Synopses & Reviews
Stone Houses: Traditional Homes of Pennsylvanias Bucks County and Brandywine Valley is a unique presentation of beloved building traditions in one of the most charming and historically significant regions in the nation. Houses, barns, and outbuildings dating from the colonial and Federal periods, built with local stone predominantly in an English Cotswold vernacular style, represent a form that has become popular across the nation. Geoffrey Grosss stunning photographs document a remarkable collection of early buildings, including the John Chad House (circa 1720), Peter Wentz Farmstead (circa 1758), and Buckingham Friends Meeting House (1768), as well as more recent designs, in part inspired by such traditional homes, by architects R. Brognard Okie, G. Edwin Brumbaugh, and John D. Milner. Part of the original Pennsylvania Colony founded in March of 1681 by William Penn, the region encompassing Bucks County and the Brandywine Valley is important not only for its history as an early English settlement in the New World, but also for its role as a crucial site in the struggle for American independence. The evidence for this is obvious in the story of its houses. Some notable examples include the Thompson-Neely House at Washington Crossing, in which, it is said, Washingtons officers were billeted during the famous night of his crossing of the Delaware, and Pennsbury Manor, the reconstructed home of William Penn. With its authoritative text and exquisite full-color photography, Stone Houses is a beautiful record of a historically rich regional building tradition.
Synopsis
Stone Houses is a unique presentation of a beloved building tradition in one of the most charming and historically significant regions in the nation. Part of the original Pennsylvania Colony, founded in 1682, Bucks County is important not only as an early English colony in America but also as a crucial site in the struggle for American independence. Architectural historians Margaret Bye Richie and Gregory D. Huber and photographer Geoffrey Gross survey twenty-four houses and barns dating from this early period, detailing their English Cotswold vernacular style and distinctive construction from local stone.
Among the fascinating and delightful buildings included in Stone Houses are McConkey's Ferry Inn (ca. 1750s), Washington's headquarters on the night of his historic crossing over the Delaware River, as well as the Thompson-Neely House (1766), which served as his officers' headquarters that famous night; Pennsbury Manor, the home of William Penn (begun in 1683 and restored in 1939); Summerseat (1725), the home at various times of three signers of the Declaration of Independence; and Buckingham Friends Meeting House (1768), the oldest building in the country continuously in its original use. With its authoritative text and stunning full-color photography, Stone Houses of Bucks County is a beautiful record of a historically rich building tradition.
About the Author
Geoffrey Gross is a widely published photographer whose work has appeared in
Art & Antiques,
New York Times Magazine,
The Magazine Antiques,
Better Homes and Gardens,
Interior Design,
Old House Interiors,
Popular Mechanics, and elsewhere. He is the photographer of Rizzolis
Dutch Colonial Homes in America.
Margaret Bye Richie is an architecture historian, lecturer, and active preservationist. She is the author of Victorian Sketchbook and for two years wrote the column “Restoration Primer” for Panorama Magazine. Dr. Richie, of the eleventh generation of the Bye family in Bucks County, lived in “Old Congress” at Byecroft Farm (p. 68), the family seat since the early 1700s.
Gregory D. Huber is president and owner of Past Perspectives-a historic resources company specializing in House Histories of the Northeast. An architecture historian, Mr. Huber is co-author of the second edition of New World Dutch Barn: The Evolution, Forms, and Structure of a Disappearing Icon and has written more than sixty articles on vernacular houses and barns of the eastern United States.
John D. Milner is an architect practicing in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and lives in the Abiah Taylor House (p. 206). His firm specializes in the restoration of historic buildings and the design of new houses that are inspired by the architectural traditions of the past. He has a particular passion for the vernacular architecture of the Delaware Valley. Mr. Milner is also an Adjunct Professor of Architecture in the University of Pennsylvanias School of Design.