Site of 159 Bethlehem Pike

          

click on image for larger version
photograph from Chestnut Hill Historical Society-John Naylor Collection: 1970.104, & 1970.105)

MAP NUMBER: 3
DATE: 1884
ORIGINAL OWNER: Edwin N. Benson, Sr.
ARCHITECT: Theophilus Parsons Chandler
CONTRACTOR: Unknown
DEMOLISHED:  in the 1930s

"Lynnewood Hall" was built by Edwin N. Benson, Sr. (married to Ida Wray) on the site of
an earlier Benson house, which was destroyed by fire.   Built as a summer home with no central heating,
it had approximately 42 rooms.  The square, ecclesiastical-style tower topped with pencil-shaped
pinnacles is a Chandler trademark.  The stone driveway entry posts still exist on Bethlehem Pike.
After the house was demolished, the site was used for the Chestnut Hill Hospital Main Street
Fair.  The house was located where a newer house (built in 1952 for Mrs. Margaret Tait),
159 Bethlehem Pike, stands today.   In the 1919 Social Register, the address of  Lynnewood
Hall was given as 155 Bethlehem Pike.

See Keels and Jarvis, "Chestnut Hill," p. 61.

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