A Country House by Napoleon Le Brun

Abstract

ALTHOUGH Napoleon Le Brun (1821-1901) is well known as the architect for such public structures as the Metropolitan Life Building in New York, or the Cathedral and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, few of his domestic works have thus far come to light.' This fact contributes to the importance of the house at Pennsylvania, which Le Brun designed in 186o for Charles R. King, a distinguished physician. Commissioned immediately after the destruction by fire of the previous dwelling on the same site, the original design for King's new house is known from the architect's plans of all four floors that still exist in the hands of the present owner, Mr. C. Burnley White.2 Each plan bears the signature of Le Brun and gives evidence of how little the basic fabric has changed, save for the kitchen and servants' rooms. It is perhaps more than coincidence that the house is situated directly to the south of Andalusia, the house that Nicholas Biddle had remodelled ca. 1836 by Thomas U. Walter, in whose Philadelphia office Le Brun had received his early architectural training. The plan of the house, named Chelwood, may reflect the fact that Le Brun, who was not primarily a designer of residences, had a keen sense of what was appropriate for minor domestic architecture, for it seems to bear little resemblance to the more popular and flamboyant designs of the day. The entrance, placed to one side of the north wing, remai s t tally unpretentious in appearance as well as in position (Fig. i). There is no porch and little of the ornam nt usually found on a large country house of that era. The river facade is almost equally sober in effect. Fenestration is restrained, the pleasing effect of the faqade being largely the result of the good proportions of the veranda (Fig. 2). Here there is very little of the flamboyance of the designs of someone like Samuel Sloan, the Philadelphia arI. No comprehensive study of Le Brun's architecture as thus far been made. Montgomery Schuyler's article in the Architectural Record xxvII (May 1910) deals for the most part with his New York buildings. 2. The author is indebted to Mr. and Mrs. White for their assistance as well as for permission to publish Le Brun's architectural drawings in their possession.