Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. RIP Blackburn Farm at 1135 Sugartown Road in Easttown Township – from the dust another McMansion of the nouveau will rise?
Who knows.
But yet another piece of Chester County history is now gone forever.
The gorgeous house that sat at the crest of a small hill that you could see as you went up. The long driveway was demolished the other day.
Blackburn Farm was part of Chester County’s equestrian and agricultural past as well as part of the tradition of the Devon Horse Show before that went bougie obvious. For 31 years it was part of the staging for the horse show. I believe it mostly had to do with carriaging from what I read on the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society website (I do belong to this organization and they have the most wonderful historical publications.)
It looks like in the early 2000s is when that development behind Blackburn farm was subdivided and developed. Originally I think the parcel was 100 acres or better.
I was actually on the farm once for a very special house tour posted by the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust.
The last photo set in this post is Blackburn Farm.
The whole property was quite magical and obviously well loved and well-maintained. When the owner listed it for sale just because it was time to downsize, it never occurred to me in my wildest dreams that it would be destroyed like this.
Yes, I understand that people have their private property rights. But why do you buy a spectacular historic property with other than a need for maybe some updating because that’s just a necessity every now and again, only to destroy the history quite literally?
I can’t even imagine how the prior owner felt. I know I would be so sad if one of my childhood homes had been demolished, and of course there’s no guarantee that that won’t happen someday.
It’s so weird a concept to realize that I’ve visited some of these amazing homes that have made Chester County so beautiful and some of them have been torn down. This is one reason why I think it’s so important to save the Darlington Inn in Westtown.
It’s a shame in Pennsylvania historic preservation means so little. It’s paid lip service, but we can have data centers right?
Packed house in Westtown Township and I hear many are calling out Supervisor Tom Foster and it’s not Ollie Ollie Oxenfreed.
Oh and breaking news they fired the entire historic commission on bullsheit trumped up charges.
Jodi Nawrocki ran for office trying to convince people she loved historic preservation, and what’s her first big act as a supervisor and the baby chair of the supervisors who doesn’t know how to run a meeting? To axe a volunteer commission. I guess she still believes in the tooth fairy if she expects to believe that this has nothing to do with the Darlington Inn or politics. she is just one of three disgraces, but she’s the only Democrat on the board and she might as well just be Tom Foster’s Sarah Palin.
Oh and former non-profit name- dropping- former -stupidvisor Carol DeWolf? I love love love the ego in you that you can’t bother to introduce yourself to the audience. You’re not the queen freaking mother, but you are still obnoxious, and now that you’re just regular old Carol from Westrown I think you can just stand at the podium like a normal person.
There is no point in being subtle here. This is a complete shit show and a travesty. This is obviously political and if you’re on a board in Westtown, you should just resign now before they fire all of the rest of you.
And that manager, she needs to go to. She also doesn’t know what in the Sam hell she’s doing.
What a freaking joke. Except it isn’t is it? This is actually really bad for residents and I’m allowed to have that opinion too.
So how can they get rid of that entire board of stupidvisors and the manager? and in the meantime, I hope everyone on that historic commission knows that they are entitled to a televised hearing and bring lawyers.
Oy I can’t with this chick “Carly Closes.” Today it’s like Carly does Wayne, and is that like Debbie does Dallas? Dunno. She is going to say I am a petty beeatch, but this time she is co-opting literally one of my most favorite bits of quirky history. So favorited by me that I got a state approved historical marker that I still check on every time I am in Wayne.
Please note this is a public post a la wants to be an influencer on social media.
Let ME get into it. First and foremost, she can’t even pronounce what she’s trying to co-opt to shill with. She is speaking about the Wayne Natatorium in North Wayne. She doesn’t even have the location right. Literally the pool was Willow Avenue in North Wayne, Little Chicago. That’s right— where Willow Avenue is today was the pool. They blocked up the Gulph Creek to fill the pool, as well as utilizing springs underground and it was very popular for a short amount of time.
