Borough House, School, State Route 261 & Garners Ferry Road, Stateburg

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,43-STATBU,1F-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Part of the Borough House plantation complex on west side of State Route 0.8 mile north of intersection of Route 261 and State Route Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina U.S.G.S. Wedgefield, SC 7.5 Minute Quadrangle Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Coordinates:

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,43-STATBU,1F-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The School building is a Greek Revival dependency of the Borough House plantation complex. Built of rammed earth c, it is one of six dependencies (in addition to portions of the main house) to be built of this material, and it is the only one at the site with a peripteral' colonnade. This complex is of potential national significance because of the number of early Greek Revival structures it contains which were built of this unusual material. The Borough House complex was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Stateburg Historic Distric in and as an individual site in PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION NOTS: Background material and site history for the School building may be found in data pages for the Borough House, Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina, HABS No.

Data specific to the School building follows below. Borough House^School HABS No. (Page 2) A. PHYSICAL HISTORY 1. DATE OF ERECTION: C. 2. ARCHITECT: The designer of the School is thought to be Dr. William Wallace Anderson, owner of the Borough House from to (For further information on Dr. Anderson, see Borough House data pages, p. 6.) 3. ORIGINAL AND SUBSEQUENT OWNERS: see Borough House data pages, pp. 4. BUILDERS AND SUPPLIERS: The School was built chiefly by slaves under the direction of Dr. Anderson. The rammed earth construction method used by Dr. Anderson was based on a description in Rural Economy by Johnson (New York: Dr. Anderson's copy of this book is in the Borough House library.

It is not known whether slave labor or hired workers executed the finsih carpentry and interior surfaces. The clay used to build the earth walls was dug on site, and the stones and brick used for foundations and the chimney were also supplied locally. Glazing was undoubtedly purchased, but the supplier is not known. Hardware for the doors may have been made locally. 5. ORIGINAL PLANS AND CONSTRUCTION: a. PLANS: No original plans are known to survive. b. CONSTRUCTION: Foundations of the building were not examined by HABS and no written data specific to the foundations of this structure were found.

However, the earth in the region is a dense, solid clay, and for this reason the foundations are very likely flagstones superimposed by brick, similar to that observed in for the nearby Church of the Holy Cross (also a rammed earth structure) by Thomas A.H. Miller, a agricultural engineer from the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Public Roads. Exterior walls are made of rammed earth, with the chimney on the west side built of brick, integral with the wall. All the rest of the structure is wooden, except for the standing-seam metal roof. All columns were turned from solid heart pine and rest on stone bases and plinths. Please see data pages for the Borough House for further discussion of the rammed earth construction method used in this building. Borough House^ School HABS NO.

(Page 3) 6. ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS: No major alterations or additions to the general form of this building are recorded or apparent in the structure. However, a small bathroom window was cut into the south wall when a bathroom was installed in the and the standing-seam metal roofing was probably applied around the same time. The stereobate (or base around the building under the colonnade) was parged with cement and scored to resemble stone in March, as is borne out by inscriptions in the cement by the columns flanking the southern door (these read "A.H.W.

[Ann Heron White] and [Mary Greenleaf White] It may well be that all of these changes occured in The bathroom was modernized and a small electrified porch lantern intalled on the east wall in the HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ASSOCIATIONS Please see data pages for the Borough House, pp. The School contained two rooms: one for the tutor's living quarters, the other for the classroom. It has not been established how long the building actually served as a school. For Anderson and her children, the building has always been known as "The Library" because of the array of books stored in the rooms. The south room presently serves as a guest bedroom due to the adjoining bathroom. PART II. ARCHITECTUPAL INFORMATION A. GENERAL STATEMENT: 1.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: The form and plan of this building is that of a peripteral Greek temple with a hip roof. The plan contains two main rooms with a corner of one room enclosed for a bathroom. The columns are of the Tuscan order, resting on a stereobate (or base) and surmounted by an architrave, frieze, and cornice of simple design (there being no guttae, metopes, or triglyphs). The column bases between the plinth and the apophage appear to be separate turnings, perhaps made of stone, painted white to match the solid pine column shafts. As with the other rammed earth structures in the Borough House complex, exterior walls are finished with a yellow tinted stucco, however, the School is the only building where the stucco has been smoothed and scored to resemble cut stone.

