Architecture and Interior Design: An Integrated History to the Present First Edition

Architecture and Interior Design: An Integrated History to the Present

First Edition

Chapter 40

Shakers

1774 – 1900

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M. Reforms

Industrial Revolution & consumer demand produce innumerable poorly designed & constructed goods

No suitable design language for machine, so fashion, historicism, sentimentalism, consumers drive designs

After Great Exhibition of 1851, reform movement begins

Little headway against rampant revivalism, eclecticism until end of century

Schools, reform groups & movements, writers, design companies, practitioners

Equate moralism & design, condemn conspicuous consumption, materialism, bad taste

Reform movement for home to counter perceived negative effects of industrialization

Shakers

The Shakers, or the United Society of Believers in the First and Second Appearance of Christ, largest & best known 19th-century communal utopian society in America

Shakers’ simple lives revolve around worship, community, & work

Architecture, interiors, furniture reflect belief system & worldview

Minimal ornament; simple forms from function or utility; perfected proportions; excellent craftsmanship

Communal, labor-focused lifestyles

Anticipate aspects of Modernism of the 20th century.

40.1

“Shakers, a Quaker sect, performing their distinctive, trembling, religious dance;” Currier and Ives.

Concepts

Doctrines shape material culture

Separation from world; communal living; lives centered on worship & work; equality between sexes

Isolate in villages; communities advertise lifestyles

Order, uniformity, consistency drive daily life

Labor, a positive force, equates with worship

Buildings, interiors, furniture planned for work, division of labor, celibacy, community, unified purpose

Economy, efficiency, function important design principles & guidelines for beauty

Innovators in labor-saving devices, freely share with world

40.2

Motifs and Architectural Details: Wooden boxes, mid-to-late 19th century; and door and window details, Kentucky. Shaker.

Architecture

Neatness, efficiency, function, & easy maintenance over fashion or style

Plain forms, refined proportions, beauty in materials

Similar appearance among communities, differences from location, materials, size, member backgrounds

Symmetry, efficient planning support life styles

Double entrances reflect gender separation

Communities: meeting houses, dwelling houses for families, support buildings—barns, laundries, workshops

Innovations: dwellings for many people & adapting form & construction of meeting houses to community needs

Remodel, renovate to meet changing community needs

40.3

Meetinghouse, Canterbury Shaker Village, 1792; New Hampshire; Moses Johnson. Shaker.

Long Description:

The simple, two-story, gambrel-roofed meetinghouse has a two-and-half-story, 3-bay building, gambrel roof, and two tall end chimneys. There are two entrances on the main facade on the gable roof to the right side. The building has white clapboard, and the simple paneled doors feature crown molding. Simple molding surrounds the light windows on the main facade, one on either side of the two doorways and one on the central bay. Those windows are on the side, on the first and second floors.

40.4

Village area, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village 1884; New Gloucester, Maine. Shaker.

40.5a

Family Dwelling House, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 1820s-1850s; Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Micajah Burnett. Shaker.

Long Description:

The house has a center axis that emphasizes symmetry with double entrance doors. A facade has plain brick that has slender proportions that reflect the federal style, and rectangular double-hung sash windows. A roof is side-gabled and has a chimney on the end.

40.5b

Family Dwelling Houses, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 1820s–1850s; Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Micajah Burnett. Shaker.

Long Description:

A house has a facade with two wide doors. The two-story has six bays with two windows per story per bay; the first-floor windows have sixteen-over-twelve sash windows, while those of the second floor are twelve-over-twelve. The lintels are single stone blocks cut from a different limestone connecting the two front stone chimneys, where the roof changes pitch, is a roof edge behind an off-center. The ell behind the front pavilion is the same height but is narrower by two bays.

40.5c (1 of 2)

Family Dwelling House hall and stair hall, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 1820s–1850s; Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Micajah Burnett. Shaker.

40.5c (2 of 2)

Family Dwelling House sleeping room and kitchen, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 1820s–1850s; Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Micajah Burnett. Shaker.

40.6

Floor plans, Shaker Centre Family Dwelling House, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, 1820s–1850s; Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Micajah Burnett. Shaker.

Interiors

Uniformity, simplicity, function, ease of maintenance in materials & furnishings

White plaster walls, brightly colored trim, built-in storage, wood strips with pegs for hanging; cast iron stove

Built-ins & peg rails distinctive design legacy

Limited storage of built-ins encourages sharing, discourages accumulating possessions

Few furnishings, a mix of Shaker-made & pieces brought by new converts.

Millennial Laws define room furnishings for uniformity & specify rules for placement

40.7

Meeting Room, Family Dwelling House, 1824; New Lebanon, New York; Moses Johnson. Shaker.

Furnishings & Decorative Arts

Furniture also reflects belief system & supports lifestyle

Beauty from materials, form, silhouette, function

Simplicity reflects Shakers themselves

Practical, easy to clean & maintain

Well made, careful proportions, honest construction & use of materials

No worldly ornament

Furniture uniform in appearance & distribution among members

New forms for work requirements or technology changes

In 1870s, begin selling furniture outside communities

40.8

Dwelling room with storage wall, Family Dwelling House, 1841-1846; originally from Enfield, New Hampshire. Shaker.

[Courtesy Winterthur Museum.]

40.9

Rocking chair, early to late 19th century. Shaker.

40.10

Candlestand, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, early 19th century; Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Shaker.

40.11

Interior with bed, early to late 19th century. Shaker.

40.12

Chest of drawers, early to late 19th century.

40.13

Decorative Arts: Shaker gift drawings, 1860; Hannah Cohoon. Shaker.

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