New Castle: Exploring the Diversity of Its Architecture

 

New Castle's City Administration Building, built as a bank in 1917

New Castle’s historic district is a National Historic Landmark for two reasons. First, as I shared in my first blog post on New Castle, it played important roles in Delaware and American history. Second, it has a remarkably diverse collection of historical architecture spanning over 300 years.  

In my first post on New Castle, I shared a walking tour of some of New Castle’s most important buildings—what I called the essentials for any first-time visitor. In this post I’m doing a deeper dive into some of my favorite New Castle buildings in each architectural style. I’m sharing the buildings in order from oldest to newest style, rather than in the order of a walking tour, so you can see how New Castle architecture evolved.

I’m starting with some buildings built before the Revolutionary War. Those buildings are in a style called Georgian, named after King George. One of my favorite Georgian houses in New Castle is Richard McWilliam House at 8 The Strand. It was built in the first half of the 1700s (sources give varying dates).

Richard McWilliam House

McWilliam House has the beautiful Flemish bond brickwork and small windowpanes typical of Georgian houses. McWilliam House also has a “pent roof” hanging over the first floor. In the 1700s, there were no gutters, so pent roofs pushed rain away from the door, windows and foundation. They also shaded the windows, like an awning. They fell out of style by the late 1700s, when Federal style windows and doors became larger and more elaborate. Look at the 1801 Read House at 42 The Strand, for example. There would be no room above the elaborate doorway for a pent roof. 

An example of a late Georgian house is Kensey Johns Sr. House at 2 East 3^rd Street.

Kensey Johns Sr. House

Kensey Johns Sr. built the house in 1790. He was a lawyer, and the wing on the right side was his law office. He was a member of the Delaware delegation that ratified the U.S. Constitution in 1787, making Delaware “The First State.” He eventually became Chief Justice of Delaware.

As I noted in my blog post on New Castle’s essentials, Amstel House at 2 East 4^th Street was built when there was nothing between it and the Court House. It was built to impress everyone going to the Court House. Kensey Johns House, built about 50 years after Amstel House, was also intended to be seen and admired…and to block the view of Amstel House from the Court House.

A few years later, in 1799, Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. built a Federal-style house at 400 Delaware Street.

Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. House

Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. was a son of the Nicholas Van Dyke who lived in the Amstel House across the street. Van Dyke Jr. was a United States congressman and senator.

Federal style started to become popular after the Revolutionary War. Because the Georgian Amstel House is right across the street from the Federal Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. House, this corner is a great place to compare the two very similar styles. Improvements in construction techniques means the Van Dyke Jr. House has finer details than the Amstel House. Windowpanes could now be made larger, so the windows have “6 over 6” panes rather than 12 over 12 on the Amstel House. And muntins—the strips of wood separating the windowpanes—are narrower. The little window in the triangular gable and the dormer windows in the roof are curved rather than rectangular.

Another Federal house is Kensey Johns Van Dyke House at 300 Delaware Street, across from Kensey Johns Sr. House. (Yes, the names are confusing! I think everyone was related in those days.)

Kensey Johns Van Dyke House

Kensey Johns Van Dyke House was built in 1820 by Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. for his son Kensey Johns Van Dyke, 20 years after Nicholas Van Dyke Jr. built his own house at 400 Delaware Street. The large fanlight over the door is characteristic of Federal houses. I love the door and shutters on the first floor—I’ve never seen any others like them.

The Kensey Johns Van Dyke house was the site of a famous wedding. Nicholas Van Dyke Jr.’s daughter married one of the Duponts here. The Marquis de Lafayette not only attended but gave the bride away. The chairs used by the wedding party are now in the Amstel House museum.

Greek Revival was one of the next architectural styles to become popular in the early to mid 1800s. Americans were proud of their democracy and wanted to honor it with homes reflecting ancient Greece, an early democracy. Pierce House at 10 East 4^th Street is a good example of New Castle’s Greek Revival homes. It was probably built around 1840.

Pierce House

My blog post on Delaware City talks about the key features of Greek Revival houses, including the simple styling and relatively flat roofs. Notice that Pierce House has very short windows on the third floor. These kinds of windows were popular on Greek Revival houses because they’re reminiscent of the wide, decorated bands or friezes under the roofs of Greek temples.

New Castle’s Greek Revival houses don’t have the elaborate details seen in Delaware City. The houses at 117-119 East 3^rd Street, probably built in the 1850s, are an exception. They have lovely Greek-style pilasters—fake columns—on the sides of the front doors.

Greek Revival doorways at 117-119 East 3rd Street

You’ll see door shutters like these  throughout New Castle. None of them are original—they were all added in the late 1800s or early 1900s. While door shutters are a great idea—you can have a breeze coming through the door while keeping it shut—it’s not clear why door shutters became particularly popular in New Castle. Houses in other towns along the Delaware Bayshore Byway don’t have them.

Gothic Revival became popular in the mid-1800s.  One of my favorite Gothic Revival buildings in New Castle is Mount Salem Methodist Episcopal Church at 138 East 4^th Street, built in 1878 to serve New Castle’s Black community.

