Tag Archives: chadds ford

ok so who wants to go see n.c.wyeth’s “apotheosis of the family” this fall?

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Apotheosis of the Family used to hang in a bank.
Photo from 52 Pieces Blogspot

OK, sign me mind blown. The huge mural, Apotheosis of the Family by N.C. Wyeth, newly restored, will be available once again to be viewed thanks to his grandson, Jamie Wyeth, as per the amazingly fabulous article in the New York Times this morning.

A friend of mine sent me the article a little while ago. And I’ve just been sitting here, reading it and almost gasping to myself about the crazy story of this mural.

CLICK AVOVE ⬆️ FOR NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE ⬆️

I remember years ago hearing about this mural. Then it came off the wall when the bank, Wilmington Savings Fund Society now known as WSFS, literally took it off the wall. That was 2007, and I remember reading that at the time and it was crazy to me because well the bank had restored it in 1998. BUT and it’s an important but, according to the New York Times, the building was sold for development. Art vs. real estate profit?

Can you imagine owning a building that had a giant mural painted by a Wyeth in it and then just taking it off of the wall and selling the building?

It’s a huge mural. It is 60‘ x 19‘. So 60 feet wide and 19 feet tall. I never saw it when it was in that bank branch for all those years, but it’s one of those things that pops up on postcards and coffee mugs and you can buy a replica of it.

According to the Fifty Two Pieces Blogspot which wrote about this in 2009:

Commissioned in 1932 by the Wilmington Savings Fund Society (WSFS) in Wilmington, Delaware when N C really wanted to do something other than be “just an illustrator”, the mural is made up of five canvas pieces that span a total of 60 feet by 19 feet…..The mural depicts a family standing in front of a house, surrounded by neighbors….Some say this is a theme N.C. Wyeth may have borrowed from his son-in-law, Peter Hurd. Done in the grand manner style of murals from the 19th century, N C also used bright colors, unusual perspectives and powerful abstract forms of clouds, smoke and sea, reflecting Wyeth’s interest in avant- garde Russian art, and works by Marc Chagall.

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So again, according to this blog, it was removed off the walls of this bank building in 2007, after being restored in 1998. The work to pull this giant piece of art off a wall and I guess store it was done by some company called Ely Inc. (I found a website for the company. They do some kind of museum services. )

Here I interject a little bit of my own opinion about WSFS. They like taking things off of walls. When they acquired the Bryn Mawr Trust Company a few years ago, they yanked the name and letters embedded in the wall of the historic bank building in Bryn Mawr off. Yeah, sorry that sounds a bit snarky, and I kind of meant it that way because I remember when it happened, it struck me as petty, because so many banks keep the original things of the bank building they acquire on it as part of the history. Wells Fargo did this in Paoli, for example. But I digress.

However, I guess everyone’s lucky that the mural was saved, and now will be able to be viewed at some point this fall. I guess I just feel at this point, that this country in general is somewhat disposable with various aspects of its history at times.

So fast-forward to the New York Times article of today. And apparently this giant mural went into storage for a bunch of years. Now, remember it’s oil on canvas, and paintings can crack and stuff as they age. If you read through the New York Times article, they had to do more restoration as the canvas was unfurled to be prepared for hanging.

According to the New York Times and their research, this is the largest mural in US history ever created for a public space. I like looking at murals, and if you think about it, it’s pretty cool that an American treasure of an artist also did one. No, this was done during the depression, and apparently the money received at the time translated to today’s dollars was fairly significant.

Now thanks to Jamie Wyeth, soon if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to take a shuttle bus from the Brandywine River Museum of Art to a special round barn on his property to view it. The farm is called Point Look Out Farm.

Apparently, this work of art celebrates family. N.C. Wyeth’s family is worked into the mural. His son Andrew is the naked boy with the bow, and interestingly enough, the Times reports his sister Carolyn is portrayed as a little girl, although she was eight years older than Andrew. According to Jamie Wyeth, as recounted to the New York Times, point of the mural was to depict two things that were very important to his grandfather, a deep love for family and the land. (OK, I’m going to interject again. What would N.C. Wyeth think of all the development in the area he calls home today?)

