This blog was originally posted on the Historic Annapolis website in January 2018.
James Brice kept an account book during the years (1767-1774) that he built the grand Georgian mansion that stands at the corner of Prince George and East Streets. This account book that covers the years 1767 to 1801, now in the collection of the Maryland State Archives, is the most detailed and wide-ranging account of a house building in the latter half of the eighteenth-century. To give you a sense of its breadth and level of detail, the transcription of this account book is nearly 130 typed pages! His accounts included information about laborers who dug foundations and laid bricks, did stone work, made and carted bricks, plastered the house’s interior, and built garden walls. The book provides an unparalleled glimpse at construction methods that most architectural historians only wish they had access to during a house restoration project.
In addition to allowing us to understand who built the house and outbuildings, the book also outlines how long the construction processes took and how much Brice paid each worker. Another useful feature of Brice’s ledger is the sheer amount of objects that we can find on its pages. For example, Brice orders “44 weights for windows…” for over 6 pounds, bolts for shutters, a “spring bolt for Hall,” hooks, nails, screws, and “1/2 doz. mortice” locks. He even makes a notation for “boring holes thru brick walls 3 places 50/” to install a system of bells and cranks in three rooms. He orders “barrs from cellar windows,” supplies for “plaister of paris”, “253 Bushels Lime,” and tools for putting up stucco, including “wash brushes” and a “lathing hammer.”
As the restoration of the James Brice House continues, our historians continue to delve deeper into Brice’s construction accounts, as well as all documentary and photographic records of the house’s over 250-year history.
Sarah Thomas Consulting Historian, James Brice House Restoration
You can read the entire ledger for yourself in the book, Building the James Brice House by Orlando Ridout IV, available at the HA Museum Store! Shop online or shop in-store at 77 Main Street.
