Fireplace Mantels & Surrounds · Georgian & Colonial Revival
Federal Mantel with Robert Wellford Ornament, Beltzhoover House (c. 1815)
A pine mantel from the Beltzhoover House in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, decorated around 1815 with composition ornament from the Philadelphia workshop of Robert Wellford.
Design characteristics
Robert Wellford ran a Philadelphia business that produced molded composition ornament for mantels, and his decorations appear on Federal-period fireplaces throughout the mid-Atlantic. This mantel is a typical example: a simple pine structure enriched with applied scenes, sunbursts and reeding. It shows that much of the Federal style's elegance came from small, repeatable ornaments applied to plain carpentry, an approach that suits CNC production very well.
Classification
- Category
- Fireplace Mantels & Surrounds
- Material
- Pine
- Motifs
- Composition ornament, Reeding
- Date
- ca. 1815
- Maker or designer
- Robert Wellford
- Recorded medium
- Pine, composition ornament
- Dimensions
- 61 x 94 5/8 in. (154.9 x 240.3 cm)
- Evidence
- Documented historical object
Architectural context
Symmetry, classical proportions and refined raised-panel woodwork. Britain and colonial America · original c. 1714–1830; revival c. 1876–1955.
