Woodmont (Gladwyne, Pennsylvania): Difference between revisions

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	An American Castle - Woodmont the Alan Wood Jr. estate, by Wanda Kaluza

	Woodmont
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	U.S. National Historic Landmark
	Woodmont in 2017
Location	1622 Spring Mill Rd.,; Gladwyne, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°4′3″N 75°17′39″W / 40.06750°N 75.29417°W
Area	72 acres (290,000 m2)
Built	1891-94
Architect	William Lightfoot Price
Architectural style	Châteauesque
NRHP reference No.	98001192
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	August 5, 1998
Designated NHL	August 6, 1998

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Woodmont is a mansion and hilltop estate of 72 acres (29 ha) in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998 for its well-preserved Chateau-style architecture.^[2]^[3]

Alan Wood, Jr.

Woodmont was designed in 1891 by Quaker architect William Lightfoot Price in the French Gothic style for Alan Wood, Jr., a steel magnate and former U.S. Congressman. Overlooking the Schuylkill River, the industrial town of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and the Alan Wood Iron & Steel Company plant, the chateauesque mansion was completed in 1894 at a cost of one million dollars ($37.8 million in 2023^[4]).^{[citation needed]}

The site features views of 15 to 20 miles. The Schuylkill Expressway passes by the estate, hundreds of feet below.^{[citation needed]}

The model for Woodmont was the George W. Vanderbilt mansion, Biltmore, in Asheville, North Carolina. Price had designed a nearby hotel for Vanderbilt, the Kenilworth Inn (1890–91), and was intimately familiar with the then-under-construction chateau.^{[citation needed]}

Woodmont includes tennis courts, a swimming pool, stables, several outbuildings, greenhouses, a stream, and walking paths. The original property spanned more than 400 acres (1,600,000 m²), including a working farm with two dairy barns (one survives).^{[citation needed]}

Alan Wood, Jr. occupied the estate for less than a decade. A year before his 1902 death, he sold it to his nephew, Richard G. Wood, who lived there for 28 years. Richard began subdividing the land in 1929, including the sale of 200 acres (810,000 m²) to the Philadelphia Country Club.^{[citation needed]}

A description from 1897:

WOODMONT.--Alan Wood, Jr., owns the estate with the above name. The section around the house, including the gardens, is styled Woodmont Park. The house was constructed between 1891 and 1894. William L. Price, of Philadelphia, being the architect. The style is that of a French Gothic chateau. Stone from the vicinity furnished most of the walls, the cellar being cut out of the rock. Lieperville stone, with limestone trimmings, were used in facing, and the stable is from the stone quarried from the cellar. The site is 475 feet above tidewater, overlooking the Valley of the Schuylkill for fifteen or twenty miles around. The highest site in Montgomery County is on the Woodmont Farm, being twenty-five feet higher than the mansion site. There are neat lodge-houses. Woodmont Farm contains about 100 acres, and Bellevue and Highland Farms, owned by Mr. Wood, adjoining, also contain about a hundred acres each. The Woodmont Farm had been owned by the Newberry family for a century before Mr. Wood purchased it in 1880. The Bellevue and Highland Farms were a part of the John Y. Crawford estate, and were bought from the estate by Mr. Wood in 1885. Highland Farm was well-named in old time from its elevated position. The farms are well-kept, and in the best condition. On Highland Farm was a stone mansion house, which Mr. Wood beautifully remodeled, and it has been rented to citizens yearly, furnished. Richard G. Wood, of Pittsburg [sic], is dwelling there this summer. There is also a fine farm-house. The stone barn on Bellevue Farm is believed to be the finest one in Montgomery County, accommodating fifty cows and twenty-five horses; and hospital stalls are added for sick cows and horses for isolation.^[5]

Father Divine

The estate is today the center of the International Peace Mission movement. Father Divine, a self-proclaimed God and leader of the movement, was given the estate by a follower, John Devoute, in 1953. His followers renovated the mansion and placed an American flag prominently in front reflecting Father Divine's patriotism. They also added a garden like those on previous Peace Mission properties. An open house was held on September 10–12, 1953.

