David Davis Mansion: A Victorian Architectural Tour with Lincoln's Legacy

[00:00:44][Music] [Applause] [Music] I want to welcome you to the David Davis mansion  and before we go in we'd like to have you take a   look at the outside architecture to see what  a gem this building is and then we're going   to go inside and see that the interior  matches the splendor of the exterior   so if you will uh look over here at the  facade this is the south facade the entrance   to the mansion and there were a variety of  architectural principles that Alfred Pieknar   who was a well-renowned architect in Illinois  employed as he was designing the mansion one   of the main characteristics of this architecture  is the visual variety this is very popular theme   for victorians especially victorians who had hired  an architect to design a home or a residence for   them in the middle of the 19th century so you will  notice for example that there are paired windows   on both sides of this central entrance tower but  every single uh set of of windows is different   from its neighbor opposite so there's tremendous  visual variety in just the windows themselves   secondly what he did was to create a kind of  asymmetry when you look at the house at first   you're not sure what's going on why do I not  understand what I'm seeing and you realize that   although everything is balanced there are four  sets of windows two pairs on this side and two   pairs on that side again they're not matched so  that instead of having everything symmetrical   with the same appearance on both sides in fact  it's very different one of the other interesting   features is that the facade on our left side  is actually further out than the front of the   building on the right side and the iron cresting  which is the ironwork on the on the balcony and   on this porch they're each set of of iron work  each set is different from the other so you have   asymmetry and also tremendous visual variety  another feature that victorians loved and that   the architect employed was eclecticism there are a  variety there is a variety of architectural styles   in this building which are amazing there's Italian  renaissance which you can see in the in the window   headers and the villa italian villa style as well  you can see that in the arches over the doorway   that's called a Palladian style window and that  was very popular in Italian villa architecture it also has these projecting eaves with the  bracketed cornices that you can see at the   roof line and then it's a very irregular roof  line there are actually seven chimneys up there   all of the chimneys are different from one another  uh and then so we have italian renaissance we have   italian villa and then at the top of the tower  is a mansured roof which is second empire french   style so that is not something you usually would  see with all of the other italianate features here   so we have both italian and french mixed in  in this one building this was highly prized   it makes a very picturesque architectural picture  and something that victorians absolutely love to   the 20th and maybe even the 21st century this  style seems to be a little mixed up but it was   very fashionable in the 19th century so  shall we go in pete sure let's head in well we're in the vestibule of the david davis  mansion marcia how did this room function   um well first chris i want to tell you  a little bit about who david davis was   and then we're going to tell you how he welcomed  visitors or didn't welcome them into his house   david davis was at the end of his career a  u.s supreme court justice and later a state   senator in a congressman i should say in the u.s  senate from illinois he came here in 1835 from   massachusetts where he had been interning as a  law clerk trying to learn the career as a lawyer   he was in massachusetts staying with friends  and a family met a family with three or four   beautiful daughters of a marriageable age  and he fell in love with them sarah walker   and he asked for her hand in marriage and was  refused by her father who said go west young man   and make your fortune and then if you  still love my daughter come back and   we'll consider another proposal and that's  exactly what davis did he came out to pekin   moved to bloomington where he bought the law  practice of jesse fell a local attorney here quite   prominent in developing the area and he did make  a small enough fortune to build himself a house   on grove street which isn't too many miles from  here and then he went back to massachusetts and   proposed again to sarah this time his proposal  was accepted he brought his young bride out here   set up shop as an attorney and very soon after  arriving here even before he married sarah walker   he met for the first time abraham lincoln sparks  did not fly but they became acquainted then and   davis began writing the eighth judicial circuit as  an attorney with his colleague abraham lincoln in   1848 davis was elected as the circuit judge for  the entire eighth judicial circuit and that's   when he and abraham lincoln became fast friends  so davis's career began to have at that point   a really rather meteoric rise he was very  instrumental in helping lincoln win the   nomination for the republican party candidate  as president of the united states in 1860   and uh with davis help with the help of a lot of  other people um davis campaigned for lincoln um   among a very prominent friends that davis had back  east he was able to raise a lot of interest in   lincoln's candidacy and eventually helped lincoln  i think um win the presidency uh lincoln uh wanted   to appoint davis to a special position um with  the war department but uh that the military   blocked that so eventually lincoln was able to  appoint davis as a us supreme court justice and   he served on the bench for 15 years and then  as i say he became a senator from the state of   illinois serving as a u.s senator davis was born  in 1815 and died here in bloomington in 1886.   he had a long married life with sarah walker they  had seven children only two of them survived to   adulthood so uh in very brief time that's a kind  of capsule story of david davis and now we're in   his home and actually david davis would never have  greeted visitors at the front door the victorians   and the davises were very much victorian members  of the middle class in the local society here   they would have a maid who would actually answer  the door because they were very concerned about   privacy so if you came calling on the davises  there were no telephones no internet service   you had to come by the house to present  yourself you would bring your calling card   bring the doorbell and the maid would answer  the door when you stepped in if you were a   friend of the family the maid would take your  calling card and she would go into the house   leaving you here in the vestibule and  you would be looking around at all the   beautiful things that you can see in here  and you would begin to be impressed by the   wealth and splendor of this home and the sort  of social status that a family like the davises   must have occupied to see this beautiful  encaustic tile floor for example   which is a a process that was lost to history  and only rediscovered a few decades ago   it creates a beautiful pattern and is very  distinctive so that when a visitor came that's   one of the first things they noticed but the  really outstanding gem in this room are these two   big double doors plate glass in them beautiful  decorative motif called the greek key pattern   and then the initials dd david davis so you if  you'd forgotten who it was you were calling off   this would be a gentle reminder oh this is david  davis's home the maid would open the door and come   back she would either say mrs davis is at home and  i will take you in or she would say i'm sorry mrs   davis isn't at home today and then you would  leave your card with the maid and go on your   way sometimes people came to the house who were  not friends of the family and they would be sent   by the maid to the back door for a handout so this  festival functioned as a way of screening visitors   protecting the family from the outside world  and only close friends close acquaintances   relatives would get past these big double  doors which were a kind of visual symbol   that we want to protect our privacy in this in  this household let's see if the maid lets us   in yes we'll we'll see if if she's taking our  calling card today okay let's head on in okay come with me okay now we're in the  hallway of the david davis mansion   marcia can you tell us how this area functions  yes this is the grand entrance when visitors   came in we are assuming the maid took our  calling card and she placed it in the card   receiver right there and then you had a  chance to see the hallway and the hallway   has a very important function because it separates  this house into the three main spaces of the house   on that side of the hallway which as you come in  is the right side is the private side of the house   if i'm a regular visitor from in town  i'm never going to go into those rooms   if i am a visitor from in town i'm going to be  ushered into this room here on the left side as   you come in and that's the public side of the  house and there are two rooms on this side of   the hallway that are used for public entertaining  and then you will see a long corridor all the way   to the back but you are stopped by two big double  doors and that tells you as a visitor right away   that something else is going on in that space and  again as a visitor you're never going to go into   that area because that's where the servants lived  and worked and spent the majority of their time   so this house has three important spaces and  family members and servants and visitors all   interacted but in specified rooms there were  rules for how this house was to be used and   the victorians followed those rules one fun  architectural note is at the back of the hallway   i don't know if you can see it but there is an  archway and that archway the architect peaknar   had a lot of fun with all of these little visual  references that archway is a copy of the archway   over the front entrance door the archway over the  big double doors and it also is a resonates the   image of the archway over the palladian window  in the tower so uh the architect is playing with   us and after we've been here a while we begin to  notice these things there are also on this hallway   three arches that are holding up the second floor  but they also uh he has made them again as a   visual reference to this italianate architectural  style that's outside the house in the basement   there are three archways that match this so even  down to the basement which is an area the public   would never see you will see this repeating theme  of the italianate architecture all the way down to   the where the area where the servants spent a lot  of their time working um we'd like to now show uh   visitors the hall stand it's the premier piece of  furniture here in the in the hallway and um it has   a lot going on and i'm going to explain to you in  a minute what all of these visual references mean   first of all i want to talk a little bit  about the kinds of tours that we now give   outside we gave you an architectural tour very  brief when we first opened the site with the   illinois historic preservation agency in 1985  we spent a lot of time on the architecture   we spent a lot of time maybe not as much on  the interior on the interior decorative arts   as time went on and we did more research we  realized that there were other stories we wanted   to layer over the original story we want to give  a lot of credit to people who worked at the agency   back in the 1980s bob coomer was our head of the  division of historic sites he put a lot of time   and energy into getting this tour correct and then  our chief researcher and historian dick taylor   those of us who go way back in time can never give  enough credit to dick he he did a magnificent job   of writing the interpretation that we used and  the first story that we told in addition to the   architecture was the story of women because sarah  davis was the person who was the chief occupant of   this house after it was built david davis was on  the supreme court in washington from october to   may every year so she spent a lot of time alone  here and even while they were building the house   she and her son made the chief decisions about  this house so all the decorative treatments you   see in it were sarah's handiwork so dick focused  on the woman's role and how she was a kind of   domestic feminist at a time when there weren't  a lot of feminists around in victorian society   so it's a great story as time went by and we  did more research we realized there's another   story to tell why is this house we kept saying to  ourselves so significant and so worth preserving   well that's because it's not only the story of  the architectural history it's not only a story   of the decorative arts in this house but it's  also the story of a generation of men and women   who came here from some from the south abraham  lincoln some from the east men like david davis   and they created an orderly society out here  in the very far west which is what illinois   was when they got here in the 1830s and they are  the generation then that took those skills and led   our country through its greatest and most terrible  war the civil war and then even though lincoln was   assassinated at the end of the war it was that  generation of men and women who led us through   reconstruction so this is a national story and  that's what we begin to add to the architectural   story and to the women's story and so we added  back in david davis and started talking about   the relationship of davis and lincoln what's  important and this is the theoretical background   the the visitors don't get this story but it's the  background upon which the interpretation is based   lincoln and davis came to illinois at a really  exciting time in its history and in our nation's   history this is the transition from an agrarian  world often on the frontier of subsistence economy   to the rise of capitalism and the expansion  of a market economy which changed men's lives   and what it did was to bring a great deal of  economic prosperity way out here on the frontier   and to attract a lot of people here who took  advantage of the range of jobs and careers that   were suddenly available two of the men who made  that westward migration to illinois or abraham   lincoln and david davis and they formed a small  group out of all the people who settled illinois   about 25 percent were a new breed of men  historians have identified a an entrepreneurial   culture that is created during this time period  the 1830s uh and it is a select group of of men   there are women in the story too and we'll get to  that but these are men who were willing to risk   everything to leave behind families uh land and so  on and go out and seek their fortune and of course   uh eventually in their own time a man named henry  clay came up with a term to describe who these men   were because he was one himself the self-made man  and this is somebody who's willing to take great   risks and is achieving great things through his  own individual talents he doesn't depend on his   family background he doesn't depend on wealth  that he may have inherited he's not going to be   farming he's going to be starting out in one of  the new careers the law commerce manufacturing   medicine there are new professions and these are  those men and so davis and lincoln are pioneers   they are representing a new way of an  economic life and social life in america   and when they get here not having um family to  rely on they begin to rely on each other and   they form associations some are educational but  they're legal and political associations today   we call them networks lincoln and davis were  great at networking and they put together groups   of people who share their values the main value  for this group of people was what they called   self-education self-improvement and these are  the people who recognize for the first time   how important it is to have an education and davis  is always talking about how he is going to improve   himself which means he's going to read more he's  going to try to learn more he's going to try to be   a better man and this is of course exactly the  story that we tell about abraham lincoln so you're   going to see as you go through the house those  values represented they also believed in privacy   they also believed in leading a moral life