Hammond-Harwood House
The Hammond - Harwood House was begun in 1774 for Matthias Hammond, a wealthy planter who also served in the Maryland state legislature. The architect, British immigrant William Buckland, designed this house in the Anglo-Palladian style - an architectural innovation for the colonies at this point. Annapolis experienced what is often called its "Golden Age" from 1760 to the Revolution. Under the governorship of Robert Eden, from 1769-1776, Annapolis developed a thriving social scene. Thomas Jefferson greatly admired Buckman's front door for the house, describing it as the finest of the republic.
William Buckland, the architect for the Hammond-Harwood House, started his work in America as an indentured craftsman in Virginia. He worked on George Mason's Gunston Hall. Buckland's indenture expired in 1759. He married and remained in Virginia for almost twenty years before moving his family and workshop to Annapolis in 1771. Buckland was drawn to Annapolis by work on several fine homes going up with a thriving social scene. Buckland first client in Annapolis is Edward Lloyd IV, who had bought the unfinished house that is now directly across from the Hammond-Harwood House. At the Chase-Lloyd House, Buckland oversaw the finishing of the interiors and created the Palladian doorway you see on the house's façade. Some of the outstanding woodcarvings of the Hammond-Harwood house are attributed to Thomas Hall, an English carver who came to Annapolis from Virginia with William Buckland and worked on the previous Chase-Lloyd house.
The Garden Facade: The house that Buckland designed for Hammond is a five-part house. There is the central block that was the primary residence for the family. At either end are wings used for offices, kitchens, and enslaved people's quarters, connected by enclosed passages called HYPHENS.
The Hammond-Harwood House is considered one of the great examples of American Colonial architecture. What makes the house so unique is is the only known Palladio-inspired design of this colonial period. William Buckland adapted Palladio's Villa Pisani design to accommodate colonial Annapolis's preference for functionality and local building traditions and techniques. Buckland designed the house from 1773 to 1774 for Matthias Hammond, a 25-year-old tobacco planter. Due to family issues on other properties, he never lived in the house and started renting it out. The house's Palladian country villa influence was greatly admired by Thomas Jefferson, who did several sketches when he served the government in Annapolis from 1783 to 1784. He considered the front door the most beautiful of the new republic. Jefferson would incorporate the semi-octagonal bays in his design for Monticello.
Ballroom/Withdrawing Room: After dining together, men might remain at the table to smoke while women retire to this room to pursue separate conversations - a transplanted English tradition. The room's scale allowed it to function as a ballroom as well.
The style of the Withdrawing Room/Ballroom is neoclassical - a simpler and more linear version of classicism than the Rococo detailed dining room. There is a faux door to the right to maintain the design symmetry of the fireplace wall.
The exterior of the house is textbook symmetrical as the period esthetic demanded. The Hammond–Harwood House is a five-part brick house with a five-bay two-story central block, two-story end wings, and one-story connecting hyphens on either side. The central block has a shallow-hipped roof. The wings project toward the street with three-sided hipped-roof bays. The interiors of the Annapolis Hammond-Harwood House present the appearance of symmetry where they are not symmetrical out of concern for a more practical layout. William Buckland uses false doors if necessary to maintain the illusion. For example, Buckland used a "Jib Door" in the dining room to provide a garden door, keeping the window's illusion of symmetry.
The five-part plan has the signature of Italian architect ANDREA PALLADIO, who built numerous houses of this type but also published the designs in his illustrated architectural treatise titled The Four Books of Architecture. Palladio had extensively studied ancient Roman architecture, which he took as his model. Buckland was interpreting VILLA PISANI AT MONTAGNA, from PALLADIO'S FOUR BOOKS OF ARCHITECTURE.
In the "Annapolis Plan" used for the Hammond-Harwood House, the front door opens onto a central passage that does not run the full depth of the house. In addition, the stairs are moved from the main entrance to one side of the house. This arrangement creates a larger room at the back of the house. In 1765 Buckland had taken on an apprentice named John Randall, who stayed with Buckland as a journeyman after serving his apprenticeship. Randall may have finished overseeing work on this house after Buckland's death. Randall also worked with Buckland on Edward Lloyd IV's House beginning in 1772 and the Maryland State House. Randall was later mayor of Annapolis - and would be elected mayor of Annapolis three times. The great-grandson of architect William Buckman, William Harwood, took ownership of the house in 1832 by marriage to Hester Ann Lockerman who inherited the house purchased by her family in 1811.
Buckland followed the local custom of using the "Annapolis plan" to lay out the rooms. A non-symmetrical floor plan in which the stair hall is off to one side. The passage does not run the full depth of the house, allowing space for a larger room on the garden side. You can see this effect in the photo on the right where the dining room, which benefits from the additional space, is located.
Dining Room: This room has the house's most elaborate wood and stucco decoration. The overall decorative scheme for a room like this could be found in Buckland's pattern books, such as Isaac Ware's Complete Body of Architecture. The faux door to the right is open and shows the brick walls used for the house. The same Rococo influence can be seen in Buckman's designs for Gunston Hall.
Dining Room: Buckland had his own painter, an indentured servant, attached to his workshop. Most pigments were imported from England from the colonial to the early national periods. Color was a luxury item in the pre-industrial world. The wood carving of this room may have been done by English carver Thomas Hall who came with Buckland from Virginia and worked together on the Chase-Lloyd House across the street.
First Floor Study Chamber: Desk-and-bookcase attributed to John Shaw, Annapolis, Maryland, ca. 1797. Mahogany, mahogany veneer, and lightwood inlay with tulip poplar and yellow pine.
A portrait of Buckland by Charles Willson Peale - The portrait was probably commissioned in 1774 but left unfinished when he died later that year. Peale eventually finished the painting for Buckland's daughter and son-in-law.
Some of the furniture in the house is from renowned Annapolis cabinetmaker John Shaw (1745–1829). He was considered the foremost cabinetmaker in Annapolis during the late 18th century - and trained in Scotland rather than England.
Hammond-Harwood House - showing the gracefully curved railing detail and front door on the front facade.
