The Elizabethan Room - Church of the Atonement
On the second floor of The Church of the Atonement parish house is the Elizabethan Room. Used for meetings and small receptions, the highlight of this room is its wood paneling. Made from English oak, this woodwork includes a carved mantelpiece which serves as the focal point of the space. The paneling was donated to the church by John Hutchings Spencer and Harriet Goss Spencer in 1969. Before 1969 it was installed in of the Spencer home, Weatherstone, in Sharon, Connecticut.
Weatherstone
Weatherstone was built in 1765 by Simeon Smith, an ancestor of Mr. Spencer. Smith was the brother of the well-known Congregational minister Cotton Mather Smith, and the great-grandson of the famous Massachusetts preacher Increase Mather. The paneling now in the Elizabethan Room was installed in Weatherstone by Dr. Byron Stookey who owned the house from 1938 to 1963. According to the National Register nomination for Weatherstone, written before the paneling was removed:
The Library, the south front room, is a 1620 Jacobean carved and panelled [sic.] room brought in the late 1930's from Hallstead House, Bury St. Edmunds, England. The original room, except for the mantel piece, is in place underneath the present room. The present Jacobean mantel is a composition of arches supported by pedestals with carved figures….
The Spencers purchased the house in 1968. As a descendant of the Smiths, Mr. Spencer wished to restore the Library to its original condition and therefore removed the Jacobean paneling.
Installation in The Church of the Atonement
The Spencers worshiped at The Church of the Atonement when visiting family in Edgewater. During a trip to Chicago Mr. Spencer discussed donating the paneling to the church with rector Dean Rice. After this discussion associate rector William Johnson went to see the paneling in place at Weatherstone. As parishioner John Toman remembers it, nothing more was said of the donation until the woodwork arrived unexpectedly during Christmas preparations in December of 1969. Parish records show that by 1971 the room was made ready for the paneling and Mr. Spencer sent Calvin Flint of Lakeville, Connecticut, to install it. To accommodate the configuration of the parish house a new door was constructed for the opening which leads to second floor landing. This door matches the original one which opens into to the associate rector’s office. Other locations where the woodwork was likely modified to fit its current location can be identified by the use of plane-sawn oak as opposed to the more rare quarter-sawn oak of the original paneling. An example of this can be seen on the corners of the chimney enclosure framing the mantle. At the time the paneling was installed the herringbone brick of the fireplace and its concrete hearth were constructed by the Joseph Construction Co. of Chicago.
Today, this impressive room with its fascinating history is a source of great pride to the Atonement congregation.
Jacobean Style
The paneling in the Elizabethan Room is said to date from the reign of King James (1603-1625) and it is therefore considered to be “Jacobean” in style. The term Jacobean comes from the Latin form of James, Jacobus. Immediately following the reign of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, the style of the early seventeenth century is closely related to that of the Tudor period. According to The Elements of Style by Stephen Calloway and Elizabeth Cromley (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1991), “The Tudor and Jacobean periods can be seen as a turning point in British domestic architecture. Fashionable building gradually moved away from the styles and tastes of medieval building toward more sophisticated structures with classical decoration.”
|
|
In the Elizabethan Room this movement can be best seen in the fireplace. Before the sixteenth century fireplaces in individual rooms were not common. Buildings were typically heated by central, open fireplaces in a main room, vented through holes in the ceiling. The individual fireplace was therefore a great modern convenience to be celebrated. The Elizabethan Room fireplace has a stone lintel with a “four centered” arch (a shallow arch that rises to a point in the center), typical of the earlier Tudor period. Above the mantel are more up to date (for 1620) carvings showing the influence of the renaissance, with the hint of classical pilasters carrying a pair of round arches. Separating the arched panels bearded human figures rising from tapered pedestals. Called “herms”, these figures are topped by baskets filled with what appears to be fruit or produce, probably representing abundance or hospitality. Fanciful figures known as “grotesques” fill the upper region of the chimney piece. Here paired dragons are framed by brackets carved with bizarre faces.
The paneling of the walls themselves is typical of the period. As described in The Elements of Style, “Paneling comprises thin boards let into grooves in solid timber uprights and cross members. The boards were generally of oak, measuring no more than 24 inches (60 cm) square and split as thin as possible.” In the Elizabethan Room the grid of uprights and cross members is held together by round pegs. The best place to see this method of construction is on the door to the associate rector’s office.
Text written by John Waters.
Photographs of the Elizabethan Room taken by David Sutton.