I think this is very exciting. And I’m going to hope I can get a ticket to see this in person. N.C. Wyeth was known first as an illustrator. He illustrated a lot of children’s books for example.

N.C. Wyeth’s ‘The Giant’ Is a Moving Tribute to a Friend

One of the favorite things he ever did that I have seen hangs at the Westtown school – “The Giant”. We actually have a print of that. It’s beautiful.

The Giant

This if you like art, and you appreciate the art from the various members of the Wyeth family, is pretty freaking amazing. the Delaware Historical Society had this mural before it came back to Jamie Wyeth’s farm. it sounds like they could never find a place for it. I think from a restoration point of view it’s probably very lucky for the world that this place has been made for this giant mural because it sounds like it wasn’t rolled up right when it was stored. Thank goodness it was given to the Wyeth Foundation.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-untold-legacy-nc-wyeth-andrews-artist-father

The Wyeth family has had a history of fabulous art and great tragedy. After all, the creator of this fabulous mural, we are all about to see for the first time in many years, N.C. Wyeth died in a tragic accident in 1945. His grandson, Newell, who was four at the time also died with him in the crash.

Of course, this is not the only tragedy that this family suffered, as there have been many twisted tales of complicated lives of this often larger than life amazingly talented family of artists whom we loosely call our own in this area. And thanks to the generosity of Jamie Wyeth will be able to see this mural now.

There is actually a giant Wikipedia page devoted to N.C. Wyeth which is pretty interesting and has many links about his life and work. I really wish I could meet Jamie Wyeth and ask him what it was like growing up in this family except how many writers and reporters and others have done this over the years?

I’ve also never become a member of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art. I think this might just inspire me to do so.

Anyway, read the article in the New York Times. It’s amazing from start to finish and it’s also kind of sad that a New York paper is breaking major art news from this area.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/arts/design/nc-wyeth-mural-wilmington-delaware.html

Embedded article

why neighbors don’t like short term rentals….

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So I was sent these photos. Obviously I didn’t take them I don’t live down there, and this is Chadds Ford. This is the Air BnB that is the subject of consternation with neighbors located at 1465 Smithbridge Road. And the date showing that the photo I guess was taken is 2024, so is this house still active as an Air BnB? I mean what happens? Does the township building close up shop on the weekend and then people rent this house? And yes, I can ask that question. After all April 19, 2024 was a Friday and that looks like evening, right?

to air bnb or to bnb in chadds ford…that is the question

Here’s another photo:

Again, this phone had a date of April 19, 2024. In this photo, you can see lights on in one of the buildings which meant it was towards dusk, correct? I just am interested to know if this is after the cease-and-desist letter of like a year earlier, how was it still looking like a short term rental?

And then this is the same property that’s supposedly scheduled at the end of this current month (if the Zoning hearing occurs) that now wants to be a Bed and Breakfast Inn?

Now for the record, I don’t object to bed and breakfasts. I think they are a good adaptive reuse for often otherwise quasi-obsolete historic homes. I also like bed-and-breakfasts, because I think they have more character and charm than hotels a lot of the time. But if this property has a conservation easement with the Brandywine Conservancy how would this work? Can you just stop having a conservation easement or is that forever?

I actually think if this property had just been a long-term rental with like a normal family in it, or had been introduced from jump as a bed-and-breakfast with on-site ownership running it, you wouldn’t be here with this house on this property, but that’s not how it has played out is it? But again, where is the Brandywine Conservancy on this? Can properties like this with easements that have language about no commercial things going on ever have a use like this?

Look at all the photos of all those cars. How would you feel if you were a neighbor? Would you trust these property owners going forward? Did these property owners ever try to really interact with the full-time neighbors and work things out with them? And by really interact I mean, did the actual property owners sit down with neighbors ever do that or just their representatives? That makes a difference.

