The Lucknow Estate was reportedly constructed in roughly 18 months. Over 1000 workers were involved in its construction – building the mansion, stable, garage, and two gate houses (all of stone), plus a number of other landscape features.
At its core, the Lucknow Mansion is formed by terra cotta architectural blocks, which offered insulating and fire-retarding properties. The home’s poured concrete floors are supported by steel beams. And, of course, the mansion is clad is stone – Conway pink granite and rhyolite, to be specific. This is a stone veneer. Each piece is roughly two inches thick. Look closely and notice that these stones range from three- to eight-sided.
The timbers you see on the exterior of the house – the rafter tails, supports for the portico, and, of course, the decorative half-timbering on the gables – are made of white oak. According to tradition, these timbers were milled by the shipwrights of Bath, Maine – Tom Plant’s home town. These timbers were worked and rusticated for that handmade arts and crafts look. Note the scalloped detail on the wood.
And I’m sure you’ve noticed Lucknow’s distinctive red roof, achieved thanks to these beautiful terra cotta tiles. Unfortunately, we have no record of where these tiles were manufactured, but the largest producer of such tiles at the time was an Ohio based company called Ludowici, which continues to operate today.
These materials were chosen so that the house would blend visually into its natural setting. Tom Plant once described the house as follows:
“The house was designed to harmonize with the rugged nature of the country, and it stands, with its low broken lines and projecting towers, as if it were a part of its surroundings in both form and coloring.”
The design of the home is intentionally international.
“I don’t claim that it is architecturally consistent, it combines features that I have seen and like in the houses of Norway, of England, and of Switzerland.”
Half-timbering on both gable ends of the house resemble that of a Swiss cottage; the north and south towers are fashioned after those you might see on a Norman castle in the United Kingdom or France; the cascading roofline is reminiscent of Norwegian stave churches; and the original “ridgepole,” now gone but visible in historic photos, mimicked the roofline of a Japanese temple.
“It gives just the result and effect that I wanted. I worked out plans that would give me the kind of house I desired and one that belonged right here, and not a line had to be changed in the building, not a detail has failed to satisfy us.”
