Greek Revival-style homes can rarely be found in Montgomery County, especially in the Wissahickon Valley Region. Besides the Woodlawn Plantation on Penllyn Blue Bell Pike and Morris Road, the Gwynedd Hall was one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in the area.
Greek Revival architecture were popular during the early 1800s, and I began to wonder how old was the home. Was it older than how it currently looks?
The Cadwalader Evans Tract
When the township of Gwynedd was established in 1698, many families began to emigrate to the new land and establish their homes. The Evans brothers were part of the original settlers of Gwynedd, and they began purchasing their own land for their families. For the youngest brother, Cadwalader Evans (1664-1745), he purchased 609 acres between Evans Road and Dekalb Pike above Sumneytown Pike.
His home was the Glendower Farm not too far from the later built Gwynedd Hall. Cadwalader and his son John Evans cleared that land for the home to be built.
Warder Cresson and the Beginnings of Gwynedd Hall
The home was owned by the Evans family until his great-grandson Cadwalader Evans (1762-1841) sold the property to his friend Charles Willing Hare, a Virginia-born lawyer and law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. After becoming a professor at Penn, Charles sold the former Evans lot to four men, including Cadwallader Roberts, a descendant of one of the original Gwynedd settlers: Cadwallader Roberts (1673-1731).
Cadwallader Roberts was given 91 acres of the lower part of the Evans lot, and divided the lot into smaller lots. The largest lot (49 acres) was purchased by Warder Cresson in 1823 for $1,934.51. Raised from a Philadelphia Quaker family, Warder moved out to Gwynedd where he was impressed with the newly built Gwynedd Friends Meetinghouse as well as the farming community of Gwynedd. With his educated knowledge and eagerness, Warder was willing to improve the former Evans lot after finding it as a "poor miserable wreck."
He built his 3-story, redstone residence in 1824 as well as a springhouse, a smokehouse, a hog house, a wood house, and a cider works. As a result, he and his family officially moved into Gwynedd Hall, and became a member of the Gwynedd Monthly Meetings after presenting a certificate of removal of the Byberry Monthly Meetings.
Warder continued to renovate his new home by adding in a pond fed by the stream nearby and planting a variety of fruit trees and willows. He even purchased an additional 10 acres, expanding his land to 59 acres. Warder became a happy and proud man, until he faced backlash from his fellow Quakers. He was in the middle of a religious upheaval until the Gwynedd Monthly Meeting removed his name.
Fun Fact #1: In 1830, Warder published a pamphlet titled Babylon the Great Is Falling! The Morning Star, or Light from on High. He used this pamphlet to encourage "all Quakers to lead better and more focused lives."
He traveled to Jerusalem and returned to Philadelphia as a converted Jew. After being called a lunatic by his own family, Warder decided to return to Jerusalem to start a new life there using his experience in farming.
Fun Fact #2: In 1844, Warder became the first American consul to Jerusalem under President John Tyler.
From Redstone to Greek Revival
Over time, the Gwynedd Hall was occupied by various owners after Warden Cresson sold the property. For two years, it was owned by Dr. William Gibson. Then it was owned by Edward Shippen Burd who named Gwynedd Hall the "Burd Mansion."
Fun Fact #3: Sidney George Fisher was a guest at the Burd Mansion, and described his experience at the home in his diary, saying the home was "very large and handsome and the table quite sumptuous, a profusion of wines and delicacies, with a great display of rich plate, china and glass. It is in my opinion the finest house in town, and the interior decorations and furniture when fresh and new must have produced a beautiful effect." (Wainwright, 10)
In 1852, when the home was passed on to Miers Busch, a retired Philadelphia businessman, he made major changes to Gwynedd Hall by enlarging the home and completely altering the appearance, transforming it into a Greek Revival-style home.
NOTE: Greek Revival style homes were popular from the 1820s to the 1860s, and this style caught the attention from the residents in Gwynedd.
The Origins of the Name "Gwynedd Hall"
Over the years, the home was named by the owners. The last name the home was given was "Mayfield" by Miers Busch. It wasn't until 1860 when chemist John Gilbert bought the Mayfield property. It was John Gilbert who renamed the home, "Gwynedd Hall."
John Gilbert established a small apothecary on 296 North 2nd Street in Philadelphia with his brother in-law John K. Smith in 1830. After the two split, the firm expanded, and renamed themselves as Smith, Kline & French.
Not only did John Gilbert renamed the home, he also purchased an additional 19 acres on his property where the home of Cadwallader Roberts stood. In addition, John was the first to introduce plumbing to Gwynedd Hall: one bathroom on the second floor, the other bathroom on the third floor.
"This was the customary plan of the time, permitting simplicity of piping and allowing for water heated by the kitchen range. In each bathroom and in the kitchen were large tin reservoir tanks filled with water pumped from the barn by a windmill, which Gilbert erected over the barn's west gable."
- Wainwright, 18
Unfortunately after John Gilbert and his wife died, his children were not able to take care of the home. Thus, Gwynedd Hall was in turmoil.
Here Comes the Wainrights!
Over time, the home was used for rent, and people visited the home to make repairs. Irving King was the one who modernized the home with updated technology in electricity, plumbing, and heating. He then decided to subdivide the property lot and sell it off.
On January 2, 1934, Gwynedd Hall was purchased by Eugenia Wainwright, and moved into the home during a blizzard.