Followers visited Father Divine here until his death in 1965. All furnishings in Divine's rooms, including an antiquated television set, have been left as they were at his death. The estate is now a shrine to his life and a meeting place for his few remaining followers.

Visiting

Woodmont is open to the public on Sunday afternoons, from April to October. The guided tours are free of charge.^[6]

References

^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ ^a ^b "Woodmont". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved July 3, 2008.
^ Susan Glassman and Carolyn Pitts (March 2, 1998), National Historic Landmark Nomination: Woodmont / The Mount of the House of the Lord (PDF), National Park Service, retrieved June 22, 2009 and Accompanying 15 photos, exterior and interior, from 1996 (4.73 MB)
^ Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Consumer Price Index, 1800-; accessed 2023.06.15.
^ Samuel Fitch Hotchkin, Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1897), pp. 206, 209.
^ "Contact Us. Let us hear from you". Libertynet. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2023.

William L. Price, "Details of Residence of Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., Woodmont, PA. ~ William L. Price, Architect," Architectural Review, vol. III, no. 8 (December 1894), p. 69, Plate XLVIII.
Richard G. Wood III, Remembrances of Woodmont (unpublished manuscript, dated December 15, 1989). Copy at Woodmont.

External links

Photograph at Lower Merion Historical Society
Listing and photographs at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings

[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[nhlsum-2] "Woodmont". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved July 3, 2008.

[nrhpinv2-3] Susan Glassman and Carolyn Pitts (March 2, 1998), National Historic Landmark Nomination: Woodmont / The Mount of the House of the Lord (PDF), National Park Service, retrieved June 22, 2009 and Accompanying 15 photos, exterior and interior, from 1996 (4.73 MB)

[4] Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Consumer Price Index, 1800-; accessed 2023.06.15.

[5] Samuel Fitch Hotchkin, Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1897), pp. 206, 209.

