![]() Paint without color is only a protective coating signifying nothing. The grand tradition of America’s classic architectural paint colors is imitating traditional building materials ofstone, brick, tile, stucco, and metals. Both were inexpensive, locally made, and not taxed. There’s an old adage about the status of paint that survives in The South-“Too poor to paint too proud to whitewash.” Minor buildings located off the main drag of Colonial Williamsburg got a first coat of an iron oxide color, about which more in a moment, followed by whitewash, a chalk white in a weak glue binder that required frequent recoating. Obvious luxuries, but essential to the upward mobility of Early American home improvements that distinguished a hovel from a home. Everyone knows the Revenue Act of 1767, better known as the Townshend Act, taxed tea but it also imposed duties on paper, glass, lead, and paint. Taxing paint was one of the sparks that ignited the Revolution. He makes do with radical politics he learned from his Scots tutor, comes up trumps, and pours his limited income into his forward-thinking Monticello mansion on a mountain. Jefferson, an outsider lad from the Piedmont attending William & Mary, makes a run at marrying up into the top echelon of the planter class and is refused. He stretches his disposable income buying improvements “in the latest fashion.” ![]() House-proud ambitions for his Mount Vernon mansion on the Potomac keep him going. Washington, born into a lower echelon of Virginia’s planter class, is encamped at Valley Forge, his troops freezing and starving while the enemy is down the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia enjoying wine, women, and song of the British Empire’s second largest city. Mom taught us not to judge books by their covers but that’s how most Americans judge buildings, isn’t it?Ĭonsider two of the most famous house-proud builders of Early American homes, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson-true Americans, men on the make. The biggest bargain in home improvement then and still is exterior paint and its colors, visual affects that can accomplish more for less than any other upgrade. Like us today, many risked personal fortunes moving up to a bigger new house or making do with additions and decorations to an old one. Ever since Europeans first planted homes on the eastern seaboard of the northern hemisphere, Americans have struggled to make them safe, snug, warm, and beautiful. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |