Nestled among the leafy canopies behind tiny switchbacks above Mill Creek in Gladwyne lies an homage to a more refined era. The property at 56 Crosby Brown Road feels as if it were plucked from a Bavarian fairy tale.
Upon finding your way through a tangle of tiny country roads to the property, the trees open up to a wide clearing where the antique stone brick facade looms over the front courtyard.
The edifice was built in 1905 as a modest carriage house for an adjacent property which has since been partitioned off. The carriage house is now a mansion, having outgrown its former partner in becoming a stunningly beautiful Gothic manor home covering nearly 11,000 square feet on a 2.8-acre property with six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, an expansive backyard, guest house, optional indoor pool, wine chamber and much more.
Though today it is an immaculately designed, old-world-inspired manor house, that wasn’t always so. When the current owner purchased the home in 1994, it was more modern, with a sleek white interior, open concept, angled walls and dropped ceiling.
Throughout the past 30 years, the owners have replaced old walls with glass facades and antique stone brick. Limestone archways adorn passages between rooms, while heavy mahogany doors add a further sense of weight to the house. Portraits of old, sometimes unknown, European figures line hallways while tapestries depict classic scenes from ancient history, adding to the grandeur of the entrance hall and living room.
Don’t let that grandeur delude you into thinking this project is complete, however. Though the untrained eye wouldn’t be able to tell, the work is never truly finished on this ever-evolving property. Case in point: the master bathrooms were under renovation just this summer. The owner, contractor Conleth Sweeney and designer William R. Eubanks have worked together for nearly three decades to make the property perfect, and that ambition seems likely to continue until the day the house is sold.
Also added to the property are wide leaded glass windows that shed copious natural light on captivating spaces like the wide-open living room and kitchen, above which hang classic chandeliers.
It would be easy to imagine the late-night parties that will one day take place here and already did happen long ago when its former owners used it for fox hunt parties early in the 20th century.
Above the splendor of the kitchen sit four en-suite second-floor bedrooms. Originally used as a ballroom during the early 20th century, the master bedroom features hand-painted, canvas-covered ceiling beams with a newly completed spacious bathroom adorned in Italian marble. High ceilings, deep closets, soft lighting and a window overlooking the garden make it feel as if kings once lived here.
Each of the other bedrooms has its own distinct character. One features a floral patterned bed set and canopied window cove, while another boasts medieval heraldry lining the walls and another pairs a leopard-print rug with black and Art Deco walls.
Tucked away on a Gladwyne hillside, the unique spirit found here is not often felt on this side of the Atlantic. It evokes a sense of nostalgia for a time long gone. Though it’s hard to imagine that aura ever fading from our world entirely, this Gothic mansion stokes the embers of old-world charm here in our Main Line backyard.
For more information on this property, please contact real estate agent Franz Rabauer at franz@kurfiss.com.
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