Drayton Hall: Preservation over Restoration

Following the first colonial land grant issued to one Nicholas Carteret on

January 7th, 1676, John Drayton purchased this property west of the Ashley River to

create Drayton Hall in 1738. The Drayton Family was a prominent and powerful

family of the time. John’s Father Thomas raised cattle on a tract of land on the

Ashley River for years. At the time of Drayton Hall’s construction, John Drayton

transitioned from a rancher to a planter. In 1738 he began farming rice, a very labor

and slave intensive trade. “The rice likely would have involved at least half the

enslaved people, if not more, who worked at Drayton Hall; it is thought that women

played a larger role in rice cultivation than men. If not involved directly with the rice

crop, enslaved people also filled support roles. Coopers made barrels; blacksmiths

made tools; carpenters made houses, barns, sheds, and other dependencies

(DraytonHall.org).” They also manufactured bricks from South Carolina clay and

eventually mined Phosphate on the property, which would become a large source of

income for the family.

As the Charleston Colony grew larger and more developed, so did John’s

Career. Drayton Hall served at John’s headquarters and later a country house for the

family and home following son Charles Drayton’s death. At the turn of the

Revolutionary War, John Drayton and his family packed their estate in anticipation

of destruction upon soldier’s arrival. John passed away on this journey and the

British army used “Drayton Hall [as a headquarters] until the British finally

evacuated Charleston just before Christmas. Peace had returned. The house had

HPCP339Alex CohnField Notes2/1/16Prof. Bates

survived, but its fields, ornamental gardens, and many of its buildings would have

to be rebuilt (DraytonHall.org).” After the end of the American Revolution, son

Charles Drayton purchased Drayton Hall from his stepmother Rebecca Perry

Drayton, his father’s fourth wife and in 1785 Charles was elected Lt. Governor of

South Carolina and in 1789 he represented St. Andrews Parish at the South

Carolina Constitutional Convention. From then on Drayton Hall was used as an

exceptional expression of the family’s status, prestige and leisure.

It is believed that John Drayton himself designed and commissioned

Drayton Hall. John Drayton was always very much into the English enlightenment

that spread from Europe in the 18th century. “Drayton Hall’s architecture, for

example, was heavily influenced by the classically inspired design principles

originally put forth by Andrea Palladio in Italy during the 16th century. Such were

embraced in England from the 17th century, and gained momentum in the UK and

the American colonies during the 18th century through the publication of

architectural pattern books (DraytonHall.org).” Drayton Hall is the earliest and

finest example of Palladian, specifically Georgian-Palladian, American

architecture.

As I continued down the main drive, Drayton Hall emerged through the

trees in the distance. As this was my first trip to Drayton Hall, I felt as important

driving down that driveway as any person worthy of entering the Drayton home at

that time. Although the landscape is relatively barren today, one could still grasp a

feeling of what it once was: expansive and lush. During its prime, Drayton Hall

featured a long circular drive with raised grass mound and reflecting pool. The

rear featured an expansive classical garden to which John Drayton featured a

second straight path leading to the east riverfront façade. I noticed a trend as if

John Drayton planned the landscape as a line. One enters the premises, continues

straight down the drive, enters the house (which in itself has a line of symmetry

due to its Palladian origins), straight through the house, and down the path in the

rear garden to the water. This was the first design aspect of the property, which

caught my eye.

Georgian-Palladian architecture, originated from Andrea Palladio’s “Four

Books of Architecture.” These buildings are characterized by their symmetry and

regularity of detail. Great houses and public buildings were fronted with massive

porticos with pediments and colonnades inspired by ancient Greek and Roman

temples. Alternating pediments like those on the east façade of Drayton Hall are a

prominent characteristic of Palladian architecture. It is believed that John Drayton

did not study abroad to learn of these style principles but somehow was able to use

William Kent’s books (editing Indigo Jones’ books of architecture) along with

Palladio’s books to facilitate his design. Featuring characteristics such as Indigo

Jones’s Chimneypieces and wooden wall siding back these ideas. Specifically, the

wooden wall siding is a defining feature of Georgian Interiors. “A fully paneled room

of the Georgian period… the rails (horizontal elements) and stiles (vertical

elements) are arranged to observe the basic three-part division of the wall into

frieze, field and dado. As usual the most elaborate joinery and all the carved detail

are confined to the chimneypiece. By this date oak, cedar and walnut paneling was

very rare: most rooms were of pine or fir and invariably painted (Calloway, 86). ”

Drayton Hall features this concept in all rooms along with built in benches. All

feature rail and stile elements and have the three-part nature and express the

Drayton prestige, especially featuring paneling made from the much desired and

expensive material: Cedar.