It was the largest outdoor pool in the country and one of the largest in the world at the time. There were swimming championships, and there was ice-skating in the winter. There were ladies and men’s dressing rooms, and there was a clubhouse and at the end of Willow Avenue before it takes the dog leg part of that clubhouse used to exist until there was a fire and when they rebuilt it, I don’t know if they saved any of it because there was a really cool fireplace and that then rental property that was from the original clubhouse.
This is a photo from around 2005 I think of the clubhouse fireplace mantel I mentioned
Carly implies with her interpolation that it was like a sideshow circus freak kind of an attraction and it really wasn’t that. It was part of Wayne at the time. So can I say thousands and thousands past through the pool? No, because I don’t think we really know. The other thing is it wasn’t just drought that caused the pool to fade in popularity other things gained popularity like cycling as in bicycles and golfing. While it was open it was popular. And there were swimming championships and exhibitions.
Again, I know about the Wayne Natatorium because I got the sign for it. Yes indeed I really did. I went to the board of commissioners in October 2009 in Radnor Township to get their approval. I wrote the application I raised the money, my nonprofit sponsor was the Radnor Historical Society. But I did the work. The chair of the historical society at the time was Ted Pollard and he told me back then I was on my own because he was focused on getting a sign for Bishop Richard Allen when he visited the Bryn Mawr section of Radnor somewhere off of Bryn Mawr Avenue probably close to where the WaWa is today if I remember it correctly. In 2009 they dedicated a small park on Brook Street in Bryn Mawr to him. At the time, Ted Pollard told me to wait and I said no because whatever the state emphasis was that year for historical markers, I felt the Wayne Natatorium stood a better chance of making it. And in the end I was right. The Bishop Allen Historical marker didn’t actually make it to marker status until 2023.
Two people in particular from Radnor Historical Society were instrumental in helping me and letting me into the archives of the historical society at Finley House. One was Greg Pritchard, who is now history everything with Lower Merion Township and is the Lower Merion’s HARB person. The other was Beverlee Barnes, who is the preservation planner at the Delaware County Planning Department.
Some of my other great supporters of this project back in the day is former commissioners John Nagle and Hank Mahoney, Sam Strike who used to be with the Suburban and Wayne Times, Bob Zienkowski now manager of East Vincent, my late friend Andy Lewis who was on County Council in Delaware County, as well as being a Haverford Township Commissioner during his life, and another dearly departed member of the Radnor Township community, Steve Paolantonio.
So seriously, I really want cool history preserved, and I want people to love the history, but when people co-op the history for personal gain, (and I’m entitled to that opinion, this is a public post across social media platforms) I think that’s wrong.
And if you’re going to speak about local history at least correctly pronounce what you’re speaking on. Otherwise you sound ridiculous and twatwaffleish.
*Note a lot of this was my own research, some of the items came courtesy of the Radnor Historical Society and their archives. The newspaper I showed screenshots of called The Philadelphia Times was in existence from 1875-1902, when I think it was merged into The Public Ledger.*
The Wayne Natatorium was written about in defunct Philadelphia area newspapers at the turn of the century and the Philadelphia Inquirer has written about it here and there including August of 1992. That article spoke about Fennimore Lake, Martin’s Dam, Mill Dam, places that no longer exist like Lea’s Lake, Cathcart Lake and the Wayne Natatorium.
In January 1896 there was a “Ghost Carnival”. The folks who attended back then we Main Line and Philadelphia notables and executives and families of the Pennsylvania Railroad. (Philadelphia Inquirer, January 19, 1896)
The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1899 also reported on an “enjoyable skating carnival.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, January 15, 1899)
At the end here are my photos and photos friends gave me from when we dedicated the sign – we received commendations from the state as well as Delaware County. We had Radnor Township officials present, my (then) home township folks from Lower Merion Township there, state representatives and a state senator.
So Aesop still says when Carly wants to close her mouth instead of the sound of her own voice, she might actually learn something. But until then she will be just another realtor using the area’s history as a social media marketing tool.
I hope you all have enjoyed actually learning about the Wayne Natatorium today.
Cheers! Hope the Canadian Wildfire smoke clears soon, don’t you?
The fantastical green serpentine stone of the Darlington Inn
You know it started out like your basic hotter than hell day in Chester County yesterday. Then it got really hot in a particular township. Westtown Township to be precise.
