1815: The Handwriting On The Wall

In 1983, Gar Allen and Larry Bennett bought what remained of a home at 1815 Lafayette Avenue. The three story shell dated from 1876 and was originally built by Christian Staehlin of the Phoenix Brewery.  That brewery was razed in the mid-1960’s while I-44 was under construction. The house itself had a large sub-basement, formerly a tunnel from the brewery, that Allen and Bennett would have turned into a wine cellar, but for the dampness.

A rough reboot for 1815 Lafayette Avenue

1815 Lafayette Avenue was a rooming house for 40 years prior to their purchase of it. Almost every room had a small sink and toilet.. The second and third floors at the time of purchase were without walls, doors, electricity and plumbing. A decade later, Gar and Larry had not only restored the home, but opened a bed and breakfast there – Napoleon’s Retreat. The name was a witty play on 1815, representing the year Napoleon retreated from his invasion of Russia. 

A penknife marks the time

Once walking the dog down the alley behind Lafayette Avenue, I stopped at the carriage house behind that home. I admired the construction, and the authentic look of layers of paint on old wood. 

But my eye was drawn to a small detail on the right crossbeam – there, carved into the wood is what looks like a reference to the year 1883. On another cross beam, the address 1815 is inscribed in the same style. The house would have been seven years old, probably with a reasonable number of baths at that time. I then thought someone might have carved this into the beam as a fake, or a misdirect. 

A little research was called for. I volunteered for a time at the Missouri State Archives downtown, preserving circuit court records from the late 1830s. What struck me about the carving in the wood was its consistency with the way numerals were written by hand in 19th century America. 

Following the script

A ballpoint pen lays down a uniform line, which is fairly easily steered around a page. A fountain pen leaves more ink wherever the pen tarries, and this causes the curves in letters and numerals to be thicker than where the point of the pen speeds up. Here are a couple examples in writing. From 1867: 

and from 1871:

Notice how the curves on the 8’s fatten out. 

In this display, you can see how the calligraphy of numbers changed with the years. The 1850 shown below again reflects the era better than if someone had just carved 1883 as a lark, say, in 1950. 

Below is a current commercial font called Texas Hero, that mimics the style of the late 1830s. You can see the same effect on the curves of the 8, and bottom of the 3 and 6.  Also note the “fishhook” on the 1, which is distinctive in both the font and the crossbeam numeral.

Epilogue

One last item, in honor of Napoleon’s Retreat, a well-regarded bed and breakfast through about 2018, and now a private residence in Lafayette Square. 

Thanks to research sources including:

Gar Allen And Larry Bennett

Handwriting And Expression; Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner And Co; London; 1892

St. Louis Post-Dispatch