they  are morally they are concerned to set high moral   standards they are concerned about home and family  and love of family this is in some ways very new   they form marriages that are based on love and  companionship not economic necessity george   washington married martha from economic  motives he fell in love with her later on   david davis fell in love with sarah davis before  he married her so that's a big big difference   scholars will disagree about this but i think  at one point somewhere along the line lincoln   loved mary todd too but i i'm not going to  go too far with that one so this house then   represents a whole set of values and that's what  we're going to see as we go through the rooms   that they chose specifically how to decorate their  house how to lay out the space in their house   because they have these values in mind in the 19th  century there's a lot of symbolism in what people   choose to wear and what they choose  to decorate their houses with   so let's look at the hall stand then this is  the epitome of a lot of the values that this   group of people and they are members of this new  middle class that emerges in this time period   david davis may seem like he's upper class  but these are middle class folks the hall   stand is a very expensive piece of furniture  so immediately it's going to convey to visitors   that this is a family with money and they aren't  ashamed of that they're happy but they are also   they're happy to show that but they are also  concerned to be creating through their furnishings   messages for visitors and for family members that  this is a special place throughout this hall stand   which has functional purposes you hang your hats  you hang your coats on the coat hook you put your   cane or your or your umbrella there but throughout  there are symbols of nature so at the top of   the hall stand is the stag's head and that's  probably the premier symbol but there are also   subtle references to nature throughout these are  little animal heads at the end of the coat hooks   the canes rest at the base of the cane  it's resting in a in a shell a half open   or a half shell uh reminding you of a of a of  a marine motif uh that the the stylized pattern   has almost um a floral aspect to it so  it's also functional when the lady comes in   and she wants to be sure she looks presentable  before the maid takes her in to see sarah she can   look at herself in the mirror and see if is her  skirt straight and so on same by the same token   when a family member is going out to get in the  carriage they can take a look at themselves and   make sure the calling cards are also placed here  so it has function but it has beautiful form and   it conveys all these messages shall we head into  the city mirror yes let's go into the sitting room okay we are now in the davises sitting room and  this looks like a fun room i can see playing cards   over there this would be a good place to read  marcia can you tell me a little bit more about   this room this room probably has more going on in  it than almost any other room in the house today   we would call this the family room sitting room  is a perfect description of it they sat a lot in   this room but this is an important room because it  was the place where the family gathered where they   spent a lot of time and it's where sarah davis  collected a lot of memories of their life together   they had already lived in illinois since 1838  so by the time they got to this house which was   started the building in 1870  finished the building in 1872   they'd lived a long time in a farmhouse  that stood exactly on this spot so sarah is   choosing very carefully the furnishings in this  room this is in fact as you said a great place   to sit and play cards the furniture as  you will see is very comfortable and uh   you could see these are activities that  family members would have enjoyed doing   this reminds us that this is one of those  core values that the middle class group of   entrepreneurs who moved to illinois valued  that they that they loved home they loved   family they loved spending time with family  members so this is probably as i said the   most important room in the house and i remind us  that we're on the on the family side of the house   and this room continues that theme of privacy  that we talked about in the video because   they're safe and protected and private here  any if you're in here reading and your mother   is in the parlor which we will be seeing next  entertaining you can have the door shut the   curtains drawn complete privacy guests visiting  the house are not going to know you're in here so   that's what's going on in this room love of home  love of family gathering around this central table   at the at the bay window table where  there's plenty of light to see to read   there is there are two photographic  plates that are hanging in the windows   they represent the victorian love of nature that  we saw in the hallway and also the fascination   with exploration because they are actually the  second expedition of john wesley powell who left   from bloomington illinois to explore  the west and he's the first white man   to go down the colorado river and discover the  grand canyon and a tremendous history represented   in these plates his photographer took these  photographic plates and then eventually they were   sold as souvenirs at the philadelphia exposition  we're not quite sure how the davises got them   but it again shows their love of nature and uh  their love of exploration discovery interest in   education educating themselves learning about the  world one of the most important memories in this   room that sarah is preserving for herself and her  husband is this lithograph portrait of henry clay   that is hanging over the doorway right after the  davis family moves in here into the house in 1872   sarah writes to the judge that i hung mr clay's  portrait in its proper place today in the sitting   room henry clay was the founder of the whig party  abraham lincoln was a wig when he came to illinois   david davis was an avid follower of henry clay  and a wig when he came here seeking his fortune it   was their mutual admiration for clay that brought  davis and lincoln together and henry clay is the   one who invented the term self-made man so hanging  this portrait here is a visual reminder every day   in this most important family room of one of the  most significant parts of the davis's past which   was their participation in wake politics their  loyalty to the wig party and it represents the   friendship between davis and and lincoln as well  this portrait was done as an enormous oil portrait   as a campaign poster for clay when he was running  for the presidency which he which he obviously did   not win but he nonetheless solidified the support  of people like davis and um abraham lincoln uh and   then as we move on uh toward the fireplace we see  this magnificent crayon portrait of judge david   davis which was actually done from a portrait of  him a small portrait after his death by his son   george but it is appropriate that it  would that they chose to hang it here   in the room where davis when he was living  here in the house when he wasn't in washington   serving on the supreme court or later in  washington because he was a u.s senator   the family chose to put that portrait over  the fireplace this again has a lot of memories   attached to it it's memorializing davis in  his final years as a u.s senator and then   this mantle clock of the arrangement there was  a housewarming gift when the davis has moved in   it has all the themes of nature that's a merman  not a mermaid but a man in a canoe and there are   lots of floral motifs and of course the  canoe is is gliding through the water so   it's it's another representation of nature  but it's also a representation of friendship   that bound davis's law partner wells colton  and lincoln and davis together wells colton   unfortunately was killed after a fire  in st louis he was hit by some burning   pieces of a building and died several days  later and it was said by almost everybody   and by historians later that because davis was so  close to wells colton who was his law partner when   colton died lincoln is the person who replaced  davis um i mean replaced colton in davis's heart   so this mantlepiece