2008 |
2008 |
Gerry, Don’t know if you remember me we went to
Springfield together? Someone sent me a link to the website you had done on
Whitemarsh Hall. I noticed your name and the connection to you family
history sections. What a great history of Whitemarsh Hall. I really enjoyed
the entire site including the pictures and historical background
information. Is this a hobby of yours? Anyway, I have not lived in PA for
22+ years, now in Massachusetts, via 7 years in Chicago, via 7 years in
Delaware. I do get back once in a while to see my sister who resides in
Exton. Saw Ron Cohen about a year ago….trying to do some business and I stay
in touch with Stu Rambo that’s about my only connections to the class of
“72”. Did go back for the 30 reunion, don’t think I saw you there….I left
early though. Hope thing are going well for you. Great job on the website.
Check out mine if you are interested in what I am doing Regards,
Charles Collins, CFM
ccollins@opgnet.com
Optimum Performance Group (OPG)
www.opgnet.com
USA -
Sept 16, 2008 at 11:48 PM EST
I have a great interest in historical preservation,
and I am deeply impressed by this website. I fact, my fiancé and I visited the
grounds this past weekend, and were deeply moved, yet gravely disappointed,
that such a wonderful architectural masterpiece could ever be destroyed.
Again, it looks like greed was the primary factor, corporations and developers
with no philanthropic ideals and only concern for the bottom line. Certainly,
those who looted and vandalized the property should be held accountable,
including the Township, who apparently dragged it's feet and did nothing to
protect or preserve this property. Regardless, your work should be commended,
as it is a shining example of what great cost shortsightedness and greed can
have on our nations historical treasures. Philadelphia, although still
beautiful in many respects, could be a city of par with the grandest of Europe
if not for the countless examples of needless destruction of historical
buildings, which continues today. Thank you for our contribution to this
effort. Best Regards,
Jason
Pratt jpratt@Ikon.com
Associate Counsel
IKON Document Efficiency At Work
Malvern, PA USA - Aug 11, 2008 at 9:20 AM EST
Gerry, I just happened across your site today because
I was just looking at my set of original electrical blue prints (yes they
really are blue on a cloth type material) from Whitemarsh Hall dated August 1,
1919. I wanted to see if there was anything on the web about the structure. I
was happy to see your site and all the great information you have included. I
was nice to see what some of the rooms really looked like compared to the blue
prints. Well presented. Thanks.
Mike
BTLHSA519@aol.com
USA -
Aug 6, 2008 at 9:48 PM EST
My name is Wendy Simmens Miller. I used to sneak into
Stotesbury with my friends. Seeing the pictures were really fun and brought
back such great memories. I now live in Linwood, NJ and haven't been back to
Wyndmoor in a while. I am thinking of going back for a reunion this year. I
think it's sad that the mansion is gone.
Wendy maryus2@msn.com
Linwood, NJ USA - July 6, 2008 at 9:30 PM EST
Hi Gerry, I went to Springfield High, and graduated
in 1979. I know there was a serianni in my grade. I dated Grant Evans.. he
would be more widely known than me probably. I really enjoyed your site on
Whitemarsh Hall. I recently wrote an inspirational Memoir, and incorporated in
it some stories of our mishchief at Stotesbury as teenagers. I was wondering
if the photo's you have on the site are public domain, and if i would be able
to use 3 of the photo's on your site in my book. I wrote once before to you,
and got no response.. maybe the letter went into your spam folder. Ok, I look
forward to hearing from you, Thank you,
Liz DeHaven Glass
artjewel@frontiernet.net
USA - June 6, 2008 at 2:35 PM EST
Gerry, After a chance conversation with a co-worker
today, I was shown your website. Only tonight did I have the chance to truly
explore it. WOW!! Back in the 70's, I spent many happy hours exploring the
ruins of Stotesbury Mansion. It still makes me incredibly sad today that no
one could figure out how to save it. Your site is amazing with all it's
photos, drawings and history. I feel like there's nothing I don't know about
Whitemarsh Hall. If I can find my own photos, I will send them on to you.
Thanks again and keep up the great work.
Karen Phipps
Kapp76@aol.com
Glenmoore,
PA USA - May 6 2008 at 9:56 PM EST
Hello Jerry, I came across your website while
goggling 'SPALLONE'. My parents(Umberto and Maira) are from Capestrano Italy.
