Anonymous

“ The Cliffs is not usually open to the public. Mr. and Mrs. Erling H. Pedersen, the occupants, have gathered many old pieces of American furniture suitable to the house. Particularly notable is a slant-top walnut desk, a small Chippendale sofa and a pair of ladder-back side chairs. Beyond is the dining room, one stair leading down into the old kitchen with its great fireplace and beamed ceiling, the other leading up to two pleasant chambers, furnished with four-post beds and early walnut chests of drawers. ”

“ Within its walls may be seen furniture from the simple William and Mary type to the elegant examples of Heppelwhite and Sheraton.
One enters directly into the living room with the informality of pre-Revolutionary times. The Chippendale sofa, upholstered in yellow brocade, the pie-crust table and the six ball-and-claw foot chairs combine easily with the earlier William and Mary highboy and lowboy.
In the dining room, the majority of pieces illustrate the formal Heppelwhite style. The kitchen remains in a simple state, its large fireplace adequately supplied with cranes and pots. ”

“ The massiveness of the carving and plaster ceiling ornaments harks back to motifs common to the late seventeenth century of the Louis XIV style.
The contents of the older part of the house are copies of mid-eighteenth century Philadelphia furniture. In the parlour opposite the fireplace stands a replica of the sofa owned by Washington during his residence in Philadelphia. Above it is to be seen a portrait of William Peters, the builder of Belmont. The ceiling is considered the earliest ornamental plaster work in an American house. ”

“ Of the houses described, Cedar Grove, Belmont, The Cliffs, Woodford and Mount Pleasant antedate the Revolution, and are examples of early Georgian and mid-Georgian styles. The simple stone cottages which stand on the grounds at Belmont, Woodford and Strawberry antedate in style the mansion-houses there. Even the oldest portion of Cedar Grove, 1721, already shows a front of squared masonry, while the oldest part of Woodford has on the end the glazed headers which characterize the earliest brick buildings of the colony. The later houses are generally covered with stucco. ”

“ From 34th and Huntingdon sts., on Huntingdon st., Ridge ave., Lehigh ave., Kensington ave., Somerset st., Edgemont st., Cambria st., to Richmond and Cambria sts.
Westbound: From Richmond and Cambria sts., on Richmond st., Somerset st., Kensington ave., Lehigh ave, 34th st., to 34th and Huntingdon sts. ”