The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-10-14
A HOUSE OF MANY GABLES.
England's Cozy Building for the Centennial
---Is the Queen Coming to Americas

EngInnd,s Cozy Building for the Centennial
---Is the Queen Coming to Americas
The Philadelphia Times says: Nest
ling cozily in q cluster of stately chest
nut trees at the foot of Georges hill is
one of the oldest of the many odd build
ings that within the last few months
have been erected on the Centennial
grounds. A short walk under the trees
leads to the wall of this singular build
ing, within which dozen or more car
penters are at work, and ON the roof of
which several more are mailing the
shingles. This is the first of the British
governments twin buildings, and the
first building erected by o foreign gov
ernment on the Centennial grounds. 1t
is two-story cottage, and its size is not
at all commensurate with the size and
power of the country by which it was
put up. As it stands among the trees in
a spot so darkened by the shade that the
workmen almost have to use lanterns
when they have to drive nail, it has an
air of British poetry and English TO-
nance spread all over it and through it.
If some of the. old-time novelists had
wanted to describe robbers den, OF a
pretty maiden's cottage, or even q
ghostly haunted house, they could not
have found q more appropriate place
than this very British building in the
park. 1t is almost house with seven
gables and no matter where you stand,
or from what angle you look, one of the
gables is always staring you in the face
not with an impudent stare, but with an
easy, comfortable look, that carries
with it an invitation to come in and
welcome.
But the oldest of all the odd things
about this remarkable house are the
chimneys. The architect undoubtedly
started with the intention of putting up
a frame building, and he succeeded as
far as the corners and few odd boards
are concerned, but when the masons be-
gan with the chimneys there was no
room left for much of anything else
Stuffed into house not much bigger
than a seaside cottage are five of the
biggest and queerest chimneys that
architect ever drew or mason ever built
Broad chimneys, thick chimneys, high
chimneys. Outside they make about
two-thirds of the wall, and inside they
make you wonder wherea stout Britisher
VIII hhu opuSC III any VI tlio looulo w
sit down. Broad at the base, each
chimney runs up, square and clumsy,
till it reaches the edge of the roof then
it narrows suddenly and goes on ten
feet OF so higher, when it as suddenly
widens out again into heavy band at
the top, and then quickly tapers off into
space. Inside, in every one of the five
little rooms is cozy, olG-fashioned fire.
place, with broad mouth and sugges-
tion of winter evenings and the yule log
smoking.
The workmen are unable to tell why
the Queen has made such elaborate
preparations for the warmth of her COM
missioners. Any one of the freplaces
would heat the entire building in May
or November, and in any of the inter
vening months would drive the coolest
Britisher into tie neighboring lake.
But some jealous subject must have i'm
posed upon her majesty with the idea
that America is frozen waste, and
Fairmount Park crowded with icebergs
and avalanches. Rolls of building paper
on the outside show what the material of
the boarding will be; and when
the bright shingles are all on, and coat
of cheerful paint covers the outside
walls, and smoke from British logs is
curling from the five tall chimneys, the
odd building in the little chestnut grove
will be one of the prettiest and queerest
in the park. Adjoining it is its mate, q
larger building, but more on the Ameri-
can square-box plan, with holes for
windows and doors.