A $5.5 Million Mansion on Philadelphia’s Main Line Has Serious History

(Bloomberg) -- In 1998, Sanford Davne and Lisa Davne purchased an 18th century manor house in Newtown Square, Pa., a rural slice of the aristocratic Main Line outside Philadelphia, and embarked on a four-year restoration whose cost, Davne says, he’s never calculated.

“We haven’t needed to,” Davne, an orthopedic surgeon, says during a phone interview. (In the background, his wife chimes in: “It would be way too traumatic.”)

Instead of tallying up costs, the couple enjoyed the fruits of their labor for more than 20 years, hosting parties for the annual Radnor Hunt, a three-day fox chase, (not a fox hunt, Davne emphasizes), fundraisers for local causes, and various dressage events.

Even as they put their own touches on the property, the Davnes tried to stay true to the house’s history: Built by Thomas Willing, the first president of the First Bank of the United States, it had passed through a series of notable families, including that of the heiress to the Baldwin Locomotive fortune.

“I’m sitting in my office, which has original floors and walls from the 18th century,” Davne says. “These rooms didn’t require structural changes; they just required new lighting. But we didn’t change a thing about the building. It’s got two-foot-thick stone walls.”

Now, Davne says he’s inching into retirement, so the couple has placed the house on the market for $5.45 million with Deborah Dorsey of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach. “We have another home in southeast Florida,” Davne says. “We’re shifting where we spend time.”

The History

When the house was built, Davne says, it was “certainly a grand house for the time,” with 10-foot ceilings, huge glass windows, and views of the rolling farm country.

Originally, the house was set on several hundred acres and included multiple farms and outbuildings. Over the centuries, the land was improved, albeit slowly, and then got a major shot in the arm from Thomas G. Ashton, who bought it in 1913.

Ashton, a psychiatrist, had the good sense to marry the heiress to the Baldwin Locomotive fortune. (Ashton was also listed as a member of Baldwin’s board of directors.) He and his wife added 1,300 acres to the land and named it Delchester Farm.

It had a major thoroughbred horse operation and a very large dairy farm. “They used to have a little farm building where they sold their own ice cream,” Davne says. “The trolley from Philadelphia used to come out, and people would buy ice cream.”

In 1946, the Ashtons began a series of major renovations to the house and grounds. They built a large, gracious addition and added some maids’ rooms, a tile roof, and soon, a swimming pool. Over time, as the surrounding area became increasingly suburban and densely settled, the family began to pare its holdings. More than 500 acres were donated to the Brandywine Conservancy; so many parcels were sold off that when the house was finally sold in 1982, it sat on just 100 acres. 

The subsequent owners, Davne says, didn’t do anything major to the land, though they sold an additional 76 acres to their next-door neighbor, leaving 24 acres—still substantial, compared with nearby properties.

The Property

When Davne bought the land, several structures needed updating. Aside from the main house, a three-bedroom home on the back of the property, which they call a “cottage” and which dates from 1739, needed work. They repointed that house’s stone, put up a new roof, and refurbished the kitchen. 

Next to the main house is a four-car garage. They renovated that, too, redoing the roof and adding a small, 800-square-foot apartment. They also meticulously updated a massive horse barn with 17 stalls; the barn, built in 1795, has a tack room, a heated wash stall, and a groom’s apartment. A tool shed sits nearby.

The main house has a further five bedrooms, so the entire property can comfortably sleep 18.

During the Davnes’ renovation, they were careful not to change any aspect of the main, 8,700-square-foot home’s historic nature. Most work involved upgrading the home’s mechanical systems. They put in central air “and all the things you’d do to bring the house into the modern era,” he says.

They did add a modern kitchen with a new master bedroom above it. The couple also remodeled some of the rooms, adding wallpaper and paint as needed, and converted the former master bedroom into a bathroom.

Party Barn

Davne no longer aggressively rides horses and rents out 13 of the barn’s stalls. “We have one horse remaining,” Davne says. “An older dressage horse my wife keeps to ride.” The land, formerly maintained by full-time staff, now needs only to be mowed by a maintenance crew the Davnes have on hire.

Around him, Davne says, he sees multiple equestrian properties like his own being converted into less specific retreats. (A nearby property that boasts a stone house on just three acres, advertises a “Party Barn” and is currently under contract, with a list price of $2.5 million.)

“They’re not being purchased by horse buyers, so to speak,” Davne says. That, he says, makes sense: “People are just buying these properties because they have wonderful privacy and wonderful grounds.” The horse barn, he continues, could also be turned into a “party barn,” and a second outdoor building could house an outdoor pool.

Davne says that he “doesn’t think we’ll make any money off of the sale.” Still, he says, “we’ve certainly loved living here.”

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