arrangement has a great deal  of memory that it that it brings into this room   and sarah has chosen to put it put it there as a  reminder of the link with henry clay and the legal   the legal career of david davis the fireplace  itself is significant because this is the only   fireplace in the house or i guess there  are two the master bedroom that burns wood   and when there was any kind of outbreak of equine  fever among horses they couldn't deliver the coal   to this house i was to hang it here in the room  where davis when he was living here in the house   when he wasn't in washington serving on the  supreme court or later in washington because   he was a u.s senator the family chose  to put that portrait over the fireplace   this again has a lot of memories attached to it  it's it's memorializing davis in his final years   as a u.s senator and then this mantle clock  of the arrangement there was a housewarming   gift when the davises moved in it has all the  themes of nature that's a merman not a mermaid   but a man in a canoe and there are lots of floral  motifs and of course the canoe is gliding through   the water so it's it's another representation  of nature but it's also a representation of   friendship that bound davis's law partner wells  colton and lincoln and davis together wells colton   unfortunately was killed after a fire  in st louis he was hit by some burning   pieces of a building and died several days  later and it was said by almost everybody   and by historians later that because davis was  so close to wells colton who was his law partner   when colton died lincoln is the person who  replaced davis i mean replaced colton in   davis's heart so this mantlepiece arrangement  um has a great deal of memory that it that it   brings into this room and sarah has chosen to put  it put it there as a reminder of of the link with   henry clay and the legal the legal career of david  davis the fireplace itself is significant because   this is the only fireplace in the house or i guess  there are two the master bedroom that burns wood   and when there was any kind of outbreak of equine  fever among horses they couldn't deliver the coal   to this house and this house was heated  by a coal-fired furnace in the basement   so sarah had this fireplace converted so it could  burn wood because wood was always available they   could go out into the woods and chop it down  and so again always a fire burning in this   fireplace because somebody is in this room so it  symbolizes the warmth of the family relationships   the closeness the love and it's in the hearth  of course is a symbol of home so this is a very   important symbol in this room too and then as you  look further over oh and i do need to show you the   judge's rocking chair that is another reason  that these two items these two artifacts are   paired together the judge is looking benignly  down or we like to think on the rocking chair   where he spent a lot of time this is an old piece  of furniture again a souvenir of the old house it   was in their old farmhouse that stood on this very  spot and davis would sit here and read the paper   he could relax in here he could be himself he  wasn't having to have his public image as he would   across the hall he could be just letting his hair  down as we used to say and you can see by its size   that it is designed to fit the judge you can  see by the portrait that he was a large man   he weighed around 200 pounds when they came to  illinois but over time he gained some weight and   so this is a chair that that would fit his frame  what's also important about it is it's handmade now marsha this room looks a lot different  than the room we were just in yes it does   doesn't it yes this is the room on the public  side of the house where the davis family did a   lot of their entertaining we're going to go  into the next room which is the other public   entertainment room but this is pretty spectacular  especially compared to the room we just left which   has a very different set of furniture very  different color scheme different carpeting on the   floor and so on you've gone from the private room  where people could relax and let down their hair   to the public room where everybody was wearing who  was female a corset sitting up very straight and   the furniture is not very comfortable to sit on  so probably the maximum amount of time you might   spend here if you were visiting we've come in  left our calling card and come into the parlor   the maid has brought us in and we might spend 15  or 20 minutes here and so this is where someone   the people would spend time before going to the  dining room the dining room or maybe they're just   paying a call on mrs davis we can't send her  an email we can't call her on the telephone   but we want to continue to build and  grow and establish our social connections   this goes back to the idea of networking this  room and the dining room were the two ultimate   penultimate rooms for entertaining friends  and expanding the social network so   mrs davis might have a group of ladies in  here and today we're apparently serving tea   to some of the ladies this would be a room  where you'd have a little bit of a light tea   you wouldn't have to go into the dining room to  sit down for a full dinner but you were here to   re-establish contact with mrs davis and she is  showing off all the elegant pieces in the room   sometimes in this room at other times of the  year when we're not getting ready for christmas   we have a portrait over the fireplace that is a  copy of an old master of the madonna and child and   sarah davis chose that to go over this magnificent  fireplace because it was sending a message   many people who see the message when they come  into the room think oh mrs davis might have been a   catholic because here we have the madonna and the  child it is actually valued as much for the other   symbolism as it is for its religious symbolism  it symbolizes the woman's role in a household   like this in the 19th century she is the woman who  presides over all the family activities is the is   the caregiver and nurturer of children so it's an  idealized portrait of how women should behave and   she stays at home this is the ideal image pure um  sanctified in this in this pure environment and   protected from the outside world this room makes  a lie of that portrait of the madonna and child   because sarah davis idealized herself in that  portrait but in reality she was a consumer   and she went out into the public realm mingled  with all the corrupt men who were out there doing   you know what in the business world and this  is not supposed to be the role for a proper   mother and housewife and so on but a lot of women  who were in sarah's position had access to money   went out and bought things sarah not only went  out to buy things locally but much of what you   see in this room was purchased from stores in  new york city so she got on the train and went   all the way out to new york city to buy the  furniture to order the carpeting to order the   window treatments to order the cornices so this  room's decor represents the new role for women in   the 19th century which was consumer so she's got  a lot of economic power the fireplace is beautiful   where did the marble come from this is carrara  marble and it is from the quarry in italy which   most of the great sculptors the italian sculptors  got their marble from including michelangelo so   this is the premier showpiece in the room and it's  beautifully carved and you will notice again all   the naturalistic images these roundels and these  scroll scrolls that here hold up the mantle and so   on everything is a reference back to the natural  world and of course most of the women who came   to visit sarah would have commented on this so  it's meant to impress her visitors it's meant to   convey her social standing her refinement and good  taste and it makes a great conversation beautiful   it looked like it was carved yesterday exactly  exactly so you could see that the tea table is set   here in front of the fireplace a good place to  show off to her guests the carpeting on this   floor is another gem that sarah would have been  very proud of she purchased this in new york city   a.t stuart was the name of the largest department  store in the united states the most prestigious   