uilder, used to tell how, when a
child, she often wondered why so many colored people lived in the attic,
staying only a day or so, when others would appear.

Generally similar to the Johnson house is the old Green Tree Inn, Number
6019 Germantown Avenue, Germantown, erected in 1748. Its principal
distinctions lie in the three small, plain dormers with segmental topped
windows; the coved cornice; the elliptical carving in the pediment of
the hood over the door; the enriched ovolo molding of the penthouse
roof, consisting of a ball and disk in alternation, and the arched
openings of the basement windows.

In this building on December 6, 1759, then the home of Daniel
Mackinett, the public school of Germantown, the Germantown Academy, was
organized, its building being erected the following year. In
Revolutionary times this old house was known as "Widow Mackinett's
Tavern", and it was a famous resort for driving parties from the city.
Many persons of note were entertained at the Green Tree Inn, and when La
Fayette visited Germantown in 1825 it was the intention to tender him a
dinner there. It was concluded, however, that the tavern could not
accommodate the party, and a breakfast at Cliveden was given instead, to
which reference has already been made.

The old Billmeyer house, also on Germantown Avenue, Germantown,
interests the student of architecture primarily as a rare instance of
the early Germantown two-family house. Apart from its two front entrance
doorways and the absence of a hood in the penthouse roof, it is much
like the Johnson house in general arrangement. The "brick" stones are
larger and less pleasing, however, and the high elevation of the
structure is evidently due to a subsequent change in the grade of the
street. This, however, has given opportunity for a quaint double flight
of wing steps with simple wrought-iron balustrades in the characteristic
Philadelphia manner. The seats, back to back, one for each doorway,
recall those of the Johnson house. One notices with admiration the
beautifully detailed pedimental dormers with their round-topped
windows, and with interest the unusual use of shutters on both the first
and second stories. Both upper and lower sashes on the first floor are
twelve-paned, as are also the upper sashes on the second floor, the
foreshortening of these upper windows being accomplished by means of
eight-paned lower sashes.

[Illustration: PLATE XLII.--Iron Stair Rail and Footscra