Elkins Park’s Lynnewood Hall to open to the public for the first time in 84 years
The restored mansion, built for industrialist Peter A.B. Widener in the late 1800s, will open with a flower show that honors the Gilded Age.
Lynnewood Hall, the historic Elkins Park mansion constructed during the Gilded Age, is opening to the public for the first time in 84 years.
Starting Friday, the 100,000-square-foot home will host “Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age,” a 10-day floral exhibition honoring the history of the period and the characters of the hit HBO series, The Gilded Age. .
“It’s kind of a rebirth of an icon,” said Edward Thome, executive director of the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation, which owns and operates the property. “There’s been so much anticipation and so many years closed off.”
The exhibition will have 15 life-size mannequins made by local floral designers, using thousands of flowers. The displays will capture the essence of the scenes and characters from The Gilded Age, including Peggy Scott, Larry Russell, Bertha Russell, and Agnes van Rhijn.
Guests can observe live floral demonstrations, vote on their favorite floral mannequins, and take a tour that explores the site’s history and ongoing restoration.
The exhibition, which runs through Oct. 4, is a collaboration between the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation Inc. and Fleurs de Villes, the Vancouver-based entertainment company that has organized more than 170 flower shows globally. .
Karen Marshall, cofounder of Fleurs de Villes, said she was intrigued by the architectural wonder and stories linked to the mansion. “It’s something magical,” she said.
She hopes that Fleurs de Villes will not only draw visitors back to the site, but that the exhibition will grow to be an annual revenue generator, furthering the foundation’s preservation of the space.
Nineteenth-century industrialist Peter A.B. Widener first welcomed guests to his 100,000-square-foot home and 34-acre estate in December 1899. Back then, it was hailed as one of the finest residences in the country.
In the decades since Widener’s death in 1915, the assets inside the home were auctioned off, and the property changed hands until it was left abandoned for three decades. Nearly 125 years after its completion, Thome and his partners purchased the site for $9.5 million in 2023, and have spent “several million” reviving the sprawling home.
Chief operating officer Angie Van Scyoc said the partnership with Fleurs de Villes was “serendipitous.”
The nonprofit has been working with a landscape architect to explore the possibility of starting a flower show of its own. Less than two weeks before Scyoc was scheduled to fly to a flower show for research purposes, Marshall inquired about bringing Fleurs de Villes to Lynnewood Hall.
This encouraged Thome and Scyoc to “step up” and put a plan in motion.
“It was really just amazing timing,” Scyoc said. “An interesting full-circle moment that we’re grateful for.”
The exhibition, Scyoc said, is part of a larger plan for programming in 2027, which includes opportunities for filmmakers to shoot at the estate. She said her hope is that the exhibition will remind visitors about the “forgotten” site, and show them what ongoing history is being made within its walls.
Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation is at 920 Spring Ave., Elkins Park. The floral exhibition runs Sept. 25-Oct.4, open daily from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Adult tickets are $30.50. lynnewoodhallpreservation.org.