It started when I was sent this message:
This is the current historic commission:
Now I have to be honest, Westtown Township has an enviable historic commission. They really work their tails off and I know they’ve been desperately trying to save the Darlington Inn.
Let’s chat Darlington for a moment. In 1843, David Taylor, who was a sculptor by hobby and a strong Whig supporter, carved Henry Clay’s face into the stone at Darlington. Henry Clay was the Whig presidential candidate in 1844.
So Taylor bought the house in 1843; he carved the face in 1844. In 1860 he also carved a likeness of his black dog, named “Lincoln” after the 16th president, who was then a presidential candidate. Now this is only part of the fascinating history.
Back to our present in Chester County. As we know, in late April and early May, there was like a big meeting and they put the zoning change for the Darlington Inn on hold.
And before we get to that, there’s the endless curiosity I have with odd politics. So that new supervisor, Jodi whatever her name is? She’s been a supervisor for like six seconds and now she’s the chair? I watched her the other night. She can barely do a meeting. She needed a lot of handholding. Daddy instructs her constantly. Did she even finish that “supervisor school” new elected officials take?
However Jodi Nawrocki (I finally looked up her last name because I figured I really can’t refer to her as supervisor -Jodi -what’s -her -name) sure seems to have loved the Darlington Inn and the serpentine stone when she was running for office, didn’t she? so one would think she would be appreciative of a historic commission that was advocating for its survival and what not? But I do think that’s worth mentioning. So maybe it’s pertinent?
So how did she become instant chair of the supervisors in Westtown after just being elected? Was it like a cup of soup salt barf ramen noodles just add hot water?
Oh wait I forgot to mention something else. It seems like Westtown Township and Tredyffrin share the same solicitor? I find that very interesting if it’s true. I always find that crossover interesting don’t some of you?
Anywhooo….it seems at some point in June a Supervisor named Ed Yost resigned. He was moving out of Westtown so he literally had to. And when I was checking out this most recent meeting there seem to be a lot of contretemps about how a new supervisor was appointed. Someone named Frederick Manger. I also think he came from the historic commission and as the Saturday Night Live Church Lady would famously say “isn’t that special?” Also I have to ask the question is he a buddy of that one supervisor who’s like the cheese stands alone and is in control? So was this all by design even him going on the historic commission in the first place? And the supervisor who never seems to be able to leave Westtown might not like my questions, but there is nothing illegal about them
It is time for an intermission after a fashion before I circle back to what Westtown is actually trying to do to their current historic commission. Kindly allow me to give you a few snippets of the recent July meeting. I found them illuminating, fascinating, and like watching a municipal train wreck. I guarantee watching their meetings will create municipal gaper delay.
I hope you enjoyed the intermission or interlude, now it is time to go back to the whole historical commission thing. I posted the little screen message I got and I started getting other private messages from township cheerleader types:
Then an article came out yesterday afternoon in the Inquirer. A giant a-ha moment. Truly.
According to the article, the message I was sent seems kind of true, doesn’t it? And someone else after I posted the message essentially told me that this was about the Darlington Inn. That’s what the article says too, doesn’t it?
According to the article, there’s also an email that went out to this volunteer board, saying basically the supervisors were going to vote on their removal forthwith and they were being told as a courtesy. Apparently this was all stated in some email shared with the paper that was from the township manager Liudmila (Mila) Carter (the one on the meeting recording who sounds like Yvonne from the Bullwinkle cartoon.) It seems as if there will be a publiclynching at the next supervisors’ meeting, and that some upcoming historic commission meeting has also been canceled by the Westtown Township.
Oh, but if they really wanted to keep their volunteer positions, they could reapply for it. Needless to say no one in Westtown was available for comment to a regional newspaper. It seems when the article was being written again to quote the Church Lady “isn’t that special?”
And of course, none of this was supposed to get out in the public purview, but it has. Because when things are rotten enough, they can’t be hidden any longer, can they?
