In the panic after Pearl Harbor, German planes were reported nearing the coast; the Boston Museum rushed its treasures out of sight. The National Gallery in Washington very intelligently secured the vast empty Vanderbilt chateau of Biltmore in the North Carolina mountains, to shelter the chief masterpieces of the Mellon Collection. The Metropolitan first thought, on the example of the National Gallery in London, of an abandoned mine or quarry, and was on the point of taking one up the Hudson. Fortunately, the prolonged drought during which they inspected it came to an end, and water began to seep in just before they were to occupy it. Various empty country houses were offered them. Soon they announced they had taken a country place, "a hundred miles inland." It was Whitemarsh Hall. Priorities on materials were somehow secured; steel racks for paintings were put up in the salon, steel shutters at the windows. Packing cases were piled in the billiard and other rooms.
Knowing the story I'm even more sick. I've traveled through Chestnut Hill not even knowing what was once there. Seems fitting that our American culture would let such a monument be destroyed just so a few hundred families can have their piece of junk suburban architecture.
Mar 4, 05 2:09 pm ·
·
A, I fully understand your reaction/impression, and, like all the other responses, here, you're spot on, BUT there's a very rich story here that needs further understanding.
From the air, yes the suburban street layout is "ugly", but the homes from the first wave of developments (1950s and 1960s) are for the most part 'ok' and some are even stylistically intersting, especially those that look to be from the 1950s. And, in general, the old estate is very nice place to live, even desirable. The group of homes built after the mansion was razed 1980, are the worst though.
If you read through the guestbook at http://www.serianni.com/wh.htm you'll see that for those that grew up near or knowing about the place, the derelict palace was something beyond enchanting. My older brother first took me there in 1970 when he got his driver's licence. I was a freshman in high school then and it was like my first architectural wet dream come true. My goal became to get into every room of the place, and I almost succeeded. Now it's like LEARNING FROM WHITEMARSH HALL.
Abracadabra's archaeological evocation is great. Very Piranesian. There's reenactment, damnatio memoriae (erasure of memory) and ultimately palimpsest. The landscape telling a story via strata of data.
I have some treasured "souvenirs" gotten by teenage vandalism (barbarian that I was) -- a baluster from the forecourt and two slabs of marble from Mr. Stotesbury's bathroom (one of which has ANONYMOUS SAINT IN BIKINI WHILE JESUS IS WALKING ON WATER painted on it -- http://www.quondam.com/12/1138.htm ). Plus I still have some super8 movies of the place in 1972 that need to be transfered into digital media.
quondam (from the Latin) once, at one time, formerly; at times, sometimes, once in a while; some day, one day (in the future)
A, I'm curious as to why you think you previously knew nothing about Whitemarsh Hall? Were you perchance through Chestnut Hill to see the Vanna Venturi House or the Esherick House by Kahn?
Should Whitemarsh Hall hold a distinct place in 20th century architecture history? Does Vincent Scully even know of Whitemarsh Hall? You would hope (Philadelphian) Robert Venturi knows of Whitemarsh Hall--interesting how Venturi makes much of Lutyens, yet virtually nothing of about Trumbauer, who is Lutyen's almost exact contemporary. And let's not forget African-American architect Julian Abele, who is seen as near equal with Trumbauer when it comes to executing the design of Whitemarsh Hall.
Is modern oblivion all around what is really to blame. Progress über alles and God bless the garbage disposal? Is there a subconscious shame that comes with modern oblivion that hence engenders a selective deaf-dumb-and-blind-ness?
In another current thread here, it is said that "architects are taught to think differently." Do architect's realize how much they are likewise unwittingly taught to forget?
Rita - I'm quite familiar with the Chestnut hill area. Several years ago I lived right off Germantown Ave. as I was doing CA work on some large projects out in Bucks County. I did happen upon the Venturi and Kahn houses but was quite unaware of Whitemarsh hall or the history of the area. I'm a bit too young to have appreciated it, even in its derelict state, and am not from the Philadelphia area.
The loss of something saddens me because in addition to a love of architecture I love history. Great American industrialists and the estates they built are as much a part of our history as anything else. We love to elevate our presidents and celebrate places like Monticello and Mt. Vernon but I believe the great industralists of the 19th and 20th century have done a major part in shaping this nation as well. Why is it incomprehensible to raze a past presidents home for suburban 'progress' but Whitemarsh fell with what appears to be little outrage?
I'm left thinking about this politican vs. industralist theme. One would think that in a country like America we would celebrate our industralists more than they would in Europe for example. Above all I think all we celebrate is our American dream of a suburban house, no matter how perverse it may be.
