Whitemarsh Hall

Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania

Eva Stotesbury, chatelaine of Whitemarsh Hall

Chatelaine ("female castle keeper").  In medieval times, a chatelaine was responsible for managing the household, overseeing the servants and maintaining order within the estate. 

  A staff of 70 maintained the estate and its inhabitants.  It is estimated tht in the 18 years they lived at Whitemarsh Hall, the Stotesburys had entertained 100,000 individuals at their homes in Palm Beach, Wyndmoor and Bar Harbor. Eva ran the homes the way an executive runs a bank efficiently.  Everything was accounted for and completed.  Nothing was left unmanaged.  "She ran her household with more efficiency than any facory I was ever in" according to her son, John Cromwell who grew up to marry Dodge Motor heiress, Delphone Dodge and later Doris Duke.  Both marriages ended in divorce. 

The world came to the Stotesbury's door and as the 1920s rolled on jubilantly, the parties were varied and frequent.  They loved their lives living it up!  When the Great Crash occurred in 1929, the lifestyle was hardly curtailed.  Mr. Stotesbury built a sixth yacht, "to help the boat builders".  However, in 1932, a local radio personality named Boake Carter suggested that somebody go out to plant a bomb at Whitemarsh Hall.  Edward Stotesbury, then 84 years old, became seriously concerned about "unruly" mobs on his majestic doorstep.  He closed the house that spring and four Thompson submachine guns were installed!  

In 1924, Mr. Stotesbury purchased a 1925 Locomobile Model 48 chassis and had it refitted with a custom town car body and a collapsible roof.

Whitemarsh Hall Entrance Hall and Staircase.

Seen on the stairwell of the main entry hallway is The Flute Lesson Tapestry.  The tapestry was purchased from Duveen Brothers for $90,000.  It was sold or auctioned in 1942.  It is presently at the Cleveland Museum of Art.  The tapestry measures an impressive 12 feet long x 10 1/2 feet high. 

Whitemarsh Hall Dining Room

Whitemarsh Hall was an estate owned by banking executive Edward T. Stotesbury and his wife, Eva set on 400 acres of land.  Designed by the Gilded Age architect, Horace Trumbauer*, it was built in 1921 and demolished in 1980. Before its destruction, the mansion was the third-largest private residence in the United States and it remains the largest American house ever to be demolished on purpose.  The cost of construction was about $10 million which is equivalent to $311 million in 2024. The mansion had 6 floors though some floors were built as sub-basements.  The mansion had an impressive interior encompassing 100,000 square feet.

Main Floor 

Third Floor

This plan accurately depicts the Third Floor during the heyday of the estate (1925-1938) and identifies the occupants of some of the servant's rooms in 1930.  This floor was exclusively a female domain, except for the presence of male grandchildren or great-grandchilden staying in the family guest suites in the southwest quadrant. 

A two-mile driveway took one back to the estate through the 300 acre tract.  When the gates opened, Mrs. Stotesbury's beloved pipe organ played automatically throughout the house.  On nights and afternoons with guests arriving it played constantly. The property had its own dairy, greenhouses, barns, horses, poultry houses and even its own generator and telephone network with its own operators. 

The distance from the mansion to the Whitemarsh Hall Main Gates on Willow Grove Avenue was approximately one mile.  One mile of a now vanished vista of unmatched perfection.  This is construction photo #5054, taken on October 18, 1919.  Photo by William R. Hellerman for the George A. Fuller Construction Co. 

The mansion was larger than the White House.  When it was demolished a development of modern townhouses called Stotesbury Estates was built on the large piece of property.  

The massive limetone pillars which were part of the mansion's front portico were left as a tribute. 

Small remnants of the huge gardens still exist including a fountain, several statues, stairs and pieces of low fence and walls. The twin pillars of the estate's main gates which was one mile from the back of Whitemarsh Hall are still standing today.  A separate gate house used as the rear service entrance also exists as a private home.

A statue remaining from the Whitemarsh estate.

A remaining columned pillar of the main entrance to Whitemarsh Hall.

Whitemarsh Hall was sold to Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company (Pennsalt) in October 1943.  They moved into the facility in April 1944 after the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC) vacated it, having removed the artworks stored there for two years for safekeeping.  After Pennsalt left in 1964, Sidney Dvorak of Willow Associates were there from 1964-1969 then Kaiserman& Neff from 1969-1979.  The final owner was Jay Cross, Contractor & Constructions Co. of Upper Darby who hired Geppert Brothers for demolition in 1980.

Sincere and numerous attempts were made to save Whitemarsh Hall, but these attempts were thwarted by Springfield Township officials and commissioners.  This was a complex and complicated time with details that led to the demolition of a time-honored treasure that was once Whitemarsh Hall.  

Horace Trumbauer

(1868-1938)

Circa 1901

*Horace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy.  Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings and much of the campus at Duke University in Chapel Hill, NC.