HOUSE AND GARDEN 
20 
July, 1910 
Sgjr :'V* L.W U 
n III liliihimili « 
A view from the central hall looking down into the tiled dining¬ 
room. The conservatory lies beyond 
An arched opening separates the reception room from the stairway 
end of the hall 
west or living-room end. 
The old tap room, 
several steps lower than 
the main floor of the 
house was very consist¬ 
ently made the dining¬ 
room. Its worn wooden 
floor was replaced with 
one of small dull red 
hand-made tiles, some 
of which bear a raised 
pattern. On the ceiling 
the heavy smoke-black¬ 
ened beams of oak re¬ 
main, standing out in 
bold relief against the 
white ceiling. From one 
end of this room a con¬ 
servatory opens, its glass 
roof sweeping up in a 
graceful curve from over 
the low outer benches to 
the stone wall of the 
service wing. 
Up the steps from the 
dining-room, and across the 
central hall that runs from 
front to rear, lies the living- 
room, and back of it a recep¬ 
tion room that is almost as 
large. The main approach to 
the estate being by way of 
the drive, one enters the 
house from the rear porch 
and finds the reception room 
nearest the door. 
Throughout the house the 
furniture, wall coverings, 
hangings, framed prints and 
many quaint ornaments are 
: so thoroughly consistent and 
harmonious as to make the 
■whole interior one of the most 
distinctive in America. 
It is well known that the 
eastern end of Pennsyl¬ 
vania was settled largely 
by the Dutch and the 
Germans. The furnish¬ 
ing of Barclay Farm, as 
Mr. McFadden’s place 
is called, shows the most 
interesting blending of 
Colonial pieces with 
those of Dutch flavor. 
And this is carried out 
even to the quaint little 
china figures on table 
and mantel - shelf, the 
curious blue plates over 
the dining-room wains¬ 
cot, and the old lanterns 
hanging from the tap 
room beams. 
Mr. McFadden’s es¬ 
tate is primarily a farm, 
that is known the country 
over for its herd of Ayrshire 
cattle. The house is consid¬ 
ered merely as an adjunct to 
the farm, not the farm to it, 
and is occupied not merely as 
a summer home but more or 
less during the entire year. 
Isn’t there something more 
than an interesting home 
here? To me it presents a 
striking object lesson upon 
our opportunities in seeking 
out and using some of the 
picturesque old stone mills, or 
even barns, that lie ready to 
hand — that we may weave 
into our new home something 
of the atmosphere that time 
alone brings. 
In the bedrooms, as on the main floor, the furniture and hangings are Dutch 
Colonial 
From the wide porch on the rear, one looks out over a great ex¬ 
panse of lawn shaded by the century-old trees about the house 