at the time and later on macy's is the one that  takes that that reputation away from a.t stewart   but this carpeting represents the female image  it's filled with flowers the love of nature   but it's also very feminine in its appearance all  of the furniture you will notice is feminine in   the color scheme that's because parlors were the  domain of women this is where she would entertain   a lot of her female friends both in casual visits  and after dinner the women would leave the dining   room and come here and talk certain prescribed  conversations you didn't talk about the naughty   parts of life you kept it very civilized and  the men could talk politics which the women   weren't supposed to participate in in the dining  room so this is a feminine room and i don't know   whether you can get a shot or have gotten a shot  of the woodwork over there i apologize but it is   pink and no self-respecting man is going to spend  a lot of time in a room with a great big pink   door but this is a room women were comfortable in  and while you're there you can also see the piano   that again was the domain of women it was  a way you raised your daughter to be able   to play the piano it was an accomplishment  that that well-educated women should have   there is a lot of evidence that sally davis  their daughter spent a lot of time at the piano   and not just improving her mind but also  there would be young men sitting on these   very uncomfortable chairs admiring her form as  she moved up and down the keyboard this was a   great place to court in the 19th century  did more women play the piano than men   i think probably in a residence you would  find more women than men there certainly   were a lot of taboo right exactly exactly but in  a private residence so this is a symbol again of   the culture and refinement of the middle class  and this is something that if you have a well   furnished well-appointed properly decorated home  you would want to have a piano in the parlor to go   with the madonna in the parlor should we now head  into the dining room let's go into the dining room well here we are in my favorite room in the house  the dining room i think that's wonderful that it's   your favorite room and i'll tell you one reason i  think that maybe so of course men love food right   and we have a lot of food that's served in this  room but this room's decor if you look around   is a very masculine in appearance the colors are  dark it has dark wood work in the other room you   have this very fancy busy floral pattern all  filled with pinks all of the colors are colors   that men prefer and that's not by accident the  decorating etiquette of the day was parlors are   feminine where women hang out dining rooms are  for men women are allowed to eat there too but   this is where they hang out after dinner so it has  a more masculine appeal and what's wonderful is in   this dining room we have abraham lincoln hanging  over the fireplace i've seen that guy before he's   been he's been around a few places i guess he  slept in a lot of places like george washington   he certainly slept at the old farmhouses the  davises had which was on the spot for years   we told people that this is a very common  portrait of of lincoln um uh from its uh   steel engraving that was made from one of the  last photographs taken of lincoln and so you   find it in schools and so forth so we thought  the state of illinois may have put it in here   or that a family member admired it and it was put  up long after the davises the first generation   were deceased but in fact just a few years ago we  found a documentation that after lincoln's death   many lithographers engravers print makers rushed  to make copies of lincoln's image it was a   souvenir market like none other and so sarah davis  uh purchased one of these that was registered with   the clerk of the of the government in washington  dc and we know the date she bought it about two or   three years after lincoln's death and it hung  in davis's hotel room which was a a permanent   residence for him for all the time he was in  washington and she would stay there with him too   and so it hung over their fireplace there until  davis and brought it back and it it was installed   here in the mansion so it's been a piece that  sarah purchased herself so we we know it has her   blessing so it's a reminder though to everybody  uh to to visitors today but visitors back then   that there is this incredible close tie and  connection with abraham lincoln because they were   both on the eighth circuit and davis was a judge  and lincoln was a lawyer right but they got along   exactly and davis then you know by the time this  house is built lincoln's had his presidency and   been assassinated we know that davis did so much  to help lincoln win the presidency so it's a it's   a continuation of that story that goes back to  1835 when the two men first met here in illinois   so it's a it's a perfect place for lincoln  to be smiling down on all the happy guests   and you can see why they're happy the table is set  up for a lovely lavish dinner you could have more   to people at this time you could have more people  that's a very good point this would be probably   a family dinner um her son and daughter-in-law  and granddaughter and then later grandchildren   lived very close by david davis had had the same  architect pete nar who built this house built   their their house which is just a few minutes  from here and uh so they would often be here   for dinner and other local friends so it would be  a small family gathering but there are a lot of   leaves that extend this table all the way over to  the to the bay window over here and you can seat   probably up to about 22 guests at this  table when you put all the leaves and so on   and it has a quite a suite of furniture to go with  to go with the table what's fun is that everything   on the table is set according to specific rules  and this is one of those things that the middle   class kind of invented in the 19th century in  america that you had to decorate your house   and everything governing everything you did in  daily life followed rules of etiquette so there's   a celery base on the dining table with filled with  celery celery is a very exotic hot house vegetable   expensive to purchase so only wealthier families  would often have celery and they made a special   vase just to house the salary so the celery could  be passed around the table if it's very informal   or it could be served to the guests if  it's a more formal dinner party i have   one quick question you keep referring to  the middle class yes i look at this house   i'm seeing no you'd be wrong no you'd  be wrong because in this time period   this is a new group of people who haven't really  existed very much before and they're the product   of the industrial revolution of the rise of  capitalism and a market economy this is the   middle class which was earning its wealth not  through farming not through inheriting land   but through all these different occupations  that are suddenly available in america in the   19th century these would be upper middle class  but go to biltmore that's america's aristocracy   a little bigger than this exactly  yes anything else in this room um   yes we have an amazing lighting system over  here in the bay window we have a gas light   there are three lights on it it's  just the right size to light up the   bay window area and it is lit by gas that is  piped in the gas came from a gas works which   manufactured gas we don't have natural gas in this  time period so the gas works is not too far away   there were actually pipes under the city streets  david davis had the gas piped from the street down   at jefferson street all the way under the lawn  and into the basement below the parlor and that's   where the gas meter was and the man who owned it  ashley gridley could monitor how much gas david   davis consumed and he was probably the first house  out here because he was subdividing the land and   creating a subdivision and he talked gridly into  piping gas out here because mainly gas was used   in commercial establishments government buildings  and so on and and he is convincing gridley you're   going to have a market i'm going to open up these  streets build houses and you're going to be able   to have gas so this is a drop