AMERICAN HOMES AND 
Taunt Cant 
GARDENS 
August, 1912 
srstat 
The street front of the modern home constructed from an old Colonial farmhouse 
An Old Colonial -Farmhouse That Became a Modern Home 
& 
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plete home in the truest sense of 
the word. Chance took us one after- 
noon for a walk on the Jersey side 
of the Hudson, and it was then we 
discovered the old house that, re- 
modeled, became our present home. 
It was old and “tumble down” in 
general aspect, so far as the back of 
the premises and its interior were 
concerned, but its stone walls stood 
firmly upon their foundations. 
Through the offices of a good friend 
who was acquainted with the owner 
of the premises, we entered into ne- 
gotiations for its purchase, which, 
after two months of fluctuating 
price quotations and mind changing, 
was finally accomplished after giv- 
ing in to a demand for an increase 
in price of five hundred dollars. 
However, we were happy in our 
bargain, for bargain we truly con- 
sidered it from its many advantages. 
momomog||AVING lived on the beautiful island of 
Porto Rico longer than our physical beings 
decreed we should, we happily found our- 
selves transferred to our own country, and our own roof. 
for a time to a city home. However, we seconds in a bath tub, corner lavatory, toilet and an 
enameled iron sink for the kitchen for almost nothing and 
had them installed; we had the house wired for a center 
longed for a real home—for a house that 
could have its little garden and therefore be a more com- 
By Beatrice C. - Wilcox 
Photographs by Alice Boughton 
The stairway leads up out of the living-room 
Stone walls always have possibilities, so we decided to 
do just the necessary putting in order to make the old house 
sanitary and habitable and to enable us to be alone under 
We went to a local plumber and bought 
drop-light in each room. Then the 
master of the house laid a new 
kitchen floor and painted the kitchen 
walls and the trim white. My white 
kitchen in the dingy old house at- 
tracted much attention. 
It was now late Autumn and we 
bought two cheap wood stoves and 
an oil stove to use nights and morn- 
ings in the bedroom. In the wood 
stoves and fireplace we used apple- 
tree wood from the old decayed 
trees cut from the plot. ~Atetais 
time, during an absence in the south, 
the rear and frame upper por- 
tion of the old house burned, having 
caught fire from a defective flue. 
There was only one thing to do, we 
found we must reconstruct the dwell- 
ing, a task not very encouraging to 
face, despite the possibilities of the. 
rare old walls that still stood firmly. ne 
It is said that Washington, passed 
