…Well no, not really. I just decided to try Pinterest to see what all the fuss is about. If I understand it correctly, it is like a virtual inspiration board.
I am not sure if I like it, or if it will be a website I grow bored of. I think scrapbookers will like this site for sure.
Are any of you out there trying Pinterest? Let me know!
As for the photo, well it was my Hitchcockian moment of the day what can I say. Crazy February bird mob.
This is in “City and Suburban Architecture” by Samuel Sloan, published in 1859 by Lippincott in Philadelphia. Sloan was partnered with Hutton when the house was built, but Hutton seems to get all the credit! The book is at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
I am a lover of old houses and I love the quirky and fanciful. But I had no idea that so many of you out there shared my fascination with Loch Aerie or the Lockwood Mansion in Frazer, PA. When I said yesterday that Loch Aerie was like Bryn Mawr’s La Ronda was, well, hmmm maybe I am not so far off base?
It’s a shame that Loch Aerie isn’t loved and cared for like Granogue, Irenee Du Pont’s Estate in Delaware. Granogue is privately held and once upon a time Mr. Du Pont was kind enough to give me a tour, let me check out the green houses and the amazing view of the Brandywine Valley from a top the water tower.
Thanks to all of you yesterday, I learned who owns Loch Aerie — the Tabas family, and I discovered a tear sheet from what appears to be the realtor on the property on the Internet. Unfortunately, it seems for these people, this magnificent home is just another steak on the grill.
The house was originally named Glen Loch, but when the Pennsylvania Railroad named its last Main Line station “Glen Loch” without asking permission first, William Lockwood the mansion’s owner changed the name of the estate to Loch Aerie.
I found this information in a book by Brian Butko called Lincoln Highway. Because of Mr. Butko’s book, I also learned that William Lockwood made the mistake of granting access to his springs to the railroad. After all, the Pennsylvania Railroad needed water to power their steam locomotives. Apparently Lockwood had to really go after the railroad and the legal battles depleted his fortunes, even as he prevailed in court against the railroad. I find this part of the history fascinating because I think our railroads of today are lousy neighbors, and this shows that lack of consideration along this rail line in particular is historical.
William Lockwood had daughters who lived in Loch Aerie until 1967. At that time Daniel Tabas, patriarch of the Tabas clan along the Main Line purchased the estate.
Now here is where I get confused.
Gretchen Metz of the Daily Local wrote in June 2010:
The Lockwood Mansion is going back on the market.
The seller, the Estate of Lockwood Mansion, a Tabas family trust, turned down the winning bid of $720,000 by a New York businessman.
Yet Brian Butko in his book Lincoln Highway says in 2002 (and I quote):
So that is most curious? Did the estate ever leave the Tabas family after Daniel Tabas purchased the house? I am sooo curious. Thanks to The Library of Congress, we all have access to a Historic American Buildings Survey (mind you there are lots of other Chester County-centric stuff too.) I found several copies on the Internet of the one in particular about Loch Aerie to and will embed a copy below, but it appears to have been done in the 1950’s. So maybe this Tony Alden did not actually own the house as was implied in Butko’s book?
Now take a minute and check out this article from 1992 from The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Here again is where I find more curiosity: was this definitively designed by Addison Hutton as an original idea? I ask because a friend from the Radnor Historical Society Greg Pritchard (he is one of my favorite people and helped me so much as I was going through the approval process to gain a PA historical marker for what once was The Wayne Natatorium) sent me a message last night with a photo he took from a plate in a book that was published nine years before Loch Aerie was built. The photo is above and the first one in this post. It is a photo of a plate in a book titled “Rural Villa” and I can’t quite make out the name on the bottom right hand corner of the plate. But that is Loch Aerie, is it not? So was this drawing done for/by Addison Hutton before Lockwood commissioned his mansion, or was this drawing the inspiration for Hutton’s design? If it was inspiration, is there a Loch Aerie look-alike somewhere? 
Around 1974, Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall wrote a biography on Addison Hutton (Addison Hutton, Quaker Architect 1834-1916). On page 41, she writes of what appears to have been a visit to the home with her husband. William Lockwood’s daughters were still living there.
Apparently, as per this book, Loch Aerie/Glen Loch/Lockwood Mansion was one of Hutton’s favorite commissions because it was an independent one. I also learned thanks to Elizabeth Biddle Yarnall how William Lockwood made at least some of his money: paper collars. Mrs. Yarnall remarked upon her 1958 visit how intact the house still was at that time that it seemed that they “…had stepped into the Victorian world of Addison Hutton“.