Now let’s go to the July meeting that I have the snippets posted up above. I don’t have the whole meeting up, but also with that meeting or maybe it was another one (I’m not really sure) the township solicitor suggested easements to help protect the Darlington Inn. Jodi with an “i” didn’t think that was a great idea. (This is all in the Inquirer article too by the way I’m not making this up.)
Isn’t it kind of fun that Jodi with an “i” had the Darlington in her campaign when she was running for supervisor but now that she is supervisor I guess she doesn’t think it has the same amount of luster because she didn’t want to add what the solicitor suggested?
Here is the entire July meeting- what the heck I will post it and hopefully it doesn’t disappear:
Here are their June meeting recordings:
So now I’ve set the stage right? There’s trouble in paradise in Westtown. In my opinion, it’s a very interesting political scenario over there. You have one supervisor with lots of experience like Wiley Coyote and two novices? (Yes, I can have that opinion. I figure I’ll get that out-of-the-way since I heard that Westtown supervisors can still be rather petty.)
Anyway, it makes you wonder about who really is the puppeteer here and why they really want to get rid of the historic commission? And I have to ask does someone in particular want the Darlington Inn gone in Westtown Township?
I can also tell you how some of the made up stuff that’s floating around and is not true.
My sources tell me that the purported sunshine violations are bunk. Apparently it’s stems from historic commission members who want to go to some historic preservation network dinner? They are being told going to a historic preservation event is a violation of the sunshine laws?
Are. They. Freaking. Kidding. Me?
A social gathering is not violating the sunshine law. Talk about desperados grasping at straws.
Here- think I am making this up? I have emails and this is what you need to see (below in light and dark because I don’t know which is easiest for people to see.)
And it’s something that can be obtained on a right to know it’s not anything privileged. These are emails from the township manager, who apparently is also the head of building and planning and zoning and how can she effectively be a manager of a large enough township and do that as well?
I mean, call me crazy but I have gone to those Westtown Day things at historic Oakbourne and the historic commission people are all always there talking about the history of that township. I mean it was because of them and talking to them about the wonderful history of Oakbourne Mansion that we chose to get married there. So is THAT a violation of sunshine law too?
In my humble opinion the answer to that is no. This isn’t a violation of sunshine laws at all. It’s just bull twaddle.
And appointing a new supervisor in private and having to correct it is kind of wild, right?
This is the kind of crazy town bullshit that causes things to go south in a township. Who will be the fall guy or gal when that happens? You would’ve thought that elected officials in this municipality would have learned when they had to be talked into saving Crebilly in the first place, right?
I hate to say it, but if you live in Westtown or you care about the Darlington Inn, it’s time to start storming the Bastille over there because there’s something really wrong happening. These yahoos don’t have actual cause to divest themselves of their historic commission. It would just be more convenient for them to load up a board full of people they can control, wouldn’t it?
So are people, residents, taxpayers going to allow this to happen or are they going to call bullshit on these supervisors? Maybe the supervisors are the ones who should all be replaced?
I mean it’s getting to the point people that you have to wonder what municipality has not lost its damn mind in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
A recap before I leave you, followed by a delightful array of screenshots.
Westtown Township residents need to get busy. As was the case with Crebilly, in my opinion, rather troubling times once again. Meet your supervisors who wish to cancel your entire historic commission over trumped up BS.
First you have the new gal who ran on putting residents first along with the sentimentality of the history including the Darlington Inn. She is being led around like a puppy in a leash training class by the old timer who is literally on and off of the board and can’t stay away, can he? And then there is number 3. Buds with the old timer, correct? Once on the historic commission (isn’t that special and how’d he come to get there?) they tried to slide him in behind closed doors June-ish, correct? Kind of stealth and why didn’t the solicitor stop it and correct it then? I mean a solicitor should know, right??? So then number 3 was adjusted in during the July 6 meeting, correct? That’s neat shoehorning CYA if politicians can get it, right? Well his bio was up and then it was down right? Caught an important snippet still showing on a Google search that disappears when you click on it.
So now these people wish to magically erase the ENTIRE historic commission on made-up stuff? Hmmmm there’s something rotten in Denmark err Westtown and it seems obvious right? Like it’s 0”politically motivated retaliation or retribution? And what is the township manager actually doing about it? Shouldn’t she and the solicitor stop hiding about this?