In Radnor Township, in Wayne, there used to be the Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn. It was gorgeous. It has since been torn down for hideous development, which is criminal. But the original owners of the Inn, not the people who subsequently sold to a developer, went out of their way to be good neighbors. And I remember when they were initially trying to get approval for what they wanted to do and it was a tough row to hoe. I know because I followed the meetings.

Couple challenging Radnor bed-and-breakfast zoning
Video: Bed & Breakfast marks a first for Wayne

Above are just a couple of the articles that were written about the now, but a memory Wayne Bed and Breakfast Inn. They have a date of 2021 on them but it’s not actually 2021 that’s just when the website was updated and they reloaded those articles. The Inn actually opened around 2012.

And I know someone else who owns a bed-and-breakfast inn. There is no delegating to random people, they live on site. They take their stewardship of their historic property quite seriously. and it’s beautiful. But part of being an innkeeper I think is how you get on with your neighbors and if you started as an Air BnB that had lots of party weekends can’t you just understand why neighbors are not trusting? And I still can’t seem to find the answer that Chadds Ford Township knew this was an Air BnB before neighbors told them it was an Air BnB can you? I can’t find it in the Inquirer article, I couldn’t find it in like meeting minutes for Chadds Ford, so did they know or they didn’t know until neighbors said something?

https://www.inquirer.com/real-estate/short-term-rental-zoning-fine-airbnb-20240409.html

Anyway, it’s obvious that communities including Chadds Ford need to look at their zoning and have conversations about short term rentals and whether or not they want bed-and-breakfasts in certain areas but not in others, or what the criteria is etc. it’s also apparent that it would be helpful if the Municipalities Planning Code was also updated for more fleshing out of these uses state-wide.

I will close with screenshots from when this Chadds Ford place was on Air BnB. The dates on the screenshots indicate 2023. Below that, my noodling around about Air BnBs in general based on what’s listed.

Here’s hoping a resolution to this thorny issue can be achieved. Just like the property owners have rights so do the neighbors. And Chadds Ford needs to hear all, equally. And I really hope the Brandywine Conservancy can clear up how they feel about this situation, don’t you? The Brandywine Conservancy does amazing things, but they can’t continue to play possum with this issue in my humble opinion.

Happy Sunday.

just HOW MANY houses on the main line are air bnb???
and then you noodle around some more looking at how many air bnb and vrbo short term rentals are available elsewhere

to air bnb or to bnb in chadds ford…that is the question

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Chadds Ford, PA is actually Delaware County, PA but to me has always felt more Chesco than Delco. Chadds Ford has beautiful twisty roads, some gems of homes and estates, and used to be quite understated. I say used to be, because like every other slice of heaven between Devon and Wilmington….there is development.

Anyway in April, 2024 an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by a reporter whom I respect and follow caught my eye:

Owners of a Chadds Ford home once owned by the du Ponts have been fined $17,000 for renting through Airbnb

Short-term rentals remain a thorny issue for many towns.

by Frank Kummer

Published April 9, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET

Well…noise travels, doesn’t it?

Then the Philadelphia Inquirer had another article in the form of a newsletter in the same month of April, 2024. By another reporter I follow:

Real Estate

$17,000 in fines for renting estate as Airbnb | Real Estate Newsletter

And ‘million-dollar’ Pa. communities.

by Michaelle Bond

Published April 11, 2024, 6:20 a.m. ET

Smithbridge goes to court novDownload

So it looks like Smithbridge Partners (or maybe their lawyers since do we think the owners will go to court?) has put off their court date until after their zoning hearing board hearing event which looks like October 22? Now zoning hearing was put off from September, correct? When I last looked they were supposed to go to court this week on the fine stuff, and now the dockets read November?

And what is it to be at zoning October 22nd? If it reads like September 4th which was postponed it will be “1465 Smithbridge Road – Appeal of Zoning Code Enforcement/Variance to operate B & B”?

So are the owners going to be ON PREMISES to run a B&B AKA Bed and Breakfast Inn? It’s kind of 24/7/365 as I have known people who have operated B&Bs and one who still does? As a matter of fact, one person I know operates a B&B in PA and has a separate Air BnB in another state which is professionally run by a real estate company with strict rules.

