Forebay Stone Barn/ Clubhouse
The original barn on the property was built in the 18th century and supported early life of the Painter family. The early fulling mill and weaving equipment created finished materials that were stored in the early barn until they were loaded on wagons to be taken into the markets in Philadelphia. As each generation of the Painter family used the property for evolving business uses the barn was adapted, but unfortunately was burnt by arsonists in August of 1861. A large Pennsylvania forebay stone bank barn with attached sheds was rebuilt on the property by the Painter family, later that year. This barn was the centerpiece of a very successful dairy enterprise operated by the Painters in the latter part of the 19th century. The rebuilt barn complex consisted of facilities for the dairy herd on the lowest level, stables for the work horses, and adjacent farm equipment sheds. The upper levels of the barn which were accessed by a large doorway on the uphill side of the structure contained the threshing floor and storage areas for the crops supporting the farm. After the purchase by Charles Mather in 1897, the working barn was converted into a state-of-the-art equestrian facility by Philadelphia architects Charles Barton Keen and Frank Mead, including a large number of hunting horse stalls, cork floors, and an elaborate suite of stone arches at the eastern end of the building that mirrored several interior arches in the barn’s original design. The 1897 renovateions included the addition of a blacksmith shop to service the both the farm's workhorses and Stallions of the hunt. The barn was converted into Radley Run Country Club’s clubhouse in between 1964 and 1967, but was gutted by fire in 1969 in which an original N.C. Wyeth painting (entitled The Barber of Chadds Ford) and other valuables (mostly antiques) went up in smoke. The stone walls survived, however, and the clubhouse was rebuilt in 1970 and substantially renovated again in 2000. Much of the original stone work is visible throughout the interior of the building, and the stone arches designed by Keen and Mead are still very much in evidence framing the lower entrance to the clubhouse. Continue down Country Club Road to the Kennelman's House. Watch for traffic as you cross the road.
Kennel complex
Charles Mather was originally Master of the Radnor Hunt and one of the outstanding fox hunting enthusiasts of the country. Partly due to a disagreement with Radnor Hunt’s decision to change their hounds from English to American he purchased William Painter’s farm at auction in 1897 for $15,000 and began his own fox hunting sport on this land. He imported 65 hounds from England and brought mostly descendants from this “canine aristocracy” to his new farm. In general the complex consists of four parts: 1) the Kennelman’s House, 2) an open courtyard, 3) the Kennels, and 4) a stone wall perimeter. Elaborate kennels for the hounds were constructed in 1901 with attached quarters for the Kennelman’s house designed by Philadelphia Architect Charles Barton Keen. The open courtyards and connecting buildings of the Kennels Complex floored with massive stone slabs functioned variously as whelping pens, sleeping rooms, open-air runs, eating rooms, kitchen and infirmary, surrounded by an eight-foot stone wall. So elaborate and well equipped were the Kennels that more than 100 hounds could be accommodated with ease at any one time. The design helped make the Brandywine Meadows Farm one of the finest “English-style” hunting boxes in the east, if not the nation. During the off-season of hunting it was a pleasant sight to see and hear the Mather hounds out for their exercise. The pack was escorted by the huntsman and two “whips” who maintained perfect discipline among the hounds. Mather’s hunt did not observe “social fences.” Anyone interested in fox hunting was welcome to follow the hounds, if they could keep up with the pack. The English hounds were very fast, kept closely bunched together, but did not cry as loudly as the American hounds. When Charles Mather died, his son Gilbert inherited the estate, became Master of the Fox Hounds, and replaced the pack with American hounds that “bay” instead of bark. They did not make as showy a sight as their English cousins, but their “hound music” was more pleasing to the ear. After Gilbert’s death in 1959 he was succeeded by his daughter, Jane, as Master of the Fox Hounds. The Brandywine Hunt moved to new kennels in 1964 along the Brandywine’s west branch to Pocopson Township on the farm of Johnny White, who served the Mathers as Whip and Huntsman for many years. The Kennelman’s House is a one-and-one-half story stone bungalow-style building with an elaborate arched front doorway. The main entrance utilizes a cross-gable roofline attached to a rectangular three -bay one-and-one-half lateral extension. The roof supports three gable- roofed dormers on the front and one on the back. Charles Mather added the Huntsman’s House to the east of the Kennelman's House on Brandywine Meadows Farm about 1920. It is a one-and-one-half story fieldstone house with attached kitchen. Throughout time the house has undergone several modern upgrades both internally and externally, although much of the original fabric of the house is still evident today. The Kennelman’s House originally formed an integrated complex of buildings with the Kennels themselves but aside from a retaining wall forming two sides of a courtyard the balance of the Kennel complex is no longer in existence. Both the Kennelman's House and the Huntsman's House are under the ownership of the Radley Run Country Club and are rented to tenants. The Mather kennels no longer exist, being razed for a new cart barn in 2005 in order to make way for a new, more serviceable structure to house the Club’s golf cart fleet. Carefully follow Country Club Road east to the Springhouse/ Lyehouse ruins at the intersection of General Layfayette Boulevard.
