Maybrook Mansion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maybrook is a mansion and property located in Wynnewood, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania in the Main Line suburban region just outside of Philadelphia. The mansion was built in 1881 as a summer home by liquor baron and real estate developer Henry C. Gibson and his wife, Mary B. Klett and six-year-old daughter Mary Klett "May" Gibson. Gibson named the property for his little daughter and the brook that runs through it.
Maybrook was built on a 67-acre site most of which was formerly the estate of Welsh Quaker Robert Owen Jones. Gibson's interest in horticulture lead to the planting of oaks, maples, pines, and other evergreens on the former farmland. Rhododendron plants were also planted alongside the lawns and the stream that runs through the entire property.[1]
Designed by renowned Philadelphia architects George Watson Hewitt and William D. Hewitt,[2] the house was purportedly meant to look like a Medieval Norman castle in Scotland. Gibson imported English stonemasons to construct the 35-room mansion that has a gross area of 20,000 square feet with a 72-foot tower. It was finished in 1881 but had later additions added by Henry Gibson's daughter who inherited the property after his death including a library and a ballroom.[3]
The exterior architecture was traditional “Main Line Gothic” in style, but the interior of the mansion was considered very modern for its time, with several hot air furnaces and hot running water.[4] Gibson was an art collector and board member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for two decades and his mansion was accordingly adorned with fine art, antiques, rugs, and furniture collected from his travels all over the world.[5]