light that hooks  up to the gas source all of these gas lights have   to be fixed against the wall so it's not like an  electric light which you could easily move around   so they came up with the ingenious idea of having  a hose that attached to the source of the gas in   the in the gasoline itself and piping it down to  this table lamp which they called a drop light   and so you just take a match and open up  the valve and let the gas flow in and then   light it with a with a match eventually the davis  installed an electric ignition system to light   their gas lights but that wasn't until later after  george perrin davis the sun took over the house   so this was the most modern technology for the  day and of course there's a beautiful gas light   over the dining table as well so they would have  had a beautifully lit dinner party here once the   sun is going down and and it gets dark outside  you really this this room would come alive welcome to the butler's pantry as it's called  today but the davis has called it the china closet   this is a buffer zone between the formal  dining room and the active busy noisy smelly   kitchen victorians liked the privacy as we've  talked about many times and they wanted to keep   all the smells and the sounds isolated in the  kitchen separate from their guests so that their   guests would not be disturbed and would suddenly  magically receive the next dish when it was   placed in front of them by the by the maid who was  doing the serving so this is a room in which food   was passed from the kitchen through a pass-through  and set up here and then the maid could come in   here she was always sure to shut the door that  that closes this room off from the dining room   and she'd get all the things on the tray open the  door and take the tray in and serve the dinner   guests whatever the food was she wouldn't know  she'd depend on the cook in the kitchen to cue   her to send in the next dish um so the maid stayed  in here serving the serving maze stayed in here   the cook was in there for large dinner parties  mrs davis would hire day laborers people who could   help out doing additional work in the kitchen  ordinarily as we'll see upstairs she had a cook   a maid of all work and a manservant who lived  here in the house with the family in their own   servant's quarters but this is such a great  room because it's where they stored all their   best china so that the maid doesn't have to carry  it very far she would even plate up food in here   so you can see pete that with a room like this you  have to have servants to operate a house like this   marcia should we go to see the judge's  master bedroom excellent after you thank you marsha we are now in the davis's master bedroom  um what can you tell me about this room well this   room is a testimony to the kind of marriage  that sarah and david davis had in this time   period a lot of our marriages were still  arranged and they were for economic reasons   david davis fell madly in love with sarah and he  really wanted to marry her and brought her out   here to this prairie where there was basically  nothing but at the end of 41 years of marriage   he is presenting her with this incredible home  and this bed sort of symbolizes the kind of   relationship they had we know from letters that  davis wrote to his wife that they had this loving   relationship but the bed is the symbol of it  marriages in this time period are important   as part of your networking connections you  want to marry the woman who is from the right   family and the right part of society so davis did  have that in mind when he chose sarah her father   was a probate judge in berkshire massachusetts  highly respected well-known individual um and   and abe lincoln married into the todd family and  so he's making the same kind of marriage but at   least in davis and sarah's case we can document  that this was their bed they slept here together   he didn't have his room and she had her bedroom  and this bed is symbolic of the kind of furnishing   style that was popular and fashionable at this  time period so sarah davis burst has purchased   at a furniture store again in new york city this  pedimented headboard style sleigh style bed it's   called renaissance revival and this architectural  looking element here is called a pedimented like   a pediment headboard and this is very much the  renaissance style the top that's very prominent   with in size lines drawn into the woodwork and  then many times they were gilded with these little   pedestals intricate carving beautiful walnut  wood so this is the type of furniture that was   chosen by many fashionable women so sarah  is right there in with the mainstream but   it's it's a it's a testimony basically to the  fact that they had a companionable marriage   and these items on the wall these are bell cranks  and they're in every room except the dining room   where we just were in the dining room it's a it's  a foot pedal that you cannot see under the under   the floor of the dining table on the floor of  the dining table these are the only paired call   levers you would pull the lever through a series  of wires and dog legs that run through the house   the wires would lead to the kitchen to a panel  called an annunciator panel and we'll see it   when we're in the kitchen that summoned the  maid or whoever else it was that sarah wanted   she would call them in the appropriate room that  they are supposed to be serving so if if it's in   the kitchen it's probably the maid is going to be  coming and answering because mrs davis wants the   maid here if it's somewhere else in the house  she might want willie on the manservant and he   would come we have always puzzled over why there  were two call bell leavers well that's because   we told for years they were his and hers  the judge had one and mrs davis had one   not so one of them goes to the kitchen but  what if mrs davis is here alone at night   the other one we found by tracing the wires went  to the servant's bedroom on the second floor   so that if she were suddenly ill at night she  could wake a servant up who could come and take   care of her so it was a rather ingenious  method a way of summoning the servants   should we take a look at the bathroom yes let's  absolutely do that and while we're passing um   there is a picture um over the little table here  of sarah davis's family home so this is another   reminder and this is in massachusetts she was from  lennox massachusetts and that's where davis was   sort of clerking learning the profession of  law which is how you did it in those days   with henry bishop and he met her the daughter  of the walker family you know when do you say   walker family there was a president george hurley  yes that walker family is on david davis's side   so there were walkers on sarah's side and with  her husband's side and david davis is related   to the walkers on uh um and georgia the  relationship with george bush is on david davis   yeah yeah in the bathroom um you're  gonna show us some pretty modern yes   this was the most technologically modern room  you could possibly have had in the davis mansion   i know there were other modern bathrooms like this  in other stately homes in bloomington but none of   them have survived and this one has this had all  the modern fixtures from that were available on   the east coast the latest technology so you have a  sits bath which was actually the french call it a   bidet it's where you could sit and wash the bottom  half of your body the water actually came up   from the bottom there's a valve at the bottom and  the water squirted up sort of like a whirlpool   bath today and then there's the modern toilet next  to it it had a tank a reservoir of water above   it was gravity fed so when you pulled on the lever  a valve opened and allowed the water to flow down   and then swished around in the in the toilet bowl  there and uh went on out and there is there are   plumbing stacks here and over in the kitchen  area and going down into the basement and then   all the waste water went out through piping in the  basement and then we have a very modern sink with   nickel plated today we use chrome but they use  nickel plating faucets and a spigot and so on and   a beautiful porcelain bowl and you could purchase  those they were very expensive and you could get   a catalog