View of Haddon Hall in Haddonfield, New Jersey

Images(4)

View of Haddon Hall in Haddonfield, New Jersey

Artist John Evans Redman

Periodca. 1825 - 1830

MediumWatercolor, gouache and ink on paper

Dimensions7.75 × 10 in. (19.7 × 25.4 cm)

InscribedInscribed on reverse, "House built by Elizabeth Estaugh in 1713. / Painted by John Evans Redman about the year 1830. / Destroyed by fire in 1842." A label affixed to the reverse reads, "Haddon Hall / built in 1713 / Destroyed by fire in 1842 / This picture painted in 1830 / by / John Evans Redman"

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1942

Object number1799

DescriptionA very detailed view of a large two story, double pile, gambrel roofed house painted yellow, with a five bay facade, a single chimney on the gable end, a belt course between the first and second floors, and two rounded dormers. The main entrance is centered on the front elevation, flanked by two windows with shutters on each side. Four windows lacking shutters align above them on the second floor. A second entrance in the gable end provides access to a walled garden with pathways laid out. To the left of the main house block, a smaller two story structure abutts it, projecting forward a few feet. It has one doorway and two windows on the first floor, a pent roof between the first and second floors, two windows on the second floor, a gable roof, and one chimney on the left gable end. To the right of the main house and beyond the garden is a red building with one chimney. A picket or board fence extends across the front of the house to the left of the garden wall. A long curving lane bordered by post and rail fences leads from the road in the foreground to the house, passing to its left. A coach drawn by two horses is depicted on the lane approaching the house. A post and rail fence divides the lot to the right of the lane into two fields. Worm fencing borders the road in the foreground, with an ornamental gate providing access to the lane. Additional worm fencing can be seen at the back of the partly harvested field of grain or hay to the left of the lane. Trees of varying sizes and species and other plantings surround the house and fill the garden, with a possible orchard in the middle distance in front of the garden wall. The horse-drawn vehicle in the center foreground appears to be a log carrier. It consists of a set of wheels at the rear, and a second set of wheels in front provided with a place for the driver to stand. A single log is being transported in this scene.
Curatorial RemarksJohn Evans Redman (1786 - 1838), the artist of this watercolor, was born in Gloucester County, NJ, a son of Thomas Redman (1742 - 1823) and Rebecca Foster White (1745 - 1803). A descendant of Elizabeth Estaugh's first cousin John Gill, he spent his adult life in Philadelphia, where in 1808 he married Hannah Knorr (1786 - 1832). However, Redman was disowned by the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting four months later for marrying out of meeting or contrary to discipline. In 1830, he and his wife were residents of the Northern Liberties. An obituary stated that Redman died after a lingering illness at the age of fifty-three, and that he had served as a teller for the Kensington Bank. The watercolor of Haddon Hall was published in 1909 as a frontispiece to a highly romanticized article by Samuel N. Rhoads entitled "Haddon Hall in Haddonfield, New Jersey." It appeared in the Bulletin of the Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia. Rhoads was a descendant of Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh's nephew and ward, Ebenezer Hopkins, who came to America in 1723 to live with his childless aunt. John E. Redman, the artist, produced a second watercolor of Haddon Hall that was taken from a vantage point closer to the mansion. It appears in color on the dust jacket of a 2013 book by Jeffrey M. Dorwart and Elizabeth Lyons entitled "Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, 1680 - 1762: Building the Quaker Community of Haddonfield, New Jersey, 1701 - 1762." At that time, the second watercolor was owned privately. A third work by Redman appeared in an 1830 issue of a Philadelphia magazine called "The Casket: Flowers of Literature, Wit & Sentiment," published by S. C. Atkinson. The woodcut by engraver George Gilbert, based on a drawing or watercolor, was signed in the lower left, "J. E. Redman, del." Presumably, the artist also wrote the effusive article that accompanied it called "Hopkins' Mill and Environs." The woodcut depicts an unusual grist mill on Cooper's Creek near Haddonfield built about 1800 for John Hopkins by millwright William Ellis. It was powered by both water and wind. Redman set the mill in a romantic landscape described in detail in the accompanying text. The date the woodcut appeared in print apparently serves as the basis for dating the watercolor as both views were taken a short distance from each other.NotesThis exceptional watercolor, with all of its various fences and plantings, depicts one of the great historic houses of Camden County - Haddon Hall in Haddonfield. The very large structure was according to tradition built in 1713 by successful business woman and estate manager Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh (1680 - 1762). It burned in 1842, but a new residence was apparently erected on the foundations of the old one. If that is the case, then the main block of the house measured 46 feet wide by 36 feet deep. That compares favorably to the landmark William Trent House built about 1719 and still standing in Trenton, which measures 48 feet wide by 37 feet deep. A late 19th century floorplan drawing of Haddon Hall prepared by a woman who had resided in the house for eight years before the fire shows that it and the Trent House shared virtually identical interior layouts, except in mirror image. The triple run staircase at Haddon Hall was situated to the left rear of the center through hallway, whereas that at the Trent House was located to the right rear. The major difference between the two structures was the roof configuration. The Trent House features a hip roof surmounted by a cupola. Haddon Hall had a gambrel roof. Other early two-story brick and/or stone houses in the greater Philadelphia area also incorporated gambrel roofs. These include the Griffith Morgan House in Pennsauken (after 1714), the Benjamin Cooper House in Camden (1734), and Graeme Park in Horsham, PA (ca. 1722). But Haddon Hall stands out by being two rooms deep, whereas the three houses named are but a single room deep. Examples of early gambrel roof houses that are two rooms deep and two stories high include the William Allinson House (1731) and the Daniel and Mary Smith House (1733, demolished), both in Burlington. By any standard, Haddon Hall was built on a grand scale not equalled by many other houses in that part of New Jersey. That brings up the question of its dating. One author named Samuel N. Rhoads, writing in 1909, believed that the 1713 structure was the wing shown to the left of the main house in the watercolor. He felt that the larger section came along a number of years later. That the wing represented earlier construction was confirmed by the double thickness of the brick party wall, the first floor of the annex being three feet lower than the main house, and the height of the ceilings so different that no second story connection between the two sections existed. Another author theorized in 2013 that the wing was built in 1701, and the main house in 1713. With documentation lacking to prove either position, at least both authors agreed that Haddon Hall represented two phases of construction. By the 1820s, the entire brick structure had been covered with rough cast or mastic, which is a cement-like substance. There are two principal reasons for doing this - to hide major alterations in the locations of doors and windows, or to protect brickwork that had started to spall and deteriorate. After the application of rough cast to the exterior of Haddon Hall, the mansion was painted yellow as seen in the watercolor. Other features shown in the delightful scene include a brick wall around the garden to the right of the house, and a one story brick building behind it. Portions of the wall were still standing as of a 1930s recording of the 1842 house by the Historic American Buildings Survey. The brick dependency was a distillery or brew house built in the 18th century that was raised to two stories as part of the 1842 rebuilding. It still survives as of this writing, the only extant remnant of Elizabeth Estaugh's magnificent colonial estate.

Collections