[6] "Contact Us. Let us hear from you". Libertynet. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved June 19, 2023.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|Historic house in Pennsylvania, United States}}
-{{Infobox nrhp | name =Woodmont
+{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
- | nrhp_type = nhl
- | image =Woodmont Moses King 1902.jpg
+{{Infobox NRHP
- | caption =Woodmont in 1902.
+| name                 = Woodmont
- | location= 1622 Spring Mill Rd.,<br>[[Gladwyne, Pennsylvania]]
+| nrhp_type            = nhl
-  | lat_degrees = 40
+| image                = File:Woodmont Facade 2.jpg
-  | lat_minutes = 4
+| caption              = Woodmont in 2017
-  | lat_seconds = 3
+| location             = 1622 Spring Mill Rd.,<br />[[Gladwyne, Pennsylvania]]
-  | lat_direction = N
+| coordinates          = {{coord|40|4|3|N|75|17|39|W|display=inline,title}}
-  | long_degrees = 75
+| locmapin             = Pennsylvania#USA
-  | long_minutes = 17
+| area                 = {{convert|72|acre|m2}}
-  | long_seconds = 39
+| built                = 1891-94
-  | long_direction = W
+| architect            = [[William Lightfoot Price]]
- | locmapin = Pennsylvania
+| architecture         = [[Châteauesque]]
- | area = {{convert|72|acre|m2}}
+| designated_nrhp_type = August 6, 1998<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1327790203&ResourceType=District
- | built =1891-94
-| architect= [[Will Price]]
-| architecture= [[Châteauesque]]
-| designated_nrhp_type= August 6, 1998<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1327790203&ResourceType=District
 |title=Woodmont |accessdate=2008-07-03|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref>
- | added = August 5, 1998<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
+| added                = August 5, 1998<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
+| refnum               = 98001192
- | governing_body = Private
- | refnum=98001192
 }}
-'''Woodmont''' is a mansion and hilltop estate of {{convert|72|acre|m2}} in [[Gladwyne, Pennsylvania|Gladwyne]], a [[suburb]] of [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[USA]]. In 1953, it became the home of evangelist [[Father Divine]], and the center of his [[International Peace Mission movement]]. It was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1998.<ref name="nhlsum"/><ref name="nrhpinv2">{{citation|url=http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/98001192.pdf|title=National Historic Landmark Nomination: Woodmont / The Mount of the House of the Lord|date=1998-03-02 |format=PDF |author=Susan Glassman and Carolyn Pitts |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=2009-06-22}} and {{PDFlink|[http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/98001192.pdf ''Accompanying 15 photos, exterior and interior, from 1996'']|4.73&nbsp;MB}}</ref>
+'''Woodmont''' is a mansion and hilltop estate of {{convert|72|acre|ha}} in [[Gladwyne, Pennsylvania]]. It was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1998 for its well-preserved Chateau-style architecture.<ref name="nhlsum"/><ref name="nrhpinv2">{{citation|url={{NHLS url|id=98001192}}|title=National Historic Landmark Nomination: Woodmont / The Mount of the House of the Lord|date=1998-03-02 |format=PDF |author=Susan Glassman and Carolyn Pitts |publisher=National Park Service |accessdate=2009-06-22}} and {{NHLS url|id=98001192|title=''Accompanying 15 photos, exterior and interior, from 1996''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(4.73&nbsp;MB)}}</ref>
 ==Alan Wood, Jr.==
+[[File:Woodmont Moses King 1902.jpg|thumb|Woodmont in 1902.]]
-Woodmont was designed in 1891 by Quaker architect [[Will Price|William Lightfoot Price]] in the French Gothic style for [[Alan Wood, Jr.]], a steel magnate and former U.S. Congressman. Overlooking the [[Schuylkill River]], the industrial town of [[Conshohocken, Pennsylvania]], and the Alan Wood Iron & Steel Company Plant, the [[chateauesque]] mansion was completed in 1894 at a cost of one-million dollars.
+Woodmont was designed in 1891 by Quaker architect [[William Lightfoot Price]] in the French Gothic style for [[Alan Wood, Jr.]], a steel magnate and former U.S. Congressman. Overlooking the [[Schuylkill River]], the industrial town of [[Conshohocken, Pennsylvania]], and the Alan Wood Iron & Steel Company plant, the [[chateauesque]] mansion was completed in 1894 at a cost of one million dollars ($37.8 million in 2023<ref>Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, [https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/consumer-price-index-1800- Consumer Price Index, 1800-]; accessed 2023.06.15.</ref>).{{citation needed|date = June 2023}}
-The site is the highest elevation in [[Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Montgomery County]], and features views of 15 to 20 miles. The [[Schuylkill Expressway]] passes by the estate, hundreds of feet below.
+The site features views of 15 to 20 miles. The [[Schuylkill Expressway]] passes by the estate, hundreds of feet below.{{citation needed|date = June 2023}}