Springhouse/ Lye House
The dimensions of the northern core of the Springhouse/Lye House (18 by 15 feet) roughly correspond to those noted in a 1750 tax assessment for a springhouse on the Samuel Painter property. This springhouse core is a banked one story structure with a gabled roof. A two-story three-bay wide addition was later appended around 1770, to the south. This addition was used by the Painter family for fulling, soap and lye making, as well as many other daily farm and household chores. When Revolutionary War soldiers approached the Painter home in 1777, it is said that Jane Painter was making lye. The name has stuck. In the 19th century the Painters were tailors, weavers, hatters, and produced fulled (fluffed) wool fabric. Fulled wool is thicker and denser than ordinary wool material, more like boiled wool of today. In the early 19th century there was state of the art textile machinery in the building used by the Painters for weaving and dyeing of wool. You will notice a gravel road passing by the ruins. In the 19th century the building stood along an ealry colonial road. The road to the south east led towards the intersection of Street Road and Birmingham Road and the current gravel road to the north led down to the area of the current Brandwine Picnic Park near Lenape. In the 20th century farm roads on the Mather farms were improved to become the basis for the public roads used today. When the Country Club was developed and the golf course was built that section of road was abandonned. In the 20th century the structure was in sound condition but after standing unused it fell into disrepair. The building’s original fabric was preserved and stabilized as a ruin in 2004. Proceed east along Country Club Road toward the large serpentine stone house just up the hill.
Collier/ Forsythe House
The Collier/ Forsythe house is a 2-and-one-half story, 8-bay dwelling with a wood-framed gable roof. The original core of the home is the 3-bay section on the right end which was constructed in 1738 by James and Mary Collier. The property was part of a 250 acre tract divided off of a larger 1000 acre William Penn land grant. An addition was constructed in 1855 by William Forsythe which added an additional 5 bays to the existing structure. The Forsythe family was active in the Birmingham Meeting. When the Quaker Meeting split in 1827 the Forsythe family followed the Orthodox Meeting, while the Painter family who lived on the farm across the road attended the Hicksite Meeting. When the Orthodox Meetinghouse was constructed in 1845 there were several members of the Forsythe family serving as trustees. The exterior walls of the Collier/ Forsythe house are built up in coursed rubble and the roof is clad in wood shingles. Doors with relatively plain surrounds are placed in the third bay from either end of the main façade. The exterior presents a symmetrical, unified formal appearance that reflects a long and consistent Chester County Quaker building tradition. The serpentine stone used in the construction was likely quarried at Brinton's Quarry on present day New Street about one mile to the east. The building was converted into a duplex and used as a tenant house for the Mather estate up until the early 1960's. In later years it was a tenant house for professionals for the Radley Run Country Club. The historic structure was restored and converted back into a single family private residence. Carefully cross Country Club Road and enter the public parking area by the tennis courts and face north towards the Dairy Master's Cottage.
