Architectural Significance

The Lodge, c. 1912

This early 20^th century house is thought to have been constructed around 1912. It is thought that the house was constructed by Colonel Fabyan, though no documentation is currently available. The house is commonly called "The Lodge." The architectural style of the house is definitely Craftsman, with a similar shape, massing, and roofline as found on the house entitled, "A Roomy, Homelike Farmhouse For Lovers of Plain and Wholesome Country Life," published in The Craftsman, March, 1909. Other Craftsman features include large, open gable ends, the large single dormer on the east façade and the flat-roofed dormer on the west facade, the large, recessed porch, and the multi-paned windows. The house also has Classical influences with the Doric porch and balcony columns and the rounded window on the east side dormer.

The house is two and one-half stories with basement and is in a square plan. The first floor is raised one-half floor. The house has a broad, sweeping roof with gable ends and dormers and overhanging eaves. The house has its original clapboard siding on the first floor, shingles on the upper floors, with rusticated limestone piers at the corners and a partial rusticated limestone foundation wall along the north side. All window trim, cornices, and columns are wood.

The Lodge is significant architecturally as a wonderful example of a Craftsman style home. The Craftsman style was inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement and was a rejection of high-style material excess and a backlash against the industrial age. The main goals of the Arts and Crafts movement were simplicity, comfort, and efficiency at a human scale in harmony with the environment. It seems an appropriate style to be incorporated at Riverbank by Colonel Fabyan, who encouraged efficiency and hard work, yet enjoyed the simple comforts of home.

The Studio, 1917

This structure is one and one-half stories without a basement and is in a square plan. The structure is commonly called the Studio. The Studio was a later addition to the Lodge, built in 1917 by local builders the Wilson Brothers.^xlx It was built to house the study of Bacon-Shakespeare biliteral cipher research work, and as an office for Colonel Fabyan’s assistant, Belle Cumming. The Studio has some similarity in style and form to the Lodge, though its main material is a concrete "stucco" (concrete with the appearance of stucco). The roof has gable ends and slopes down to the first floor overhang. There is a break in the pitch of the roof. The Studio has wide, overhanging eaves. There is a concrete foundation with a concrete cap and a partial basement. All window trim is wood.