The Wainwright family lived at Gwynedd Hall for a long time. After her husband died, Eugenia was responsible in taking care of her six children. One of her children was the author of the Gwynedd Hall NRHP nomination, Nicolas B. Wainwright.
Nicolas B. Wainwright (1914-1986) was born in Saranac, New York where he attended early schooling and went to St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island. After graduating from Princeton University, he went on to work at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. During the 1950s, he was commissioned to write about the localities of Philadelphia and his hometown in Ambler and Lower Gwynedd.
Her other son Philip N. Wainwright (1920-1945) served in the US Navy, since graduating from Princeton, as lieutenant. In 1943, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving the lives of eight fliers, who fell into the sea off of New Britain using a Catalina flying boat, despite bad weather conditions.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck on May 11, 1945 during the Battle of Okinawa when several kamikaze planes struck the USS Bunker Hill. Lieutenant Wainwright was one of the victims of this attack.
After he died, he was awarded the Navy Cross for his role in the sinking of the Yamato battleship on April 7, 1945.
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Lieutenant Philip Nicklin Wainwright (NSN: 0-114437), United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane in Torpedo Squadron EIGHTY-FOUR (VT-84), attached to the U.S.S. BUNKER HILL (CV-17), during an attack against the Japanese Battleship Yamato off Kyushu, Japan, on 7 April 1945. Displaying great skill and courage, Lieutenant Wainwright pressed home his torpedo attack and despite extremely intense anti-aircraft fire from all caliber weapons on the battleship and the surrounding screen. His torpedo was one of thirteen dropped in a concerted attack by the squadron, which cored at least nine hits on the battleship almost simultaneously. Without flinching he carried his torpedo in to close range through adverse weather conditions and intense enemy fire which included the main batteries, contributing materially to the complete destruction of the capital ship a short time later. His courage, skill, determination and unswerving devotion to duty were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
- The Hall of Valor Project
Architecture
The home was originally built as a three-story redstone structure by Warder Cresson in 1824. 50 yards away from the home was a large, a carriage house, a springhouse near the Treweryn Run as well as a smokehouse, a hog house, a wood house, and a cider works. All built by stone with an 1824 datestone on each.
"Cresson added a novel feature to his buildings by coating them heavily with pebble dash and then painting the pebble dash. This covering gave the buildings a pleasant mellow appearance, softening the uncompromising aspect of the redstone which was used in all Cresson's construction."
- Wainwright, 7
When Miers Busch purchased Gwynedd Hall in 1852, he made major changes to the property: he expanded the Cresson home and changed the appearance of the home into a Greek Revival style. Greek-inspired architecture was an interest of Busch, and added four Doric pillars at the front porch that was added by him. As a finishing touch, Busch painted the home with reddish brown.
"The architectural concept of Busch's addition was a generous one. Big double front doors open out from a lofty front hall containing a wide staircase curving to the second floor. The front hall ends at a door to the back hall where Warder Cresson's house begins. Left and right of the front door are the doors to the east and west front rooms, each of which measures twenty-five by seventeen and a half feet. These front rooms were the parlor and living room. Their ceilings are more than ten feet high and both have four French windows nine feet tall."
- Wainwright, 12
Inside the room in the east parlor was a sitting room and a billiard room. In the west parlor was dining room and the breakfast room. At the back of the home, added by Busch, was the kitchen and a large room. On the second floor there were three airy bedrooms with fireplaces. Above the billiard room was the Cresson bedroom. The third floor contained a large garret. In total, there were 17 rooms in the home!
Also built on the property were greenhouses, a small cooling house, and an icehouse.
During John Gilbert's occupancy, he built a frame structure for his servants while using Gwynedd Hall for friends and family.
Gwynedd Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
Bibliography
"1276 Meetinghouse Rd, Gwynedd, PA 19436." Redfin. Accessed January 30, 2022. https://www.redfin.com/PA/North-Wales/1276-Meetinghouse-Rd-19454/home/38467856.
"Award Flying Cross To Ambler Aviator." Ambler Gazette. December 23, 1943. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/21059/rec/2.
"H-048-1: Kamikaze Attacks on U.S. Flagships off Okinawa." Naval History and Heritage Command. Last modified May 28, 2020. https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-048/h-048-1.html.
Levine, Rabbi Menachem. "From Quaker to Jew — The Story of Warder Cresson, a Ger Tzeddek in America." Harmodia. November 8, 2020. https://hamodia.com/frominyan/quaker-jew-story-warder-cresson-ger-tzeddek-america/.
Liebenau, Jonathan. Medical Science and Medical Industry: The Formation of the American Pharmaceutical Industry. (London: MacMillan Press, 1987): 16.
Mooney, James E. "Nicholas Biddle Wainwright." The Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society v. 99 (1989): 36-38. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44539444.pdf.
"Philip Nicklin Wainwright." The Hall of Valor Project. Accessed January 31, 2022. https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/21605.
"Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger and Warder Cresson." The Seforim Blog. February 16, 2014. https://seforimblog.com/2014/02/rabbi-jacob-ettlinger-and-warder-cresson/.
Wainwright, Nicholas B. "Gwynedd Hall." The Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County 11, no. 1 (1957): 3-24. https://hsmcpa.org/images/thebulletin/1957vol11no1.pdf.
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