-The model for Woodmont was the [[George W. Vanderbilt]] mansion, [[Biltmore Estate|Biltmore]], in [[Asheville, North Carolina]]. Price had designed a nearby hotel for Vanderbilt, the [[Kenilworth Inn]] (1890-91), and was intimately familiar with the then-under-construction chateau.
+The model for Woodmont was the [[George W. Vanderbilt]] mansion, [[Biltmore Estate|Biltmore]], in [[Asheville, North Carolina]]. Price had designed a nearby hotel for Vanderbilt, the [[Kenilworth Inn]] (1890–91), and was intimately familiar with the then-under-construction chateau.{{citation needed|date = June 2023}}
-Woodmont includes tennis courts, a swimming pool, stables, several outbuildings, greenhouses, a stream, and walking paths. The original property spanned more than {{convert|400|acre|m2}}, including a working farm with two dairy barns (one survives).
+Woodmont includes tennis courts, a swimming pool, stables, several outbuildings, greenhouses, a stream, and walking paths. The original property spanned more than {{convert|400|acre|m2}}, including a working farm with two dairy barns (one survives).{{citation needed|date = June 2023}}
-Alan Wood, Jr. occupied the estate for less than a decade. A year before his 1902 death, he sold it to his nephew, Richard G. Wood, who lived there for 28 years. Richard began subdividing the land in 1929, including the sale of {{convert|200|acre|m2}} to the [[Philadelphia Country Club]].
+Alan Wood, Jr. occupied the estate for less than a decade. A year before his 1902 death, he sold it to his nephew, Richard G. Wood, who lived there for 28 years. Richard began subdividing the land in 1929, including the sale of {{convert|200|acre|m2}} to the [[Philadelphia Country Club]].{{citation needed|date = June 2023}}
+{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage =  | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRefPu32xHo An American Castle - Woodmont the Alan Wood Jr. estate], by Wanda Kaluza}}
 A description from 1897:
 <blockquote>
-WOODMONT.--Alan Wood, Jr., owns the estate with the above name. The section around the house, including the gardens, is styled Woodmont Park. The house was constructed between 1891 and 1894. William L. Price, of Philadelphia, being the architect. The style is that of a French Gothic chateau. Stone from the vicinity furnished most of the walls, the cellar being cut out of the rock. Lieperville stone, with limestone trimmings, were used in facing, and the stable is from the stone quarried from the cellar. The site is 475 feet above tidewater, overlooking the Valley of the Schuylkill for fifteen or twenty miles around. The highest site in Montgomery County is on the Woodmont Farm, being twenty-five feet higher than the mansion site. There are neat lodge-houses.  Woodmont Farm contains about 100 acres, and Bellevue and Highland Farms, owned by Mr. Wood, adjoining, also contain about a hundred acres each. The Woodmont Farm had been owned by the Newberry family for a century before Mr. Wood purchased it in 1880. The Bellevue and Highland Farms were a part of the John Y. Crawford estate, and were bought from the estate by Mr. Wood in 1885. Highland Farm was well-named in old time from its elevated position. The farms are well-kept, and in the best condition. On Highland Farm was a stone mansion house, which Mr. Wood beautifully remodeled, and it has been rented to citizens yearly, furnished. Richard G. Wood, of Pittsburg [''sic''], is dwelling there this summer. There is also a fine farm-house. The stone barn on Bellevue Farm is believed to be the finest one in Montgomery County, accommodating fifty cows and twenty-five horses; and hospital stalls are added for sick cows and horses for isolation.<ref>Samuel Fitch Hotchkin, ''Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia'' (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1897), pp. 206, 209.</ref>
+WOODMONT.--Alan Wood, Jr., owns the estate with the above name. The section around the house, including the gardens, is styled Woodmont Park. The house was constructed between 1891 and 1894. William L. Price, of Philadelphia, being the architect. The style is that of a French Gothic chateau. Stone from the vicinity furnished most of the walls, the cellar being cut out of the rock. Lieperville stone, with limestone trimmings, were used in facing, and the stable is from the stone quarried from the cellar. The site is 475 feet above tidewater, overlooking the Valley of the Schuylkill for fifteen or twenty miles around. The highest site in Montgomery County is on the Woodmont Farm, being twenty-five feet higher than the mansion site. There are neat lodge-houses.  Woodmont Farm contains about 100 acres, and Bellevue and Highland Farms, owned by Mr. Wood, adjoining, also contain about a hundred acres each. The Woodmont Farm had been owned by the Newberry family for a century before Mr. Wood purchased it in 1880. The Bellevue and Highland Farms were a part of the John Y. Crawford estate, and were bought from the estate by Mr. Wood in 1885. Highland Farm was well-named in old time from its elevated position. The farms are well-kept, and in the best condition. On Highland Farm was a stone mansion house, which Mr. Wood beautifully remodeled, and it has been rented to citizens yearly, furnished. Richard G. Wood, of Pittsburg {{sic}}, is dwelling there this summer. There is also a fine farm-house. The stone barn on Bellevue Farm is believed to be the finest one in Montgomery County, accommodating fifty cows and twenty-five horses; and hospital stalls are added for sick cows and horses for isolation.<ref>Samuel Fitch Hotchkin, ''Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia'' (Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co., 1897), pp. 206, 209.</ref>
