Part 13. Architecture: The Young Carpenter's Assistant (Owen Biddle)
The Cornelius Tiebout engravings in Parts 1-12 depict distinctively American people, places, and things. Here in Part 13, they represent one of the earliest architecture books to be published in America. Indeed, the full title of his book reflects this distinctive American character: The Young Carpenter's Assistant, or A System of Architecture, Adapted to the Style of Building in the United States. This book, by Owen Biddle (1774-1806), was first published in 1805. Included are 19 plates engraved by Tiebout. All but one of these appears also in subsequent editions of the book, in 1810, 1815, and 1817. Images of the 18 plates in the 1815 edition can be viewed online: Internet Archive and Hathitrust.
See the notes and links below regarding the still-standing bank building.
The following list includes titles or summaries of the 19 figures engraved by Tiebout:
1. Title page of the 1815 edition
2. Copyright notice
3. Preface, 1st page
4. Preface, 2nd page
5. Page 5
6. Page 6
7. Page 7
8. Page 8
9. Frame for a Mettle Rabbit (1805)
10. Plate 1: Draught-board, T-square, diagrams of drafting principles
11. Plate 2: Geometric diagrams for drawing ellipsis, polygons
12. Plate 3: Geometric diagrams for drawing an octagon, various circles, groined arches
13. Plate 4: Moldings, vase, and baluster
14. Plate 5: Methods of enlarging and contracting a draught of a cornice
15. Plate 6: Method of finding and drawing the form and sweep of a cornice
16. Plate 19: Pedimented dormer window
17. Plate 20: Venetian window in the Ionic Order
18. Plate 21: Two ornamented mantels
19. Plate 22: Two more ornamented mantels
20. Plate 37: Plan and elevation of a large house
21. Plate 38: Section of the same house with plan of the cellar
22. Plate 39: Section of the same house with plan of the mezzanine floor
24. Plate 40: Section of the same house with plan of the second story
25. Plate 41: Left portion of frame of the bridge over the River Schuylkill at Philadelphia
26. Plate 41 extension: Right portion of the same bridge
27. Plate 42: Facade of the Bank of Pennsylvania
28. Plate 43: Facade of the Bank of the United States
29. Plate 44: Elevation of the steeple of Christ Church on Second Street
Owen Biddle was the son of Owen Biddle, Sr. Both were both active in the affairs of Philadelphia; e.g., Owen Biddle, Sr., as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of War "announced that a Committee of Fifty had been formed to remove from the city all equipment and provisions that might aid the British." For details on both Biddles, see Carpenter's Company Digital Archive & Museum.
Owen Biddle, Jr., was a leader among Philadelphia Quakers. Among the buildings he designed, the most famous is the Arch Street Friends Meetinghouse. On 25 May 1806, Biddle died—only 32 years old—and was buried on the grounds of the Arch Street Friends Meetinghouse. See Wikipedia.
Turning now to the exceptional plate, "Frame for a Mettle Rabbit" in the 1805 edition only, note that the engraver signed as "Tibout"; this is possibly Tiebout's only engraving with that spelling. (This spelling is included in a list of spellings of the surname given here: The Ancestry and Posterity of Cornelius Henry Tiebout of Brooklyn, p. 3..) In the caption, r-a-b-b-i-t is an alternate spelling of a carpenter's term, r-a-b-b-e-t, and m-e-t-t-l-e is an archaic spelling of m-e-t-a-l.
In the carousel below, a few pages from the 1815 edition also appear. On page 8, the spelling e-l-l-i-p-s-i-s is an archaic spelling of e-l-l-i-p-s-e. (The usual modern meaning of ellipsis, meaning intentionally, essentially, skipped words or numbers, and the mathematical meaning of ellipse both derive from a Greek root meaning "a falling short".)
Biddle's construction in the first paragraph of page 8 is a putting-together of circular arcs. The resulting curve approximates an ellipse but is not an ellipse. For a definition of ellipse and construction, see Wikipedia.
Regarding the two-part Plate 41, Biddle writes at length about the Schuykill Covered Bridge, providing details that are probably not found in any other writer's account. Biddle was clearly impressed and satisfied with the design and construction of the frame, as well with his own words on the cover. He writes (p. 51):
After the erection of the Frame, the Editor [Biddle] was employed by the President and Directors to perform the workmanship of the covering, agreeably to a design furnished by them to him: this design of the Cover being original, it is more surprising that it has not many faults, than that few, if any, can by found. … So far as I have information, this is not the only covered Bridge, in any Country. except, perhaps, one over the Limmat [in Baden, Switzerland]. I have frequently seen and carefully inspected draughts of this much celebrated Bridge, and I am confident that any intelligent and candid Architect, on examining the principles of both, would give a decided preference to the Schuylkill Bridge. … The Bridge has been 6 years in building, and cost about 275,000 dolls, including the cash moiety of the purchase of the side; for which 40,000 dolls were paid to the City Corporation, half in cash and half in Bridge shares.
| ft. | in. | |
|---|---|---|
| Length of the bridge | 550 | 00 |
| Abutments and wing walls/td> | 750 | 00 |
| Total length | 1300 | 00 |
| Span of small arches each | 150 | 00 |
| Ditto of middle arch | 194 | 00 |
| Width of the bridge | 42 | 00 |
| Curvature of the middle arch | 12 | 00 |
| Ditto of smaller arches | 10 | 00 |
| Curvature or rise of the carriage way or road | 8 | 00 |
| Height in the clear over carriage way | 13 | 00 |
| Ditto from the surface of the river to the carriage way | 31 | 00 |
| Thickness of the pier | 20 | 00 |
| Length of ditto | 62 | 00 |
| Depth of water to the rock at the western pier | 41 | 9 |
| Ditto at the eastern pier | 21 | 00 |
| Ditto at the eastern pier | 21 | 00 |
1799, arising from the floating bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,00 Dolls.
Present amount of toll on an average (1805) the
rates of toll in several instances being lower than
over the old floating bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,500
See also Bridging the Schuylkill: Early- to-Mid-19th Century (scroll to Schuykill Permanent Bridge High Street, Philadelphia)
For an account of the Bank of Pennsylvania, including an image of architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe's watercolor painting used by Tiebout to engrave Plate 42 for the Young Carpenter's Assistant, see Web Gallery of Art.
Regarding the Bank of the United States, engraved for Plate 43, Biddle writes:
This superb Building is an elegant specimen of the Corinthian Order; the proportions taken from a Roman Temple called the Maison Quarree, at Nismes, in the south of France. The front extends 94 ft. by 72 deep exclusive of the Portico. The design was given by Samuel Blodget of this city [Philadelphia], and was built about the year 1795.This building, still standing and known as First Bank of the United States (although it is not chronologically the first), is described at several sites, including these:
National Park Service
NPS: FAQ
History of this bank.
Other architectural engravings by Tiebout appear in Parts 1, 2, and 8.