Enjoy the screenshots snippets which in my opinion are so illuminating:
A good residents’ to do list should include start filing right to know requests in Westtown again ASAP.
Start with ALL communications between the supervisors (including the one who recently departed), the township manager, and the historic commission.
Ask for everything under the sun surrounding the Darlington Inn.
Talk to those who fought to save Crebilly to see what they might have vis-à-vis information that could be helpful.
Start looking into ways that the State Attorney General’s office could look into this board of supervisors.
Start checking out who would be good to replace all of these people who are currently supervisors with. How are their ethics going with the current supervisors? Are they violating oaths of office?
Stand up and stand withthe current Westtown Historic Commission, they deserve your support. Westtown residents you have to stand up and make some noise, and you should want to. This is pure, unmitigated bullsheit.
I remember the first time I saw Saint Peter’s Village as I guess a teenager. My father wanted to see it, so one day we went. I thought I had stepped into a magical place. It has felt like that every time I have been there since. It is in Warwick Township and has a cool history.
is a preserved 19th-century industrial company town located in a narrow gorge along French Creek. A company town. Much like the Village of Gladwyne, hence the reference. In the 1840s, iron ore was discovered there.
Cradled in the hills surrounding French Creek State Park was a run-down, sad-looking town called St. Peter’s Village. It’s cheerless, empty shops and crumbling walks hid this little Victorian hamlet’s history and charm.Originally founded and built as a ‘company town’ by Davis Knauer to house and provide services to workers of his Black Granite Quarry at French Creek, this picturesque Victorian community began to take shape in 1880.
For many decades families flocked to the village to ‘jump’ the rocks and picnic by the stream.
Winter sleigh rides and festivals were a constant as was, in later years, the sound of old Aunt Lena playing the saw. The village’s fascinating history and the memories of thousands who visited could not preserve it from the descent that followed the closing of the quarry and the subsequent selling of the village by the Knavery family in the late 1970’s.
For over 20 years this charming Victorian town sat neglected with its magnificent Inn deteriorating into a shabby shadow of its former grandeur. But all that has now changed.
Tom Drauschak of Earth Companies, the builder of the nearby Stone Wall Golf Course, and his partner, Vince Piazza, the father of future baseball Hall of Famer Mike Piazza, purchased the Inn as well as several other buildings in the village two years ago and already life has come back to the town. Paver sidewalks were installed, the quarry had what can only be called a ‘face-lift’ and working with the Chester County Historical Society, existing structures have been restored to their 1880s Victorian charm and are now occupied. The historic Inn at St. Peters Village (http://theinnatsaintpetersvillage.com/), which first opened in 1881, has been radiantly restored…The best part, however, are the careful measures that are being taken to maintain the historical integrity of St. Peters. Mr. Drauschak is working with the historical society to ensure that the new construction will be representative of the architecture of the era, thereby making this lovely neighborhood fit seamlessly into the charming village and its setting. Home site reservations at pre-construction pricing are now being accepted. So, what happened to St. Peter’s Village? It’s Renewed, Revitalized and Open for Business!
Wellllllll….I had not really paid attention to the whole thing that this little village always had overlords err owners and then the news broke:
St. Peter’s Village, a 19th-century industrial town along French Creek in northern Chester County that’s protected under the National Register of Historic Places, is being put up for auction by its owners.
The sale includes the Inn at St. Peter’s Village and accompanying restaurant, 121 residential and 13 commercial properties and subterranean mineral rights to the land, according to Philly-based Traiman Auction Company. The village will be sold Sept. 30 at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern.
June 29 is ironically the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul.
AUCTION???? yeah this gets an oh fuuuuuuuuck for sure. The auction house has tried to be coy about ownership but Philadelphia Business Journal burst that cherry:
An entire 83-acre village in Chester County with a hotel, shops and over 100 developable home sites is being put up for auction by Piazza Management Co.
The historic St. Peter’s Village will be auctioned off Sept. 30 with no reserve price at the Desmond Hotel Malvern. At that time, the village will be sold to the highest bidder, no matter the price, and with no set starting bid.
