7 Caryl Lane

 

(photographs from Chestnut Hill Historical Society-John Naylor Collection: 1970.80, 1970.81)

 MAP NUMBER: 5
DATE: 1881 (Partially demolished)
ORIGINAL OWNER: Charles Taylor
ARCHITECT: Theophilus Parsons Chandler
CONTRACTOR: Unknown

The "Stonecliffe" property lies between Norwood Avenue and Caryl Lane.  In 1890, George C.
Thomas moved from his house named "Greystock" in Wyndmoor on Evergreen Avenue, and
purchased and renamed  "Stonecliffe" to "Greystock."   In the photograph on the left is an addition
in the center built upon the original open terrace, which was added after 1889.  It is not present
in the 1889 Wells and Hope photograph at the Free Library's Print & Picture Department.   The
original upper floors were burned and demolished in the 1920s.  George Thomas' daughter,
Sophie, and her husband Schuyler Volkmar  lived on the estate in another large house (now known
as "Greystock"), until her death in the early  1960s.  The Volkmars built a nearly olympic sized
swimming pool within the remaining walls of the original house.  It was sold to Richard E. Martin
in 1969.  Richard Martin, an architect, built a new house with a mansard roof on top of the massive
stone walls. 

See Hotchkin, "Ancient and Modern Germantown, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill,"  p. 464.
See Keels and Jarvis "Chestnut Hill,"  p. 59.