Work at the Manship House continues with the installation of an improved underground drainage system.  The drainage system will further protect the new foundation from the effects of Yazoo clay by directing water away from the house.  Next, the ground level was increased to match the new level of the house.  In some areas, an additional thirteen inches of fill dirt was added to bring the soil grade up to the re-leveled house.  Now that the soil grade has been corrected, the front steps can be reconstructed.

Installing improved drainage.

Regrading after drainage improvements.

Rebuilding the front steps.

Reconstructions from the earlier restoration, all of the chimneys were completely demolished earlier in the project to facilitate re-leveling of the house.  To reconstruct the chimneys, plywood sheathing was first attached to the new steel frames.  Next, a moisture barrier and metal lath were applied to the plywood sheathing to prepare the surface for Portland cement plaster.  Three coats of plaster were then applied, with the last coat providing a smooth finish.  All six chimneys have now been reconstructed to their original dimensions.

Heavy plywood covers the structural steel frame.

Preparing the chimney for plaster.

Reconstructed chimney with finish coat of plaster.

When the Manship House was built in 1857, the front step and side porch buttresses were stuccoed and scored to imitate ashlar masonry.  After the Portland stone color was applied, the incised lines were painted white to heighten the effect of masonry construction.   The front step and side porch buttresses have now been reconstructed, and painted as they had been originally.

Painting the front buttresses.

Freshly painted side porch buttress.

Despite delays caused by the recent rains, progress has continued to take place at the Manship House.  The side porch, step risers, and step wings have been reconstructed and are being primed.  The reconstructed chimneys have been primed and prepared for painting, and most of the interior plaster work has been completed.  Installation of  the new HVAC heating and cooling system is underway.

Reconstructed chimneys.

Rebuilding the side porch.

Installing the new HVAC system.

The original buttresses flanking the front steps would have been built of brick and stuccoed and scored in imitation of ashlar masonry.  They have been rebuilt using concrete blocks so that it is easy to determine that they are part of the current restoration rather than original to the house.  The buttresses, foundation piers, and chimneys will be painted a Portland stone color as recommended by A. J.Downing in the Architecture of Country Houses.

Constructing the buttresses and step risers.

Applying the stucco.

The stucco was scored to imitate ashlar masonry.

Now that construction of the three steel chimney tower frames has been completed, the visible brick portions can be reconstructed.  The steel chimney tower frames, anchored to the steel frame underneath the house, will support the new brick chimney stacks.  The steel chimney frames replace the old heavy interior brick towers that had contributed to the differential movement of the house and foundation.  Each of the three chimney stacks will be reconstructed to the same dimensions as the original chimneys, but will not be functional.

Reconstructing the south west chimney stack.

The design of the Manship House was probably inspired by Design XXIV - A Cottage – Villa in the Rural Gothic Style, in Alexander Jackson Downing’s The Architecture of Country Houses, a popular pattern book published in 1850.  In The Architecture of Country Houses, Downing describes the effect of the chimney design for Design XXIV:

…The high pointed gable of the central and highest part of this design has a bold and spirited effect, which would be out of keeping with the cottage-like modesty of the drooping, hipped roof, were it not for the equally bold manner in which the chimney-tops spring upwards.  Altogether, then, we should say that the character expressed by the exterior of this design is that of a man or family of domestic tastes, but with strong aspirations after something higher than social pleasures….

Design XXIV – A Cottage Villa in the Rural Gothic Style.

Manship House dining room, 2009.

The dining room was said to be Charles Henry Manship’s favorite room, and was originally painted by him in imitation of oak paneling.  The plaster walls were wallpapered and painted with a golden base color.  Thin glazes were applied to look like oak, and then varnished to give the walls luster and durability.  Over the years, the dining room was host to many Manship family Christmas dinners.  Menus for Christmas dinners were featured in popular magazines and often included a variety of meats and fowl.  Then, as now, cranberry jelly was suggested as an accompaniment to various meats.  The following recipe is from Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, December, 1879:

CRANBERRY JELLY.

Ingredients. – One quart of cranberries,

One pound of loaf sugar.

Wash the cranberries in clear, cold water, and put them in a porcelain saucepan, with as much water as remains on them after washing.  If lifted out of the water with a skimmer, sufficient remains on the berries.  Stew very slowly until every berry has burst open; strain through a colander, squeezing out every particle of pulp from the skin.  Put the pulp and juice back in the saucepan; add the sugar and boil half an hour, stirring very frequently.  Wet a mould with iced water, and pour in the jelly.  When cold, turn out.  A very ornamental dish to serve with poultry.

Manship House parlor, 2009.

Christmas trees in the nineteenth century were commonly placed on the table in the parlor, the most formal room in the house.  This tradition followed the fashion set by Britain’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  Children and adults made their own ornaments before commercial production made them commonly available.  Small gifts were often hung on the trees.  Cookies, dried and preserved fruits, and gilded nuts made fashionable as well as tasty decorations.  Cornucopias, bon-bon boxes, tiny drums, and nest shaped baskets held Christmas sweets.  Magazines offered inspiration and instructions for making a wide variety of Christmas tree decorations at home.  Godey’s Lady’s Book and Magazine, December, 1879, included the following instructions:

BOX FOR SWEETS FOR CHRISTMAS-TREE.

     This little box, which is in the form of a witch’s pointed hat, may be easily made.  The crown is cut from a piece of thin cardboard or stiff paper, folded in the shape of a sugar-paper, cut evenly at the bottom.  It is covered with black satin, edged with a row of silver beads, and is ornamented with a circle of silver beads and one scarlet feather, which may easily be made by painting a small white feather with a little vermillion paint, if a scarlet feather or dye is not to be had readily.  For the brim and inside, which is made to hold sweets, take the bottom of an ordinary pill-box, line it with a little tin-foil, and sew it to a circle of cardboard covered with black satin.  A narrow ribbon can be fastened at one side to attach it to the Christmas-tree.

Golden Wedding announcement. Call number Z/1129.000 MDAH Collection

Charles Henry and Adaline Manship celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary December 12, 1888, surrounded by their ten surviving children, and numerous grandchildren.  The Jackson newspaper, The New Mississippian, December 12, 1888, described the special occasion:

Golden Wedding

    Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Manship to-day, at their lovely home, celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage.  This pleasant event which is vouchsafed to but few – very few, is also made the occasion of a happy family re-union, the first enjoyed by them in years.

     Mr. and Mrs. Manship were married just a half century ago, in this city, and their wedded union has been blessed with fifteen children, ten of whom still survive, all grown to the estate of man and womanhood; and it is a family of children, too, upon whom any parent might well look with pride and affection.  Mr. Manship has long since passed the allotted years of three-score and ten, and now enjoys the distinction of being Jackson’s oldest resident.  He and his estimable family passed in the very highest degree, the respect, confidence and esteem of the community; and we but echo the universal sentiment, when we wish the venerable couple many more years of companionship, ‘ere the sands in the glass of life shall have been run, secure in the love of their children and the affection of their friends.

Over the past several months, a great deal of work has been accomplished at the Manship House.  The house has been brought back to level and the building is supported by the new structural steel frame.  All three of the steel chimney tower frames have been constructed.  Work now shifts from demolition and the extensive work underneath the house, to rebuilding the chimneys, brick piers, and porches.

Construction of brick piers.

Reconstructing the buttress for the front steps.