~By Ryan Mulligan – Reporter, Philadelphia Business Journal
Philadelphia Business Journal also pointed out that this is the SAME Piazza tearing up Ardmore in Lower Merion Township for a mixed use development that will supersize and citify.
Radnor Property Group is set to begin construction on a mixed-use development in Ardmore that will add hundreds of apartments to an area drawing attention from multifamily developers looking to build near transit hubs.
The $187 million, 270-unit development at 100 W. Lancaster Ave. is planned to have about 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and 480 garage parking spaces, including 108 for public use by retail customers. The project is named The Piazza at Ardmore after property owners Daniel Piazza and his family.
Radnor Property Group CEO David Yeager said he and Daniel Piazza view the project as an opportunity to “create a gateway” into downtown Ardmore.
Those are my photos from when I was in Ardmore recently and I was horrified. Another fun fact? Former East Whiteland Supervisor Rich Orlow works for Piazza, who also has a seemingly stalled project in East Whiteland – a car dealership.
Engineer’s plans, plot plans, and other property details will be available at the property.
Description
Owner has directed an Absolute Auction for their portion of its property located in historic St Peters Village, Warwick Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Step into a one-of-a-kind opportunity in the heart of St. Peter’s Village, a nationally recognized historic destination in Chester County, Pennsylvania. This mixed-use development invites major builders, venture capitalists, and historic preservationists. Located in a growth corridor, this intriguing property sells at absolute auction to the highest bidder. The offering includes 121 Home Sites, consisting of 33 single-family homes, 33 twins, 34 town homes, and 21 expansive 2-acre home sites; also a wastewater treatment plant that services the existing structures, which must be improved by the buyer to accommodate the full build out. Thirteen historic and commercial village buildings—totaling approximately 43,500+/- square feet—create exceptional potential for retail, hospitality, or adaptive reuse. The property also conveys valuable subterranean mineral rights, including documented iron ore deposits, adding a rare investment dimension.
Also includes liquor license, utility systems, personal property, and goodwill
It’s all being sold “as is, where is”.
Now someone has to ask the question is Saint Peter’s Village being auctioned off to pay for Ardmore?
Well?
Last year part of the road was closed by PennDOT, does that have anything to do with this? After all it is no great secret in Chester County that PennDOT road closures can help kill businesses, right?
The small sewage treatment plant nestled into the hill behind St. Peter’s Inn discharges directly into French Creek, an “exceptional value stream” that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is charged with protecting.
The sewage treatment plant has had serious problems over the years with aging pipes that allowed stormwater to infiltrate. Every time it rained, the plant would not be able to handle the flow, and thousands of gallons of raw sewage were discharged into French Creek.
Anyway….GLADWYNE PEOPLE like the good for nothing civic association and Lower Merion Township sit up and pay attention as this could be the fate someday of Gladwyne Village. You have a new owner turning it back into a company/mill kind of town. Don’t say it couldn’t happen in 19035, it certainly damn well could.
I am sure I am not the only one extremely worried about Saint Peter’s Village which to be honest has started to look a little run down in the past couple of years. If residents and preservationists don’t get busy and pay attention who knows what could happen here and it might be on the National Register of Historic Places but how many times have things on that register been demolished for “progress”?
No rest for the historic preservation weary, I’m afraid. Only potential profits for developers, right?
A photo sent to me during recent civic association meeting…
I spy with my little eye a new Inquirer article on the 19035. No not about the grifters currently visiting Club Fed or wherever that the civic association didn’t want mussing up their “vibe” but the article is about the equivalent of the hypothetical company town owners.
(Inquirer article has a pay wall and you have to subscribe to read it, unless they are still allowing people a few free reads a month?)
What do I say company town owners? Easy. In part this reminds me of our history when it come to factory / mining / mill towns when they were first settled (think 19th century.)
These company towns were controlled by the owners of the factory / mining / mill towns. They built the houses, school, local store, etc. etc. (Related aside: Gladwyne already once was a mill etc. town once upon a time, so is that the rich man poor man vibe the developers are going for again?)
