Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut by J. Frederick Kelly

This last summer while dismantling the Benjamin Willcox House, ca 1740 in Bristol, Connecticut, I had the pleasure of meeting a couple from Unionville, Connecticut that had recently purchased a similar period saltbox. They invited me over to see their house and I was pleasantly surprised to find the house very intact with great amount of original fabric. The previous owner was a builder with a very good sense of reverence for the house and did an excellent job of preserving and caring for it. The saltbox was very similar in age, ca 1740 and shared many of the same characteristics with the Benjamin Willcox House. The new owners are very energetic and extremely eager to learn all they can about the house. They were not particularly in the market for a period house, but circumstance brought them together.
I spent a fair amount of time looking the house over, answering questions and offering advice on various aspects of the house. Upon leaving I wanted to give them some further direction to research not only their house but period architecture in general. I recommended that they visit Sturbridge Village and Historic Deerfield. I then recommended that they get a copy of J. Frederick Kellys' Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut. After checking in with them a few weeks later, they were so excited to read Kellys seminal book. It got me thinking about just how influential and important a book this is.
Back in the late sixties and early seventies, there was a tremendous movement that could best be described as a movement by young carpenters with an interest in antique tools, their use and early building techniques. Authors such as Eric Sloane painted a very simplistic portrait of early tools and their use through his many published books. Antique tool dealers such as Vernon Ward of Iron Horse Antiques, J. Lee Murray, John Welch and Bud Steere were supplying this new breed of restorationists with usable examples of period tools. Restorationists like Michael Dunbar, Buzzy Dodge, Malcolm McGregor, Norm Vandal, Ted Ingraham, Mike Cotroneo, Jan Lewandoski, Walter Phelps, Doug Gest and myself were not just satisfied to replicate period architectural components, we wanted to recreate them using period tools and techniques. We were building post and beam frames and creating period interiors with minimal information on period techniques. Most of what we learned was through discussions with each other and through one pivotal book, Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut. Here was a book that documented and graphically displayed just what we were striving to achieve.
Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut by J. Frederick Kelly must rank as one of the most influential books published in the twentieth century on early American architecture. Originally published by Yale University Press in 1924, it was again copyrighted by William Kelly in 1952 and was first published as a Dover edition in 1963. And most recently republished by Schiffer Publishing in 2007. For this hugely important book to remain in print or at least readily available for the last 84 years speaks of its indisputable importance.
The opening paragraph in the Foreword pretty well sums up the integrity of this work, " In undertaking this work, the author fully realized that its chief value would depend in a large measure upon the accuracy with which it was done. It has been his sincere endeavor throughout, therefore, to avoid speculation and to make no generalizations which were not backed either by personal observations inn existing work or by authentic documentary evidence. All measurements have been made with the utmost care; and where, as in several instances, it has been necessary to depend upon dimensions previously obtained by others from work which no longer exists, the sources of such data have been authoritative."
Early Domestic Architecture of Connecticut is not only a very good starting point for those just beginning to learn about early architecture but it also remains a constant reliable reference for those working in the field.