LEDGE-STONE COUNTRY HOUSES
The use of natural building materials available on or near the site,
when they are suitable or can be made so, always elicits hearty
commendation; it gives local color and distinctive character. And so we
look with particular admiration at the fine old countryseats of local
rock-face and surfaced stone which abound in the neighborhood of
Philadelphia, especially at Germantown, finding among them the most
homelike and picturesque stone dwellings of the past and the best
prototypes for present-day adaptation. Nowhere can one discover better
inspiration for rock-face stonework, and nowhere have the architects of
to-day more successfully preserved and developed the best local
traditions of Colonial times.
Wherein lies the superlative picturesque appeal of the typical ledge
stonework of Germantown? As distinguished from surfaced stonework, it
possesses that flexibility in use so essential to the many and varied
requirements of domestic architecture imposed by the personality and
mode of living of the owner. In a measure this ready adaptability is due
to the irregular lines and rock face of the stone itself, so pleasing in
scale, color and texture, and so completely in harmony with the natural
landscape. But to a far greater extent it is due to the fact that its
predominant lines are horizontal, the line of repose and stability.
Ledge stone, long and narrow, laid up in broken range, with the top and
bottom beds approximately level, but with end joints as the stone works
naturally, has an even more marked horizontal effect than brick,
clap-boarded or shingled walls that tends to a surprising degree to
simulate the impression of greater breadth of the entire mass.
Such matters as color, surface texture and the bond or pattern formed by
the shape of the stones and their arrangement in the wall are the
refinements of stonework; the essentials are strength and durability of
the stone itself and stability of the wall. And this stability should be
apparent as well as actual. The integrity of stonework depends upon its
ability to stand alone, and nothing except high-cost surfaced stone is
so readily conducive to handsome, honest masonry as the natural ledge
stone of greater Philadelphia. A consistent wall should be of sound
construction without the aid of mortar, the mission of which is to chink
the joints and make the structure weather-tight.
Many different examples of stonework, both the pointed and unpointed,
stand virtually side by side for comparison about Philadelphia. Several
methods of pointing have been employed. There is the flush pointing and
the ridge or weathered type commonly known as Colonial or "barn"
pointing. Of them all, however, a method of laying and pointing
generally referred to as the Germantown type has been most widely
favored. It lends itself particularly well to the Colonial style of
house now so popular, the broad lines of the white pointing bringing the
gray stone into pleasing harmony with the white woodwork.
The pointing itself is much like the Colonial or "barn" pointing already
referred to,--the wide open joints being filled with mortar brought well
to the surface of the stones and smoothed off by the flat of the trowel
with little regard to definiteness of line, after which about one-fourth
of the width of the pointing is cut sharply away at the bottom so as to
leave a sloping weathered edge considerably below the center of the
joint. This is sometimes left as cut, in order to preserve a difference
in texture, or is gone over with a trowel, either free hand or along a
straightedge, to give a more finished appearance or more pronounced
horizontal line effect.
Generally gray in effect, a ledge-stone wall provides a delightful
neutral background against which trellises of roses, wistaria,
honeysuckle and other flowering climbers delight the eye, and to which
the spreading English ivy clings in the most charming intimacy.
White-painted woodwork, however, furnishes its prime
embellishment,--doors, windows, porches, dormers and such necessary
appurtenances of comfortable living punctuating its various parts with
high lights which brighten the effect, balance the form and mass and
lend distinctive character. One has but to examine the accompanying
illustrations of a few notable homes of the Colonial period to
appreciate the undeniable charm of white-painted woodwork in a setting
of ledge stone.
In the midst of virgin forest at the end of Livezey's Lane in Germantown
on the banks of Wissahickon Creek, stands Glen Fern, more commonly known
as the Livezey house, with numerous old buildings near by which in years
past were mills, granaries and cooper shops. The house is of typically
picturesque ledge-stone construction and interesting arrangement,
consisting of three adjoining gable-roof structures in diminishing
order, each with a single shed-roof dormer in its roof. It is located on
a garden terrace with ledge-stone embankment wall and steps leading up
to the door, which originally had seats at each side, while a balcony
above was reached by the door in the second story. Two and a half
stories high and having a chimney at each end, the main house attracts
attention chiefly for its quaint fenestration, with two windows on
one side of the door and one on the other, the foreshortened
twelve-paned windows of the second story placed well up under the eaves,
the first-story windows having six-paned upper and nine-paned lower
sashes. As usual, there are shutters for the first-and blinds for the
second-story windows.
