ADDITIONS AND ALTERATIONS TO AN OLD HOUSE 
AT CHESTNUT HILL, PA. 
ALBERT KELSEY, ARCHITECT 
L ARGE without pretentiousness—in fact, though 
the addition is larger than the old house, it is 
so much concealed from the road, and blends so well 
with the original, as to look like merely an old, com¬ 
fortable country home. A modest new portico is all 
that has been added to the front, though much old 
jig-saw work has been removed. 
To bring a superb view into line and focus and 
comfort, were the two objects striven for. In achiev¬ 
ing the former a strategic move has been aimed at. 
The property on which the house stands is of but 
scant acreage, but the owner’s mother’s large estate 
adjoins, and beyond property is also owned by the 
family. Here it is aimed some day to erect a house, 
which will also be planned to accuse a view, namely 
a view which shall terminate or be focussed on the 
loggia of the house we are now describing. In other 
words, a reciprocal treatment of the three places, 
treated as one estate, is ultimately hoped for; thus the 
striking loggia will count in a private landscape with¬ 
out flaunting itself to the public gaze, and some 
similar out-door treatment will mark the other end 
of the vista. 
The terrace around the loggia being twenty-two 
feet above grade, and the loggia two feet higher 
still, an arrangement had to be made for planting on 
these levels. Concrete pits, with a separate drainage 
system, have been provided for this purpose, and the 
trellises have been studded with an open cornice of 
outlookers from which vines will droop and sway, 
thus softening the lines of the great arch as seen from 
two storeys within. 
The dining-room, thirty-two by nineteen feet, and 
the main bedroom above, profit most by this arrange¬ 
ment, as both point to the view, the former with its 
casements opening wide enough to allow the dining¬ 
room table to be rolled out under the bowered loggia, 
and with two other long windows, sliding entirely 
out of sight, give an airiness to the room itself, which 
is wonderfully al fresco. Above, a commanding 
sheltered balcony with a rich wrought-iron rail, in 
front of wide casements, will offer a similar effect from 
the bedroom. A stone mantel over eleven feet high, 
in the dining-room, forms a focal point from the 
higher level of the entrance hall. 
Turning to subjects of comfort, and waiving a 
description of the old parlor, now a spacious living 
hall, and such other features as a broad new stair, 
we start at the basement, where the arrangements are 
unusually complete. A large and lofty kitchen, with 
a spacious and well appointed kitchen pantry, a 
servants’ dining-room and a servants’ sitting-room 
will provide for the convenience and comfort of the 
domestics. A refrigerator room, or larder, is placed 
F/QO/VT ELEVATION *5/OF FLFVATIOrV 
L & ji r jl ir 1^9 YvJI'y . 
SCALE ELEVATIONS 
