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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1907 



''Meadowbank 



HOW CLINTON GAGE, ESQ., TRANSFORMED A FARM 

 INTO A DELIGHTFUL COUNTRY SEAT 

 AT VILLA NOVA, PENNSYLVANIA 



By Francis Durando Nichols 



'OME two years ago Mr. Gage found at 

 Villa Nova, Pa., an interesting old farm, 

 with a quaint old house and farm build- 

 ings surrounded with run-down farm lands. 

 [ he character of the place, so isolated in 

 aspect, and yet within close proximity to 

 the city, appealed strongly to Mr. Gage, 

 and so he purchased it, and subsequently transformed it into 

 a delightful country seat, which the photographs presented 

 herewith illustrate. 



The entrance to the estate is ornamented by field stone 

 posts laid up in a rough manner, from which posts swing 

 white gates. Another attractive feature is the whitewashetl 

 split rail fence which surrounds the estate and carries out 

 the character of the old-time farm. A straight road enters 

 the place, passing by the servants' quarters and farm barns 

 placed at the left, and on to the circle from which an en- 

 trance to the house is obtained. The house rests on the side 

 of a hill, overlooking the meadows below, from which it gets 

 its name, and on 

 across to the hills. 

 When Mr. Gage 

 found this house it 

 was typical of the 

 old-time farm- 

 houses so frequently 

 seen along the coun- 

 t r y highways of 

 Pennsylvania, but 

 fortunately of such 

 a character that the 

 form of the build- 

 i n g s and grounds 

 could be maintained, 

 thereby reducing 

 the problem of its 

 transformation to a 

 slight alteration, 

 combined with a 

 thorough renova- 

 tion bringing the 

 whole property to 

 its proper condition. 

 The house was too 

 good to be torn 



down, and if it had been replaced by a more modern building 

 it would certainly have lost the charm which it now possesses, 

 standing under the shade of the fine old elms and walnut 

 trees with which the place is surrounded. With the excep- 

 tion of the roof being broken and raised, the main lines of 

 the house remain unchanged, and the problem presented to 

 Mr. Gage was confined to a cleaning up, as it were, and the 

 place put in a sanitary condition. 



The entire absence of ornament, and solidity and per- 

 manence of the walls of the house, which were of stone, 

 made it desirable to keep the building intact; and the only 

 necessary repair was to apply a coat of rough stucco and 

 then a coat of whitewash. The blinds were painted bottle 

 green. The only ornament added to the house is the quaint 

 little "Bambino," with which the outer wall is pierced and 

 which was brought from an old house in Italy by the present 

 owner; its dull green color adds a quaint touch to the white- 

 washed walls. The house, in its origin, was built for one 

 family, and was only one-half of its present size, with a 



kitchen on the first 

 floor and two bed- 

 rooms on the second 

 floor, reached by a 

 staircase from the 

 kitchen. When the 

 master's son "John" 

 married, the end of 

 the house was 

 pushed out and a 

 duplicate of the 

 original house was 

 built to accommo- 

 date "John and his 

 family." This was 

 what Mr. Gage 

 found when he ex- 

 amined the house. 

 He remodeled one 

 kitchen into a living- 

 room, cut a door 

 into the other 

 kitchen and turned 

 that into a dining- 

 room. Outside of 

 the kitchen door 



The Entrance to " Meadowbank " with Its Stone Posts and White Painted Gates 