[Illustration: PLATE XXIV.--Doorway, 5011 Germantown Avenue; Doorway,
Morris House, 225 South Eighth Street.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXV.--Doorway, 6504 Germantown Avenue; Doorway, 709
Spruce Street.]
A winding stairway leads upward from a rather small hall. White-paneled
wainscots and fireplaces surrounded by dark marble adorn each of the
principal rooms, while the great kitchen fireplace, in an inglenook with
a window beside a seat large enough to accommodate several persons, was
the "courtin' corner" of three generations of the Livezey family.
The old grist mill on Wissahickon Creek, originally a considerable
stream, was built by Thomas Shoemaker, and in 1747 conveyed by him to
Thomas Livezey, Junior, who operated it the rest of his life and lived
at Glen Fern near by. The builder's father, Jacob Shoemaker, who gave
the land upon which the Germantown Friends' Meeting House stands at
Coulter and Main streets, came to this country with Pastorius in the
ship _America_ in 1682 and became sheriff of the town in 1690. Thomas
Livezey, the progenitor of the Livezey family, and the great-grandfather
of Thomas, Junior, came from England in 1680, and the records show that
he served on the first grand jury of the first court held in the
province, January 2, 1681.
Thomas Livezey, Junior, the miller, was a public-spirited and
many-sided man. Something of a wag and given to writing letters in
verse, his life also had its more serious side. Besides being one of the
founders and a trustee of the Union Schoolhouse of Germantown, now
Germantown Academy, he was a justice of the peace and a provincial
commissioner in 1765. Being a Friend, he took no part in the struggle
for independence, although his provocation was great.
For safety's sake the girls of the family, with the eatables and
drinkables, were often locked up in the cellars during the occupancy of
Germantown by the British. On one occasion British soldiers came to the
house and demanded food, and being told by one of the women that after
cooking all day she was too weary to prepare it, one of the soldiers
struck off the woman's ear with his sword. An officer appeared
presently, however, demanded to know who had done so dastardly a thing
and instantly split the culprit's head with his saber.
Livezey cultivated a large farm on the adjoining hillsides, and a dozen
bottles of wine from his vineyard, forwarded by his friend Robert
Wharton, elicited praise from Benjamin Franklin.
Farmers brought their grain hither for miles around, and the mill
prospered. Gradually a large West Indian trade was built up in flour
contaminated with garlic and unmarketable in Philadelphia, the ships
returning with silk, crepes and beautiful china, so that Livezey's son
John became a prominent Philadelphia merchant. Another son, Thomas,
continued to run the mill, which about the time of the Civil War was
converted to the manufacture of linseed oil. In 1869 the entire property
was purchased for Fairmount Park, and Glen Fern is now occupied by the
Valley Green Canoe Club, which has restored it under the direction of
John Livezey.
Opposite the famous Chew house on Germantown Avenue, amid a luxurious
setting of splendid trees, clinging ivy and box-bordered gardens, stands
Upsala, one of the finest examples of the Colonial architecture of
Philadelphia. A great, square two and a half story house with a gable
roof, three handsome dormers in front, a goodly sized chimney toward
either end, and an L in the rear, it speaks eloquently of substantial
comfort. Like many houses of the time and place, the facade is of faced
stone carefully pointed, while the other walls are of exceptionally
pleasing ledge stone, the two kinds of masonry being quoined together at
the corners.
The pointing of the stonework is a very informal variation of the modern
Germantown type,--flat-trowel pointed with little regard to definiteness
of line. The wide joints are more appropriate in scale and taste than
the ridge or weathered type, in that they harmonize better with the
generally broad effect of the house and the white-painted wood trim of
numerous windows and doors.
Keyed lintels and window sills of marble accentuate the fenestration,
and the facade is further enriched by a handsome cornice and marble belt
at the second-floor level. Four marble steps give approach to the high,
pedimental porch before a door of delightful grace and dignity. As was
often the case, there are white-painted shutters at the lower windows
and green-painted blinds at the upper.
The gable ends of the house are interesting in their fenestration, with
a fanlight of delightful pattern above and between two ordinary windows;
one notices with interest that the returns of the eaves are carried
entirely across the ends of the house from front to back, after the
manner of the characteristic penthouse roof.
Within, a broad hall extends through the house, an archway at the foot
of the winding staircase being its most striking feature. Two rooms on
each side contain handsome mantels, paneled wainscots and other
beautiful wood finish.
