Charles Ives House
Encyclopedia
The Charles Ives House, also known as Charles Ives Birthplace, is located on Mountainville Avenue in Danbury
, Connecticut, United States. It is a wooden frame
structure built in 1780 and expanded on since. Over the course of the 19th century it was the residence of several generations of Iveses, a family important in the city's history. In 1874 it was the birthplace of Charles Ives
, who became an internationally recognized composer in the early 20th century.
It was originally on Main Street
, but was moved twice when two local banks needed to expand. The second move took it to near the current location, south of Rogers Park. It was moved a third time to allow for the construction of a nearby school. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1976. Today it is operated as a museum by the Danbury Museum and Historical Society
.
A driveway comes into the south side of the house, and large mature trees shelter its north. The building itself is a one-and-a-half-story wood frame
structure on a brick foundation
sided in clapboard
with beaded corner boards in two sections. Two brick chimneys pierce the roof of the western wing.
The main section has a gambrel roof, with slightly overhanging eaves and raked cornice
on its eastern side. The east (front) entrance is located in a gable
d portico
with its roof supported by two square fluted
columns with similar capitals
. Two Corinthinan
pilaster
s join it to the house. Its closed pediment
has a half-round molded
dentil course. Three dormer windows with semicircular fanlights pierce the roof's lower slant at the front.
A western wing projects from the main block at that side. Connecting it and the main block on the north side is a small porch with square fluted columns similar to those on the front. Its southern roof pitch
is greater than that on the north. On that elevation is a double-windowed dormer without the fanlight
. On the south side of the wing is a small one-story, three-bay
addition with a wheelchair ramp
. A shed-roofed porch is on the west side.
The interior has been extensively altered. Almost no original finishes are left. The woodwork is plain Victorian
. The house is floored in uniform width tongue and groove
boards and the walls appear to be lath and plaster
.
was ending. At that time Danbury was a small area of houses and shops around a Congregationalist church on what is today Main Street
. Tucker ran a private school out of the house as well.
In 1828, Isaac Ives bought the house. He was in his 80s at the time, and it would become identified with the family primarily due to his son George White Ives. At informal gatherings in the house, the younger Ives would help found the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad
, still in use today as the Danbury Branch of Metro-North
's New Haven Line, and the Savings Bank of Danbury, one of the earliest local banks.
Other Ives descendants sat on the board of what became the Danbury Fair
and Danbury Hospital
. George Edward Ives fought in the Civil War
with the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery during the Overland Campaign
. Lyman Brewster, who married into the family, met in the house with Woodrow Wilson
while drafting the Negotiable Instruments Act
. The Iveses also developed side streets off Main, one of which is now named for the family, as the settlement grew into a city by the end of the century. They also added the wing on the house and redecorated its interior in accordance with the taste of the times.
Charles Ives
was born in the house in 1874, while it was still located at 210 Main Street. While he was still in early childhood his family moved to Stevens Street, but they came back for frequent family occasions, which often included playing classical music
on the piano. Even after he went to Yale University
and lived in places other than Danbury for the rest of his life, he often returned to the family home. In 1924 the front dormers were added, the year the Iveses moved the house to Chapel Place, just behind the first site, so the Danbury National Bank could expand. Charles and his brother also felt that, in a neighborhood that was by then heavily commercial, it had lost the aura that had helped inspire his music.
Ives still visited the house frequently over the rest of his life, even after he gave up composing and moved to nearby West Redding, where he died in 1954. It is the only extant former residence of his that is connected to his musical career, since the two houses where he lived in Hartsdale, New York
, during most of his productive years are no longer in existence. After his death his sister-in-law remained in the house until her death in 1964.
Three years later, in 1967, another bank, Fairfield County Trust, wanted to expand the parking lot the house was adjacent to. The bank conveyed the house to the Danbury Historical Society, which bought a 14 acres (5.7 ha) site south of Rogers Park and moved it to Memorial Drive, since it was too small to be added to the museum's existing property at the John Rider House
. It was moved for the last time in 1971, four years later, when the local school district wanted to build Rogers Park Junior High School. To facilitate this move, the schools leased the eastern seven acres from the museum for 99 years
with an option to renew.
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....
, Connecticut, United States. It is a wooden frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
structure built in 1780 and expanded on since. Over the course of the 19th century it was the residence of several generations of Iveses, a family important in the city's history. In 1874 it was the birthplace of Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, who became an internationally recognized composer in the early 20th century.
It was originally on Main Street
Main Street Historic District (Danbury, Connecticut)
The Main Street Historic District in Danbury, Connecticut, United States, is the oldest section of that city, at its geographical center. It has long been the city's commercial core and downtown...
, but was moved twice when two local banks needed to expand. The second move took it to near the current location, south of Rogers Park. It was moved a third time to allow for the construction of a nearby school. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1976. Today it is operated as a museum by the Danbury Museum and Historical Society
Danbury Museum and Historical Society
The Danbury Museum and Historical Society is a private museum located in Danbury, Connecticut, the purpose of which is to acquire, preserve, exhibit, and interpret the heritage of the greater Danbury area for education, information, and research. The main campus of the museum is located on 43 Main...
.
Building
The house is located on a seven-acre (3 ha) parcel on the east side of Mountainville Road just south of where Southern Boulevard splits off and Mountainville Avenue becomes Mountainville Road. It is south of Rogers Park and west of Rogers Park Junior High School. A small pond separates those two buildings. To the north the land is generally level and open, with single-family homes on the streets giving way to baseball diamonds in the park. South of the house the land rises to a hill and becomes wooded, with larger houses.A driveway comes into the south side of the house, and large mature trees shelter its north. The building itself is a one-and-a-half-story wood frame
Timber framing
Timber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
structure on a brick foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
sided in clapboard
Clapboard (architecture)
Clapboard, also known as bevel siding or lap siding or weather-board , is a board used typically for exterior horizontal siding that has one edge thicker than the other and where the board above laps over the one below...
with beaded corner boards in two sections. Two brick chimneys pierce the roof of the western wing.
