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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



February, 19 13 



The north front of Fox Hill Farmhouse at Radnor, Pennsylvania 



on an open hillside this plan is to be commended for sim- 

 plifying the heating problem in Winter. 



The galleries upstairs and down are light and spacious 

 and impart a sense of breadth and size to an unusual de- 

 gree. Being attractively furnished, they are excellent also 

 from an artistic point of view. Certain pieces of furniture 

 can be put there to better advantage than in most other 

 places. On the first floor, at the foot of the stairway a 

 passage sweeps around to the loggia and the library. At 

 the eastern end of the gallery a door opens into a passage 

 giving access to the breakfast-room and the pantry while 

 along the side and opposite the entrance are doors to the 

 drawing-room and the dining-room. 



The east wing is given over for the most part to pantry, 

 kitchen, coldroom and servants' dining-room, only a small 

 part at the south end, opening into the dining-room, being 

 kept for a breakfast-room where the morning sun can come 

 flooding in from the east and south. The loggia, already 

 alluded to, is within the walls, and French windows from 

 the library passage and the drawing-room open into it. Sev- 

 eral Delia Robbia casts are here pleasantly let into the 

 walls by way of adornment. 



One advantage of the library's occupying the whole west- 

 ern wing is that the light pouring in from all four sides 

 leaves not one dark or gloomy corner at any hour of the 

 day. The library woodwork is of fumed chestnut and 

 some of the paneling over the fireplace and about the 

 chimney-jamb is especially beautiful. Built in an offset on 

 the west side of the room, the fireplace is flanked by ingle- 

 seats above which are casement windows. Before the hearth 

 is a great comfortable sofa whose luxurious depths invite 

 alike to day dreams and to midnight meditations or con- 

 fidences in the light of the glowing logs. The walls are hung 

 with excellent old prints while on top of the shelves is that 

 miscellaneous collection of clocks, lacquer boxes, cameras, 

 work-baskets and innumerable minor lares and penates 

 that make it quite evident that the room is lived in and 



apartments imaginable. The walls are a neutral gray while 

 the carpet, crepe de Chine curtains, upholstery and domi- 

 nant figure in the cretonne slip-covers are of mauve tones 

 that blend harmoniously. The walls are unadorned save 

 for an old Dutch mirror with carved and gilt frame above 

 the fireplace, a curiously wrought Chinese painting on glass 

 and a Japanese screen hung in the manner of a tapestry. 

 All the furniture is arranged with the most consummate 

 good taste and due sense of decorative restraint. Next the 

 drawing-room is the dining-room, of pleasing proportions 

 and appointments in keeping with the rest of the house. 

 The long galleries with their inviting vistas, the beautiful 

 old chests and cabinets and tables ranged along the sides, 

 the antlered heads and feathered trophies, the oaken balus- 

 trades of Jacobean design and the carved passive figure sur- 

 mounting the newel-post are all so fascinating that one 

 feels disposed to spend much of his time on the stairs. 



The planning of Fox Hill Farmhouse shows a good ex- 

 ample of what delightful things may be done with galleries 

 and stairways. The possibilities of stairway treatment, with 

 all the attendant opportunities for imparting stateliness and 

 grace to the house, we have in some measure realized, but 

 in our use of galleries we have yet much to learn. They 

 are not to be regarded merely as convenient ways of getting 

 from one end of the house to the other without passing 

 through rooms. A narrow passage would answer that pur- 

 pose quite as well and take up less space. Galleries have a 

 distinct value as an important architectural feature full of 

 capabilities, and they deserve more careful study. 



With an increasing number of country seats of the type 

 of Fox Hill Farmhouse, so admirably adapted to the con- 

 ditions of our country life, one can readily understand why 

 more and more families leave town earlier each Spring and 

 come back later each Fall, and finally end by staying in the 

 country the year around. With automobiles and good 

 roads they can easily get to the city for dinners or the 

 theatre while for balls or the opera they can spend the night 



thoroughly enjoyed, as the natural gathering place of all with friends who still cling to city habits or stop at a hotel. 



the little interests that go to make up the sum of our lives. For the small inconvenience of distance all the delights 



The drawing-room, with its three French windows open- of life in the country amply compensate throughout the 



ing on the terrace to the south, is one of the most delightful year when houses of this Radnor pattern are in question. 