As indicated by the date stone in one of the gables, Upsala was begun in
1798 by John Johnson, Junior, who inherited the land from his
grandfather, also named John Johnson, and was some three years in the
building. It is located near the corner of Upsal Street on part of a
tract of land that originally extended from Germantown Avenue, then
Germantown Road, to the township line at Wissahickon Avenue. The house
stands on the spot where the Fortieth Regiment of the British Army
was encamped, and where later General Maxwell's cannon were planted to
assail the Chew house at the Battle of Germantown. It has been
successively occupied by Norton Johnson, Doctor William N. Johnson and
Miss Sallie W. Johnson, all descendants of the builder.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.--Doorway, 5200 Germantown Avenue; Doorway,
4927 Frankford Avenue.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXVII.--Doorway, Powel House, 244 South Third
Street; Doorway, Wharton House, 336 Spruce Street.]
Like Upsala, Grumblethorpe, at Number 526 Main Street, Germantown,
opposite Indian Queen Lane, displays ledge-stone walls except for its
facade, which is plastered, and it has the same returns of the eaves
like a penthouse roof across the gables. This large two and a half story
house stands directly on the sidewalk and has areaways at the sunken
basement windows like many modern houses. A sturdy chimney at either end
and two dormers with segmental topped windows are the features of the
roof. The high recessed doorway, with its broad marble lower step in the
brick sidewalk, is located so that there are three windows to the left
and only two to the right. An interesting feature of the fenestration is
the use of wide twelve-paned windows on the first story and of narrower
and higher eighteen-paned windows on the second. Again there are
shutters on the lower story and blinds above. This variation in the
windows of different stories is by no means an uncommon feature of
Philadelphia houses, and, as in this instance, often came about as the
result of alterations.
Grumblethorpe was built in 1744 by John Wister, who came to Philadelphia
from Germany in 1727 and developed a large business in cultivating
blackberries, making and importing wine in Market Street west of Third.
"Wister's Big House" was the first countryseat in Germantown. Originally
it differed materially from its present outward appearance. There were
no dormers, and the garret was lighted only at the ends. Across the
front and sides of the house the second-floor level was marked by a
penthouse roof, broken over the entrance by a balcony reached by a door
from the second story. To the right of the entrance there were two
windows, as at present; to the left there was a smaller door with a
window at each side of it. Both doors were divided into upper and lower
sections and had side-long seats outside. In the course of repairs and
alterations in 1808 the penthouse roof and balcony, also the front
seats, were removed, the upper and smaller lower doors were replaced by
windows, and the front of the house was pebble dashed.
A long wing extends back from the main house, and beyond is a workshop
with many old tools and a numerous collection of interesting clocks in
various stages of completion. Still farther back is an observatory with
its telescope, also a box-bordered formal garden in which still stands a
quaint rain gauge. Indoors, the hall and principal rooms are spacious
but low studded, with simple white-painted woodwork, and in the kitchen
a primitive crane supporting ancient iron pots still remains in the
great fireplace. Much fine old furniture, many rare books and numerous
curios enhance the interest and beauty of the interiors.
Many men illustrious in art, science and literature shared Wister's
hospitality. His frequent visitors included Gilbert Stuart, the artist;
Christopher Sower, one of the most versatile men in the colonies; Thomas
Say, the eminent entomologist and president of the Philadelphia Academy
of Natural Sciences; Parker Cleveland, author of the first book on
American mineralogy; James Nichol, the celebrated geologist and writer,
and many other famous personages. Quite as many unknown persons came to
Grumblethorpe, however, for bread was baked every Saturday for
distribution to the poor.
During the Battle of Germantown, Grumblethorpe was the headquarters of
General Agnew of the British Army, and in the northwest parlor he died
of wounds, staining the floor with his blood, the marks of which are
still visible. In the same room Major Lenox, who occupied the house in
1779, was married. Major Lenox was at various times marshal of the
United States for the District of Pennsylvania, director and president
of the United States Bank, and the representative of the United States
at the Court of St. James.
John Wister's eldest son, Daniel, a prosperous merchant, inherited the
property, and it was his daughter who wrote Sally Wister's well-known
and charming "Journal", the original manuscript of which is among the
many treasures of this charming old house.
It was Daniel Wister's son, Charles J. Wister, who built the observatory
and developed the beautiful formal garden back of the house. Upon
retiring from business in 1819 he devoted himself to science, notably
botany and mineralogy, upon which subjects he lectured at the Germantown
Academy, of which he was secretary of the board of trustees for thirty
years.
In 1865 the place came into the hands of Charles J. Wister, Junior, an
artist, writer and Friend of high repute, who, like his father, was for
many years identified with Germantown Academy. On his death in 1910
Grumblethorpe was shared by his nephews, Owen Wister, the novelist, and
Alexander W. Wister, neither of whom resides there.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII.--Doorway, 301 South Seventh Street.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXIX.--Doorway, Grumblethorpe, 5621 Germantown
Avenue; Doorway, 6105 Germantown Avenue.]
