Lower Merion Conservancy

Historic Preservation Lecture Series Spring 2010

To register for any of the Spring 2010 Historic Preservation Lecture Series events please call the Conservancy office at 610-645-9030 or click here to register and pay with a credit card.

Lost in Lower Merion: The Gladwyne Colony
Tuesday, April 13, 6:00 p.m.
$20 LMC member/$25 non-member, includes a wine-and-cheese reception
St. Christopher's Church, 226 Righters Mill Road, Gladwyne

A perfect complement to the walking tour! Register for the lecture alone or the lecture and walk as a one-two combination.

The intersection of Rose Glen and Mill Creek roads, deep in the heart of Gladwyne, lies at the heart of Lower Merion's single largest oasis of open space. But in the 1920s, it was a beehive of activity: the Gladwyne Colony, a psychiatric adventure founded by Dr. Seymour DeWitt Ludlum used buildings once part of the now-lost mill town of Rose Glen. It's hard to believe that scores of residents lived here in long-gone buildings engaged in hard work in fresh air and the outdoors.

In his last lecture as executive director of the Conservancy, Mike Weilbacher presents the full story of the colony, its founder, and the Rose Glen ghost town. He has mined photographic archives to find photographs of some 30-odd buildings-- the mill, homes, labs, even mansions-- that were once a hotbed of humming industrial-strength buildings. It's a long-forgotten piece of Lower Merion history that will leave you shaking your head in wonderment.

Gladwyne Colony: The Walking Tour
Sunday, April 18, 2:00 p.m.
$20 LMC members/$25 non-member
Begins at the Barker Mill, 1400 Mill Creek Road, Gladwyne

Whether or not you register for the Gladwyne Colony lecture, you'll love this walking tour.

Riding his horse in 1912 from his home in Merion Station, Dr. Seymour DeWitt Ludlum stumbled on the forgotten and abandoned village of Rose Glen, complete with mill building, worker homes, a general store, and more. As the steam-powered Industrial Revolution made waterwheel mills obsolete, Mill Creek lost its cache as a powerhouse of industry, and Rose Glen lay in ruins. Envisioning the possibilities, he founded his groundbreaking Gladwyne Colony here only a few years later, a small town given over to his psychiatric ward.

As a complement to his lecture and on his very last day as the Conservancy's director, Mike Weilbacher leads a hike poking in and around the land that formed the colony. You'll see where the Rose Glen general store stood, where the Chadwick Mill made woolens, where Dr. Ludlum lived (one of the few buildings still standing), where his nursing staff was headquartered, and more. A surprising number of stone ruins provide invaluable hints as to the numbers and kinds of buildings that once occupied the site. Mike will also share the stories of three nearby mills-- Chadwick, Egbert, and Barker-- two of which were part of the colony, and share old photos so you can see the buildings that were once there. It will prove to be one unforgettable walk!

Park behind the Barker Mill, accessible via private bridge from Mill Creek Road.

The Walter Durham lecture is SOLD OUT as of noon, 4/28. There is no waiting list.
Walter K. Durham - Lower Merion's Most Important Architect
Tuesday, May 4, 6:00 p.m.
$20 LMC member/$25 non-member, includes a wine-and-cheese reception
Hazy Hill, 1001 Rock Creek Road, Bryn Mawr

Though architectural giants like Frank Furness, Louis Kahn and even Frank Lloyd Wright have all built in Lower Merion, our most important architect is arguably the lesser known Walter K. Durham. With partner James Irvine, he formed a development company that ultimately built more than 300 homes in the area, homes that remain some of the most popular on the Main Line-- and continue appreciating in reputation. And he designed in a surprising range of styles over a very long career, even dabbling in modernism.

Learn about Lower Merion's most prolific architect in one of his most glorious homes, as we offer an illustrated panel discussion in Hazy Hill. This farmhouse was converted by Durham in 1932 to be the home of first the Wasserman and then the Firestone families. The current owners are only the third family to enjoy this beautiful home and its serene, sweeping landscape.

