Our 1889 Home: The Barclay House

Romantic Italianate Architecture

Introduction

Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the Barclay House (also known as the Barclay Mansion) stands at the corner of Juliana and John streets, Bedford, Pennsylvania, rising above the sidewalks like a majestic sentry. 

The man who had the house built was John Jacob Barclay. The parcel upon which the house is situated was part of an original William Penn land grant that was secured by Colonel Hugh Barclay, his grandfather and described as:

The original grant of the land in what was then the “Manor of Bedford” was secured by Mr. Barclay in 1790 from the Penns, John, Sr., and John, Jr., then proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania.

Although Barclay was born in Bedford; shortly after he was admitted to the Bedford bar in 1856; he moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa where he practiced law until 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil War Barclay with four others raised a cavalry company that became Co. A of 11th Pennsylvania Cavalry. Wounded and held prisoner in Southern prison camps, he returned North and, in 1868, went to Newport, Pennsylvania as an agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He retired in 1889 and moved back to Bedford. [5],

A remarkable house built by a remarkable man – more about John Jacob Barclay in later article.

Design and Construction

The architect for the house was Peter Bernheisel, Jr. of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1888, Barclay entered into an agreement with Simon Deckerhoof, a Bedford County carpenter/building contractor to “well and substantially erect, build, set up and deliver one dwelling house in Bedford, Pa....” The house was completed in 1889 in the Romantic Italianate style.

Exterior

The Barclay House is a is a two and one-half story brick, side-gable house with a short central tower in the east-facing front façade, two-story bay windows on the south facade and an extension (wing) from the back (west facade). The brick work of the central tower has pilaster-like detail that rises to the roof­line. There is also a pilaster, rising to the roof line on the south-facing façade, between two small windows on the second story.

Roof

The roof has jerkin-head gables (partially hipped) on the ends. The central tower also has a jerkin-head gable. Wide eaves are supported, in most areas, by paired corbels set on a wide wood trim band. There are has four chimneys; two are incorporated into the end gables and two are located within the rear wing (extension). with distinctive flare and taper in brick work detail. The original roof covering was possibly slate. It has been replaced with asphalt shingles by later owners.

Windows

The windows on the east-facing front are double large pane windows. There are fluted pilasters in the double window sets. Single pane windows occur in the rest of the walls. The tower has smaller, triple-paned windows on the third story. A small window, tucked beneath the gable eave in the rear wing, has a distinctively Gothic appearance – a pointed, segmented arch. There are no other windows on this façade.

The windows have large white wooden rectangular lintels and massive wooden sills. The lintels of the east and south facades have a carved floral motif, ala Eastlake. The windows in the north façade and the rear extension do not. The windows of the tower second and third stories have curved and stilted segmented arch work above them; the different style of these tower windows, gives the front of the house a distinctive and somewhat exotic look. The windows originally had outside shutters – only a few relics remain.

The basement has narrow awning windows, protected by cast-iron grates on the exterior.

Porches

The original front-entry porch was small and single storied and believed to have been constructed of brick with brick steps. The roof was supported by square beveled posts, topped with scroll-like bracketing. The partial porch of the west wing (extension) is believed to have been made of wood with wooden steps at the end. The roof support posts were constructed similarly to those of the front porch. There is no evidence that the back entry of the extension had a porch.

The front and side porches were replaced by a former owner with concrete steps and porches; however, they kept the original posts with their scroll-like bracketing.

Doors

The double doors of the exterior main entrance on the front (east facade) have no transoms; instead, they have large square, frosted-etched panes at the top. Also, the carved wooden floral motif is found on the doors and in the trim detail. The side porch (south façade) has only a transom. The rear wing entrance is a single door and has a three-light transom, but lacks the trim detail and floral motifs. Interior doors of the front foyer are of similar design to outside doors. Also, the carved wooden floral motif is duplicated here as well.

Interior

Main House

The original main core of the house had twelve large rooms, two deep in double bays about the central hall and stairway. At some point, a previous owner took out the wall dividing two of the bays on the first floor. The central hall has massive walnut stairway railings fixed by a walnut newel post. This main staircase rises from the foyer to the second floor and has massive has walnut stairway railings. Detailed trim work, in painted pine, in every room, evokes the superb craftsmanship of days gone by – it is extraordinary.

There were originally nine fireplaces in the house – eight in the main core of the house and one in the kitchen for a large cast-iron insert stove. The fireplace hearths in the main core rooms are slate, painted to look like marble with crafted brass trim and embossed metal liners.

Two owners ago, the kitchen fireplace had been covered over; another owner then removed the covering. The present owners have left it uncovered and installed their modern range in the space and added lighting – keeping this space as a kitchen. 

The are no fireplaces in the second and the third floor of the rear extension. The room directly above the kitchen was heated via a grate installed in the chimney leading from the kitchen fireplace. Six of the eight fireplaces in the core have been checked and cleaned by the current owners and are now functional.

The rear wing has six smaller rooms on two floors, serving as pantry and kitchen on first floor and servant-butler quarters on the second floor. A back stairway in the wing, adjacent to kitchen, leads to second floor, and a second back staircase leads from the second floor to the half-story (third floor). The third-floor extension now houses a bathroom and storage area. There is a small crawl-space above the half-story, but no attic proper.

Basement

A two-bay full basement has a base of course stone, topped with brick perimeter walls. The central support is from two rows of three brick archways. Originally, the basement brickwork was covered with parge (plaster) and painted white; however, subsequent owners covered the walls and all but two of the arches with paneling in the 1970s. All the paneling has been removed by the current owners; damaged bricks have been repaired, portions have been repointed and the bricks have been covered with white lime mortar.

There is an original exterior doorway located at the rear of the house (beside the side porch) leading into the basement. The exterior entrance has changed since the house was built – a new door and the addition of Bilco doors over the entrance have been added. Later owners constructed an additional exterior basement doorway in the stone foundation on the north side of the house.

Other

Heating the house has gone from wood-burning fireplaces to coal and oil furnaces and finally gas. 

Alas, there is no longer any back yard, nor is the original picket fence around the original perimeter of the property, partially replaced with sidewalks and a brick wall on the east and south sides of the property. A former owner took the entire back yard and constructed a building that is currently occupied by a Magistrate’s office, a Penn State Extension Office and a parking lot that abuts the Barclay house. Sad, really, when research shows that one Barclay son was known for his wonderful backyard gardens and another built kennels and raised dogs.

Postscript

It has been nearly 140 years since John Jacob Barclay and his family moved into their new home. The house left family hands in the late 1960s and became the property of, in order -- the Bedford County Commissioners, an internet service provider, a telephone franchisee and finally in 2012, the property was purchased by Jerry and Joan Hawk. The Hawks have made it not only their home but it also houses the Bedford Fine Art Gallery which offers a fine selection of quality and original 19th century paintings for purchase.

Yes, there have been changes made to the original structure (some mentioned in the above paragraphs), but, thankfully, it retains much of its original mystique. Following are some points of interest outside of the architecture and design of the house that add further to its mystique.

Soon after John Jacob Barclay’s death in 1908, Joseph, who was a member of the Bedford County Poultry and Pigeon Association started a poultry business out of the house. There is story that he had a 10,000-egg incubator in the Barclay house basement; a newspaper article in 1924 supports this, reporting that Joe was expanding his incubator to hold 7,500 eggs and using an anthracite coal-fired furnace to provide heat.

Another of John Barclay’s children, daughter, Jessie, started the Bedford Art Club. The Hawks were unaware of this art connection when they bought the house. In 1926 Jessie was instrumental in bringing paintings by the Philadelphia Ten to Bedford for an exhibition. “The Ten” were a group of women artists who exhibited together in the late 1910s through mid-1940s. There is also a photograph in the gallery showing a painting on display on an easel in one of the original parlors.

Who knows what the former residents of your house were up to. At one time, you would simply ask the operator to connect you with 167-W and ask for either Jessie or Joe and they’d tell you. Sorry, you can’t do that -- that number has been disconnected.

Although 167-W is no longer in service, there are a number of resources you can investigate to find potential information on your house and its past inhabitants. A careful look at your house will also help you identify its architectural style (e.g., McAlester below, among others) and provide clues about subsequent changes that have been made to it over the years. Some resources that will aid you in your research are, but not limited to, are listed below.

1. Previous owners. A good source if you know them or their family members, or neighbors. They may be able to inform you of changes made to the house.
2. The County Assessor’s maps and tax records. These records document when your house was built and who built it. This works well if can determine an approximate year that it was built. These records will also provide subsequent owners. 
3. The County Recorder of Deeds office. If there are no tax records, the recorders office will also document when it was built and when it changed hands.
4. County planning boards or similar entity. They may have information, especially if they prepared information on your house for inclusion on the nation Register of Historic Places.
5. National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service). Has an online listing of properties by state and county (although not everything has been scanned as of this writing).
6. Online genealogy sites are another great source.
7. Online newspaper archives can provide information on previous owners and perhaps on the house itself.
8. Libraries, museum, state and county archives, private collections, cemeteries, church records.
9. Sanborn Fire Insurance maps. These are now on-line through the Library of Congress for most states, counties and boroughs. These maps were created circa 1866 by the Sanborn Map Company; however, updates ceased in the late 1970s.
10. There are many on-line sources of information. Perseverance is the key!

-- Joan Hawk, Researcher and Co-Owner Bedford Fine Art Gallery, December 30, 2024.

Use only with the permission of Bedford Fine Art Gallery.

Sources:

1. ----- The Barclay Mansion Architectural Description, Register of Historic Places, National Park Service, 1121, Records of the Pioneer Library, Bedford, PA 15522.
2. https://newspaperarchive.com/bedford-gazette-oct-30-1908-9p-5/
3. https://newspaperarchive.com/bedford-gazette-apr-09-1920-p-1/
4. https://www.newspaperarchive.com/bedford-gazette-jan-11-1924-p-1/
5. McAlester, Virginia and Lee, 2012, A Field Guide to American Houses, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York.
6. Rusk, Katerine Knight, 1982, Renovating the Victorian House, 101 Productions, San Francisco, CA.