Mount Salem Methodist Episcopal Church

By the mid-1800s, builders were able to add elaborate details, and Gothic Revival is full of them. As I noted in one of my blog posts on Milton, Gothic Revival is known for its steep roofs and gables, its tall, often pointed windows, and its gingerbread trim under the eaves. Mount Salem Church has all these features.

Another lovely Gothic Revival building, with even more elaborate details, is a duplex at 22-24 West 4^th Street.

Gothic Revival duplex at 22-24 West 4th Street

Italianate was another popular style in the mid to late 1800s. A striking example is the former Farmers Bank at 4 The Strand, built in 1851.

Former Farmer's Bank

Farmers Bank looks a bit like an Italian villa, with its flat roof, big eaves, and arched windows. Banks wanted to look modern and prosperous, and Farmers Bank succeeded with a very trendy style and a design that looks like a miniature mansion.

New Castle has many small, simple Italianate row houses built to house workers at local factories. Some of my favorites are at 201-219 Harmony Street, between East 2^nd and East 3^rd Streets, built in the late 1800s.

Italianate row houses at 201-219 Harmony Street

Of course workers’ houses like these are much simpler than Farmers Bank. Italianate is known as “bracket style” because of the large brackets under the roofs. The main Italianate details in these houses are the brackets under the eaves plus the flat roofs.

In the mid- to late 1800s, Second Empire became a popular style. As I mentioned in one of my blog posts on Milton, this style became popular in Paris during the reign of Napoleon III. It soon spread to the United States.

My favorite Second Empire house in New Castle is Christopher Pfrommer House at 125 East 3^rd Street, built in the 1870s or 1880s (sources give varying dates). 

Christopher Pfrommer House

I love the details under the roof and over the windows.

Throughout the 1800s, new building capabilities led to more and more elaborate details. Interest in these details reached a peak in the late 1800s with the Queen Anne style. In Queen Anne houses, nothing is symmetrical, and no wall is plain.

In New Castle a lovely example of Queen Anne style is the former Immanuel Episcopal Church Manse at 101 E 3^rd Street. It was built in 1887.

Former Immanuel Episcopal Church Manse

I love the rounded windows with lattice trim in the gables.

Another popular style in the late 1800s was Richardsonian Romanesque.  A wonderful example in New Castle is the 1892 Old Library at 40 East 3rd Street, which I included in my blog post on New Castle’s essentials. 

Old Library

One of the hallmarks of Richardsonian Romanesque design is wide round arches over building entrances made of large blocks of “rusticated” stone—stone purposely cut roughly rather than smoothly.

Yet another style popular in the late 1800s and into the early 20^th century was Beaux Arts. A lovely example is the City Administration Building at 220 Delaware Street. It's pictured at the top of this post. Here's a side view.

City Administration Building

This was built in 1917 as a bank (see the bank alarm still on the wall). As I’ve already noted, banks wanted to look modern and prosperous. Beaux Arts was a popular style for mansions built by wealthy people, and this looks like a miniature mansion, filled with elaborate details. The huge pilasters (fake columns), large arched windows, decorations along the roof line, and flat roof are all hallmarks of Beaux Arts.

After decades of ornate Victorian buildings, American began to crave a return to simplicity, and this led to the Craftsman style—a sort of back-to-basics movement—in the early 20^th century. A wonderful example of a Craftsman bungalow is at 50 West 5^th Street.

Craftsman bungalow at 50 West 5th Street

This house was built around 1920. Like many Craftsman houses, it is just one and a half stories high, with wide eaves and beams protruding from the roof and gable. Many Craftsman houses have a front porch. The porch on this house has been closed in.

Another back-to-basics style popular in the early 20^th century was American Four-Square. New Castle has a nice example at 143 East 2^nd Street, built in 1917.

 

American Four-Square at 143 East 2nd Street

American Four-Square houses are—you guessed it—square, with 4 rooms on each floor.

As Americans were consumed by enormous changes in the early 20^th century (automobiles, airplanes, a world war, the Roaring Twenties), they began to crave a return to America’s origins—a back-to-basics movement taken to new level. This is when Colonial Revival style became popular. Colonial Revival buildings are inspired by Georgian and Federal buildings but don’t copy them precisely. I think of Colonial Revival as a somewhat prettier, fanciful version of Georgian and Federal.

 In New Castle, my favorite Colonial Revival building is Booker T. Washington School, built in 1923 for New Castle’s Black children. It’s now part of New Castle Senior Center at 400 South Street.

Former Booker T. Washington School

My blog post on the Historic Houses of Odessa includes the story of how schools like this came to be built for Black children throughout Delaware. The schools were two-room schools serving 8 grades: grades 1-4 in one room and grades 5-8 in the other. Black children in New Castle who wanted to go to high school had to go to Wilmington, which was of course impossible for many, so the education of New Castle's Black children often ended at 8^th grade.

Another nice Colonial Revival building in New Castle is the post office at 501 Delaware Street.

New Castle Post Office

Keep in mind that these are only a small fraction of New Castle’s historic treasures! You’ll see plenty more as you walk about town.