Greylock Mansion Chestnut Hill

 

 

 

 

Greylock

 

Watercolor by Wm. J. Carpenter c1927

 We have previously written about two mansions designed by Wm. J. Carpenter AIA.  The first was the 1889 E. J. Roberts mansion in Spokane, a grand Victorian design now serving as an up-scale Bed & Breakfast. The second was the McCook Mansion in Pittsburgh, designed in 1905 and now being renovated as the anchor of a boutique hotel complex.

Now here is a third one, perhaps his last known design, and questionably the grandest, in the Pittsburgh-Philadelphia area before moving to Florida. This one, in Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia, was designed in 1909 for another titan of industry, H.A. Laughlin, Director of the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company.

The picture above is a tinted watercolor painting by the architect/artist from a late 1920s archival photograph.  Both the photograph and the painting are in my collection and there will be more about them on the PAINTINGS  page soon.

  This “castle” is briefly described in a 1909 newspaper article quoted here:

 H. A. Laughlin’s Mansion

Splendid Home for Steel Manufacturer Erected at Chestnut Hill.

 Henry A. Laughlin, the senior member of the firm of Jones & Laughlin, the steel manufacturers, will shortly occupy the handsome residence which Contractor A. Raymond Raff has just completed for him at Chestnut Hill Avenue and Crefeld Street, Chestnut Hill.  The Mansion, which cost $150,000 is considered to be one of the finest in that section, and is located in the centre of a 10-acre plot which overlooks the beautiful Wissahickon Valley.  The building was designed by W. J. Carpenter, a Pittsburg architect, and is of the English Renaissance style of architecture, covers a ground floor area of 123 by 126 feet.  The house stands on a wide terrace, which is paved with red tiles.”

 (When my father Edward returned from a trip to Pennsylvania in the 1960s he brought some paving tiles home with him.  They are of intense red clay, 9 X 9 X 1.25 inches, have a checkered pattern on the bottom and are marked DENNIS PUABON.  I understood they came from the Ashton farm outside Beaver where the family had resided during the 1910s, but after reading this reference to “red tiles” I have wondered if there is any connection between the tiles at Greylock and those in Beaver.  When I visited Greylock in 2003 I could see no evidence of red tiles anywhere on the expansive terrace.  Could they have been paved over during the years?  Or, were they removed and some ended up in Mr. Carpenter’s residence in Beaver?  Does any house detective have a clue?)

 The exterior is of gray Chestnut Hill stone, which was quarried on the premises.  The porte-cochere and the ornamentation on the house are of Indiana limestone, while the roof is of gray slate.  The interior staircase from the first to the second floor is of white marble, while the decorations are of mahogany and quartered oak.  The house, which contains 25 rooms, is equipped with a plunger elevator.  An entrance lodge as well as a garage has also been erected on the estate.

After a recent interior renovation the property was listed for sale in 2009.  Here’s the listing information.  I don’t know the current status.

 

Photo by Jack Carpenter 2005

 Property Description:
Built in 1909 by Pittsburgh steel magnate Henry A. Laughlin, Greylock is a classic Chestnut Hill stone mansion once considered one of the finest residences overlooking the Wissahickon Valley. The 3-story 18,000SF main building and 2-

Greylock Floor Plan

story 4,200SF carriage house sit on a park-like 6.7 ac the rear of which borders Fairmount Park. In 1945 Greylock became home to the Servants of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an order of nuns who renamed the property “The Home of Divine Providence”. Both buildings were used for senior care. The main house is now used as office space for small and medium-sized businesses. The original floor plan and many architectural details have been preserved, with an expansive central hall, original white marble grand staircase, leaded glass casement windows and mahogany and oak millwork and doors. Both buildings comprise in excess of 18,000SF of rentable space,  C/A, elevator in main bldg., high-speed Internet access t/o, conference room & ample parking, all in the heart of Chestnut Hill. $2,450,000.

The entrance to the estate was originally from 8835 Crefeld Street, and a winding drive went past the gate house and up the hill to the mansion, where the porte-cochere allowed regal entrance to the reception room off the main hall.  “Laughlin Lane” ran from the Crefeld Street gate to the Pennsylvania Railroad station, making a convenient arrangement for Mr. Laughlin on his commutes to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.

 Such an extensive project would have required close contact between the owner and the architect during both the design and construction phases.  With Mr. Carpenter living in Beaver and Mr. Laughlin living in Pittsburgh and the mansion in Chestnust Hill many of the meetings probably occurred on the Pennsylvania RR train between Pittsburgh and Chestnut Hill.  Perhaps that is when the access between the RR station in Chestnut Hill and Greylock became known as Laughlin Lane?

 Although no longer used for access to the mansion, the original drive still shows on the aerial internet view of the property. Also clearly shown is the relation of the gatehouse and the garage to the rest of the estate.

 

 

 

 

 

Gatehouse 8835 Crefeld

 

 

 

 

 

The gatehouse was separated from the original estate and sold to a private party a few years ago.  The owner in 2003 was kind enough to allow me a walkthrough-more about that, with pictures, later.

This beautiful historic property and buildings abut Fairmount Park and the exterior and grounds are protected by easements created by the Chestnut Hill Historical Society.  Here is their announcement of the proceedings as they were developing in 2003:

In November, CHHS was granted a conservation easement on Greylock at 209 West Chestnut Hill Avenue.  This easement forever protects the sweeping lawn and private open space on this 6.77-acre property.  It also limits commercial use to executive offices within the existing mansion (and garage) and imposes limits on total employees, total car tips and additional parking.  These and other restrictions guarantee that one of Chestnut Hill’s last remaining estates will be preserved essentially in its original form, and that no development ever will take place on the large lawn between Chestnut Hill Avenue and the mansion…

 The Chestnut Hill Historical Society furnished much of the information for this article.  All of the referenced history is from their archives, but unfortunately in the transition I have lost the links to the original references, but they are all in the archives of the CHHS, which graciously supplied the information several years ago.  My special thanks to Liz Jarvis and Dena Dannenberg for their cooperation.

One reference that I can credit is Greylock 1909-1947, Home of Divine Providence 1949, Betty C. Huston, May 17, 1984. It is the most complete historical account that I have found.