My Grandfather Antonio was born and raised in Popoli. My father's brother was
also Joseph Spallone. My side of the Spallone's originated in Benevento. Not
sure when then moved to Popoli. I see your family tree goes back to Lino. Do
you know his father's name? There couldn't have been too many Spallone's in
Popoli. My father's cousin's owner a jewerly store in Popoli last time I was
there. My great grandfather's name was also Joseph Spallone.
Joe R. Spallone
spallone@us.ibm.com
Poughkeepsie, NY USA - May 2 2008 at 9:22 AM EST
Hello Gerry, I am an interior design student studying
at Arcadia University. This upcoming year we have a thesis presentation for
our final project in which we select a building and modify it to serve a
purpose other than that which it originally served. I found the plans to the
Whitemarsh mansion on your website and was wondering if there is some way I
could get a copy of them, digital or otherwise for possible use in my project.
I appreciate your time and consideration. Thanks!
kate conway
kconway@arcadia.edu senior resident assistant
arcadia university
Pa USA - May 1 2008 at 6:28PM EST
I have become enamored with Whitemarsh hall when I
saw a picture in the book "Philadelphia then and now" It was a picture of the
back of the house and in 1980 after it had been destroyed. I then came upon
the book on Whitemarsh Hall which I have read over and over again... getting
deeper and deeper curious about this man and his life, his house. I'm 40 years
old and grew up in a town called Collingswood. I became involved with the
historical committee at age 14...I wish I knew then about WMH. When I read
this book on WMH, It sickened me. I went on line and did a search and found
your site. Thank god Someone appreciated this house, thank god someone
documented it. I think we should figure out a way to have a movie made on this
man, he was such an amazing man. my only regret is that I was too young to go
explore the way you did. I did try to go today, to find some of the
landmarks... but all I could find was the gate house and entrance to the
house...I got lost and drove around for over and hour and a half and then had
to go home to do some work at my own home! I do plan on going back next Monday
and try to find the entrance to the house. I don't know why but I have a
strong connection to this man and his house...I think it's just I feel like
people should know who he was, and who stayed at this house. There should have
been a foundation set up if not by the people then the state to save this
place. It was thee place to be and was! Thank you again for your website. Kind
Regards
Jon Christopher
jonchristopher@comcast.net
Brooklyn, NY USA - Apr 21, 2008 at 10:36 PM EST
I noted that there are no entries posted after 2005,
and as it is now 2008, I don't know that you are still accepting entries. I
had to write, however, because I grew up in Wyndmoor from 1985-1990 at 517-519
Wyndmoor Ave, in a house that, according to legend, was the home of one of the
engineers for Whitemarsh Hall. As the story goes, our power-flush toilets were
Whitemarsh Hall leftovers. To an 12-year-old girl obsessed with the ancient
world and Greek and Roman ruins (I'm now a Latin teacher in Brooklyn, NY),
exploring the ruins of Whitemarsh Hall, or "Stotesbury Mansion, " as my
younger sister and I called it, was a terrifically exciting endeavor. My
mother, I'm sure, got tired of driving us down Willow Grove, taking a left on
Cheltenham, and heading down to the left turn into the townhouse development
in which one could find the eerie, soaring, anchorless columns and the
decrepit Belvedere. Thank you for your website and for bringing back great
memories.
Alexandra Hewitt
Durham ahewittdurham@gmail.com
Brooklyn, NY USA -Apr 20, 2008 at 7:11 PM EST
Hello Gerry, I grew up in Flourtown in the 70's and
80's. I was fascinated with "Stotesbury." I only got in there once but I'll
never forget it. It was tragic to see it knocked down. Obviously so, I still
think about it. I live in Los Angeles now, and had a similar feeling when the
bulldozed the Ambassador Hotel. I don't understand why someone doesn't buy up
these monuments of history. All the best,
Kelly Carson
k_carson@sbcglobal.net SHS Class of 85
USA - Apr 11, 2008 at 8:47 PM EST
jerry how are you its been a long time since i spoken
with you this is william kelly oneill i was recently on ebay and try bidding
on a auction book that end up selling for 300.00 on eva stotesburys jewlry i
did not win but i did cop pictures of the auction to witch i like to give to
you on her incredible jewelry.
