Evertson Hill

 



Asher Benjamin, Architect and Carpenter

Thinking about the design and building process that craftsmen undertook for these houses some 150 to 250 years ago, we looked for the resources that they might have had at their disposal. Before the modern definition of the profession "Architect" was established, how did these country carpenters produce houses of such beautiful proportion and precise detailing? We discovered the pattern books of Asher Benjamin, "Architect and Carpenter," whose patterns from 1830 were not just interesting intellectually; Petrides Homes put them to use in designing moldings and mantels.

Born in Harland, Connecticut in 1773, Asher Benjamin worked in the Federal style and later the Greek Revival style. He designed many homes and churches across the Northeast; his best known may be the Old South Congregational Church in Windsor, Vermont built in 1798. However, it was through his pattern books such as the American Builder's Companion (1827) and The Architect or Practical House Carpenter (1830) that he exerted wide and lasting influence. These books provided builders with meticulous details as well as practical advice for how to build them, weaving together architectural history and geometry in an accessible way.

© 2014 Petrides Homes LLC | Photography by Tim Wilkes

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