Stencil House facts for kids
Stencil House is a historic building that was built in 1804. It was first located on a large farm in Columbus, New York. This house was designed like a "Capen house." These were small, simple homes with a pointed roof on the side. They were very common in the American colonies during the 1600s and 1700s.
Capen houses were named after Parson Joseph Capen. He built one of the first such homes in 1692 in Topsfield, Massachusetts. These houses showed how British building styles influenced early American homes. Today, Stencil House is a historic house museum. It shows what homes looked like in the 1700s. You can visit it at the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.
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The History of Stencil House
Capen houses were usually built around a big fireplace. This fireplace had openings on many sides to keep the whole house warm. Like old English homes, they often had three or four rooms downstairs. These rooms included a parlor, a "hall," a kitchen, and sometimes an entryway.
The parlor was a formal room. It was usually not heated in winter, except for special events. The kitchen and hall were common living areas for the family. The stairs were not a main design feature. They were just a simple, useful part of the house.
Early American settlers kept the basic layout of European homes. But they used different materials. They had plenty of cheap wood. So, they used wooden siding and shingled roofs. In Britain, homes often used mud and straw.
Stencil House followed this basic design. However, its inside looks more like a 19th-century home. It is not as simple as earlier Capen Houses. The parlor is still a reception room. The "hall" has become a formal dining room. Only the kitchen, at the back, is still used as a family area.
Discovering the Wall Stencils
The house has many beautiful stencils in the entryway, parlor, and dining room. These designs add to the formal look. When the museum bought the house in 1953, wallpaper covered these stencils.
Before moving the house, workers carefully removed the old wallpaper. They found amazing painted decorations underneath. The artist did not just put designs on borders. They covered entire walls with stencils. They painted directly onto the wooden boards, not on plaster. This stencil work was likely done between 1810 and 1830. Many designs in Stencil House are the same as those found in the Farmersville Tavern in Farmersville, New York.
Decorating Walls in the 1800s
In the 1800s, American homeowners had many ways to decorate their homes. Bright paints and wallpaper were available in America as early as 1725. By 1830, thousands of painters offered services. They could hang wallpaper, paint murals, or stencil walls. The Shelburne Museum has examples of all these types of wall decorations.
Fancy Wallpapers and Murals
Wealthy families often bought wallpaper from France and England. They used it in formal rooms like parlors and dining rooms. These wallpapers often showed beautiful landscapes. They had bright colors and bold patterns. These designs could stand out even in dim candlelight.
Mural painting was another way to decorate. It was less expensive than imported wallpaper. Artists like Jonathan Poor and his partner, Paine, traveled around Maine. They offered to paint decorative murals. They charged about $10 to paint a whole room.
The museum has a painted fireplace mantel and chimney area by Poor and Paine. They created it around 1830. These paintings show busy harbors, farms, and forests. They are great examples of this type of art. Sadly, many such murals have been lost when old buildings were torn down.
Stenciling for Style
In the early 1800s, traveling artists would stencil walls. They often did this in exchange for a place to stay and food. These artists would cut patterns from thin wood or thick paper. Then, they used these patterns to decorate walls and furniture.
Stencil House has many different stenciled patterns. You can see a grape leaf border, vases of flowers, and patriotic eagles. The Dutton House also has its original stenciled patterns in its rooms and hallways.