Shutters are painted a dark green, and all other woodwork (exterior and interior) is white except the interior floor, which is unfinished. The standing-seam sheet metal roof is painted a Venetian red. Borough House^School HABS No. (Page 4) The application of classical principles to the design of this building is clearly evident from analysis of the structure and its dimensions (see pp. The periptery is seven bays by five bays, giving eight columns on the east and west sides, and six on the north and south sides a comfortably even, classical ratio. Almost all the columns are inclined inwardly at their tops by anywhere from 0 to 2 inches, the dimension varying irregularly, and with one or two columns tipping out.

This inward inclination (not its irreglarity) is a feature of classical temple design, in view of the inclination of the columns, the stereobate was examined by eye for the characteristic swelling or gentle rise in the center of each side found in many Greek temples (such as the Parthenon), but none was found. In plan and elevation, dimensional analysis of the building shows clearly that the column diameter, figures strongly as the base unit in the overall design, though with some puzzling exceptions. Using the column axes or centerlines as lines and endpoints for dimensions in plan, the periptery comes very close to fitting an 8:5 rectangle of 40 x 25 units it is x instead of x (see p. 5). The dimension is instead the length of the entablature on the long side.

The 8-inch error seems too large to be necessarily accidental, it being one of the puzzles in the building design. However, there may have been some construction errors at the northern end of the building, considering certain irregularities there. The corner bays on all sides are very close to except at the north ends of the east and west sides? here the dimension drops to slightly less than 6 feet for some reason perhaps a construction error, but it doesn't come close to 8 inches. This slight error doesn't upset the remainder of the analysis. It is interesting to note that the end bay dimension is 2/3 the overall average column height of (taken from the porch floor to the underside of the entablature). If squares are superimposed on the corner bays (see column plan on p.

5), one finds that their inner corners are precisely connected by a 2:1 rectangle x This rectangle (or double square) falls within the walls of the enclosure (or "cella") almost at the wall centerlines, but neither of its sides are factorable by (The dimension is 2 inches short of 29 units, but if 29 units were intended, the sides of the rectangle would have been units wide, a non-integer multiple.) The columns between the corner bays appear to have been spaced by dividing the sides of the double square into even intervals, though the actual intercolumniations vary, sometimes as much as 2 inches column to Borough House^School HABS No. (Page 5) , -&- 71" to - *- ^ i "IIS ! 5! - Sr <s> (ZS COLUMN D/AMETJEXSJ Borough House(School HABS No. (Page 6) I 1 ill ! 4* ,1 s* 9, ** n I n n I. ft > s T!

x Ifl If) J_ s-to' SCO. OOxI'-z") Borough House,School HABS No. (Page 7) column.. It is interesting to note that the inter columnar dimension on the long facades is very close to the height of the roof above the drip. Finally, it appears that the positions of the exterior doors to the rooms were determined by aligning them with the centers of the two bays flanking the central bay in the east facade. Turning to the facades, there appears to be a host of interrelationships. The overall height of the columns or 8 column diameters) is precisely 1/5 the present length of the entablature on the east and west sides or 40 column diameters). The height of the eaves is precisely 1/4 the length of the architrave or 10 column diameters).

The length of the eave itself on the east and west sides, (or nearly 49 feet), is almost exactly 42 column diameters. The roof height above the eaves is 1/7 the length of the eastern entablature, or (This ratio was also used at the Weaving House. It is interesting to note that the dimension is twice the unit used extensively at the Weaving House.) On the north and south sides, this neat scheme of integer multiples breaks down.

The length of the architrave here, very close to 30 feet, is no integer multiple of though the length of the periptery on these sides is precisely 25 times It is interesting, though perhaps accidental, that the ratio of the length of the shorter entablature to the overall height of the building, is within 1% of the Golden Mean Moving to the walls of the enclosure, several interesting relationships appear. First, the wall thickness appears to have been set by the column diameter. The length of the longer walls is close to or 30 column diameters, making them 3/4 the length of the entablature on the longer sides. The length of the roof ridge (about may be a puzzle until one sees that its length is twice the height of the ridge above the bottom of the entablature.

If an 18-fcot square is inscribed beneath the roof ridge onto the enclosure wall, the bottom of the square is aligned with the door sills, and the sides of the square with the outboard edges of the door casings. The door casings themselves are circumscribed by double squares of 4 x 8 column diameters, and their centerlines align easily with the column bays in front of the doorways. The windows appear to be centered vertically on the enclosure walls, the tops of the casings being 2 column diameters below the periptery ceiling, and the bottoms of the window sills being the same dimension above the porch floor. The window casings above the window sills appear to be double squares x neither Borough House^ School HABS No.

