Henry Chapman Mercer and the furniture of Fonthill
Date
1998
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Henry Chapman Mercer, bom in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1856, was one of the earliest and most prolific contributors to the field of American material culture. In addition to his career as a lawyer, historian, archaeologist, and writer, he founded the Mercer Museum and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. Scholars recognize Mercer’s achievements as a collector and connoisseur of early American tools, as well as a craftsman of decorative tiles. Little research has been done, however, into the significance of the forms and refinements of the furniture in Mercer’s Doylestown home, Fonthill. ☐ Mercer lived at Fonthill as a bachelor from 1912 until his death in 1930. As planner, architect, and chief builder, Mercer combined historic design and modem materials to fashion a house which was a unique blend of personal residence and commercial showroom. Under the direction of the Bucks County Historical Society, the building has been open to the public as a museum since 1975, with many of the furnishings remaining from Mercer’s residency. This narrative explores the meaning of the furniture at Fonthill by using historic and contemporary documents relating to Mercer’s life and times, probate and personal inventories, and a comprehensive survey of nearly one hundred extant furnishings in nine rooms of the house. ☐ The furniture of Fonthill primarily consists of built-in concrete and mixed media objects, metal beds, Pennsylvania German tables and case pieces, wooden cupboards and bookcases, and Windsor seating forms, all painted in brilliant colors. This study reinterprets these often ignored furnishings as important reflections of period manners as expressed in the arts and crafts and colonial revival movements. The thesis also relates the style and treatment of the objects to Mercer’s personal predilections, such as his mode of artistic and cultural experimentation, his interest in narrative folkways, his individual interpretation of prevailing social trends, and his use of artifacts as symbols of an idealized past. As the furniture of Fonthill is understood best as a product of the mind of Henry Chapman Mercer, the study concludes with an investigation of the importance of agency in material culture scholarship.