Flash forward to 1995, and another Philadelphia Inquirer article about Loch Aerie. The Philadelphia Inquirer used to do all sorts of cool pieces like this, but their issues and various changes of ownership means that not only don’t you see articles of interest like this very often, they also don’t seem to give the reporters the time or encouragement to write articles like this. I find that a shame. Anyway back to 1995:
A Battle Between House And Store Retailer’s Plan Is Too Close For Comfort.
Ahhh what a tangled tale. So with all due respect to the late Dan Tabas, if he had such a “love affair” with the house, why did it rot for many and have motorcycle gangs hanging out? Why does it in essence sit and rot today? Let’s get real, this was always a juicy plot of land. Someone who has a love affair with a home like this, restores it, doesn’t sell off all the land around it to a big box store, effectively marooning it like a small desert island. Someone with a love affair, restores it and moves his family in to enjoy the splendor and privilege of living in such a home. Or they find a suitable adaptive reuse. Yes, think Addison Hutton’s Beechwood on Shipley’s campus which the Committee to Save Beechwood saved – yes volunteers did that, not the school although the school reaps the ultimate benefit now. Or up closer to Bryn Mawr Train Station (around 802 W. Montgomery). That is also an Addison Hutton designed home, and if memory serves it could have been the house Hutton built for his family. In any event, this property was recently converted to condos. Mind you, I will never be a condo girl, but in this case, it provided a viable adaptive reuse that saved the structure.
I also love how Home Depot described their store design as “more characteristic of the Main Line.” And then they woke up. I have been to that Home Depot several times, and Ardrossan it ain’t. Not even close. It is what it is: a big box with concrete floors.
Of course I wonder given another article unearthed from the Philadelphia Inquirer if East Whiteland could have said no? According to this article, not only was the sale of the property on which Home Depot now sits contingent on this approval, Home Depot went to this “township to amend its zoning ordinance and create a special classification for retail and home and garden center use.” This article also says how the reason Home Depot wanted to big box in was traffic from the Exton Bypass on Route 202.
That just kills me. Big boxes might have their uses but not only do they slowly starve out independent businesses, the big boxification and strip mallification of Chester County is something which astounds me. So many Chester County municipalities seem to an outsider completely thoughtless when it comes to preservation and the future. All these plastic mushroom house developments, and countless big boxes and sub par strip malls, not all of which have full occupancy. Look at what has been built over the past 25 years or so. Is any of it spectacular? No.
I don’t get why Chester County doesn’t have a more cohesive plan for commercial development county-wide, and it is obvious in some of these municipalities that they see the short-term salivation over ratables, and not much else. Of course if you ever watch any public meetings, eleted and planning officials love to fall on the sword of Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code which in my humble opinion needs an updating. Suburbs and exurbs are vastly different and Pennsylvania needs better comprehensive planning, so that many local municipalities run out of excuses on why they don’t need better planning. Not all local municipalities are horible at historic preservation, but a lot of them could do much better, or simply pay less lip service to the idea of preservation and employ more doing.
I also think that Pennsylvania as a state needs to have more that means more in the area of historic preservation. People need incentive to preserve, and I wish that Pennsylvania would follow the lead of other states in this country who offer more enticing incentives to preserve historic structures.
Now the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission administers the federal rehabilitation investment tax credits , but it just seems a lot of other states simply do more. At a minimum the Municipalities Planning Code needs to be more in sync with historic preservation in a top down approach in Pennsylvania. Of course that opens other cans of worms as Pennsylvania is most definitely a private property rights state. We all learned that lesson again when it can to La Ronda. La Ronda was demolished I think as much as anything else because the owner could demolish it.
It is a crying shame that Loch Aerie has never made it to The National Trust for Historic Preservation. I wish in addition that preservationists in Pennsylvania and Chester County would take an interest in preserving this La Ronda of Chester County. No, we can’t save every old house, but once in a while it would be nice if some of the more important homes, of which this mansion is definitely one, were not left to rot. We are in a crappy economy no doubt, but still so much our past in our communities is left to rot. There seems to be plenty of money to build new, but not much money or incentive to preserve. Private property rights state or not, once the architectural history is gone, it’s gone and not coming back.
