Back(stories): The Cunningham Plantation (Barton Hall), Colbert County, Alabama

A few years ago, I started an occasional series aimed at looking behind the perfection of the façade of a historic house. Sometimes the story that is told by the backside of a building varies greatly from the staid front! In 1939, Frances Benjamin Johnston, an American photographer, captured beautiful black and white images of a circa 1848 house known as Cunningham Plantation or Barton Hall in rural Alabama. While the façade of the frame dwelling is pleasing to the eye, it’s fairly standard Greek Revival style. But the rear elevation made my jaw drop.

The rear elevation of the house. Circa 1939 photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

One-story gable wings extend out from the main, hipped roof core of the house. The cornice line features triglyphs, a motif also present on the cornice of the main house and the belvedere (an observatory on the roof of the main house).

Rear of the main block, the patio, and the side wings. Circa 1939 photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

The two wings form a U-shape around the patio, which is overlooked by a sleeping porch (on the second story of the main house) that spans the space between the wings. The balcony is supported by fluted Doric columns.

Although the composition of the side wings and the patio protected between their walls is fascinating (and unusual), there is nothing that screams “service area” about this rear elevation – a retinue of domestic outbuildings would have carried out all of the work associated with the house and plantation. The door and simple, unadorned steps at the rear of the wings led somewhere…

Side elevation and façade view. Photograph from the Historic American Buildings Survey, Alex Bush, Photographer, January 25, 1935.

The house had been documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey some four years before Johnston included it; the owner at the time was B.W. Cunningham (check out the “C” etched into the glass of the double entry doors). The original owner was Armstead Barton, a Tennessee native (by way of Virginia) that relocated to Alabama in 1825. By the time he began construction on the house in 1840, he owned some 40,000 acres of land. He would die in 1847 before the house was completed.

Detail of entryway on the façade. Photograph from Historic American Buildings Survey, Alex Bush, Photographer, January 25, 1935.

His widow, Amanda Cook Barton, lived in the house the rest of her life. The property stayed in the family until 1908.

The interior of the dwelling is supposed to be fairly spectacular, with a double staircase that spirals as it moves up from the first floor. Circa 1939 photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

The main core of the house is a central passage, double pile house. Interestingly, a transverse hall separated the rear wings from the front part of the house. I don’t know if the room function as recorded by HABS in the 1930s were the same as those of the mid-19th century, but by 1916, the rear wings were divided into a series of rooms.

First story floor plan, drawn by HABS.

It was likely a new owner that instituted  the 1916 changes – including building the sleeping porch seen in one of Johnston’s photographs. Indoor plumbing was introduced to the house with two bathrooms, and one wing became a kitchen, breakfast room, and butler’s pantry, while the other wing was divided into a schoolroom, bathroom, and linen closet.

One of the side entries leading into the transverse hall at the rear of the main core of the house. Circa 1939 photograph by Frances Benjamin Johnston.

Unlike many of the evocative photos Johnston took that make up the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South, Barton Hall still stands. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and named a National Historic Landmark at the same time.

Just steps away from the rear wings of the house was this multi-use brick outbuilding, which contained the kitchen and living space for enslaved workers.
Historic American Buildings Survey Alex Bush, Photographer, January 25, 1935

In February 2016, the house went on the market for $1.75 million. An article related to the listing has plenty of modern, full color photographs of the house – and I am so glad to see the house in such wonderful condition. Although I will say – the black and white images imbue much more romance and mystery into the walls of the building than the marketing photos. And sadly  the sleeping porch- an early 20th century change I really liked – has been removed.

• Frances Benjamin Johnston’s photographs are located at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print, Call Number: LC-J7-ALA- 1042 [P&P]. The entry for Barton Hall can be found at this link: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/csas/item/2017885747/
• The records of this house with the Historic American Buildings Survey can be found here: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/hh/item/al0075/