But Ashland’s wings served as a threshold between public and private in that they contained semi-public spaces such as guest rooms, a family breakfast room, and domestic service spaces. Upstairs was the most private zone: a spacious central landing with large Palladian windows that opened to a master bedroom, an adjoining nursery, and two smaller bedchambers. The third floor, a half-story, likely was used for storage and occasional sleeping quarters for domestic help.16 This original structure, the central block, was home to Henry, Lucretia, and six of their children for about seven years until Clay began expanding the house to include a library, additional bedchambers, and a domestic service area (see Figure 17). The addition of two wings presumably allowed for guest rooms and space for four more children to come.17 Clay began construction c. 1811-1418 of the two single-story, “L”-shaped wings that projected to the front. The wings were designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), the British-born American architect best known for his work with Thomas Jefferson and his design of the United States Capitol.19 The timing of Clay’s additions to Ashland, Snadon and Fazio state, “would have corresponded both with Clay’s increased status on the national political scene and with his and Latrobe’s collaboration at the Capitol.”20 Despite Clay’s implementation of designs by the most progressive professional architect in America, Clay’s “handsome and substantial edifice” was popularly perceived as unpretentious and dignified as its owner.21 A contemporary observed: “The mansion itself is a plain two story brick building with wings, without the appearance of parade or pretension…for all the world,
16
Besides Henry Clay’s domestic slaves, he employed a housekeeper and tutors for his children. The north “Chambers and Nursery” wing, as Fazio and Snadon explain, was built first (late summer into autumn 1813), while the south “Kitchen wing,” was built either before Clay’s trip to Ghent, Belgium or afterward (early 1814 or late 1815). Fazio and Snadon, 664. 18 This date range includes the design and implementation periods. 19 In The Domestic Architecture of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, Fazio and Snadon theorize: “It has long been known that Latrobe designed the wings around 1813-1814, but a thorough review of the documentation suggests that he may have designed the central block also.” Fazio and Snadon, 655. Amelia Clay Van Meter Rogers in her 1934 thesis cites a 12 August 1813 Latrobe letter stating that Latrobe designed Ashland, in Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and the Early Republic by Sidney Fiske Kimball. New York: Scribners (1922), 274. Rogers also cites: Latrobe Journal (1905), page 31, as stating that he designed the residence of Henry Clay. A.C.V.M. Rogers. “Ashland, The Home of Henry Clay.” 20 Clay may have met Latrobe as early as 1806-07 during his first Senate term, but their acquaintance was first documented in 1811 when Clay (then Speaker of the House) worked directly with Latrobe to “refit the House of Representatives chamber and improve its acoustics,” and the Latrobes and Clays subsequently became close friends. Fazio and Snadon, 656, 658. 21 “Henry Clay’s Farm.” Niles National Register, 11 October 1845; also: Lexington (Ky.) Observer & Reporter, 18 October 1845; “Clay.” c. 1854. In Homes of American Statesmen: With Anecdotal, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches by Various Writers. (New York: Alfred W. Upham, 1862), 393. 17
62