Mar 6, 05 5:28 pm ·
·
Well guess what?!? Since you've lived right off Germantown Ave. you can tell everyone that you likewise lived right off a street President George Washington once lived on. The Dreshler House at 54xx Germantown Ave. briefly served as the 'Executive Mansion' during Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic 1973-4(?) and the government (Philadelphia was US Capital 1790-1800) saught safety in Germantown.
The Dreshler House is still there, but the King of Prussia Tavern a block up, where Jefferson stayed and Washington often ate, is gone. It's the Risque Beauty Parlor and DollarLand now. Stotesbury also lived in Germantown (on Tulpehocken sp?) when he was a widower with two daughter's.
Today there are some very nice sculptures from Whitemarsh Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art--given by Eva in memory of Ned. The sculpture that was in the Stairhall, before that, belonged to Frederick the Great. Imagine that, real live King of Prussia marble.
[And, speaking of industrialists, how about Martha Stewart's coincidental Versailles sigh of relief? I can't wait to read her guide to CREATIVE HOUSE ARREST.]
Hello Rita,
One of my relatives from Edge Hill, Pennsylvania worked at the mansion for many years even during the depression. I spent the bulk of my teenage years exploring the entire mansion with my friends. We explored every room including the underground basements. I remember seeing the small coal car sitting on a railroad track in front of one of the boilers. The most amazing thing that we found was the long underground tunnel that lead to a big room underneath the main fountain. I took many photos of the mansion but in hindsight wish I had taken more. In my youth, I always assumed that it would always be there. There are very few photos that show the architectural details of the mansion. Before the mansion was destroyed, I remember seeing a lot of the statues and architectural pieces from the mansion lying all over the lawn. I later saw these pieces for sale at an antique dealers shop in Lahaska. More recently, I noticed 2 large sections of the baluster rails located along one of the driveways at Arcadia University. These railings do not match those at the University and look more like the ones from the Stotesbury estate. Rita, If you ever transfer your Whitemarsh Hall super 8 movies to digital please let me know if/how I can obtain a copy.
Thanks
Joe
Versailles, sigh
or
Welcome to Suburbobliviopolis
I think I'm going to be sick....
i'm with you A. barf.
It's the democratization of the American landscape!
Can someone explain?
..no further excavations were needed and archeologists sent elsewhere to find the said baseball field..
GAH!
this website will explain plenty
Now that is very, very sad. I think I will puke too.
Thanks for the link Rita.
is that the new duany / plater-zyberk?
nice!!
I take it this was pre-Histerical society?
In the panic after Pearl Harbor, German planes were reported nearing the coast; the Boston Museum rushed its treasures out of sight. The National Gallery in Washington very intelligently secured the vast empty Vanderbilt chateau of Biltmore in the North Carolina mountains, to shelter the chief masterpieces of the Mellon Collection. The Metropolitan first thought, on the example of the National Gallery in London, of an abandoned mine or quarry, and was on the point of taking one up the Hudson. Fortunately, the prolonged drought during which they inspected it came to an end, and water began to seep in just before they were to occupy it. Various empty country houses were offered them. Soon they announced they had taken a country place, "a hundred miles inland." It was Whitemarsh Hall. Priorities on materials were somehow secured; steel racks for paintings were put up in the salon, steel shutters at the windows. Packing cases were piled in the billiard and other rooms.
Other institutions sent their treasures there also, so that if a single bomb had landed it would have destroyed them all. The hysterical rush to put things in Whitemarsh Hall inspired Hardinge Scholle of the Museum of the City of New York, who had at first participated in the movement, to call the house a "monument hystérique."
--George and Mary Roberts, Triumph on Fairmount: Fiske Kimball and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1959).
Knowing the story I'm even more sick. I've traveled through Chestnut Hill not even knowing what was once there. Seems fitting that our American culture would let such a monument be destroyed just so a few hundred families can have their piece of junk suburban architecture.
A, I fully understand your reaction/impression, and, like all the other responses, here, you're spot on, BUT there's a very rich story here that needs further understanding.
From the air, yes the suburban street layout is "ugly", but the homes from the first wave of developments (1950s and 1960s) are for the most part 'ok' and some are even stylistically intersting, especially those that look to be from the 1950s. And, in general, the old estate is very nice place to live, even desirable. The group of homes built after the mansion was razed 1980, are the worst though.
If you read through the guestbook at http://www.serianni.com/wh.htm you'll see that for those that grew up near or knowing about the place, the derelict palace was something beyond enchanting. My older brother first took me there in 1970 when he got his driver's licence. I was a freshman in high school then and it was like my first architectural wet dream come true. My goal became to get into every room of the place, and I almost succeeded. Now it's like LEARNING FROM WHITEMARSH HALL.
Abracadabra's archaeological evocation is great. Very Piranesian. There's reenactment, damnatio memoriae (erasure of memory) and ultimately palimpsest. The landscape telling a story via strata of data.