One of the noblest old ledge-stone mansions of the vicinity is The
Woodlands, located on high ground along the bank of the Schuylkill River
in Blockley Township, West Philadelphia. It was formerly the countryseat
of the Hamilton family, from which a district of West Philadelphia east
of Fortieth Street and south of Market Street took the name of Hamilton
Village. Many years ago the grounds of The Woodlands became a
cemetery, and the house is now occupied by the superintendent and
contains the cemetery offices. While the gay society of a century and a
quarter ago is lacking the place still retains much of its former beauty
and state.
Of essentially Georgian character, the house is still more strongly
reminiscent of many plantation mansions of the South. It has an entrance
front to the north and a river or garden front to the south, while the
kitchen arrangements are well concealed. Between two semicircular bays
that project from the ends of the building on the entrance front, six
Ionic pilasters support a broad and elaborately ornamented pediment, its
chief features being the notching of the shingles, the circular window
and the frieze with groups of vertical flutings in alternation with
large round flower ornaments. A broad paved terrace three steps above
the drive extends across the front from one bay to the other and gives
approach to a round-arched central doorway with handsome leaded fanlight
beneath a segmental hood supported by round engaged Ionic columns. This
doorway leads into the hall.
On the river front a lofty pedimental-roofed portico centrally located
and supported by six great smooth pillars is of distinctly southern
aspect. Another round-arched doorway flanked by two round-topped windows
opens directly into an oval-shaped ballroom. The beautiful Palladian
windows on either side of this facade and recessed within an arch in the
masonry are among the chief distinctions of the house. An examination of
them indicates as convincingly as any modern work the delightful accord
that may exist between gray stone and white woodwork, and draws
attention to the masonry itself. The use of relatively small stones has
resulted in an unconventional though pleasing wall effect, due to the
prominence and rough character of the pointing which has been brought
well out to the edges of the stones.
A word may well be said in passing in regard to the stable at The
Woodlands, which, while rightly unassuming, lives in complete accord
with the house, as every outbuilding should. A hip-roofed structure with
lean-to wings, it is essentially a Georgian conception. Its walls are of
ledge stone like the house, broken by a symmetrical arrangement of
recessed arches in which the various doors and windows are set, and
further embellished by a four-course belt of brick at the second-floor
level.
The Woodlands was built in 1770 by William Hamilton on an estate
purchased in 1735 by his grandfather, Andrew Hamilton, the first of that
name in America. It is the second house on the site, the first having
made way for the present spacious structure which was designed to give
expression to the tastes and desires of its builder. William Hamilton
was one of the wealthiest men of his day and loved display and the role
of a lavish host. Maintaining a large retinue of servants and living in
a style surpassing that of most of his neighbors, his dinner parties and
other social gatherings were attended by the most eminent personages of
the time. A man of culture and refinement, he accumulated many valuable
paintings and rare books, and his gardens, greenhouse and grounds were
his particular pride and joy. To a large collection of native American
plants and shrubs he added many exotic trees and plants. To him is
credited the introduction of the Ginkgo tree and the Lombardy poplar to
America.
William Hamilton was a nephew of Governor James Hamilton, by whose
permission, granted to William Hallam and his Old American Company of
strolling players, the drama was established in Philadelphia in 1754,
despite the strong opposition of the Friends. William Hamilton raised a
regiment in his neighborhood to assist in the Revolution, but being
opposed to a complete break with the mother country, resigned his
commission upon the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Following the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British he was arrested,
charged with assisting the British forces and tried for high treason,
but was acquitted and allowed to retain possession of his estates,
which were duly inherited by his family on his death in 1811.
These charming old ledge-stone mansions, and others of lesser
architectural merit and historical association, too numerous for
description here, constitute the chief distinction of Philadelphia
architecture. Whereas the city residences of brick differ little from
those of several other not far distant places, and the country houses of
that material recall many similar ones in Delaware, Maryland and even
Virginia, the ledge-stone house of greater Philadelphia is a thing unto
itself. It has no parallel in America. Of substantial character and
possessed of rare local color, it combines with picturesque appearance
those highly desirable qualities of permanence and non-inflammability.
It is the ideal construction for suburban Philadelphia where the
necessary building material abounds and new homes can live in accord
with the old.
[Illustration: PLATE XXX.--Doorway, Doctor Denton's House, Germantown.]
[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.--West Entrance, Mount Pleasant, Fairmount
Park; East Entrance, Mount Pleasant.]