Article September 21, 1907 Issue

NEW HAMPSHIRE BUILDING IS REPRODUCTION OF LANGDON HOME

Virginian-Pilot

More than half the State buildings at the Jamestown Exposition are reproductions of some noted or historic home in the State they represent, and a glance at the New Hampshire building suffices to show that it, too, belongs to this order, for though not of the colonial type familiar to the South, it illustrates a style of architecture popular among the wealthier classes of the North at the close of the eighteenth century. It is a reproduction of the home of Governor John Langdon, erected in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1734. Langdon enjoyed the unique honor of having been five times elected to the gubernatorial chair at a period when men were chosen to represent the people on merits alone—graft being the outcome of more recent years. He was, it is true, one of the few rich men of his State, but his wealth was nobly used in furthering the cause of the Revolution and not in political preferment. What Robert Morris was to the patriots of Philadelphia, Langdon was to the men of New Hampshire; he pledged his entire fortune to the cause of the colonies and was, moreover, one of the five men who, in those stirring days, seized the powder at Fort William and Mary which was afterwards used in the battle of Bunker Hill.

Langdon House has always remained in possession of the family, its present owner and occupant being Colonel Woodberry Langdon, whose portrait hangs in the drawing room of the State building. ...

The reception room is what a society reporter might be expected to call "a symphony in green;" here, at least, there are no discordant notes, and there be musical symphonies of which so much cannot be said. The walls are done in green burlap, the furniture is dark green willow, and a corner cabinet is filled with native pottery of artistic design and in varying shades of green. There is a large photograph of Mrs. Eddy in this room, which is attractomg more than usual attention this summer, when the papers have been filled with contradictory reports of that venerable and most remarkable woman. The photograph shows Mrs. Eddy addressing, in 1903, from the balcony of her Concord home, several thousand disciples of her cult, all enthusiastic believers in Christian Science.

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