[MassHistPres] staircase detail - 1700s

[Marian Pierre-Louis]

Henry,

Actually, I was wrong about the county - my bad.  The house is in Holliston
which is actually in Middlesex County but right on the border with Norfolk
County.

What I actually thought of when I saw the decorative detail was the
similarity to the work of "frond carver" Joseph Barber from Medway who
carved gravestones from the 1770s to the early 1800s.  Barber is known to
have carved stones that are in the Central Burying Ground in Holliston.
While it is unlikely that Barber would have done wood finish work perhaps
that style was popular in the area at the time?

Marian

-----Original Message-----
From: Henry Cooke [mailto:hcooke4 at verizon.net] 
Sent: Saturday, December 12, 2009 9:34 PM
To: Marian Pierre-Louis; masshistpres at cs.umb.edu
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] staircase detail - 1700s

Marian,

I think we have similar details in a couple of federal homes in 
Randolph, built c.1805 by Randolph housewright Jonathan Belcher. Will 
compare the detail on the Jonathan Belcher house and get back to you.

You note that the house is in Norfolk County - town?

Henry Cooke
Randolph Historical Commission

At 02:21 PM 12/12/2009, Marian Pierre-Louis wrote:
>Has anyone seen decorative detail like this along stairs before? 
>Does the style have a particular name? It comes from a Norfolk 
>County house built between 1760-1790.
>
>http://www.fieldstonehistoricresearch.com/staircase.htm
>
>
>Thanks in advance for your suggestions and comments.
>
>Marian Pierre-Louis
>Fieldstone Historic Research
>http://www.FieldstoneHistoricResearch.com
>
>
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