Anyway these company towns had the ability to control every single person. They had literally a monopoly on everything. Workers and their families were dependent upon the owners of factory / mills / mines for their survival, which was a great way to control these people yes? Of course, history refers to boom and bust cycles with these towns which is why tourists visit ghost towns out west to this day, yes?
If you are interested in learning more about these types of towns see:
Yeah I know you think I am off on a tangent but the origin of the Gladwyne Village is HELLO a MILL TOWN. Do the upwardly mobile of nouveau 19035 really want to be owned again in a sense? Sociologically it’s a fascinating point to ponder.
So the article also talks about the mythical green space that is so fake sounding I can practically feel the sickly sweet taste.
Here is a link to what they presented to HARB at the beginning of May, which is what they presented to the 19035 gated community errr I mean Gladwyne Civic:
(I will tell you that Lower Merion Township’s website sucks, it’s as if it was designed to hide things, but I digress.)
So once again they are with the green space and fakakta gazebo with parking butting up against existing residents’ homes like it’s a city and WHY? Do they not see the big assed park that is 14.8 acres DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET?
I mean I am told that developer guy Andre worked in the village as a kid before he became an Andre? Does he have selective male Alzheimer’s or something? Are they literally BLIND as to the amount of green space, open space, natural water features, etc etc that ALREADY FREAKING EXIST IN GLADWYNE FOR ALL TO ENJOY? Are the residents also green blind?
Literally WTF in Gladwyne?
They don’t need a developer manufactured pocket park in essence….there is one across the street that is HUGE. Then there is Rolling Hill, Saunders Woods, Flat Rock Park, need I go on?
So these people and Lower Merion Township are either not listening hard enough, not caring enough to hear, or are just freaking green blind aren’t they?
Do the historic preservation and adaptive reuse. Rebuild the Gladwyne Pharmacy etc building, as that was probably just a favor for some pal that Walter Durham designed it in the first place because he designed houses, not mini malls. But leave the zoning alone which will threaten a well established historic district that is recognized on a local, county, state, and federal level. (Unless of course they plan to add a Trump Arch like planned for Washington DC?)
Listen harder and hear developers.
Don’t tart up the village. Do better, be better.
If these developers want their legacy in the 19035, they need to respect the legacy that already exists. Right now they are merely paying it lip service in my opinion.
For anyone interested in the bougie nightmare that they’re trying to create in the 19035 there is a meeting tonight. It is a PUBLIC civic association meeting.
The regular business of the Civic starts at 6:45 PM and I have been told the location this time is Gladwyne Elementary School. I am told the Haldon House stuff starts around 7:15pm?
The only reason I’m bothering with this is because the Civic doesn’t update their website anymore and there’s nothing on any of their meetings found easily- which of course speaks volumes. I doubt very much they are recording or zooming it so you need to show up if you’re interested.
The address of Gladwyne Elementary is 230 Righters Mill Road, Gladwyne, PA
I also have to ask is it wise to have the potential developer of the village as a business sponsor of the Gladwyne Civic Association? Is it just me or does it make you wonder about the people in charge of the civic? (I mean any more than their secretiveness in general about Gladwyne like it’s a gated community?)
Anyway, if you are so inclined, please show up. If they allow a zoning change, that historic village is DOA. Adaptive reuse and historic preservation aren’t the problems. A potential zoning change and nouveau development circus are. And yes, I can have that opinion because if you know Gladwyne, that is simply the truth.
Went to White Horse Farm in Willistown yesterday to pick up an order. We are part of their Butcher & Cream Club and have been for about a year now.
It’s nice to know your farmer and literally know where everything is coming from. This is a spectacular property in Willistown. You can’t just wander up the driveway, we were invited as we were picking up an order.
This. Finally. People all over now understand what the residents of Mt. Pleasant have been dealing with for YEARS.
Anyway, my cup runneth over in gratitude for Philadelphia regional media digging in to what has been going on for far too long in this historic old neighborhood in Tredyffrin. It is gratifying to know that they care about people in the region enough to hang out and talk with these people for a while because basically no one else has.
Perhaps somewhere up above Miss Mazie Hall and her pal Margaret Collins are smiling? I mean developers could tear down Mazie’s house, but neither predatory developers nor animal house college students have a right to destroy this neighborhood. It isthat simple.