William K.
O'Neill
chefwoooneill@yahoo.com
Sherman Oaks, CA
USA - Apr 9, 2008 at 10:48 AM EST
Recently a trip to Erdenheim rekindled my interest in
Whitemarsh Hall. I had been there in the early 1970's. The beauty could be
seen, even then, by anyone with a romantic nature. It was not permitted to be
there and so we did not get to see as much as we wished. It broke my heart
then to see the decline however the demolition photos on your site were so
sad. It is sad to see the loss of such great art. Thank you for the site.
Henry
henrybechtold@yahoo.com
www.henrybechtold.com
USA - Apr 7, 2008 at 9:19 PM EST
My name is Tony Leach, my father , Nickolas Leach,
worked for Mr. Stotesbury for 20 years. My father had good years working
there. He would talk for hours about the Stotesbury Estate. I do not have a
computer, I am using a friend's computer, who's e-mail is.
Tony Leach
grany234@msn.com
USA - Mar
31, 2008 at 9:04 AM EST
Dear Gerry, I am in the midst of scanning into
digital form hundreds of photographic slides my dad took in the 1950s and
1960s. Among all of them, near the end of this task, I finally got to his
twenty or so slides of Whitemarsh Hall, photos he took in the 1950s,
apparently between 1954 and ca.1958. You see, my dad worked for PennSalt (The
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company, which later became Pennwalt Corp) as
an analytical chemist from about 1954 through 1965, and Pennsalt's research
facilities were housed in what he always referred to as "Stotesbury Mansion"
until about 1958 (when he was transferred to their new facility in the booming
new research center in King of Prussia. Dad worked there in their labs that
were housed in the mansion; one or two outbuildings were built in the sunken
gardens for some of their more risky work with fluorine compounds, but the
place basically still was maintained as an ornate and extravagantly-appointed
(if not reduced, land-wise) estate during that time. The slides prove his
stories of grand gardens still being maintained pretty darn well by one man
and his family (if I recall the story correctly) during those years under
Pennsalt's stewardship. I grew up hearing his tales from time to time and did
faintly recall he had some old slides of those days but never really looked
for them. Now that I've copied them into the computer and organized them, I
think the images might be useful as a part of the long and storied history of
Whitemarsh Hall. I have only now -- today! -- searched the internet for a
history of Whitemarsh Hall and your site was the first I came upon, so forgive
me if you have already covered thoroughly the Pennsalt period of history. I
want you to be aware that up until his death in December 2006 my father had a
rather extensive recollection of working there -- the gold fixtures in the
bathrooms, the grand stairs where he and his lab partners stood up and down
the steps to pack a copper coil column when they were in the process of
building one of the first working gas chromatographs, the stormy night when he
was back in the lab alone one evening, lightning flashing through the large
windows and thunder booming throughout the manse. And, of course, he'd finally
recount the convoluted tale of the demise of the estate after Cheltenham Twp
neighbors' fears of the chemical industry in their midst up there at the top
of the hill fed into political maneuvers, encouraging Pennsalt to leave, and
ultimately creating the long period of decay and then final destruction of
Whitemarsh Hall. His version of why Whitemarsh Hall was left to ruin would
likely not be accepted by those who were commissioners of the township (or
neighbors) at the time, but he believed the township's decision to take over
the mansion was short-sighted and because they had no real ability to maintain
it, they ultimately caused its demise.The images are in decent condition and
in fact some of those taken in summer 1954 are Kodachromes, so their quality
(color) has been maintained. Iif you are interested in posting the digital
images or know of an archive where the originals would be safely maintained --
I would be glad to oblige. Please contact me and let me know if you would like
the images as well as this story to share on the Whitemarsh Hall website.
Better that than to waste all this history my dad shared with our family (and
just let it die off with me)!