What kind of adaptive reuse do you think could fit Loch Aerie? I would like to see something that preserved the exterior and enough of the interior. It would make a cool B&B or boutique hotel. Even a restaurant. Or a quirky office space. Antique store or art center. The landscaping would be key as it’s views are now either highway or big box. Given how it was cut off, it wouldn’t make an ideal single family home. If I were an official in East Whiteland, I would be looking for a way to make preservation of Loch Aerie happen. But we all know the reality of that as it is far simpler to approve a demolition plan and look the other way. Or to let many old structures rot and look the other way until no one wants the properties except for another doofy strip mall, drive thru pharmacy, bank branch, or fast food restaurant.
One last question. Has this home ever been on a Chester County Day Tour? There certainly are enough cool Victorians in Chester County that they could do an entire Victorian Day, or given all the historic homes at risk ALL over, they could do an “at risk” themed tour. I love my barns, don’t misunderstand me, but there are a lot of cool houses in Chester County that are in desperate need of rescuing from various points of time in history.
Here are the documents I loaded on SCRIBD and also check out The Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society’s Historical Quarterly Digital Archives “A Brief Glimpse of East Whiteland“:
Just a little end note added courtesy of a reader. They suggest all get familiar with Landscapes2: bringing growth and preservation together for Chester County. In their call to action this website says (and I quote):
Chester County is at a critical point in its history. We must make a choice for our future. We can let the unsustainable development pattern of the past continue, or we can choose to work together toward a new pattern of development that preserves the unique character of Chester County.
Chapter 1 of the comprehensive policy plan, Landscapes2, outlines how the Board of County Commissioners and the Chester County Planning Commission plan to address growth management and preservation strategies in collaboration with public, private and corporate citizens.
There is also a section on historic resources.
Thank you one and all for your continued interest in this blog.
There is a mansion which has fascinated me for years. A giant Victorian creature, marooned and perched on an island of land in Frazer, PA along route 30, a/k/a Lancaster Avenue a/k/a Lincoln Highway. You also see it when you go into Home Depot.
Every time I see the mansion I look for signs that either someone has bought it, or someone wants to tear it down. It deserves to be saved as it is a truly magnificent structure.
I learned more about the house thanks to a You Tube video I am posting. It should be preserved. It’s very cool. It is also of the designs of Addison Hutton . Once upon a time a few years ago, I was on a committee that saved a house called Beechwood, on the Lower School Campus of the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr. It was also an Addison Hutton house.
Anyone have any stories to tell on this house? The Daily Local wrote about it a couple of times in 2010
Am I to gather from another article sent to me that was also in The Daily Local that this poor house is owned by the Tabas Family? Hmmm, I knew Susan Tabas Tepper growing up, knew about the Downingtown Inn, Mickey Rooney’s Tabas Hotel, Twelve Casars, and Riverfront and City Line Dinner Theaters, but not this. Are they going to let this just rot? Why don’t they restore it and sell it?
Published: Thursday, June 10, 2010
By GRETCHEN METZ, Staff Writer
Here is the delusional offer sheet on the house – apparently it is the listing of a Keller Williams guy in Exton named Bob Liberato. He needs to buy a clue and a better head shot. The property is listed at $2,250,000? And oh yes, it can be yours as a commercial rental for $20 a square foot – you know I guess they just aren’t worrying about reality getting in the way of the economy, right?
In my humble opinion, the owners don’t care about this mansion, or its history or the fact that it was a work product of an incredibly famous Philadelphia architect. Mind you this is what is wrong with the corridor along which it sits. Drive up through Paoli and beyond – through to Frazer, Exton and beyond and you will see a lot of pretty amazing structures just rotting. And in between them are hodge podge commercial developments dotting the landscape with no thought to planning whatsoever. (Another rotting structure I have always been curious about is the house so falling in on itself it is dangerous either right next to or near Clews & Strawbridge.)
I also found a very cool slide show on Flickr . You know what is crazy? This is exactly the kind of structure that should be on The National Trust for Historic Preservation watch list.
They don’t build ’em like Loch Aeire / Lockwood Mansion anymore . But much like La Ronda in Bryn Mawr once sat rotting in her faded glory, so does this home. And generally speaking, people either don’t care, or only care when it is too late.
I dub Lockwood Mansion the La Ronda of Malvern. May we only hope her ultimate fate is not so horrible as La Ronda’s was.
Sometimes when I see something, I am merely appreciating contrasts. Such is the case with this photo. The fluffy sky and the hard old barn roof. It just looked cool to me.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder they say. What is one person’s art is not so necessarily so to others.
That being said, what do you think of the sculpture in the photo below. I am not so sure as to me, they are a little too family of Chuckie for my taste. I am not trying to be rude, I just don’t dig this as art. Do you think this is art? If so do you love it or hate it and why?