(Page 8) dimension being a multiple of Interestingly, the tops of the window casings are almost exactly half the overall height of the roof ridge above the porch floor. 2. CONDITION OF FABRIC: The exterior walls, foundations, and roof are all sound. Interior finishes, windows, and doors are all intact. The building is actively maintained by its owner. B. DESCRIPTION OF EXTERIOR: 1. OVERALL DIMENSIONS: The stylobate measures x with the cella (internal rooms) being x Height from the porch floor to the underside of the architrave is Height to the roof peak from the porch floor is or about above grade. 2. FOUNDATIONS: The stereobate, or foundations for the colonnade are covered above grade by the same smooth crepe finish as the walls, so their internal composition was not determined.

Foundations for the walls of the enclosed portion of the building were not accessible, but all foundations for this structure are assumed to be of brick, probably resting on flagstones below grade. 3. WALL CONSTRUCTION: Rammed earth 4. PORCH: The school has an open, one-story periptery or porch on all sides supported by 24 Tuscan columns. Access to the building's attic is via a scuttle in the west side porch ceiling. 5. CHIMNEYS: The single chimney made of brick serves two fireplaces and is not finished with stucco on the exterior. 6. OPENINGS: a. DOORWAYS AND DOORS: The building has two exterior doorways, located in the east side off the periptery. They have moulded casings with deep reveals and surrounds detailed with and corner blocks.

Each casing contains a solid wooden door, each with four bevelled panels. Over the doors are four-light transoms. Door construction is mortise-and-tenon secured by wooden pegs. b. WINDOWS: There are four nine-over-nine, double-hung wooden sash windows. Each is flanked by two louvered, two-panel wooden shutters. The bathroom is served by a small, four-light square casement window. Borough Housej School HABS No. (Page 9) 7. ROOF: The hipped roof is covered by standing-seam sheet metal. Internal construction is of wood. C. DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR: 1. FLOOR PLANS: This structure contains two main rooms, each measuring approximately 16 feet square. The southern room has its southwestern corner enclosed to form a bathroom approximately by with the northeastern corner truncated to provide a door.

Corner fireplaces are located in the common wall between the two main rooms on the west side of the structure. 2. FLOORING: The floor is unfinished cypress boards approximately 3/4 inch thick. There is an accesible crawl space beneath. 3. WALL AND CEILING FINISHES: The interior surfaces of the rammed earth walls are finished in plaster applied directly to the earth. The internal common wall is of frame construction, and plaster was applied to lath there and at the ceilings. 4. OPENINGS: Windows and the door were described above, but all the large windows have deep reveals on the interior due to the 14-inch thickness of the walls. 5. DECORATIVE FEATURES AND TRIM: a. TRIM: Both rooms are finished out with wooden wainscotting and picture moldings.

Simple moldings run around the door and window casings. There are two wooden mantlepieces, of modest complexity. b. HARDWARE: All hardware is wrought iron. The doors are carried on H-L hinges and are fastened by nails. The doors are each kept shut by a box lock with iron knobs. Shutter hardware (strap hinges, pintles, and keeps) is also wrought iron, fastened by nails. 6. MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT: The structure contains no fixed mechanical equipment other than plumbing and electrical service. Air conditioning is provided by window-mounted units, heat by electric baseboard heaters. Prior to the building was heated by a wood-fired, cast iron pot-belly stove located in the south room. Borough House, School HABS No. (Page 10) D. SITE 1.

GENERAL SITING AND ORIENTATION: The School is located approximately 20 yards southwest of the Borough House conservatory, and fronts onto a gravel path which runs by the west side of the Borough House north to the Summer Kitchen. The north elevation faces a small grassy courtyard, on the west side of which is the Weaving House. To the south and west of the School are small gardens, chiefly roses to the west, and ground covers and crepe myrtles to the south. Low foundation plantings surround the east and north sides of the stereobate. Please see data pages for the Borough House for further description of the surrounding grounds and consult measured drawings of the landscape and site. PART III.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION Please see data pages for the Borough House for a complete bibliography PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION The Borough House School was recorded as part of the Borough House recording project. Please see data pages for the Borough House for the project description