So Tredyffrin Township, it’s time to get off your collective asses and stop ignoring this neighborhood because everyone knows if this was an expensive McMansion district you’d be hopping to PDQ. Yes I am in fact saying that if this wasn’t a historically black neighborhood, this problem would have been dealt with years ago. And by the way, the McMansionette dwellers in the new big huge town houses are not happy with this issue either.
And Villanova University, walk the walk, don’t just talk the talk.
Gladwyne is a wonderful place with a historic village. The nouveau and uninformed see it as this money-laden Main Line place to be conquered. Yeah, so they have done that enough in general to the Main Line, but there are some places that they should just leave alone. That includes the literally historic village in Gladwyne.
Yesterday was Azalea Day at St. Christopher’s in Gladwyne. It was the 73rd year.
I went to Azalea Day from the time I was 12 pretty much until I moved to Chester County. It was and is a perfect example of the magic of the village and surrounding environs which just don’t need tarting/messing up.
Historic preservation and adaptive reuse YES.
A zoning change and development circus? NO.
Gladwyne doesn’t need to be other than it is. Maybe people can’t stop Lower Merion from approving horrible out of place LEGO infill development McMansions, nor keep predatory development out of Ardmore with BS plans every few years for Schauffele Plaza, etc., but Lower Merion needs to be proactive with stopping the madness in the 19035.
It’s like Groundhog Day in Gladwyne every few years when a bad plan arises. The only thing now is that they neither have a civic association with people willing to protect the historic village, nor elected officials who are willing to do so and did you ever think Gladwyne would be in this predicament? Honestly, I did not because all of my observing prior to this was admiration for Gladwyne sticking up for Gladwyne.
Historic preservation and adaptive reuse YES.
A zoning change and development circus? NO.
Now there are still some people on Gladwyne Civic who were part of the magnificent years where they STOOD UP and fought for Gladwyne and the historic village. But they are the minority and probably tired. And my so much civic “leadership” yet where IS the leading? Oh I am sure they don’t care for my opinions and they even tossed me out of the closed Facebook group started by a friend. They have social climbers from Chester County in the group, but I am a threat. They tried once before this to remove me unsuccessfully.
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
Screenshot
So I am out of the group now, which is no great loss as it is quite the insipid government ass kissing shadow of the group it once was….and civic it once was.
They will say that I am talking about this because it is merely sour grapes and no it’s not. If they kept such close tabs on my activity there before the co-prez removed me, they would see that I really did not visit much as the involvement of my friends lessened. That and knowing that I could not keep my mouth shut over the insipid nothingness that was being posted. Gold foil stars for all, and the nerve of that horse for not picking up its poop!
I had posted about what was happening in the historic village district because THEY WERE NOT. And it was and IS important. But now I realize WHY they aren’t and it’s sad that I realized it’s in my opinion a combination of a lack of spine and it would mean actually working for the community, right? For these people it’s easier to have a “greenspace” and gazebo that is not needed and for the historic village district to lose protections with a zoning change and an overlord they can bow and scrape to isn’t it? And if this goes through like this, history in my opinion, will not remember them fondly.
Again, for the cheap people in the expensive seats: historic preservation and continued adaptative reuse is a GREAT thing. Creating a fake narrative and a Peddlers Village/Disneyesque landscape is NOT. Potentially changing the zoning, tearing down houses and undoubtedly trees is also a BIG MISTAKE.
I can indeed have these opinions. My opinion remains the same: yes to historic preservation, tree preservation, and adaptive reuse. No to zoning changes and the ensuing circus. It’s still supposed to be a historic 18th/19th century crossroads village and THAT is ok.
The Gladwyne Civic needs to recover where they left their collective balls.
Lower Merion Commissioners need to not sit on their hands.
Residents can’t depend on either the commissioners or civic association here and they should go to every single meeting possible to save the village.
Historic preservation and adaptive reuse YES.
A zoning change and development circus? NO.
Vanity projects can be useful, this project has many problems. The developers here should use their big money for good….if they are really listening, that is?
