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1908-1912	Mercer’s payrolls and notebooks from these years show that the work was not confined to the sumer months, but continued year ’round. When it was too cold for concrete work, the men moved inside and worked on carpentry, shellacking the ceilings, setting tiles, and other projects.
George Jacob Frank from the pottery made and set ceiling and wall tiles; mason Herman Sell (builderof HCM’s kilns)set wall and floor tiles. “Jake” Frank later recalled that all site work on the house was done by hand, from mixing the concrete to pumping the water.
Mercer chose concrete as a building medium because it was plastic (easily molded), fireproof, inexpensive, and combined well with tiles. Fonthill represented the working out of Mercer’s design theories. In addition, his house functioned as an expansive “showroom." where prospective customers for his Moravian tiles could view large installations of a variety of patterns, on floors, walls and ceilings. (This use has not changed.)
1909-1912	HCM left Aldie and resided at Linden (formerly the Linden Female Seminary), on the corner of East and Maple Streets. Doylestown — now demolished. Laura Long (1888-1975) was employed as his housekeeper; a cook was also employed, and extra help laid on as needed for dinner parties, cleaning, etc.
1909	Became a communicant of St Paul's Episcopal Church, Doylestown.
May: “A Concrete House,” written by Robert Lesley, editor of Cement Age. appeared in that periodical. The article
HCM lived in this building, ihe former Linden Female Scau«f>. during the final years of Fonthill's construction. Frank Swain Linden, “A rambling old rookery."
Laura M. Long. HCM’s housekeeper, photographed in 1912. at age 24. In 1925 she married Frank Swain, Mercer’s assistant.
described Fonthill, then under construction, and was lavishly illustrated by photographs taken at the building site.
1910	October 13: On this day, Mercer recorded that the basic construction of Fonthill was finished, that is, that the casting of floors, columns, walls and roofs was completed. Tile setters, plumbing contractors, carpenters and blacksmiths labored another eighteen months to make the house habitable (see May, 1912).
1911	January: HCM read a memorial tribute to General W. W. H. Davis, deceased, whom he replaced as president of the BCHS. (From 1911 through 1925 HCM presented at least one paper per year at meetings of the BCHS.)
February: purchased, for $1000, a little over four acres of land adjacent to Fonthill for a new pottery building.
March: construction began on the new tile works, while carpenters, masons, and blacksmiths continued to work on Fonthill.
HENRY CHAPMAN MERCER: AN ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY