8811 Towanda Street

 

(photograph from Chestnut Hill Historical Society-John Naylor Collection: 1970.110)

 

MAP NUMBER: 76
DATE: 1894-1895
ORIGINAL OWNER: Archibald Campbell Knowles
ARCHITECT: Hazlehurst & Huckel
CONTRACTOR: William J. Patterson

This stuccoed stone Colonial Revival dwelling was greatly influenced by the nation's
adoration for George Washington in the late 19th century. The two-story portico
with Chinese fret-work railing (on left side of the house), roof dormers, cupola
and end porches were adapted from Washington's Virginia home, "Mt. Vernon."  
Edward Hazlehurst, architect, Brockie & Hastings, architects, and Mantle Fielding,
architect,  performed alterations on the house for T. H. Dixon in 1901, 1910, and
1911 respectively.  In 1922, Carroll S. Tyson, Jr., hired  Edmund B. Gilchrist,
architect, to add several wings and a full third floor to the house, giving it a flat
Mediterranean appearance with recessed ground floor porch.  During the depression,
the owners helped to employ out-of-work masons by constructing  a wall around
the entire 6 acre property.