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The Griswold House: Outside the Boardinghouse

 

The Side Porch

The side porch became an extension of the living space of the house, especially for meals when the dining room became stifling with humid summer heat. It also provided views towards the barns and gardens. At the far end, a trellis covered with an ancient grape vine, provided dappled shade and a sense of privacy in this cloistered space.

“In summer all of the meals of the singular household are taken out-of-doors on the piazza, the woman at one table, the men at another, in order that they may with the less embarrassment come directly from their work to the table, dressed as they happen to be. The men’s table is known as “the hot air club,” and it I shall appropriately join. I expect to be quite in my element in Bohemia.”

~ President of Princeton University Woodrow Wilson, 1909


The Hot Air Club—artists and wives on the side porch, 1905

 


Inmates, 1904
Photograph from the White Photograph Album
Collection of George White

This image shows art colony “inmates” (from left to right): Walter Griffin,
Mrs. Henry C. White, Nelson White (child), and Will Howe Foote.
The man in the rear is unidentified.
William Chadwick (1879-1962)
On the Piazza, c. 1908
Oil on canvas
Gift of Mrs Elizabeth Chadwick O'Connell

 


Ellen Axson Wilson (1800-1900)
Untitled (View of Griswold House Back Porch)
Oil on artist board
Given by Dorothy Dunn Griswold in Memory of Her Husband, George Turnure Griswold