The Plaza

After a turn to the left and upon passing through a grove of trees, the visitor would emerge into the Plaza circle. Once again the mansion would be visible in the distance. In order to continue, the visitor would have to make a nearly complete circle around the Plaza, all the time admiring Henri-Léon Gréber's large sculpture groups there.

Aerial view of the house taken in 1942, showing the Plaza on the right, which was about mid-way between the house and the Main Entrance gates

Photo Source: Pennsylvania State Archives

In about 1923 the Stotesburys asked sculptor Henri-Léon Gréber, the father of Whitemarsh Hall landscape architect Jacques Gréber, to create a replica of one of the statues at the Bridge of the Beautiful Fountains (Le Pont des Belles Fontaines) in Juvisy-sur-Orge just a short distance south of Paris, France. The original bridge had been built in 1728 and enhanced by Napoleon in 1813. The replica statue was placed in the center of the Plaza, and it was large enough to be visible from both the house and the entrance gates.

On the northern side of the Plaza, nearest the house, Gréber built a long balustrade flanked on the east and west ends by two large, allegorical limestone sculptures. This served as a frame for the distant view of the mansion toward the north.

One of the original statues on the bridge at Juvisy-sur-Orge south of Paris

Photo Source: Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine - APMH00007204 France

The Juvisy statue on the Plaza today

Photo Source: Private Collection

The west balustrade statue today

Photo Source: Private Collection

Unfortunately, the statue on the east side of the balustrade was sold in 1993, in spite of unsuccessful neighborhood and township efforts to raise the funds to keep it on site. It later appeared for auction by Sotheby's New York at their Garden Statuary sale on June 30, 1994 (Sale 6591, item #174).

Its location today is unknown.

If you have any comments or information about the art or sculpture collections of E.T. Stotesbury and would like to share them, please View and add to the Stotesbury Guest Book