So how come that Air BnB became such a mess? Did the property owners think neighbors would just give up their personal reasonable expectations of quiet enjoyment for the profit of others? I mean if there is the money to do things right, why not do just that?

https://delco.today/2024/04/chadds-ford-airbnb-citations

https://www.suburbanrealtorsalliance.com/news/2024/04/12/delaware-county/chadds-ford-fines-owners-of-former-du-pont-home-17k-for-renting-through-airbnb

https://www.the-sun.com/news/11049874/fined-17k-after-renting-home-airbnb

So would you want to be known as the people who purchased part of a former Du Pont property and then was all over media for this? Supposedly, these folks own about 400 acres of land in Chadds Ford between Smithbridge and Ridge Roads? Below is what I found on various properties under or affiliated with this entity:

Now with regard to the Air BnB at 1465 Smithbridge Road I have to ask, what is currently going on? Is it now empty or is it still being rented out as an Air BnB? Another wrinkle is a conservation easement on the property perhaps? It is (and already was when they bought it) under conservation easement with Brandywine Conservancy, correct? The easement states, “No industrial or commercial activities shall be conducted or permitted on the Property, with the exception of agricultural and livestock activities.” The conservation easement is copied below.

1465Easement copyDownload

How is either an Air BnB or a B&B not a commercial activity? What does the esteemed Brandywine Conservancy say about this? And if there is an easement, can you use the easement as in is there a trail? if so, is it maintained and by whom? I ask not because I know anything suspect, I ask because we have all heard of properties out here with conservation easements and I am guessing someone does maintenance so they can be used the way they are supposed to be used, right?

So the Air BnB of it all got a cease and desist letter in 2023:

Violation_Letter 2023-04-11Download

So what is the end game with the thing going to zoning later this month about being a Bed and Breakfast? Is this just to wiggle a door back to Air BnB? And given the other properties they own are any of them regular rentals? If so why can’t 1465 Smithbridge just be that? Or don’t they have any relatives who could live there and just let it be a normal property in a beautiful area with a conservation easement? And again where is the Brandywine Conservancy on this?

Now I asked around to those who know more than I and they came back with a famous court case that seems similar. There’s is interesting and relevant legal precedent for this case. The “Slice of Life” case was heard by the PA Supreme Court in December of 2018.

In its opinion, the Court concluded that even though the applicable zoning ordinance did not specifically prohibit the short-term rental of residential homes, such use was nonetheless prohibited. The Court stated that prohibited uses of real property do not have to be expressly excluded on a zoning ordinance.

The critical inquiry for the PA Supreme Court was the interpretation of the term “single housekeeping unit.” Past court decisions in PA have consistently applied this functional standard in its analysis to cases with similar facts. For example, courts have allowed the use of a residential home by a homeowner to provide lodging, meals, and care to physically and mentally disabled persons in their home. Conversely, courts have determined, under the same standard, that a residential home is not allowed to be used as a half-way house or a group home for foster children. These decisions turned on the fact that the average stay at a halfway house (2-6 months) and at a group home was too short to be compatible with the single-family concept.

Slice of LifeDownload

Now the Slice of Life of it all came up again in a New York Times article this past spring about a community in the Poconos. I have been to one of the fancier of the cabins/lake of it all communities up there years ago now. It was beautiful and closely held to keep out short term rental issues. It was so beautiful and natural. It was a delight. And tiny Medford Lakes, NJ has legislated against Air BnB type short term rentals in their community to preserve it’s character.

Here is the New York Times article:

FOLLOW THIS LINK TO READ

Air BnB rentals have created controversy in all sorts of communities in Southeastern PA, and in Chester County I can think of West Vincent and Willistown and West Chester Borough. I still do not know who is on first where.

Now one of the other properties these Smithbridge People own is of interest to me. And octagonal house.

https://chaddsfordlive.com/2023/02/07/from-a-schoolhouse-to-church-to-a-home

Has anyone been by this lately? What’s the current condition? Now that could make a great long term cottage rental couldn’t it?