The most prominent features of the John Drayton Hall are the various

overmantles in each room. This element appears to be closely related to another

design in an architectural book. Specifically the overmantle in the breakroom in the

northwest corner of the home is very similar to Plate 91 in James Gibbs’ “A Book of

Architecture Containing Designs of Buildings and Ornaments.” “In the overmantle, the

open pediment, flanking scrolls and center panel with square corner details all

appear to be the same. The guilloche pattern in the chimneypiece at Drayton Hall

differs from the interlocking scrolls that make a wave pattern in the Gibbs

chimneypiece, but the designs are similar enough to assume a relationship. Unlike

the chimney in the Great Hall, this architectural detail is associated with a book from

the Drayton Library catalog (Lowe 37).” These amazing interior elements are the

largest interior indications of Drayton’s English architectural elements. Gibbs

intended his book to be “of use to such gentlemen as might be concerned in building,

especially in the remote parts of the country, where little or no assistance for

designs can be procured (Lowe 37).” This statement describes exactly John

Drayton’s situation and would lead him to consult these books, as evidence from

Gibbs’ overmantle and that Drayton must have seen this mantle in Gibbs’ book.

Indigo jones expanded on Palladio’s work by enriching it with his own designs of

celling, fireplaces and walls seen in William Kent’s Designs of Indigo Jones.

All signs of design of Drayton Hall express a sense of High Style design and

prestige. The juxtaposition of the two principle facades, one featuring a very

Georgian façade, featuring alternating pediments, a double-stair entryway and

symmetry, symmetry, symmetry while the west front façade features a large

Palladian portico to be seen coming down the drive. This dichotomy is reflected

inside the house as well and features a mix of South Carolinian fashion and Palladian

classicism.

John Drayton featured many different high style materials in his home as

well. Many fireplaces are lined with marble with Georgian fixtures and all furniture,

florets, and balustrades were made of imported mahogany. The house featured

carved bald Cyprus wooden walls with built in seats under most windows. The

house originally featured a crème colored paint but later finished with a blue 1880s

paint. Some rooms feature a faux balanced Palladian door as a characteristic of

symmetry. All fireplaces have high style over mantles ranging in styles picked by

Drayton himself from these books. The ceilings made of plaster featured plaster

designs and the cornice lined with egg and dart molding. All of these elements

expressed prestige and high style at this time and almost every inch of the house

was designed and taken from Europe. The home’s floor plan consisted of a great hall

in the front entry with public spaces to the left and private spaces to the right (same

concept upstairs) with the dining room downstairs and the “ballroom” upstairs.

Both entryways of this home express separate styles with the west façade featuring

a Palladian portico and the east façade featuring a Georgian stair hall.

John Drayton admired the idea of moving through spaces. Each entryway,

whether entering from the road or river, feature the same experience as if a line was

drawn straight through from river, through the house and down the road. Drayton

Hall is one of the finest examples of Georgian-Palladian architecture and feature all

of its greatest characteristics to reflect the main purpose of this house: to showcase

the Family’s prominence. John Drayton truly admired the ideas of architects like

Palladio, Kent, Jones, etc. and conceived such a house that encompassed all of their

ideals while eloquently expressing his own.

Works Cited

1. Calloway, Stephen, Elizabeth C. Cromley, and Alan Powers. "Early Georgian (1714-1765)." The Elements of Style: An Encyclopedia of Domestic Architectural Detail. Buffalo, NY: Firefly, 2005. N. pag. Print.

2. Drayton Hall. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2016. <http://www.draytonhall.org/about-us-then-now/the-history-of-drayton-hall/>.

3. Lowe, Patricia Ann. Volumes That Speak: The Architectural Books of the Drayton Library Catalog and the Design of Drayton Hall. N.p.: Graduate Schools of Clemson U and The College of Charleston, 2010. Print.

4. Detailed Notes from physical tour of Drayton Hall