architects.
DETAILED
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Location: map
case C, drawer 7
Note: all
accession numbers begin with 68x198
Folder 1:
gothic style house
.56 “perspective sketch, south & west fronts, R. C. Long,
archt.”
Water color of a
two story house in the gothic style, with a front veranda and a bay window on
one side.
Folder 2: plans for a boarding school building, 1844.
Note: bed
placement is indicated for all dormitory rooms in the following drawings. All room layout drawing have load bearing
walls colored in pink and other walls in brown.
.53a “Front Elevation” of a school, with a Classical
style main building [meaning the center part of the building] with basement,
two stories, and an attic. The wings of
the building lack the attic story.
In color. The height of each story is given. The size of the window panes is given. The central part of the building has a two
story portico [or piazza].
.53b “Main floor” room layout, signed Robt. Cary Long, archt. 1844.
The central part of the building
included piazza, hall, stair hall, parlor, and study room. In one wing are found the matron’s office, a
class room, and closets (i.e. latrines).
Another classroom and the library are located in the other wing.
.53c “Basement” room layout, signed Robt. Cary Long, archt. 1844.
The basement included a passage
under the piazza, a servants’ room with furnace and closets, a bath room with a
tub, a man servants’ room with another furnace, a kitchen, pantry, and
stairs. In one wing was the refectory
[dining room] with 2 storage closets and a niche. The other wing held a preserving & store
room, and a housekeeper’s room, which included clothes presses. A sink [cistern?] was outside the basement.
.53d “Attic plan,” room layout for the attic of
the main building, holding a dormitory, servants’ dormitory, a store room, and
a stair to the roof. The use of one part of the
attic is not indicated.
.53e “Second floor” room layout, signed Robt. Cary Long, archt. 1844.
This floor contained in the central
portion a piazza, two dormitory rooms, the matron’s chamber, closets, servants’
stairs, and the main stairs. Each wing has
two dormitory rooms.
Folder 3: gothic style house, 1846
.55a “Lawn Front,” signed R. Cary Long, archt.
1846. Scale 8 feet = 1 inch.
The lawn front has a semi-circular porch facing
the lawn.
.55b Entrance front to the house, No. 13, signed
R. Cary Long, archt. 1846. Scale 8 feet
= 1 inch.
The house front is mostly symmetrical,
with a bay window on either side of the front veranda. A side veranda disrupts the absolute symmetry
of the facade. “No. 13” is written in
pencil at the top of the sheet.
.55c “First Floor” room layout, signed R. Cary
Long, archt. 1846. Scale 8 feet = 1
inch.
The rooms are a front porch, dining
room, two stair halls [not so labeled; one set would have been for servants], a
hall, parlor, chamber, kitchen, bath, and closet. A semi-circular porch is on the right side
and a piazza is across part of the back of the house.
.55d “Second Floor” room layout, signed R. Cary
Long, archt. 1846. Scale 8 feet = 1
inch.
The second floor has five chambers,
a dressing room, hall, and a piazza across the back.
Folder 4: Institute
for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind (Staunton, Va.)
.54d “Second Floor Plan,” room layout. The second floor was symmetrically arranged,
with a wing for the blind and one for the deaf and dumb. Each wing contained boys’ and girls’
dormitories, class rooms, and teachers’ chambers. In the central portion of the building is
found the music room and three chambers.
A corridor and four sets of stairs rounds out the
floor. See also .54f, another
drawing of this same floor.
.54e one side: “Plan of the Basement Story,”
room layout.
The rooms are boys’ and girls’
dining rooms and wash rooms, a store cellar/pantry, kitchen, washhouse [i.e.
laundry room], ironing room, two work rooms, and four unlabeled rooms (which were
boys and girls dining rooms and wash rooms for the deaf and dumb, as the
labeled rooms were in the wing for the blind), plus corridors, stairs,
foundations. A penciled note reads
“cellar under the park portions.”
Measurements are given for the rooms.
On
back: a colored drawing of a room arrangement, with the details of the ceilings
of each room indicated. Also a rough pencil sketch.
Only part of this drawing remains, indicating
that the original drawing had served its purpose and the paper was reused for
the basement story plan.
.54f one side: “Plan of the Second Story,” room
layout.
The rooms are girls’ and boys’
dormitories, 2 class rooms, a chamber, a music room, and two rooms for which
the labels cannot be read. There are a
number of rooms which are not labeled, but would have served the same purpose
as the labeled ones, except they were for the deaf and dumb, the labeled rooms
being for the blind. There is only one
music room, however.
On
back: a colored drawing similar to that on the back of .54e, but the two
drawings do not seem to match up at any point.
.54g details of entablatures and capitals. One set of details is labeled “pillar cap and
piazza entablature, one quarter of full size”; a second set is labeled “ante[? perhaps attic] cap, one fourth full size”; and the
last set, which is of the capital of a column, is labeled “one fourth full
size.”
.54h additional details of architectural
elements, showing the “brick cornice & entab. [entablature],
one quarter full size,” and indicating a rafter, a wall plate, blocking (which
allowed room for a gutter), and the brick courses.
.54i-j unlabeled
drawings, of some architectural details
Folder 5: Institute
for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind (Staunton, Va.)
.54a “First
Floor Plan,” signed Robt. Cary Long, architect, Balto., Md., 1839.
The floor was symmetrically
arranged, with one wing for the blind, the other for the deaf and dumb. Each wing included boys’ and girls’ study
rooms, classrooms, and teachers’ rooms.
In the center was a parlor, a room for the steward, and the chapel. Closets (i.e. latrines) were off each study
room. A portico and piazza were on the
front of the building.
.54b “Plan of the Principal Floor.”
Room
layout as above, with more notes written in, so a bit messier in appearance.
On back: pencil
sketch of some sort.
.54c water color drawing of the façade of the
school, with classical columns for the portico and piazza. Some measurements are given, including the
size of window panes.
On back: pencil
sketch of buildings in a gothic style, with façade and rough floor plan of the
buildings, which are connected by a covered walk. The drawings are not complete, evidence that
a larger drawing was cut down and reused for the drawing of the school façade.