Joseph Kenderdine House
(Some of the information on this page is taken from the article on the Kenderdine House by the Friends of Graeme Park) The Joseph Kenderdine House stood in Horsham for 277 years at the corner of Davis Grove and Keith Valley Rds until it was demolished on April 16,2012.
(from Living Places) Richard Kenderdine had acquired 250 acres in 1713 from Samuel Carpenter, who had purchased 4300 acres from Penn. His son, Joseph, a millwright, and thus the presumed builder of his own mill, acquired tho property after the death of his father, and shortly thereafter transferred the ownership to a joint indenture with his brother Thomas. Presumably it was Joseph, who constructed the mill on the property during 1734 and 1735.
Predating the mill is the other ancient building of the site, the stuccoed, fieldstone Richard/Joseph Kenderdine house which stands to the east across what is now Keith Valley Road. Its easternmost portion shows the steep roof pitch of pre-Georgian design. Its massive corner fireplace and winder stair are typical of early eighteenth century plans as well. Although the stair has been re- placed on the first floor, it survives on the second floor into the attic. In the basement, the timbers of that early portion of the house are hewn and pit sawn, corroborating the antiquity of the forms and the plan. The house was enlarged with a two room deep "two thirds Georgian" Federal wing in the early nineteenth century. (The mill was sold to John Shay in 1810 but the house stayed with the Kenderdine famiy. This addition was probably made about this time.). Federal mantels, door and window surrounds, and chair rails establish the period of the addition while the old, single room house became the hall and kitchen.
The house has been vacant since about 1989 and was owned - and demolished - by Commonwealth National Golf Course. Commonwealth did, however, work with HPHA and Horsham Township over the past several years, allowing us to explore ways to save the house, but unfortunately we weren't able to come with anything realistic.
We don't know that much more about the house at this point, but we're still doing research. If you have any information to share, please Contact Us.
The Kenderine mill, which has been beautifully restored by its former owner, Ron Mintz, still stands across what is now Keith Valley Road as part of what is known as the Kenderdine Mill complex. This complex - including the Kenderdine House - was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
The stately old sycamore - which may have been planted around the time the oiginal house was built- is all that now remains of this part of Horsham's history.
We took a good number of photos (below) of both the inside and outside of the house prior to its demise. The house was in many places in pretty bad disrepair - holes in exterior walls and floors, trees growing through windows, animal droppings throughout, but the beauty of the home was still evident.
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Kenderdine House Front
front of Kenderdine House taken from across Davis Grove Road in Carpenter Park. This 277 year old home was demolished in April 2012 shortly after this photo was taken
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 4/9/2012
xKenderdine All Gone
Where the Kenderdine House once stood for nearly 300 years as seen from Carpenter Park
Photograph by: Kevin Winters 4/21/2012
Click on photo to see larger image with description