Dairy Master's Cottage and Barn
By the mid 19th century many Chester County farms had converted into the dairy business. With the introduction of the railroad and the introduction of the cream separator, creameries sprang up throughout the rural areas. These creameries were supplied with fresh milk from local farms and converted the milk into butter and cheese which was able to be shipped by rail into the cities of Wilmington and Philadelphia. A stone 1 and one half story dwelling was constructed in the late 19th century as the dairy farmers home on the William Forsythe farm. The building has a gambrel style roof with dormers. Uphill from the house was the dairy barn that served the 19th century farm. In the early 20th century the property was acquired by the Mather family. After the forebay barn near the Mansion house was converted into a state-of-the-art equestrian complex the Mathers used this barn for dairy operations managed by a tenant farmer. Gilbert Mather had a prize winning herd of Jersey cows on the farm in the early 20th century. The aging 19th century dairy barn was in use in the early 1990's by the Radley Run Country Club but was in need of extensive structural repairs. The timber frame structure was sold, dismantled, and reassembled in Newlin Township and now lives on as a private residence. A more modern structure replaced the former barn and is used by the Radley Run Country Club for storage and maintenance. Return to Country Club Road and head west towards General Layfayette Boulvevard and follow that road south to the Samuel Painter House.
Samuel Painter House
Based on tax assessments for 1748 and 1750 that show a dramatic increase in Samuel Painter's tax rate, it is almost certain that in 1749 Samuel and his wife Esther built the small stone house now located at the intersection of present day Country Club Road and General Lafayette Boulevard. The dwelling house had two rooms; one up, one down, with a full basement. Historians claim that there was a one story log cabin near this house that was the Painter family home before the stone house was built. To clear the land for farming, Samuel was assisted by indentured servants that were purchased from Europe for a term of (usually 7) years to pay for their passage. (Servants were also paid a small stipend.) After the small stone house was built, Painter’s indentured servants lived in the earlier log cabin. Samuel's first born son, James learned to be a weaver and continued the Painter’s woolen business. The Painters by this time were tailors, weavers, cordwainers (shoe makers), and operated a woolen mill. When son James built the larger brick house in 1770, the small stone house was also used by their indentured servants. A wood frame kitchen wing was added to the house in 1982. Today the Samuel Painter House, sometimes referred to as the "Doll House" is used as a tenant house on the Radley Run Country Club. Follow General Layfayette Boulevard to the driveway of the Mansion house and proceed up the hill.
James Painter House
The James Painter House was constructed in several episodes, with the original house built in 1770 by James Painter (one of three sons of Samuel Painter) and his wife Jane. The original house measured 30 by 30 feet, was two stories in height, and had a stone kitchen. The masonry joint of the southeast corner of the original house can be seen just to the right of the main entrance as one enters the “Mansion House”. James Painter’s grandson (also James) inherited the property upon his grandfather’s death in 1822, and he and his wife Betsy expanded the house in 1847. This “repair” included the addition of a third story, a two-story kitchen with bake oven, and a two-bay, three-story wing. The original 1770 date stone was also relocated to the third story of the west gable end at this time. In 1902, Charles Mather added a three-story massively-pillared portico to the south facade of the building and in 1912, he added a 42’ by 24’ brick ballroom to the east gable end of the 1847 addition (also demarcated by a date stone). The second floor of the James Painter House and its several additions is currently used as executive offices and conference rooms, and the first floor frequently accommodates special functions. Proceed up the driveway to the west end of the Mansion House plot and face the Formal Gardens along Country Club Road.
Charles Barton Keen Formal Garden
In 1901, Philadelphia Architect Charles Barton Keen designed Mather’s additions to the property including the Formal Gardens that were built over the area of Painter’s Carriage House. The stone columns and retaining wall carry the architectural details of an early Pennsylvania bank barn. The plantings brought a more formal asthetic to the gardens of the Mansion house. To your rear you will notice a series of three stone arches that lead into the lower level of the current club house. These arches were designed by Keen and Mead when the Forebay barn was converted from the Painter dairy barn into the stables for the stallions on the Brandywine Meadows Farm. The arches mirrored the original structural arches of the 19th century barn's foundation. After the disastrous barn fire in 1967 these arches remain as an original element from the turn of the century renovations.
