Carter Brown and Tootin' Hill
Carter Brown designed this low-key estate in 1940 for J.A. and Doris Chapman Blackwood, members of the Metamora Hunt in Michigan, whose home near Detroit was designed by that city’s most famous architect, Albert Kahn. The informal one-and-a-half story Tootin’(referencing the toot of the hunting horn) Hill residence is entered via a traditional open Appalachian dogtrot separating living and dining rooms built of antique logs. An exposed stair to the upper bedrooms has long pegs projecting from its side timber, purely for picturesque effect. Brown uses flitch-edge pine to clad shed wings and naïve scalloped bargeboards to trim edges of the low-pitch roofs, originally covered with rustic shakes. As on most fashionable Tryon houses of its era, the fenestration is steel casement, here a deep brown. Millstones and rustic flags are used for terraces and walkways.
Interiors at Tootin’ Hill are quintessential Brown, noted for his creativity deploying salvaged vintage material. The old harness-maker’s rig and cobbler’s bench, hand-wrought iron curtain rods, and works by Detroit equestrian artist George Shepherd, frequent Tryon visitor in the 1930s, have remained with present owner Doris Chapman Hinds. She is Mrs. Blackwood’s niece and daughter of Detroit architect Frank Robbins Chapman. A long-time member of Carolina Carriage Club, Mrs. Hinds has preserved this historic Old Hunting Country property in essentially original condition.
Woodscape mix of natural coniferous and deciduous trees. Dogwood, magnolia, and azalea fill the understory. At left is the automobile garage, also designed by Carter Brown, with its own “dogtrot” to shelter horses. Above is a servant’s quarter.
Hand-carved and colorfully-painted traditional horsedrawn Sicilian cart, imported from Italy by the Blackwoods in the 1940s, decorates the brick-floored family room. Its deep colonial-style cooking fireplace contains an actual working crane.
2009 photographs of Tootin' Hill by Elaine Pearsons
Run-in shed and old horse stable with attached groom’s quarters. Each stall in the stable is cross-ventilated.
