Ardrossan: The Last Great Estate on the Philadelphia Main Line

2017 | History & Politics

A richly detailed history of the baronial splendour of the Philadelphia Main Line estate Ardrossan and of the Montgomery family who built it. Real-life American counterparts of the Granthams of Downton Abbey, the Montgomerys are best known as the family on which Philip Barry based his 1939 play, The Philadelphia Story, featuring Katharine Hepburn who also starred in the later Hollywood film. The Montgomerys entertained in the grand manner, hosting fox hunts and dinner dances. Guests included diplomat W. Averell Harriman; First Lady Edith Roosevelt; and famed vaudevillians the Duncan sisters. Essentially unaltered since 1913, the family's magnificent home stands as a glorious reminder of the halcyon days of the Gilded Age. Still owned by the family, the 50-room Georgian-style manor house was designed in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer, one of America's foremost classical architects. The first-floor rooms, decorated by the London-based firm of White, Allom, & Company, feature the family's art collection, including works by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Morris Young. The book also chronicles the history of the family's commercial dairy and prized herd of Ayrshires.

This intimate portrait captures the elegant lifestyle of the Montgomerys and the majesty of their beloved home and estate, Ardrossan. The publication of this book accompanies: a lecture at Athenaeum of Philadelphia, a lecture at the Radnor Historical Society, a speech at the Lyndhurst Symposium co-sponsored with Mansions of the Gilded Age (either June 2017 or 2018), and a number of private book parties in Dallas. Lectures are also being pursued with: ICAA (NYC and Philadelphia), Royal Oak Society, Union Club New York, and the National Arts Club, among others.

David Nelson Wren (Author)