effects with detail of their own
conception, and at times departing far from all precedent. For the most
part their achievements displayed that good taste and restraint combined
with a novelty and an ingenuity which have given our best Colonial
architecture its principal charm and distinction.

Numerous examples of this sort of hand-carved mantels are to be found in
Philadelphia, but none elicits greater admiration than those in two
rooms at Upsala which are shown by accompanying illustrations. Enriched
with a wealth of intricate, fine-scale hand-tooling of daintiness and
precision, they indicate the influence of Adam design and detail,
although quite unlike the typical Adam mantel. They form an especially
interesting study for comparison because of the marked similarity of
the general scheme in all three and the difference in effect resulting
from variations in detail.

The simplest of the three is a mantel for an iron hob grate with dark
marble facings outlined by simple moldings. Familiar fluted pilasters
support a mantel board entablature of rare beauty. Beneath a
conventional cymatium and corona, with projections above the pilasters
and central panel of the frieze, is a nicely worked dentil course,--a
band of vertical flutes with a drilled tooth in the upper half of each
alternate flute. The pilaster projections of the frieze are fluted in
dots and dashes arranged in vertical lines, while a similar treatment of
the central panel is so arranged that a pattern suggesting four festoons
and five straight hanging garlands is produced. The upper fascia is
enriched with groups of five vertical flutes in alternation with an
incised conventionalized flower.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXII.--Congress Hall, Sixth and Chestnut Streets.
Completed in 1790; Congress Hall from Independence Square.]

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIII.--Stair Hall Details, Congress Hall.]

Resembling the foregoing, but more elaborate, is the mantel in the
parlor with its richer moldings and intricate carving. An astragal with
the customary bead and reel separates the cymatium and the corona, while
a drilled rope supplies the bed molding above the dentil course. The
latter consists of a continuous pattern of vertical and shorter
horizontal flutes, the alternate vertical half spaces above and below
the cross line of the H being cut out flat and deeper. The pilaster
projections of the frieze, the central panel and the pilasters at
each side of the firepl