from a local contractor who would sell  the you had your choice of what you wanted your   bathroom to look like so the lady of the household  could decorate her bath much as women do today   and then of course the the the real spectacular  thing is the tub in the shower and you will notice   it's a large top it does accommodate the size  of david davis and the shower is it it's a gem   because there were a lot of tubs and tub baths  that people could take in this time period but not   as many bathrooms with showers and then it had gas  lighting piped in so you had a beautiful gas light   in here so maybe we should go take a look at the  last room on the first floor which is the kitchen   and then we'll go upstairs and look  at some of the bedrooms excellent pink come on with me follow me we're now going  through the big double doors from the family   portion of the house to the servant's wing of  the house to the back of the house the back of   the house and i'm dying to show you the kitchen  which is fabulous we're going to be passing past   the built-in cast iron stove which they referred  to as a range and that meant it was built in and   this was very expensive very high fashion and  something that most families would not have been   able to afford these number of potholes where you  put the different cast iron utensils for heating   and cooking and the number of ovens this one  has four ovens determines the cost of the stove   so with the four ovens and a lot of the potholes  there you can see that it was a it was top of   the line and that is a no it isn't gas it's a hot  water heater and it runs pipes through the inside   of the firebox here actually against the wall of  the firebox and as the water circulates it heats   and it comes back into the tank and the warm  water will rise it's under pressure when you   open a faucet the hot water faucet it opens up  the tank and the water rushes to wherever in the   house because of the water pressure there is a  400 gallon tank of water in the attic providing   pressure for the whole system so it's like they  had their own mini water tower here in the mansion   and this is the pass through yes and so this  is where the cook is operating and uh we came   under the annunciator panel on the wall over  there over the doorway well the cook would hear   the bell ringing in here because sarah davis in  the dining room had stepped on the floor bill and   she set off this series of wires that would ring  the gong eventually get here and ring the gong   and then an indicator arrow would slide over  and they were numbered and it would show which   room was calling of course the cook is probably  going to figure out there's a big dinner party   in there that's likely this is davis and the  dice and then the cook would know mrs davis is   ready for the next course she would bring the  food over to the pass-through pass it through   the maid and then the maid has the cue then to  go on into the dining room and serve the food   and then this is the sink and what's amazing  about both of these items is that they are here   from the 1872 installation titan period this  is the original sink it's made out of soapstone   somehow the davis family kept it going all those  years and the house was deeded over to the state   of illinois by david davis iv who never did live  here and his nieces in 1960 so the state has owned   it ever since but this is the way it would have  looked with this on the drain board and a towel   rack and so on for drying and then we're standing  right beside the pie safe which was a common item   in victorian houses a pie safe and this is  where you kept the pies that you've just baked   free from flies and other flying insects and there  is venting on the side over there that allows the   heat to escape and the fresh air to flow in so  that the pies didn't get all yucky and you know   too moist and so forth so this was an essential  part of the baking process that went on in this   room and then over here we have the refrigerator  which is seems strange to say is the term that   victorians used in this time period and mrs davis  called it her refrigerator and all the food was   stored on this side and then the blocks of ice  and this was supposed to have accommodated 200   pound blocks of ice on that side and then there  are louvers here and the air the cool air from the   ice would flow over and cool off all of the items  in the refrigerator and then eventually what does   ice do it melts into the tin pan that's underneath  and it was the cook's job to keep an eye on that   pan and make sure it didn't spill over all over  the floor and then periodically she'd pull it out   and then that's the door to the outside she  would empty it outside and then bring the pan   back in for the next load of ice to melt into  the pan and start the process all over again   so this was a wonderfully convenient and  comfortable kitchen where her irish servants were   able to work and this beat any other kind of place  where they might have had employment and they   certainly back where their families were living on  the west side of bloomington never had a kitchen   like this so this shows you that servant life  although it was hard and they worked long hours   there were still benefits to working for a family  that had all the latest technologies and this is   where the cook would have spent most of her time  and this is also where the maid and the cook and   any of their friends mrs davis let them entertain  friends they'd sit around the table and have their   meals here too so miss davis was a pretty good  mistress of the she was mistress of a household   she um let them have alternate sundays off and  that was rare usually you would only have a   half a day off and not maybe not you know every  other sunday maybe not as frequently as that so   her servants were well treated and seemed to  generally to have been very fond of her how   about we go up and take a quick look at the  second floor let's do that okay this is the   premier room in the second floor of the mansion it  is the man's room upstairs all the rest of these   rooms were occupied by various female servants and  female guests and relatives who were staying here   at the house but this is the judge's retreat  it's his library and you can tell right away   not only is it filled with books but it has a  very masculine look all the dark woodwork the dark   walls the massive bookcases and so on the central  desk which is where the judge spent a lot of time   this is his place to hang out and retreat from all  these women who were here in this household what   distinguishes this library is the fact that  it has several generations represented here   these are all original books that belong to the  davises there are books on theology that reflect   sarah davis's interests in this time period there  are law books that reflect davis's occupation   and his passion and then there are a lot of  history books in here that reflect the family's   interest in history and particularly george perrin  davis he moved into this house in 1886 after his   father's death and his mother had died in 1879 so  he was the next generation to move in so this room   also reflects his occupancy in this in this room  what's really significant in this room is what's   not here but we can tell the story when the state  of illinois in 1960 took over the davis mansion   one of their major interests in assuming  responsibility and ownership of the house   was in preserving this incredible collection of  documents that were stored primarily here in the   library there were some stored in the attic in a  desk in the attic that was the the judge's desk   in the basement and all of those documents are  now in the abraham lincoln presidential library   and constitute the davis family papers  collection which is over 19 000 documents   plus 27 bound volumes it it's a record of  everyday life of lincoln and davis on the circuit   of sarah and davis's relationship and the  relationship with all their friends with some   of the famous names in american history are on the  documents in that collection and they were here   in this library and so it again this room is a  reminder a physical reminder of the relationship   between davis and lincoln without davis's help  lincoln probably would never have been president   without