The neighbors shall attend.

This was submitted to the HARB Dec. 5, 2006

An Explanation of the Historical Context of 254 Righters Mill Rd.
Gladwyne Historic District

The historical significance of the property as a whole should be urgently considered now that its existence is threatened.

The buildings on this property are more than just individual entities. They are linked together by a common historical bond which is the legacy left to the community by the historically significant family that lived there since 1880.

There Dr. George Winter and his wife Christiana Warner lived for a short time with their son Eugene Winter and daughter-in-law Anna Marie Blanche Porter. Dr. & Mrs. Eugene Winter had a daughter Ella Eugenia who married John Preston Stirk.* Their son, J. Clinton Stirk married Edna Lloyd and they had two children, Paul and Susan. So five generations of the same family have lived on this one property. This lineage has created a historic trail that has great value to the District. That trail remains in the form of the buildings that now exist.

All the buildings on the property are products of the family, and as such, should not be divided but considered as one historic resource. They grew out of the family’s wants and needs and they document that evolution. This is an integral family compound constructed over time by a family with 126 years of tenure. The buildings have a historical theme that grew as did the family, and together create local history. They should be treated and preserved as a whole, with the newest linked to the oldest and vice versa. All the buildings are a product of their time and no one part should be treated differently because of being from a different time. Once any part of the whole is destroyed the historical integrity will be lost forever.

According to the National Register of Historic Places a building of less that 50 years of age may be considered a contributing resource if certain measures are met. Per the building permit issued by Lower Merion Township, the 1961 cottage is an addition to a then existing 1 ½ story structure, the age of this existing building is unknown. Its occupancy is restricted, by that building permit, to a relative of a resident of the 1880 house, another ancestral and historical connection. The addition is a late example of the bygone bungalow style. It still retains its original 1950’s aqua color theme, and was built during the short Presidency of John F. Kennedy. The 1961 cottage mimics the style of the original 1880 house, and has “exceptional importance” by its ties to the culture and history of the District, the Winter and Stirk families and the Township. Until Clinton Stirk relocated, it housed his collection of one of the best archives of family and Gladwyne history in existence. It was a sort of secret-mini museum.

A building does not have to be grand to be exceptionally important. This family compound provides a sense of past and place, a wholly intact architectural record of District, Gladwyne, and Township history. Significance is not a rigid measure limited by time alone, but a subjective assessment made by experienced professionals. A District’s resources need not be homogenous, but can be diverse to represent an area’s development over time. All these buildings represent their own period in the District’s history and should all remain to bear witness to that history.

*Source: J. William and Marjorie Winter
New Bern, NC
(J. William Winter is the grandson Eugene Winter)