Lynnewood Hall A New Era, at Last

After lying dormant and shrouded in mystery for several decades, Lynnewood Hall, the Gilded Age mansion of Peter Widener in Elkins Park, is finally getting a well-deserved new lease on life. Formed in 2019, the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation Inc., a Pennsylvania 501c3 non-profit, completed the purchase of the 110,000-square-foot home and the 34-acre estate on June 30, 2023. The Foundation plans to restore the estate and its three buildings in order to open them to the public for various uses. The mission and vision of the Foundation encompasses history, education, arts and crafts, sustainability, inclusivity, and creating spaces for the community to come and gather. Lynnewood Hall stands to become not only one of the great cultural centers of Cheltenham Township, and Philadelphia as a whole but an epicenter for the cultural arts and an attraction for visitors from around the globe. 

Edward T. Thome is the Executive Director of Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation and one of the organization’s founding members. After discovering the estate when just eleven years old, Lynnewood Hall has been a lifelong passion for Edward. In 2020 he convinced the previous owner to allow the LHPF to gain unencumbered access to the estate in exchange for installing new security measures to stop trespassers and vandals. After several years of campaigning, an angel donor was secured in 2022 to help LHPF take possession of the property. Through social media and other public outreach, Edward has fostered international recognition for one of America’s most important and most forgotten architectural icons. He is very dedicated to fulfilling the Foundation’s mission and vision of bringing the home back to the community and making it a haven for lovers of art, architecture, beauty, and history.