The main section has a gambrel roof, with slightly overhanging eaves and raked cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
on its eastern side. The east (front) entrance is located in a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
d portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with its roof supported by two square fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
columns with similar capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
. Two Corinthinan
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s join it to the house. Its closed pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
has a half-round molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
dentil course. Three dormer windows with semicircular fanlights pierce the roof's lower slant at the front.
A western wing projects from the main block at that side. Connecting it and the main block on the north side is a small porch with square fluted columns similar to those on the front. Its southern roof pitch
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
is greater than that on the north. On that elevation is a double-windowed dormer without the fanlight
Fanlight
A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...
. On the south side of the wing is a small one-story, three-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
addition with a wheelchair ramp
Wheelchair ramp
A wheelchair ramp is an inclined plane installed in addition to or instead of stairs. Ramps permit wheelchair users, as well as people pushing strollers, carts, or other wheeled objects, to more easily access a building....
. A shed-roofed porch is on the west side.
The interior has been extensively altered. Almost no original finishes are left. The woodwork is plain Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
. The house is floored in uniform width tongue and groove
Tongue and groove
A strong joint, the tongue and groove joint is widely used for re-entrant angles. The effect of wood shrinkage is concealed when the joint is beaded or otherwise moulded...
boards and the walls appear to be lath and plaster
Lath and plaster
Lath and plaster is a building process used mainly for interior walls in Canada and the United States until the late 1950s. After the 1950s, drywall began to replace the lath and plaster process in the United States. In the United Kingdom, lath and plaster was used for some interior partition...
.
History
The main section was built by Thomas Tucker in 1780, as the Revolutionary WarAmerican Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
was ending. At that time Danbury was a small area of houses and shops around a Congregationalist church on what is today Main Street
Main Street Historic District (Danbury, Connecticut)
The Main Street Historic District in Danbury, Connecticut, United States, is the oldest section of that city, at its geographical center. It has long been the city's commercial core and downtown...
. Tucker ran a private school out of the house as well.
In 1828, Isaac Ives bought the house. He was in his 80s at the time, and it would become identified with the family primarily due to his son George White Ives. At informal gatherings in the house, the younger Ives would help found the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad
Danbury and Norwalk Railroad
The Danbury and Norwalk Railroad was an independent American railroad that operated between its namesake cities in Connecticut from 1852 until its absorption by the Housatonic Railroad in 1887...
, still in use today as the Danbury Branch of Metro-North
Metro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United...
's New Haven Line, and the Savings Bank of Danbury, one of the earliest local banks.
Other Ives descendants sat on the board of what became the Danbury Fair
Danbury Fair
The Danbury Fair was a yearly exhibition in Danbury, Connecticut. It was begun in 1821 as an agricultural fair, but did not have a regular schedule until 1869 when hat manufacturers Rundle and White helped form the Danbury Farmers and Manufacturers Society...
and Danbury Hospital
Danbury Hospital
Danbury Hospital is a 371-bed hospital in Danbury, Connecticut serving patients in Fairfield County, Connecticut and Putnam County, New York.The hospital has 3,300 employees. John M. Murphy, M.D...
. George Edward Ives fought in the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
with the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery during the Overland Campaign
Overland Campaign
The Overland Campaign, also known as Grant's Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies, directed the actions of the Army of the...
. Lyman Brewster, who married into the family, met in the house with Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
while drafting the Negotiable Instruments Act
Negotiable Instruments Act
Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, was passed by British India and for over 130 years and expect for amendments, the question revising the Act as a whole never been raised...
. The Iveses also developed side streets off Main, one of which is now named for the family, as the settlement grew into a city by the end of the century. They also added the wing on the house and redecorated its interior in accordance with the taste of the times.
Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
was born in the house in 1874, while it was still located at 210 Main Street. While he was still in early childhood his family moved to Stevens Street, but they came back for frequent family occasions, which often included playing classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
on the piano. Even after he went to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and lived in places other than Danbury for the rest of his life, he often returned to the family home. In 1924 the front dormers were added, the year the Iveses moved the house to Chapel Place, just behind the first site, so the Danbury National Bank could expand. Charles and his brother also felt that, in a neighborhood that was by then heavily commercial, it had lost the aura that had helped inspire his music.
Ives still visited the house frequently over the rest of his life, even after he gave up composing and moved to nearby West Redding, where he died in 1954. It is the only extant former residence of his that is connected to his musical career, since the two houses where he lived in Hartsdale, New York
Hartsdale, New York
Hartsdale is a hamlet and a census-designated place located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Hartsdale is located at ....
, during most of his productive years are no longer in existence. After his death his sister-in-law remained in the house until her death in 1964.
Three years later, in 1967, another bank, Fairfield County Trust, wanted to expand the parking lot the house was adjacent to. The bank conveyed the house to the Danbury Historical Society, which bought a 14 acres (5.7 ha) site south of Rogers Park and moved it to Memorial Drive, since it was too small to be added to the museum's existing property at the John Rider House
John Rider House
The John Rider House is located on Main Street in Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It is a wooden frame house dating to the late 18th century....
. It was moved for the last time in 1971, four years later, when the local school district wanted to build Rogers Park Junior High School. To facilitate this move, the schools leased the eastern seven acres from the museum for 99 years
99-year lease
A 99-year lease was, under historic common law, the longest possible term of a lease of real property. It is no longer the law in most common law jurisdictions today, yet 99-year leases continue to be common as a matter of business practice and conventional wisdom.-The law:Under the traditional...
with an option to renew.