'Franklin Farm', the Benjamin Franklin Jones estate designed by Rutan & Russell c. 1900 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. Jones was an early iron and steel industrialist involved with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company. The house sat on Blackburn Road but has since been demolished.
Photos from Architectural Record, 1904.
6 comments:
In the nineteen-teens, a near-palace of limestone was doing the rounds, also home of B.F. Jones of Sewickley, by Hiss & Weeks. One guesses this one did not live up to his wealth and self image? When you ARE the Joneses, keeping up must get even harder.
Yup, exactly what happened. Forget the folks who bought and tore down big houses for bigger houses, how about the ones who tore down their own expensive houses, 15 years old, to build even bigger and more opulent ones?
http://books.google.com/books?id=iNDmAAAAMAAJ&dq=b.f.%20jones&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q=b.f.%20jones&f=false
Did B.F. build that one on the site of his father's place?
I just came across your blog while seeing if I could find some material about Franklin Farm,
I explored these grounds as a child and remember the beauty and elegance of the place to this day. I lived with my grandparents on the estate until I was nine years old.. My grandfather was the butler for the Robinson family. My grandparents raised their five children in a lovely home down the road from the "Big House". Fond memories indeed.
If your grandfather was H.M., then he was good friends with my grandfather, P.D. the head gardener in the greenhouse. Many Sundays he visited their Hill Street home.
I'm fortunate enough to own a couple of Spanish Renaissance style chairs that originally came from Franklin Farm.
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