Moderated by preservation architect James Garrison, the panel will include Frederick L. Bissinger, who worked in Durham's studio as a starting architect, Durham scholar Jean K. Wolf, and Bea Durham Blackman, Durham's former daughter-in-law and possibly Lower Merion's strongest champion of his architecture. Each will illustrate their perspective with a brief set of slides before the discussion is opened to the lucky group of participants who register fastest for this intimate gathering.

The Historic Homes and Gardens of Merion
A Self-Guided Walking Tour
Co-sponsored by the Merion Civic Association
Sunday, May 23, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
$35 LMC member/$40 non-member, includes light refreshments
Park and register for Walking Tour at Congregation Adath Israel, 250 N. Highland Avenue, Merion.

Our fourth annual gardens tour opens several unique and magnificent gardens and landscapes in historic settings, and, weather permitting, some of the homes of several beautiful Merion estates.

With your tour map and guide in hand, you will be able to visit private sites that have been graciously opened to us for this one afternoon only. They represent a wide variety of beautiful places-- some designed decades ago by noted landscape architects, some which have been lovingly designed and planted by their current owners-- all of which demonstrate the neighborhood's long connection to art and civic interests.

Visit a seven-acre estate with a superb and fanciful sculpture garden surrounding a 1908 home by noted architect Charles Barton Keen. Trace the original outlines of the Maroebe estate by its remaining wrought-iron fence, which leads you to a beautiful Thomas Sears garden. One beautiful Latches Lane home owned from 1911-13 by no one less than Albert C. Barnes features several woody ornamentals planted with the help of his wife Laura, an avid gardener. After visiting this garden, lovingly planted by its current owners over the last 30 years, visitors are invited to view the collection of garden-inspired impressionist art within the house. At least six gardens and houses will be featured on this tour.

The Merion Civic Association, which constructed and began planting the flower boxes surrounding the historic Merion Station in 1923, proudly invites you to share some refreshments at one of the garden tour houses.

The Golden Mile:
The Shining Legacy of City Avenue
Thursday, June 10, 6:00 p.m.
$20 LMC members / $25 non-members, inlcudes wine-and-cheese reception
Illustrated lecture in the unfinished top floor of the GSB Building, 1 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd -- spectacular 360 degree views!

One of the most remarkable suburban landscapes of the postwar era in the Philadelphia region is undoubtedly that section of City Avenue once celebrated as "The Golden Mile." Part high-style, part kitsch, the development of the Golden Mile found architectural expression in America's increasing dependence and love of the automobile, in contrast to the more tightly controlled, pedestrian-centered, transit-oriented development in Center City. Although City Avenue was overshadowed by developments in Cherry Hill and King of Prussia, as well as changes in lifestyle, much of this visionary expression remains. Very recent demolitions of important buildings like WPVI's modernist circular building, and the Cayuga Bank, elevate the importance of the architecture that still exists.

William Whitaker, Curator at the University of Pennsylvania Architectural Archives, presents an illustrated lecture describing the wide variety of structures along City Avenue. This mid-century development signaled the shift of population towards the Main Line suburbs and beyond, and included the first Marriott Hotel built outside of Washington, DC. It included the beloved Polynesian "Kona Kai" restaurant, and the Lord & Taylor's, designed by the famed industrial designer Raymond Lowey and one of his first buildings outside of Manhattan. There were also a gull-wing roofed bank, gas stations, office buildings, hotels, showrooms, and private houses, and works by prominent Philadelphia architects Vincent Kling and Louis I. Kahn.

This event will take place in the space formerly occupied by Williamson's Restaurant on the top floor of the GSB Building. The unfinished window-enclosed space, now available for lease, has been cleared of all but structural elements-- literally a diamond in the rough. After the tour, enjoy the views during our reception. This is a must-see lecture!

To register for any of the Spring 2010 Historic Preservation Lecture Series events please call the Conservancy office at 610-645-9030 or click here to register and pay via credit card online.

Updated: 5/6/2010 © 2010Lower Merion Conservancy. All rights reserved.

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