The house was made to conform to its site, rather than the reverse. The old trees were preserved as far as possible, and they are an important 
factor in the appearance of the place 
A Stone Farmhouse of French Colonial Inspiration 
AN OLD GERMANTOWN ICE HOUSE THAT WAS REMODELED TO CARRY OUT THE GENERAL APPEAR¬ 
ANCE OF A FRENCH MANOR FARMHOUSE—ITS SIMPLICITY, CONVENIENCE AND UNUSUAL EFFECT 
by Charles V. Boyd 
PHILADELPHIA and its 
environs are so closely 
linked with American Colo¬ 
nial days that one almost in¬ 
stinctively expects a prepon¬ 
derance of Colonial spirit in 
both city and suburban archi¬ 
tectural work. Nor is this ex¬ 
pectation unfulfilled, for beau¬ 
tiful examples of modern ar¬ 
chitecture, based on Colonial 
models, are encountered on 
every hand. Any tendency 
towards a monotony of ef¬ 
fect is, however, prevented by 
the frequent adoption of mo¬ 
tifs other than the Colonial. 
There is, indeed, particularly 
in country-house architecture 
—for which Philadelphia ar¬ 
chitects are justly renowned — 
a marked tendency towards English characteristics, induced pos¬ 
sibly by the similarity in landscape between certain sections of 
rural England and suburban Philadelphia. The country house of 
Mr. J. B. Browder, at St. Martin’s, Pa., which is shown in the 
accompanying illustra¬ 
tions, adheres neither to Co¬ 
lonial nor to English tradi¬ 
tions, for its architects, Duhr- 
ing, Okie & Ziegler, found 
inspiration in an old French 
manor farmhouse. 
It is given to comparatively 
few contemporary homes to 
have a history. The Browder 
house, then, grows in interest 
when we learn the vicissitudes 
through which it passed ere 
entering upon its career as a 
delightful home. On an old 
deed of sale, it is recorded 
that Christian Bastian, early 
in the eighteenth century, 
built for himself a sturdy 
stone house and barn; the 
pioneer, doubtless, little im¬ 
agining that the latter building would become a twentieth-century 
residence. Through its proximity to a pend of considerable 
area, the barn was converted into an ice house; but, eventually 
falling into disuse, it lapsed into the picturesque but unprofitable 
The stone foundations of a ruined ice house formed the groundwork on 
which the scheme of the house rested 
( 23 ) 
