I too hung out there as a teenager in the early 70's. There was lab equipment in some of the rooms. I was told that it was used during WWII for some war effort. It was so beautiful but in such bad shape it reminded me of the album cover (Beatles or Rolling Stones, can't remember) where there was a perfect birthday cake on the front cover and it was smashed on the back. Memories

Gee, I wonder if this guy was a relative! I think maybe if we go all the way back to Ireland, when the Stotesbery's "came across", some stayed on the East Coast and others went up to Canada. That second batch ultimately came down to Minnesota and that is the batch I come from. Nobody in my family had ever heard of this lovely mansion.

What a legacy lost... would have loved to go back in time and see this beautiful place in its glory. Still.. it is wonderful to see these pictures, and to be able to tell my children about the beauty and history of Stotesbury. Thank you for that!

1. found this info regarding the organ - http://database.orga nsociety.org/SingleO rganDetails.php?Orga nID=49184

2. I remember visiting the site in the late 70's (actually sneaking in at night and touring the mansion by flashlight) with some friends. I was in awe of it then and even more now with the great images on this site.

I used to party there from the late 70's till the demolition. it was my teenage playground. The old mansion was pretty well destroyed by then, but you could still see the grandeur, really sucked that vandals ripped off the copper roof(beginning of the end.

I have a self-portrait of Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun that has been in storage in Seattle for 4 years. I believe that it is virtually identical to the original at the Uffizi. I can't recall whether the head is tilted or straight. I could look when I go home to the Northwest in December.

A painting that may be a fake is being sold on ebay today from China. It is without frame and is not stretched. This is possibly a complete fraud, but thought you could check it out.
http://www.ebay.com/ itm/Old-Master-Art-A ntique-Oil-Painting- Portrait-Noblewoman- artist-on-canvas-27- X31-/171073498068?pt =Art_Paintings&hash= item27d4c66bd4

I acquired a piece of the china in the paradise pattern about 20 years ago. I had been using it to hold pens on my desk. I now see that it was actual a celery or relish dish. I found the history fascinating and I'm glad that I've held on to it.

The portrait of Mrs Monypeny by Raeburn that used to hang in the Drawing Room was on sale at the London Art and Antiques Fair with Russell Strachan of Strachan Fine Art (020-7938-2622).

I enjoy looking at your site. One tiny point my valet Jeeves desires to be added: the wonderful 1925 Derham-bodied Locomobile which Eva Stotesbury ordered could not have been steam, even on the hottest days in Pennsylvania. He insists, rather, that, while Locomobile did in fact commence with steam-propelled voiturettes in 1899, they graduated to gasoline engines in 1904. Said reference to steam no doubt has been used to honor the original legacy of the concern.

My mother's father, George McCarthy, worked as the chauffeur for the Stotesburys in the early to mid 1920s. My grandparents were married in 1924, and the wedding gift the Stotesburys gave them hangs in my parents living room. It is a beautiful piece of needlework. I have several pictures of my mother and her brother as children at both the West Palm beach and the Philadelphia estates. I also have an autographed photo of Mrs. Stotesbury. As my mother's Alzheimer's progressed, I heard many more stories of her childhood at the Stotesbury estates, especially the one in Philly. I'm very sorry that my daughter and I will never have an opportunity to see those beautiful properties.

I remember the times I would go to Whitemarsh Hall in the 70’s. The grandeur of the place was still evident. Also the sadness of it was overwhelming. To think of people coming and smashing the statues and the interior. The beautiful plaster work the mirrors in the ballroom. It was unfortunate that the place had not become a college, perhaps a school of architecture. It was a piece of art given to us by Edward T. Stotesbury and we allowed it to be lost.