Well, what do you know?
Both Phoenixville AND Haverford Township said “no” to BIG BAD Billboards this week.
Good.
Both these cases will go to an appeals process. This guy wants his billboards everywhere. He feels it is his Constitutional right. Never mind the rights of affected residents. Who knew Constitutional rights were so subjective, right?
A commenter on the Phoenixville Patch referred to Article 1 Section 27 of the Pennsylvania State Constitutions which states:
“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Residents in all counties being affected by these billboard challenges should deluge their state elected officials on this topic. Since the whole shebangy started in Haverford Township a couple of years ago over billboards state level elected representatives have been making appropriate noises regarding protecting communities, only nothing ever seems to go past those supportive murmurs. (Not that I am surprised, politicians are well..politicians.) But this is an election year, so the people could make this count if they make enough of a stink.
Kudos to Phoenixville. And ya know, it is a Classic Town, so people really should enter the DVRPC photo contest….. http://contest.classictowns.org/
But I digress. Back to billboards and here is the latest in the media, and look lively in East Pikeland, the billboard king has apparently filed there too. The Inquirer says that will be heard in East Pikeland on February 29.
ByLynn Jusinski Email the author February 16, 2012
BIG plans to appeal the ruling. By Anthony Leone Email the author
During its Thursday night meeting, the Haverford Township Zoning Hearing Board voted 5-0 against the billboard proposal.
In advance of a photography gig I was checking out what I had on some old chips, and came across photos of one of my favorite things: Sugartown Strawberries. Have you been to Sugartown Strawberries? Met Farmer Bob? What are you waiting for?
Sugartown Strawberries kept me in some awesome veggies and things this past summer and fall. They also do these farm table dinners in the fall along with hayrides, and they have a little country store. I wasn’t able to attend any of the farm table dinners in 2011 and hope to change that in 2012 as they looked pretty awesome.
As much as I tote my camera, almost every time I went to Sugartown Strawberries this past summer and fall I almost always forgot my camera. I plan to remedy that soon because I love the property – it’s very cool much like the owner. It is located at 650 Sugartown Road in Malvern.
Before I get onto the second part of this post, I wanted to take the time to thank all of you have discovered my latest blog project and read the posts. I also figure I must be gaining in site visits as attempts at spamming have increased dramatically.
Now to part 2. A few years ago, before it came down, I started photographing Addison Mizner’s La Ronda in Bryn Mawr. It was the castle of our childhoods along the Main Line. As a matter of fact I know a woman who once called it home when I was little. I never played in it’s cavernous front hall, but was always fascinated by it.
Somehow as the decades pased, La Ronda survived. Until a few years ago when the last owner of the house while it stood decided to sell it to a man whose heart’s desire was to tear it down. And tear it down he did. The bones of the mansion were picked over via salvage and bits and pieces are still being sold today.
In the place of La Ronda a gross McMansion has grown – complete with a hockey rink because you know every kid needs one. The irony is that the new house is basically the same size as what was torn down. The McReplacement is a Pohlig product. As in Pohlig Builders the developers out of Malvern. (And speaking of Pohlig, I swear I have seen a new Pohlig sign on Sugartown in Easttown on the grounds of what I thought was an intact estate – anyone know anything?)
So check out the Proper Philadelphia’s post titled La Ronda Revisited . That is part 2 of this post. The blogger quotes me as I was quoted in an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer in May 2011. It’s a weird feeling revisiting your activism past…..
I did several photo sets on La Ronda. Some of the favorite photos I took were of La Ronda’s woodchucks. If you are interested in the photos:
10/1/09 La Ronda Demolition Day.
Gray Skies Over La Ronda 9/16/09
La Ronda on Monday September 21, 2009
La Ronda Friday September 18, 2009
My sweet man undoubtedly finds it amusing that I have such a love affair with this barn in particular. I can’t help it, I love to take her picture in all her faded glory. And her slogan always tickles my funny bone as I try to imagine why exactly that ended up on a barn at the time. People talk about this barn often enough, but I am sure none of us have ever heard the whole story. (truthfully I would love to write about it, so if this is your barn and you read this, feel free to leave a comment.)
Yes, once again I have been taking photos of the “This is Woman’s Lib?” barn.
Call me a barn again.
All in all, I love photographing barns as much as old houses. They have character and a tale to tell. I look at them and can’t help but wonder what their history is. Chester Country has fabulous barns. Much more fun than planted houses and nouveau construction.