September, 1905 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



i55 



Notable American Homes 



By Barr Ferree 



" Woodcrest," the Estate of James W. Paul, Jr., Esq., Radnor, Pennsylvania 



HE estate of Mr. Paul at Radnor is a 

 property of about three hundred acres, sit- 

 uated in the center of the lovely rolling 

 country which is characteristic of the land 

 to the west of Philadelphia. It is a won- 

 derful country that, a region of fine houses, 

 of beautiful properties, of finely kept lawns, of highly culti- 

 vated lands, of delicious woods — a veritable park on a great 

 scale, the dwellings for many miles amply spaced within 

 superbly maintained grounds. It is a splendid and beautiful 

 country, stretching for many miles on both sides of the "Main 



you leave the entrance, is a pool of water shining brightly in 

 the finely kept lawn, and beyond are the roses and the honey- 

 suckles, which line each side of the angle at the entrance 

 corner. 



Brilliant as this entrance is you forget it as the horses drive 

 smartly along the entrance road. Vista after vista opens 

 before one. There are trees everywhere, in twos and threes, 

 in singles and in groups, rising from lawns that grow clear 

 up to them. Splendid trees, too, straight as arrows and tall 

 and lofty. Beyond are the woods, so thick and dense as to be 

 forest-like in their effect; with all the underbrush left as 



" Woodcrest " — The Great Hal 



Line " of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and so conveniently 

 and so numerously served by trains as to make it one of the 

 most accessible, as it is one of the most charming, of suburban 

 regions. 



. A quick turn in the road brings an illuminated corner into 

 view, a high wall of roses and honeysuckles, brilliantly 

 abloom. Just behind it is the entrance lodge, which one 

 presently discovers to be designed in the same style of archi- 

 tecture as the house. The entrance driveway passes before it, 

 and as one's carriage swings into the gate one realizes at 

 once that this is an estate quite out of the ordinary. The fine 

 macadam road stretches ahead indefinitely, with no view of 

 the house as yet, nor for some little distance. To the left, as 



Nature intended it to be, bordered, next the lawn, with row 

 after row of rhododendrons planted in graceful curves, 

 borders of rare brilliancy in the early spring, growing exactly 

 where they will best grow, and adding many superb splashes 

 of color to the many tones of green with which the landscape 

 is bounded. Further on are rows of honeysuckles, and then 

 roses, with more rhododendrons. 



The carriage moves rapidly on; the drive makes many a 

 graceful turn; the trees assume fresh combinations; the 

 rhododendron borders continue their endless curves, and still 

 no hint of the house. Had the approach been planned to 

 enhance the size of the place, it could not have been better 

 managed; but as a matter of fact the house has been placed 



