Early Nineteenth Century New York
Architectural Drawings
 

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KEITH N. MORGAN

y If ^HE Sclater CoUecrion of drawings of early nineteenth
century New York architecture, purchased by the Avery
Library in February, will provide valuable new evidence
for the authorship of several New York buildings and additional
information on the careers of architect-builders at the turn of the
century. Acquired from Mr. and Mrs. Grant Sclater of Charles-
rown, Rhode Island, the collection descended from the original
owner, Henry Hedley, New York builder, through the Hedley
and Tuthill families to Mrs. Sclater.' Although Hedley's firm
presumably generated this portfolio of approximately one hun¬
dred and ten items, drawings signed by two other architects and
sketches attributable to still others present a cross section of styles
and building types from vernacular designs to the most important
commissions of Federal and Early Republican New York.

An initial impression of Henry Hedley's career can be formed
from the drawings rhemselves and from New York City direc¬
tories. Hedley first appears in the city direcrory for 1800 where
he is listed as a carpenter living at 259 Greenwich Srreet." A small
drawing of a standard five-bay, two-story Georgian house, labeled
"executed in Old England," is evidence that Fledley worked else¬
where before coming to New York.'' The earliest dated drawing,
an "Urn for Mr. D. JVI. Clarkson at Bloomingdale, (full-size) (fixed
11 July, 1800)," is similar enough in simplicity and draughtsman¬
ship to later signed Hedley drawings as to suggest the nature of
his early work in New York. Another drawing of a simple wooden
gate, also for ,Mr. Clarkson ar Bloomingdale, definitely establishes

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