I don’t really have much else to say on the topic. I definitely don’t have a horse in the race, except I have to say while I would not mind a traditional actual owner operated Bed and Breakfast Inn in my neighborhood, I can say the big old no to the Air BnB of it all.

This is still a situation to watch. I will be curious what happens to 1465 Smithbridge and the cool little octagonal house.

Thoughts?

local business love

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❤️ my Brandywine View Antiques (Thursday-Sunday located at 1244 Baltimore Pike, Chadds Ford PA)

need some more merry festivus? try brandywine view antiques in chadds ford!

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We had an appointment down in Chadds Ford late this afternoon so I asked my husband if we could stop at Brandywine View Antiques.

Brandywine View Antiques is locates at 1244 Baltimore Pike in Chadds Ford, PA 19317, incidentally.

I adore the owner of Brandywine View, Lisa. She is just an awesome human being and I love to be around her. She’s a straight shooter and real. And she has an awesome eye.

When the holidays roll around, Lisa is always is on point. She has a carefully curated collection of old, new, and vintage. This year is even better than last year and I didn’t think she could top last year.

I went for some reproduction decorations including red mercury glass pinecones. I have been looking for red and green ones. I walked into Brandywine View and there they were!

Now because of the state of my knee I could not venture upstairs at Brandywine View Antiques. There are literally three floors of fun!

Anyway, there are still a few days of Christmas shopping left so don’t forget about places like Chadds Ford and Kennett Square too! Brandywine View Antiques is the perfect place to start!

I am not compensated in any way for this post. I am just a happy customer.

farmer’s road drive thru, chadds ford: try it!

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Courtney Rozsas, Owner of Farmer's Drive Thru (center)

Courtney Rozsas, Owner of Farmer’s Drive Thru (center)

Today we were invited to the grand opening celebration of Farmer’s Road Drive Thru.  It is located in the Painter’s Crossing Shopping Center at 210 Wilmington Pike in Chadds Ford. It used to be a KFC there.

5Anyway, this is the brain child of Courtney Rozsas and Executive Chef Ryan Sulikowski the fine people behind Lotus Farm to Table in Media.

It was a beautiful afternoon to take a ride down to Chadds Ford and well worth the trip.

14

The decor is total reclaimed chic. Old barn wood and other recycled materials. Simple, open and pretty.  Terrain at Styers provided the landscaping – which is also eco-friendly including carbon reducing plants in the outside cafe area.  There is also a drive thru.

21The staff was pleasant, knowledgable and well spoken.  Inside on the wall was a giant chalkboard listing the farmers and purveyors (and all farms are ones you know or wish to patronize and we’ll leave it at that! I like them ALL). All the meat is locally produced, and 80% or everything else will be locally sourced as well.

Farmer’s Road takes the locavore movement and marries it to a healthy alternative to fast food.  There will be traditional fun burgers and hot dogs as well as heart healthy, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, along with seasonal offerings to highlight what is available depending upon the time of year.

Chef Ryan Sulikowski

Chef Ryan Sulikowski

I admit it, I am a carnivore so I loved the little slider version of their grass-fed beef burger they served at the grand opening – their grand opening featured mini sizes of their menu items – more than an amuse bouche, so I can’t say that.

They also have sodas from New Hope Soda Fountain. They will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week.  Sundays they will be open for breakfast and lunch only. Breakfast will include an oatmeal bar and fun things like french toast sticks.

Their menu is one of clean and fresh flavors – nothing overly complicated 10and a fresh taste we crave when dining out.  This is fresh food served fast, a far cry from fast food as we know it now.  I mean think about it, ever known a McDonald’s or KFC that had fresh flowers? Sells local honey? Uses fresh herbs? Uses non-toxic cleaning products and has a recycling station?

They open tomorrow for a regular day at 7 a.m. They are open until 9 p.m.

I think they will be a welcome addition to the local food scene, and I wish them much success as that could mean expansion into other areas.  It’s a great idea – and their food tastes as good as it looks! Kids and adults alike will love this place!

You can like them on Facebook too!