Tag Archives: George W. Pyle Jr photos

loch aerie photos from 1991 courtesy of george w. pyle, jr.

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Lockwood mansion 1991 (13)

All photos courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.  Today’s photos are from 1991.

Late yesterday, almost like the perfect birthday present, George W. Pyle, Jr. sent me more photos of my favorite old lady, Loch Aerie/Lockwood Mansion.  The photos came with a note:

These photos were taken in 1991.  My family and I were back visiting relatives and I saw some people standing out in front of the house so I took a chance and drove in to speak with them.  The person living there with his family at the time was Anthony Alden.  Mr. Alden was an architect.  He allowed me to walk around the property and take pictures.  I have 23 photo total.

Anthony (“Tony”) Alden is an architectural curator who loved Loch Aerie and put buckets of his own money into her from around 1980 until the mid 2000s when he moved out.  According to The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2016:

In 1980, architectural curator Anthony Alden moved into a Loch Aerie with boarded-up windows and no heat. He sank thousands into its restoration, hoping to buy it from the Tabases. Alden called it an “undertaking of love” but was unable to reach an agreement with the Tabas family. He moved out in the mid-2000s.

Before he left, Alden joined with a group of residents, environmentalists, and historical commission members who fought to keep Home Depot at bay when it bought land next door to build a store in the mid-1990s. The historical commission negotiated to minimize the impact to the house, Caban said. But its gas works were removed, and the pond and much of its grounds were paved over.

These photos are truly amazing to see and they show Loch Aerie BEFORE Home Depot when the beautiful old fountain still worked and the pond existed. Remnants of the original Lockwood Gardens still existed.

After looking at the photos, and knowing the history which includes two fires (one believed to have been started by vagrants), it is truly a testament to how she was built and her architect Addison Hutton that she survived.

If you drive by Loch Aerie, as I do weekly, you will notice work is progressing nicely. The lovely new owners had hoped to be opened by this spring, but if you have ever lived through an old house restoration or an adaptive reuse, you will know that it takes it’s own time.  I am so grateful to the  Poirier family for taking on the restoration. It makes me so happy every time I drive by!

Here are the photos:

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loch aerie compare and contrast: 1963/2016

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George W. Pyle Jr photo. 1963

George W. Pyle, Jr. took the above photo in 1963. Next is same room, taken by me in 2016.

Next is another photo taken by George W. Pyle Jr. in 1963. The little dots are basically age spots on the 1963 negatives. What follows is a photo of the same room that I took in 2017.

loch aerie 1963 photos and some of a more recent vintage.

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George Pyle sent me more photos.  This morning I have lined up his 1963 photos with my more recent vintage photos taken over the past couple of years.

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unnamed (1)I do not know what of the ornate plaster work will survive the adaptive reuse in progress, but I imagine what can be saved, will be. It was so badly deteriorated in spots, and in other spots just plain missing.

But it is so cool to see the rooms as they once were. Add to that the juxtaposition in time of when my photos were taken, decades later – 53 years later give or take.

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MORE loch aerie 1963 photos!!

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Loch Aerie, 1963
George W. Pyle, Jr courtesy photo

Yes MORE photos!! How cool is this? (Oh and on SCRIBD you can read the Historic American Buildings Survey of Loch Aerie in the 1960s!)

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

I always wanted to see more into Loch Aerie when inhabited by the Lockwoods. My friend author Thom Nickels was someone who as a boy got to interview the aged Lockwood sisters and has told me stories of kids trying to sneak through the then woods around Loch Aerie (now Home Depot).  In his book Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters Behind the Walls, Thom brings the Lockwood family and the era in which they lived to light.

One thing Thom speaks of on page 177-178 of his book  was a painting which apparently now hangs in the Valley Forge Memorial Chapel called Washington after the Battle of Trenton by Christian Schussele.

And guess what? Thanks to my new friend Mr. Pyle, I can see how the painting hung in Loch Aerie!

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr. – Large painting is Washington after the Battle of Trenton by Christian Schussele.

My friend Thom in his book , speaks of Miss Edith Lockwood and I think I would have liked her.  In Philadelphia Mansions: Stories and Characters Behind the Walls he has a photograph of Edith with her dogs on the back porch.  She had terriers, and they look to have been Scotties.  She was also a gardener, and Miss Edith was an integral part of the Church Farm School’s floriculture program and had quite a hand in the running of the greenhouses, “and a large peony field from which 60,000 to 70,000 flowers were cut and sold annually.”

Now the gardener in me of course wonders if Church Farm School has any of Miss Edith’s peonies left?

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

According to Thom Nickels’ research the things in the house were auctioned off. Makes you wonder where everything ended up.

It is so cool to have access to these photos.  It is so interesting to see what it was like inside when lived in!

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

loch aerie in 1963

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Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

I received a note form this nice man asking if I wanted to see photos he took in 1963 of Loch Aerie in Malvern/Frazer (I say Frazer, but others say Malvern.)

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

He lived here when he was young and his name is George W. Pyle, Jr.

This is what he had to say about the photos, some of which he sent overnight:

417bn+C2kIL._SL500_SX382_BO1,204,203,200_

My personal copy of the book – affordable and easily found on Amazon

These and all of the photos to follow were taken by me around 1963.  I found the Loch Aerie Mansion, LLC Facebook page.  It is quite interesting.  I saw a picture of the new owner (?) with Eugene DiOrio.  Mr. DiOrio has a very nice section on Loch Aerie in his book, “Chester County. A Travler’s Album”  I believe that book is out of print but I was able to find an excellent copy, #51, signed by Mr. DiOrio, in 1991 at Baldwin’s Book Barn.

The first picture is a higher quality image of the one you already have.  The stairs were not carpeted.  There were area rugs in the entry way but bare floors on either side of the staircase.  Against the wall on the left was a large and heavy mirrored hat and coat rack with holders for canes or umbrellas on either side of a bench seat.

The second picture was taken standing about halfway up the stairs.  On the right side are the bell chimes that were used to call the upstairs or downstairs maid or housekeeper.  There is a note safety pinned to the back of the chair on the left.  There was a ribbon stretched across the arms at one time.  The note said the chair was valuable and shouldn’t be used.

Outside the front door was a mat that had a couple pair of large men’s boots on them.  Mrs. Reilly said they put them there to give the impression that men were there and not just two older women.

 

 

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

Mr. Pyle also tells me that in the photos, the dark spots are artifacts on the negatives from development.  The last two photos are one of his and one of mine.  Just to show everyone what time and neglect causes. Mr. Pyle’s photo was 1963.  Mine was 2016 from a similar angle.

I will post any others he might send.  Thanks for stopping by!

Loch Aerie, 1963. Photo courtesy of George W. Pyle, Jr.

My photo. Taken March, 2016.