Fair Meadows is a historic home located at Creswell

Creswell, Maryland

Creswell is an unincorporated community in Harford County, Maryland, United States. Fair Meadows was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.-References:...

, Harford County

Harford County, Maryland

Harford County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010, its population was 244,826. Its county seat is Bel Air. Harford County forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area.-History:...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. It is a -story Second Empire–style house constructed in 1868 for the last owner of Harford Furnace, Clement Dietrich. The house is constructed of irregularly laid ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 and features a mansard roof

Mansard roof

A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

, cupola

Cupola

In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....

, dormers with rounded hoods, and stone quoins. The interior has a center hall plan and includes intricate inlay designs, black and white marble tiles in the center hall, plaster ceiling ornaments and frieze

Frieze

thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...

s, marble mantels, and original crystal chandeliers. Also on the property are the ruins of a round springhouse, a one-story stone carriage house, a brick smokehouse

Smokehouse

A smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...

, and three hip-roofed coursed rubble stone outbuildings. The estate was later home to Eastern Christian College

Eastern Christian College

Eastern Christian College or ECC is a defunct co-educational, private Christian college that was located in Bel Air, Maryland, United States. It was supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ, which is part of the Restoration Movement.- History :...

.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1980.

External links

• Fair Meadows, Harford County, including photo from 1979, Maryland Historical Trust website