ng on pedestals flanking the entrances on all four sides
indicate more eloquently than words the charm of white-painted interior
woodwork. As in many houses of equally early date, the absence of a
mantel over the fireplace is characteristic, yet it seems a distinct
omission in beauty and usefulness. Through the high arched opening in
the rear, with its narrow double doors, is seen the winding staircase in
a smaller stair hall beyond. In this hallway stands an iron chest to
hold the family silver, the cumbrous old lock having fourteen
tumblers. Above there are wooden pegs in the wall on which to hang hats.
The broad staircase with its plain rectangular box stair ends is one of
unusually simple stateliness, yet typical of the sturdy lines of
Philadelphia construction, the window with its built-in seat on the
landing being an ever pleasing arrangement. Severely plain square newels
support an exceptionally broad and heavy handrail capped with dark wood,
while attractive turned balusters of distinctive pattern complete a
balustrade of more than ordinarily substantial character. A nicely
paneled dado with dark-capped surbase along the opposite wall greatly
enriches the effect.

About the middle of the eighteenth century wide halls leading entirely
through the center of the house from front to back were common in large
American houses. Where country houses had entrance and garden fronts of
almost equal importance, with a large doorway at each end of the hall,
the staircase was usually located in a small stair hall to one side of
the main hall and at the front or back, as happened to be most
convenient with respect to the desired floor plan. Where a small door at
the rear opened into a secluded garden, the staircase was located at the
rear of the main hall with the door under the staircase. In either case
the staircase took the form of a broken flight, with a straight run
along one wall rising about two-thirds of the total height to a broad
landing across the hall where the direction of the flight reversed. The
landing was usually lighted by a large round-topped Palladian window
which provided one of the most charming features of the interior as well
as the exterior of the house. Inside it was often graced by the "clock
on the stairs", a handsome mahogany chair or a tip-table with
candlesticks for lighting guests to their rooms.

Whitby Hall at Fifty-eighth Street and Florence Avenue, Kingsessing,
West Philadelphia, offers a n