October, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 3 
~l 
~“l 
Notable American Homes 
By Barr Ferree 
bid 
“WILLOW BROOK HOUSE” 
The Estate of Francis E. Bond, Esg., 
Penllyn, Pennsylvania 
T WOULD be an unnecessary reflection on 
the taste of the skilful architect of Mr. 
Bond’s interesting house—Mr. Horace 
Trumbauer, of Philadelphia—to say that 
its greatest charm lies in itslovely situation ; 
it would be fairer,and much more accurate, 
to point out that in design and situation 
there is a singularly successful unity that is at once delightful 
and satisfying. It isa restful house, quiet and subdued in its 
structural fabric, straightforward and definite in its plan and 
outline, embellished with a very restrained amount of orna- 
mentation, and so entirely dignified that its mere stateliness 
yields pleasure. Its situation is as peaceful as its own outer 
form. It stands beneath the shadow of an ancient wood. 
There are broad open fields before it, and other great 
stretches of openness behind it; yet a spur of woods has sur- 
vived in between, and here the house is placed, with great 
tall old oaks behind it, and a fewer number mounting guard 
before it, with thicker growths to the right and left, so that, 
in a quite surprising sense, it is a house in the woods. 
It is a low-spreading house, for, as the estate comprises 
about three hundred and fifty acres, there was no need of 
In design and situation there is a successful unity at once delightful and satisfying 