lincoln's help davis certainly would never  have served on the supreme court so their careers   intersected they reciprocated favors for  one another and at lincoln's death robert   todd lincoln telegraphed send a telegram to  one person in the united states david davis   back here in bloomington davis was actually in  chicago but he sent the telegram here as well   as chicago and said come at once to washington  to take care of my father's legal affairs and   davis jumped on a train and went out east and of  course the country was in turmoil his own family   in turmoil sarah came rushing home back here  davis sorted through all of lincoln's papers he   paid bills he had money forwarded to marry he made  payments for the family and he was appointed as   the guardian of young tad who was 14 at the time  so he was the administrator of lincoln's estate   he formed a close relationship with robert todd  lincoln and that kept up for the rest of their of   davis's life but that's all symbolized by what  you see in this room that relationship between   lincoln and davis at davis's death robert todd  lincoln said that i knew of him when they were   on the circuit together and all the good things  my father said of him after my father's death i   turned to davis as a second father and this he was  to me for all the days until the end of his life   i revere his memory and i benefited from his  counsel that's a rough paraphrase but it shows   that that relationship between lincoln and  davis continued on until davis death in 1886.   marsha we are now in is this a guest bedroom yes  it's known as the parlor chamber and it's the best   guest room in the house and that's because it's  directly over the parlor below which you probably   remember is a very fancy room indeed so it has  this magnificent bed with again a very impressive   pedimented headboard a matching renaissance  revival bureau which was for the benefit of   the guests beautiful glass curtains topped with  lambricans these are the most expensive window   treatments in the house and then a fireplace and  there are fireplaces in all these rooms and they   provided supplemental heating in the house the  main heat was provided by a coal fired furnace   which was in the basement and there are radiators  that were mounted up underneath the floor in every   room with a register over the radiator and it was  just by convection the warm air passed over the   from the coal furnace passed over these these  radiator strips and then lazily made its way up   into the room and there were flues in all the  walls too up to the second floor and now we're   looking at the wonderful convenience in this room  of a built-in sink so that she could actually the   guest could actually get up in the morning and  wash and not have to go down the hall as you did   in a hotel to a bathroom that's shared by all  the guests and then we will see next door there   is an adjoining bathroom there which is private  for the use of the guests only let's take a look and so it doesn't have a sink but that's  because the sink is here in the bedroom   so it's got the other two necessities a toilet  and a and a tub and you will notice that the tub   is considerably smaller than the one in  the master bedroom of downstairs because in the next bedroom is also  a guest room okay great   so maybe we should go take a look at one of the  services yes and what a contrast it's going to   be to this part of the house so we're back in the  front part of the house on the second floor we're   going to go down the hall to the back of the house  and be in the servant's wing again the way we were   in the kitchen only we're going to be in the room  above the kitchen okay great let's go take a look okay okay now we are in the back of the house once  again and this is one of the servants bedrooms   and let's take a look and contrast it with the  bedroom we were just in well you can see there   are some market differences first of all have you  noticed the walls there is wallpaper everywhere   wallpaper was very inexpensive in this time period  all the rest of the house the walls are painted by   a decorative painter very expensive here  you go down to the store you get some   wallpaper you have somebody hang it so this is  considered fashionable enough for the servants   but not so fashionable that they're spending a  lot of money on the service so it's still it's   a beautifully furnished room the heating system  did not extend the way the architect designed   the the system of the boiler and the pipes going  through the walls he didn't extend it to this part   of the house so it relied on a heating stove  and there you see the stove using there's a   chimney there and it was specifically designed to  accommodate these two heating stoves that are in   the two servants bedrooms so it's going to be cold  when you get up in the morning because you've got   to you've got to light the fire yourself but still  you have a beautiful room basically considering   the fact that you're a servant they had gas  lighting at the windows they had a comfortable bed   this would have been a bed that was in sarah  davis's older home which she handed down   as it were to the servants the carpeting on the  floor is a remnant of carpeting that would have   been used in mrs davis's fine parlor in her old  farmhouse she was very frugal so she said let's   not cut it up and throw it away let's cut it up  and use it in the servants room so she did that   she took the dining room and the parlor carpets  from the old house had them cut and surged and put   in these two bedrooms for 30th century recycling  19th century recycling exactly now if you thought   that this was a pretty modern and convenient room  for just a servant then look at your surprise   when you see just like in the fancy bedroom that  we just saw you've got a built-in sink here that   was available for the servants we believe that the  servants were allowed to use the other fixtures   that are in a hallway bathroom that we passed  as we came down the hall to the servant's wing   and the treatment of the woodwork is the clue  this is called wood grading and it's a faux finish   treatment where you simulate the fact that this  is expensive wood whereas actually they have wood   gray they have painted a pattern over very cheap  pine to make it look like more expensive oak so   the woodwork finishes here match the woodwork  finishes in the bathroom on the hall and that   bathroom was also used interestingly enough by  their daughter sally her bedrooms across the hall   and by anybody who would be staying in the front  bedroom on the southeast side of the house they   would not have their own bathroom but still  it was amazing that the servants would have   been allowed to use this indoor plumbing so  it would have made a life of a servant here   quite a notch up on all your other friends in  the community i've got a question what is on   that pillow isn't that fun if we weren't ready  to leave pete i'd have you do your last task   of the day and go over there and you pick it up  it's like a miniature rug beater you'd pick it   up you'd pick up the pillow and you fluff the  pillow and plump it up so that mrs davis would   have a comfortable night's sleep you might even  sneak into your own room and do it in yours too   but it's called a pillow fluffer isn't that  appropriate well marcia thank you very much for   giving this tour of the david davis mansion  you served here many years as a site manager   you oversaw the restoration of the home um  what year was the restoration the restoration   actually i came in on the third phase there were  three phases it started in 1985 and that was the   first phase where they studied everything and  produced a historic structures report in 1986   and then from about 86 to 90 they had the second  phase which was to restore all the outbuildings   on the property and then 1990 they started the  interior restoration and that's when i came in   so we had all of the house to do okay you did a  beautiful job it's a very uh beautiful home and   a very historic importance the connection to  abraham lincoln and thank you once again for   taking us on a tour thank you well thanks to  the historic preservation agency a great place   to work with a real sense of the importance of  preserving our history [Music] [Applause] [Music] you