 </blockquote>
 ==Father Divine==
-The estate is today the center of the [[International Peace Mission movement]]. [[Father Divine]], a self-proclaimed [[God]] and leader of the movement, was given the estate by a follower, John Devoute, in 1953. His followers renovated the mansion and placed an [[American flag]] prominently in front reflecting Father Divine's [[patriotism]]. They also added a garden like those on previous Peace Mission properties. An open house was held on September 10, 11, and 12, 1953.
+The estate is today the center of the [[International Peace Mission movement]]. [[Father Divine]], a self-proclaimed [[God]] and leader of the movement, was given the estate by a follower, John Devoute, in 1953. His followers renovated the mansion and placed an [[American flag]] prominently in front reflecting Father Divine's [[patriotism]]. They also added a garden like those on previous Peace Mission properties. An open house was held on September 10–12, 1953.
 Followers visited Father Divine here until his death in 1965. All furnishings in Divine's rooms, including an antiquated [[television]] set, have been left as they were at his death. The estate is now a [[shrine]] to his life and a meeting place for his few remaining followers.
+[[File:Peace Metalwork introduced by the Peace Mission Movement.jpg|thumb|"Peace" Metalwork on a Spire]]
 ==Visiting==
-Woodmont is open to the public on Sunday afternoons, from April to October. The guided tours are free of charge. Information[http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/contact/contactx.html]
+Woodmont is open to the public on Sunday afternoons, from April to October. The guided tours are free of charge.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contact Us. Let us hear from you. |url=http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/contact/contactx.html |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420205711/http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/contact/contactx.html |archive-date=2019-04-20 |access-date=19 Jun 2023 |website=Libertynet}}</ref>
+==See also==
+* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania]]
+* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}
+* William L. Price, "Details of Residence of Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., Woodmont, PA. ~ William L. Price, Architect," ''Architectural Review'', vol. III, no. 8 (December 1894), p.&nbsp;69, Plate XLVIII.
+* Richard G. Wood III, ''Remembrances of Woodmont'' (unpublished manuscript, dated December 15, 1989). Copy at Woodmont.
 ==External links==
+{{commons category}}
-*[http://www.peacemission.info/ www.peacemission.info] Website on Father Divine's International Peace Mission Movement.
-*[http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/photodb/web/html2/242-2.html Photograph] at Lower Merion Historical Society
+* [http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/photodb/web/html2/242-2.html Photograph] at Lower Merion Historical Society
+* [http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/20212 Listing and photographs] at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
-*[http://www.libertynet.org/fdipmm/contact/contactx.html Father Divine's International Peace Mission Movement, with information on visiting Woodmont]
-*[http://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/pj_display.cfm/20212 Listing and photographs] at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
 {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania}}
@@ Line 60: / Line 68: @@
 [[Category:International Peace Mission movement]]
 [[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania]]
-[[Category:Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]
+[[Category:Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania]]
 [[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania]]
-[[Category:1892 architecture]]
+[[Category:Houses completed in 1894]]
 [[Category:Museums in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]
-[[Category:Pennsylvania Main Line]]
+[[Category:Philadelphia Main Line]]
 [[Category:Historic house museums in Pennsylvania]]
 [[Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania]]
 [[Category:Houses in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]
 [[Category:Religious museums in Pennsylvania]]
+[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania]]

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