Baluster

Dateca.1775-1800

OriginAmerica, Virginia, Williamsburg, St. John House

MediumYellow pine; Paint

Dimensions1 3/4" x 1 5/8" x 27 1/4"

Object numberAF-2.37.3

DescriptionThis late-18th century turned baluster is from an open string stair. It has a dovetail base surrmounted by urn, surrmounted by column. There are traces of red-brown, blue and white paint on the base and on the top. The earliest paint layer dates from the 18th century. There are four square-cut nails embedded in the dovetailed end. Ghost of the mortise in the hand rail is at the top end of the baluster.

Label TextThis baluster is from a late-18th century house known in the 1930s as the "St. John House" that used to stand near where the Williamsburg Inn is located. This baluster is important because it has some of the only surviving 18th-century paint layers from the original house and represents a design that was common here during the Revolution. A section of the stair was reused in the reconstructed Red Lion on Duke of Gloucester Street and highlights our need to preserve and protect not only our original buildings, but our reconstructed ones as well.
ProvenanceSt. John House (stood where a section of the Williamsburg Inn parking lot is today)