When an opportunity to own 14 acres in the historic Ardrossan estate in Villanova came up, the family knew it would be a great opportunity to create a lasting contribution to the countryside near old Philadelphia. Conceived as homage to the gentleman farmer estates restored in the early 1900’s by famed Chester County architect R. Brognard Okie, this new property drew liberally from the examples of Quaker vernacular architecture that had been restored or created by Okie with his characteristic arts and crafts overlay of whimsy and creativity.

Though built all at once for a rapidly expanding family, the home suggests a long genesis with the original cube of a farm house core, added to over the years. A high, delicate stone ledge and blocky quoin stones at the front indicate that once there was a long front porch on the original three bays that has given way to the more formal entry portico hood over the robust front door as the old family prospered. The meandering wing conceals a modern garage under a playfully curved roofline.

Across the service court a diminutive story and a half bank house in an earlier style with simpler shed dormers and tighter windows seems to predate the main house. There, guests are housed in comfort and privacy above the secondary garage. Alluding to the homeowner’s long ago visits to Bermuda, the pool house suggests the more sybaritic life of a Caribbean island with its open plan, languid ceiling fans and double pitched hip roof. All together these create a compound myth of country life that is both steeped in a genteel memory of where we came from and an expression of the best of who we want to be.