Exploring Architecture
American Georgian, 1711-1780
Wells-Thorn House - Main Building
The Street, Deerfield, MA
Built between 1751 and 1757
Explore the interactive image and read about the house. Linked words will pop up glossary definitions. A non-flash, printable version of this feature is also available.
Run your cursor over the picture of the Wells-Thorn house to discover more about what makes this home Georgian and what decorative elements were taken from Classical architecture.
The Wells-Thorn House
The Wells-Thorn House is a big building that has been around for a very long time. It was built in several sections and in many styles over the course of the 18th and 19th centuries. This second section, now the main building, was built between 1751 and 1757.
The Georgian Style came to America during the early 1700s, influencing house building throughout the English colonies. As people realized they were here to stay and their settlements were becoming towns and cities, homes became more than just safe havens. Unlike the small, boxy houses of the earlier Post Medieval Style, Georgian homes were larger, often a full two stories high and one room deep. Design, not need, decided where windows and doors were placed. What makes the Wells-Thorn House Georgian?
Like other Georgian buildings, the Wells-Thorn house is completely symmetrical, inside and out. On the inside, it is organized using a hall and parlor plan, with two rooms on the first floor and two rooms above. In the 18th century, Georgian homes were planned according to a complex system of balance and proportion. During the design stage, the façade of a Georgian home is divided into small parts and bays . All of the parts and bays work together to all create a balanced design.
The outside of the Wells-Thorn House contains something else that is new to American architecture; decoration. It appears around the door, over the windows, and even under the eaves. The Georgian Style included many architectural elements, like pediments, pilasters and dentils, which are inspired by the designs of classical Greece and Rome.
History Ebenezer Wells built this portion of the Wells-Thorn House sometime between 1751, (records show that he began purchasing nails and other supplies during this year) and 1757. Ebenezer and his wife, Abigail Barnard Wells, lived in this home with their two slaves, Lucy and Cesar. The Wells had no children. This addition was radically different from the old section. It doubled the size of their house, and placed the entrance on the West (the original section has the front door on the South).
Ebenezer Wells died in 1758, leaving the house to his newly married 28-year-old nephew, also named Ebenezer. His widow Abigail moved to Northampton. Nephew Ebenezer and his wife Mercy (Bardwell) had nine children, eight of whom lived to adulthood. The house was revised, updated, and rearranged, in order to accommodate the growing family. When nephew Ebenezer died in 1783, an extensive inventory of his possessions was compiled.
Nephew Ebenezer left the Wells-Thorn House to his wife, Mercy. Their son Ebenezer and his wife Anna (Saxton) joined her in the house. Son Ebenezer was a silversmith by trade and, like his grandfather, operated a tavern in the home. Mercy actually outlived her son Ebenezer, who died in 1793. In 1795, Mercy transferred ownership of the entire house to another son David. Mercy continued to live there until she died in 1801.
David Wells did not live in the Wells-Thorn House with his mother, having his own home just next door. Shortly after receiving it, David sold the house to Hezekiah Wright Strong, a lawyer from Amherst. Hezekiah only lived and worked in the Well-Thorn House for three years, selling it in 1804 to blacksmith John Dwight. In 1808, Dwight sold the portion of the property not used for his trade, to Orlando Ware, a storekeeper and prominent man-about-town in Deerfield. The house remained in the Ware family until 1905.
In 1905 Luanna Thorn purchased the house from the Ware family. Her husband Edwin was a doctor, an antiquarian, collector and cabinetmaker, who became very involved in Deerfield life. In 1962 Historic Deerfield, Inc purchased the Wells-Thorn House. It has been fully restored and is open to the public as a Museum.
Floor Plan
Many Georgian homes were laid out according to a symmetricalHall and Parlor Plan. This plan featured a center chimney with rooms of equal size on either side. In front of the chimney was an inner entryway called a porch and a stairway leading up to the garret. To the right of the chimney was the parlor. Up the stairs were two more rooms, called chambers, which were used mostly for sleeping.
Interior
North Parlor, Northwest Corner
Courtesy of Historic Deerfield, Inc., photography by Amanda Merullo
South Parlor, Southwest Corner
Courtesy of Historic Deerfield, Inc., photography by Amanda Merullo
