October, rg91I 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
The Story of Two Remodeled Farmhouses 
23 NLESS one has remodeled an old farm- 
SS in house he has no idea of the charm and 
It often includes even 
the joy of discovery. The country around 
many American cities, particularly the 
older cities of the Eastern States, abounds 
in old-fashioned farmhouses. 
ture has waned these old homes have fallen into decay, but 
interest it involves. 
the automobile and 
the trolley car have 
brought many of 
them into_ what 
might be called com- 
muting distance, and 
some of these quaint 
old homes have been 
redeemed and made 
into the country 
homes oi city men. 
Not. far from 
Reading, Massachu- 
setts, is an old farm- 
house built more 
than one _ hundred 
and fifty years ago, 
embodying many of 
the New England 
characteristics which 
builders of that 
period seem to have 
expressed even in 
their farmhouse architecture. Here 
are broad, unbroken roof surfaces— 
eaves cropped closely to the body of 
the house —windows placed with 
quaint but often with mathematical 
precision, and the “stack” chimneys, 
located usually in the center of the 
building, so that each room might have 
a fireplace of its own, with the usual 
accompanying brick hearth. 
This particular feature seems to 
have been inspired 
by thrift and 
economy — why 
build many chim- 
neys where one 
would sufice— 
why waste the 
heat of the chim- 
ney instead of util- 
izing it by placing 
the chimney near 
the center of the 
he 
Grapes 
Porch 
Range 
Coal 
MriWw oP: 
Stone Wall 
Perennials 
Stone Path 
Rose Garden 
Perennials 
ae 
Wood Shed 
Covered 1 
By Howard V. Bowen 
was made plain. 
built. 
As agricul- 
Adden’s house, remodeled from a 150-year-old farmhouse 
Living Room 
house? 
In the altera- 
tions to the Adden 
house much of the 
house’s history 
Front Porch 
Lrick Floor 
Ground plan of Adden house as Fomodeledl 
It became apparent from different meth- 
ods of building that the house had been built at different 
times, or, rather, that much of it had evidently been re- 
The framing throughout is of rough-hewn oak, but 
some of the walls were found to be filled in between the 
studding with brick and mortar, with the inside wall plas- 
tered over with newspaper and wallpaper until the walls 
were almost ten inches thick. 
Here is a “stack” chimney 
of unusual siz e— 
almost 16x8 — its 
huge _ foundations 
take up most of the 
cellar, since it was 
built of sufficient 
size to furnish sup- 
port even for the 
wide brick hearths in 
front of numerous 
fireplaces. The chim- 
ney itself is of brick 
laid in clay, with 
meadow hay used as 
a binder. 
This fine old place 
has entered upon a 
new phase of _ its 
career—it has come 
into its own, and an- 
swers every demand 
of modern conven- 
ience and sanitation 
without sacrificing a single jot of 
the severity which constitutes its chief 
charm. 
The house is not far from the road, 
for the farmers in 1760 saw but little 
of the world, and wanted to see that 
little passing at close range. The 
grounds are enclosed, as New Eng- 
land grounds should be, by a low 
wall of field stones—these same stones 
from the field no doubt made possi- 
ble the tilling of 
elas Goll, ~dhinys 
house’s exterior re- 
quired but little 
altering, and the 
additions required 
have been planned 
Enclosed 
oe upon the old 
simple and correct 
os lines. 
Bie The chief en- 
s trance has_ been 
emphasized by a 
porch which con- 
tributes just the 
touch of formality 
