House and Garden 
PLAN OF THE GARDEN 
should conform, and the guiding motive in the 
arrangement of the plan was this recognition of 
the three axes formed by the central path and the 
two side paths of the garden, as at the further end 
of the latter the two principal garden houses or 
shelters were centred. 
The garden itself, upon the narrower end of 
which the southeasterly side of the house faces, 
is about one hundred and fifty feet wide by about 
five hundred feet in depth. The central path 
of the garden is approached from the house terrace 
by a broad flight of steps, and is interrupted mid¬ 
way by a pool, shown in the view on page 208, 
while its most distant end is terminated by a semi- 
octagonal screen of lattice and vine, well in advance 
of which is the sun-dial, the whole forming a satis¬ 
factory and carefully studied termination of the 
principal view. The paths are bordered with 
low box and back of this are privet hedges, leaving 
a wide space filled with a profusion of blooming 
perennials and annuals. 
But it is of the house that we are called upon 
more particularly to speak.* 
* The Rarden at “ Fairacres” was fully described and illustrated in the 
issue of House and Garden for July, 1903. 
“Fairacres” is the country seat of Mr. J. W. 
Pepper, and lies at the entrance to the beautiful 
Huntingdon Valley, on the outskirts of Jenkin- 
town, a suburb of Philadelphia, on the Reading 
Railway. The house stands on a hillside, and 
commands from its northwesterly side a comely 
view of the valley, with its swelling hills and dales, 
with the opposite side of the house overlooking 
the garden, as already noted. Designed in Mr. 
Eyre’s best and most sympathetic manner, the 
house presents two somewhat dissimilar aspects, 
as it is seen from the approach, or from the garden. 
The valley side is faced with grey Chestnut Hill 
stone (local limestone of very beautiful texture 
and color), while the garden front is dominated 
by the half-timbered second story walls and gables. 
The roofs throughout are of grey shingle. 
The plan of the house is very individual and 
effective showing quite as well as the exterior the 
high degree of professional skill which Mr. Eyre 
places at his clients’ disposal, and deserves careful 
attention. It should be noticed first how the 
three axes of the garden fix the axes of interest 
in the plan itself, and how the service rooms, and 
Croftft Scchon. 
210 
