I got a comment into my blog today concerning the historic rotting house you see above. It is located on the Clews and Strawbridge property in Malvern on Lancaster Avenue in East Whiteland.
Here is the comment:
I remember when the now abandoned house next to Clews and Strawbridge was occupied by the Clews family (1970). Their daughter Sylvan was one of my closest friends. The home was filled with art and antiques, as Sylvan’s father, Mancha, was the son of a noted sculptor, and her mother Margaret ( a member of the family that founded the Strawbridge and Clothier department store), was a painter. I lost touch with Sylvan, but was somewhat amused that when I met my current husband years later, he was living almost directly across the street from that house, in Westgate Village. Now, I pass that house on my way to work almost every day, and often think about what it was like when the family lived there (and I wonder what creatures might currently be in residence, from bats to squirrels?)
This is another house that is part of Chester County’s architectural history that is just being allowed to rot.
Apparently in this county they can only build new these days. And isn’t that pathetic?
And did you know the Chester County Planning Commission has someone whose sole job has to do with the history… a “Heritage Preservation Coordinator.”
I have to wonder do they realize all the structures are out there? And do they care?
To the residents of Chester County: As someone who is somewhat new to your ranks even after a few years, I love the stories don’t stop telling them to me.
Such a beautiful place. How wonderful it would be to restore it. I wish we could save all of these beauties.💕
I noticed this summer they cleaned all the weeds and brush away from in front of the Clews Strawbridge home and did a poor job but repaired the fence!! It is a terrible shame the boat showroom, that has been there for 40+ years can’t find some way to restore the exterior of the building!! Unlike properties built today, it was built to last, I love snooping in old buildings, as long as I don’t fall through the floors!! Who currently owns the property???
We’ve lived in the area for over 30 years and I can remember when there was what looked like perhaps an artist’s studio with skylights inn a small outbuilding to the right rear of the property–you could see it from the road…until, of course, they tore it down. Does anyone REALLY think the cardboard-looking, faux-finished new builds springing up ALL OVER Chester County can compare to what these old homes once were and could be again?
Chris, unfortunately no one places the value in these older homes that were far better and more creatively built than the current days’ construction! If they continue to destroy historic buildings, we can be assured our grandchildren and great grandchildren will have only new construction, Heaven knows what it will look like, because nothing built today will last 100 years, we’ll be lucky if today’s construction lasts 25 years!!! My father and uncles were all carpenters, they’d be so ashamed of the work done today!!!!