lyndhurst

Wow, this house has an amazing story. Love to hear more about the ghosts. Summer residence of Harry and Evelyn Thaw (below). I missed their stories in the previous LoC photos, click through or search for "Thaw" in the LoC photostream.

I think the "haunted house" was a 20-room country home named Elmhurst Grange, located in Munster Township, PA [1] and also referred to as located in Loretto, PA [2] – both of which are next-door to the mis-captioned Cresson, PA.  Elmhurst was built by William and Mary Thaw, parents of Harry Thaw. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw reportedly stayed there a few times. The castle home in the above photograph was named Lyndhurst – the Gothic Revival home of William and Mary C. Thaw – and wasn't near Cresson, but was located at 1165 Beechwood Boulevard, in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh, PA.[3] [4]   William Thaw (1818-1889) was a founder of the Pennsylvania railroad. It was named "Lyndhurst" for a Tarrytown, N.Y., home owned by fellow railroad magnate Jay Gould.[5]  [See: "Gould's home, Tarrytown" /LOC]

"It was designed by architect Theophilus Parsons Chandler, and construction began in 1887. William Thaw's widow, Mary Thaw, later sold part of the property to raise funds for her son Harry's legal defense. Harry K. Thaw was arrested for murdering prominent architect Stanford White in 1906." – Squirrel Hill - Images of America, The Squirrel Hill Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing, 2005.

Lyndhurst was then bought by industrialist Emil Winter (1857-1941), a prominent banker and a founder of the Pittsburgh Steel Co., who extensively remodeled the home. Lyndhurst was demolished c.1942. [6]

Thanks for the correction, @Pixel Wrangler. So the title of the photo is incorrect!

This is Lyndhurst, a Gothic Revival mansion begun in 1838 and expanded in 1864-65. Alexander Jackson Davis was the architect. Financier Jay Gould bought it as a summer home in 1880. After his death it became the home of his eldest daughter, Helen, and, on Helen's death, his younger daughter Anna took charge of the property. Anna left Lyndhurst to the National Trust for Historic Preservation on her death in 1961. Today it is a museum. Lyndhurst web site. Edit: The web site New York Social Diary provides this extensive page featuring many modern photographs of Lyndhurst and its grounds.

Whyaduck: thank you for the information about Lyndhurst. We will add this identification and reload the description.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called The porte-cochère, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

....HISTORY OF THE OLD AMERICANA PHOTOS This image comes from the George Grantham Bain Collection which represents one of America's earliest news picture agencies. The collection richly documents sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, political activities including the woman suffrage campaign, conventions and public celebrations. The photographs Bain produced and gathered for distribution through his news service were worldwide in their coverage, but there was a special emphasis on life in New York City. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1900s to the mid-1920s, but scattered images can be found as early as the 1860s and as late as the 1930s. (Library of Congress).... If we can have a short descrption of each photo introduce the name of event and little background story about the people inside each photo that really is a good education to viewers today who did not know anything about 1900 in the world but can see the history being brought to life. The historical photos are valuable assets.

Helen Gould's wedding was Jan 22, 1913 Helen Gould's Home, Scene of Her Wedding To-day to F.J. Shepard (NYT January 22, 1913) query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D01EFD6123BE633A...

Helen Gould's home was Lyndhurst, at Tarrytown, NY, seen in this Bain Collection photo. The photo above appears to have been taken in the porte-cochère seen at right in the Lyndhurst photo. Frank Jay Gould (1877-1956) was Helen Gould's youngest brother. The Mrs. Gould in this photo is Frank's second wife, the former Edith Kelly, an actress he married in 1910. They were divorced in 1919.

Helen Gould's Home, that is a small size castle. It must be their dream house. Beautiful. People always has fantacy dreams about castle; especially castles in Europe with many mysterious or fancy stories happened in the castle.