I have some treasured "souvenirs" gotten by teenage vandalism (barbarian that I was) -- a baluster from the forecourt and two slabs of marble from Mr. Stotesbury's bathroom (one of which has ANONYMOUS SAINT IN BIKINI WHILE JESUS IS WALKING ON WATER painted on it -- http://www.quondam.com/12/1138.htm ). Plus I still have some super8 movies of the place in 1972 that need to be transfered into digital media.
quondam (from the Latin) once, at one time, formerly; at times, sometimes, once in a while; some day, one day (in the future)
and the 3 pages that follow
http://www.quondam.com/24/2307.htm
and the 21 pages that follow
A, I'm curious as to why you think you previously knew nothing about Whitemarsh Hall? Were you perchance through Chestnut Hill to see the Vanna Venturi House or the Esherick House by Kahn?
Should Whitemarsh Hall hold a distinct place in 20th century architecture history? Does Vincent Scully even know of Whitemarsh Hall? You would hope (Philadelphian) Robert Venturi knows of Whitemarsh Hall--interesting how Venturi makes much of Lutyens, yet virtually nothing of about Trumbauer, who is Lutyen's almost exact contemporary. And let's not forget African-American architect Julian Abele, who is seen as near equal with Trumbauer when it comes to executing the design of Whitemarsh Hall.
Is modern oblivion all around what is really to blame. Progress über alles and God bless the garbage disposal? Is there a subconscious shame that comes with modern oblivion that hence engenders a selective deaf-dumb-and-blind-ness?
In another current thread here, it is said that "architects are taught to think differently." Do architect's realize how much they are likewise unwittingly taught to forget?
Rita - I'm quite familiar with the Chestnut hill area. Several years ago I lived right off Germantown Ave. as I was doing CA work on some large projects out in Bucks County. I did happen upon the Venturi and Kahn houses but was quite unaware of Whitemarsh hall or the history of the area. I'm a bit too young to have appreciated it, even in its derelict state, and am not from the Philadelphia area.
The loss of something saddens me because in addition to a love of architecture I love history. Great American industrialists and the estates they built are as much a part of our history as anything else. We love to elevate our presidents and celebrate places like Monticello and Mt. Vernon but I believe the great industralists of the 19th and 20th century have done a major part in shaping this nation as well. Why is it incomprehensible to raze a past presidents home for suburban 'progress' but Whitemarsh fell with what appears to be little outrage?
I'm left thinking about this politican vs. industralist theme. One would think that in a country like America we would celebrate our industralists more than they would in Europe for example. Above all I think all we celebrate is our American dream of a suburban house, no matter how perverse it may be.
Well guess what?!? Since you've lived right off Germantown Ave. you can tell everyone that you likewise lived right off a street President George Washington once lived on. The Dreshler House at 54xx Germantown Ave. briefly served as the 'Executive Mansion' during Philadelphia's yellow fever epidemic 1973-4(?) and the government (Philadelphia was US Capital 1790-1800) saught safety in Germantown.
The Dreshler House is still there, but the King of Prussia Tavern a block up, where Jefferson stayed and Washington often ate, is gone. It's the Risque Beauty Parlor and DollarLand now. Stotesbury also lived in Germantown (on Tulpehocken sp?) when he was a widower with two daughter's.
Today there are some very nice sculptures from Whitemarsh Hall at the Philadelphia Museum of Art--given by Eva in memory of Ned. The sculpture that was in the Stairhall, before that, belonged to Frederick the Great. Imagine that, real live King of Prussia marble.
[And, speaking of industrialists, how about Martha Stewart's coincidental Versailles sigh of relief? I can't wait to read her guide to CREATIVE HOUSE ARREST.]
Sacrifice of the Arrows of Love on the Altar of Friendship
Hello Rita,
One of my relatives from Edge Hill, Pennsylvania worked at the mansion for many years even during the depression. I spent the bulk of my teenage years exploring the entire mansion with my friends. We explored every room including the underground basements. I remember seeing the small coal car sitting on a railroad track in front of one of the boilers. The most amazing thing that we found was the long underground tunnel that lead to a big room underneath the main fountain. I took many photos of the mansion but in hindsight wish I had taken more. In my youth, I always assumed that it would always be there. There are very few photos that show the architectural details of the mansion. Before the mansion was destroyed, I remember seeing a lot of the statues and architectural pieces from the mansion lying all over the lawn. I later saw these pieces for sale at an antique dealers shop in Lahaska. More recently, I noticed 2 large sections of the baluster rails located along one of the driveways at Arcadia University. These railings do not match those at the University and look more like the ones from the Stotesbury estate. Rita, If you ever transfer your Whitemarsh Hall super 8 movies to digital please let me know if/how I can obtain a copy.
Thanks
Joe
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