Bill Rein PlantsmanBill@verizon.net
USA - Feb 16, 2008 at 2:51 PM EST
Dear Gerry, Back in the early eighties, my family
traveled to Philadelphia to attend the wedding of the daughter of an old
friend of my father's. My dad moved from Philly to Baltimore in the late 50's,
staying in touch with only a handful of friends. He rarely spoke of life
growing up in Montgomery County, but that weekend he was feeling nostalgic. We
took a drive through Rydel, trying to locate the site where my dad's family
home, "Westwood," once stood (the house burned "mysteriously" after it sold at
auction after my father's mother passed away.) Much to his disappointment, we
found nothing but clusters of new homes. The only thing that remained, oddly,
were the very tall hedges that once bordered the entrance. He reminisced about
his childhood, attending parties at Whitemarsh Hall, and the lost era of the
"Main Line." We drove down many beautiful roads, telling stories and looking
for images from my father's past. From a distance we saw the ruins of "the
Stotesbury place." Dad insisted on parking and taking a walk through the
grounds. We descended the crumbled garden walls, listening as dad tried his
best to describe the "splendor that was" amidst the fallen statuary, the
imposing silhouette of the columns still off in the distance. I was barely a
teenager at the time, but was somehow transfixed - the property seemed
suspended in time. We left at sunset, feeling very heavyhearted. After
returning to Baltimore, I couldn't shake the images of that day or the
feelings that lingered. I became obsessed, trying to find images, history,
anything! Alas, the information fast lane didn't exist back then and local
libraries didn't offer much. After a while, I simply gave up. I don't what
prompted me to google Whitemarsh Hall twenty-some years later, but I'm glad I
did - I found your website today. Thank you for your work in preserving a
piece of history and for allowing me put to rest many old unanswered
questions. Sincerely,
Peter
Lentz lentzinc@aol.com
USA - Feb 5, 2008 at 2:49 PM EST
I was bored at work today and browsing the web when I
came across your site. I was amazed at all the research you've done! The
family of Sirianni is an important one to me, as it was my great-great-great
grandmother's side. Her name was Carmela, and she married Francesco Mazzitello
(although it is listed in the Ellis Island records as Mazziselli)... I have
some history to contribute if you wish to have it. My mother is a Mazzitello
and we are located in St. Paul / Minneapolis. Thanks,
Angela Brandt
brandt.angela@gmail.com
USA - Feb 1, 2008 at 1:32 PM EST
Hello, My first exposure to white mash hall was a
class school trip around 1972. It was in good repair and it was gorgeous. I
fell in love with it that day. I went back with my friends on the weekends and
we had floor plans and went into the sub basements and the kitchens and the
bedrooms and coverd every inch of the place. We went in the day and night and
it we loved all of it and never damaged anything. I was angry and sad when I
heard about the fire and I still remember fondley the beutey and grandure and
splendor of the grounds and the building. It was a transforming experience to
walk the halls and gardens of that wonderful estate.
Peter Clausen
PClausen@comcast.net
USA -
Jan 6, 2008 at 10:47 PM EST
Hi Gerry! Thank you so much for saving such fond
childhood memories for me. As a small child my dad was a Hatboro Police
Officer and we owned a 1956 Imperial which was a limo of sorts and he
surprised me one sunny afternoon by driving right up the driveway around the
circle and parked right up to the Pillars! I was about 8 and it was in the
60's and somewhere around the time Pennwalt was out of there. There was No
graffiti or structural damage anywhere. Although a recall a few mutilated
statues. Not a window appeared to be broken as my dad picked me up to each and
every ground floor window and I got to peer in. Originally I recall right
under the pillars a glass enclosure before you entered the main foyer. I
recall seeing this old telephone I assumed went to the gate house. I also
recall clearly seeing this long huge dining room table straight through the
main room. The wrap around staircase was still thick white marble and I recall
a small door under the main stair case. A door I would descend into many years
later once married and the house turned into a war zone. As a child it became
my reason for being and was my reason for majoring in Interior Design. I
wanted to form a committee to preserve the building for historical value but I
was young and had no idea how to go about such things. I took the last
remaining pictures days prior to it coming down and like yourself only wish I
had pictures to remember it when it was in its glory still. They don't build
them like that anymore for sure, it was a once in a lifetime that
unfortunately there are so few of these left to share with the future.When I
have a chance I'll try to find some photos to share with you! Best regards!
lynn Ramage
LynnRamage@aol.com
National Rock Journalist/author
USA - Jan 6, 2008 at 3:48 PM EST
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