September, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



159 



Garden of 'Avonwood Court,' Estate of Charles E. Mather, Esq. 



Haverford, Pennsylvania 



N ESTATE of twenty-nine acres is by no 

 means large as suburban or country estates 

 are counted, yet that it is possible to derive 

 a great deal of pleasure from a domain so 

 modest in extent and create upon it a spot of 

 wonderful beauty has been demonstrated by 

 Mr. Mather in his fine place of " Avonwood Court," at 

 Haverford, Pa. Haverford, as all the world should know, 

 is one of the many suburban places that thrive along the 

 famous "Main Line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad, just out- 

 side of Philadelphia. It is hardly a town, for few of the sub- 

 urban places on that giant thoroughfare have attained to that 

 dignity. Such, doubtless, they were in their inception, or 

 some of them, and for antiquity Haverford is as old as 

 anything within boundaries of the commonwealth founded 

 by William Penn. But the farmer and the local man of 

 business have been all but uprooted from these places to-day; 

 the fair fields, the gentle slopes of hill, the rich, warm forests 

 have been pre-empted for suburban places, all carried to a 



high degree of cultivation, ami all, without exception, en- 

 vironed with as beautiful a setting as the mind of man has 

 found available for his habitation. 



It was in such an environment, and exactly two hundred 

 years after his ancestors had settled in Montgomery County, 

 that Mr. Mather's house was built. This was in 1SS2, and 

 the house is therefore not new. Hut it is a charming and 

 comfortable house, distinctly recalling English models in 

 its design, and beautifully situated — ideally situated, for 

 the development that has been given to the grounds. 



Than this house there is no more delightful place to visit 

 in the early summer. A fine private road, maintained with 

 scrupulous care, leads to a lane, which, in that season, is 

 closely bordered on one side by a half mile or more of 

 crimson rambler anil other roses. Think of it ! Roses as 

 far as one can see; luscious, blooming roses for a half mile 

 or more! It is one of the sights of Philadelphia suburbs, 

 and it is well worth a visit to that city to be ravished by this 

 splendid spectacle, which is as beautiful as it is rare. 



The House Rises as a Screen, with the Terraces Below. The Vine-Clad Walls Harmonize Finely with the Rich Vegetation of Garden 



