Lynnewood Hall, Philadelphia

Sheltering Angel, my Titanic story, introduces a cast of people who actually endured or succumbed to the tragedy of April 15, 1912. Among the multimillionaires aboard the ill-fated ship’s maiden voyage were George Widener, his wife Eleanor, and their 27-year-old son Harry. One might consider the Wideners fortunate because of their extreme wealth, but a closer look reveals that an excessive lifestyle doesn’t necessarily equate with good fortune.

Peter Arrell Brown Widener

Born in Philadelphia in 1861, George was the firstborn son of Hannah Dunton and Peter Arrell Brown Widener. The elder Widener amassed staggering wealth in the steel and tobacco industries and was at one point estimated to be worth $25 billion.

What did one do with all that cash before 1909 when the U.S. Congress enacted the 16^th Amendment initiating a tax on income? As with the robber barons of Newport, Rhode Island, they built castle-sized houses. For industrialist Peter Widener, who had come from very little, it was important to make a statement about the wealth he had acquired. At a cost of nearly $8 million ($293 million inflated for 2023), he contracted with architect Horace Trumbauer to design and oversee the construction of a 110-room mansion. In part, Widener wanted the manor to showcase his private art collection that rivaled the finest galleries in the world, including works of European masters like Vermeer and Rembrandt. 

Called “the American Versailles,” Lynnewood Hall, as Widener named it, was at the time the largest private dwelling not only in Philadelphia but in all of America. The mansion took nearly three years to build between 1897 and 1900. In 1896 when Hannah died in a tragic yachting accident off the coast of Maine, the 400 acres of Philadelphia land had been purchased and plans were moving ahead to build the estate. Widener decided to move forward without his beloved wife. Eventually his son George would inherit Lynnewood, so it seemed logical to leave an architectural legacy.

Peter had the walls of Lynnewood Hall lined with 70,000 square feet of limestone. The residence boasted 55 private bedrooms, 20 full bathrooms, and a number of grand rooms for hosting parties and receptions, including a ballroom that accommodated a thousand guests. Other rooms he dedicated solely to his art collection. The estate required 37 full-time, permanent staff members to tend the indoors and 60 groundskeepers for the exterior, including sculpted gardens designed by a famous French landscape architect.

Two renowned interior designers planned each room, and guests entered either through a set of doors covered in bronze or another of gold. Widener wanted every detail to reflect his love for the finest things life had to offer.

More than 300 priceless pieces adorned the walls and open space, from porcelain sculptures to expensive furniture carved for royalty and stained glass windows by Giovanni di Domenico. Including a large indoor swimming pool, the estate required so much water that it had its own reservoir. 

In 1900, aging at 66 years old, Peter moved into Lynnewood Hall as soon as construction was completed. When George Widener came of age, he joined his father’s business and eventually took over running of the Philadelphia Traction Company, overseeing the development of cable and electric streetcar operations and serving on the board of several area businesses. A patron of the arts like his father, George became a director of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. When it came to romance, Eleanor Elkins, socialite, heiress, and daughter of his father’s business partner, not only was an attractive prospect for marriage, but she was convenient as well. Their marriage bore them two sons and a daughter.

George Dunton Widene

Eleanor Elkins Widener

George moved his family into Lynnewood Hall with his father and enjoyed the estate’s capacious elegance. In early 1912 he bought the Philadelphia Ritz Carlton and searched for the best chef the world could offer to serve hotel guests. Paris seemed the best bet, and he bought first-class tickets to take Eleanor, his son Harry, and Eleanor’s maid to France. George had invested in RMS Titanic and for their return voyage, he booked passage for his family on the ship, reputed to be the safest and most elegant ever built.

On the evening of April 14, George hosted a dinner party in the ship’s private dining room. Titanic Captain Edward Smith and White Star Line chairman Bruce Ismay were in attendance. When a steward delivered an iceberg warning to Captain Smith, he left the party to assess the situation.

As we know, Titanic met with a giant iceberg that tore open the starboard side of the ship. George saw Eleanor and her maid into lifeboat number four, then he and Harry disappeared in the chaos of the sinking ship. Their bodies were never recovered, leaving Lynnewood Hall without an heir.

In her son’s honor, Eleanor donated Harry’s rare book collection to Harvard College, his alma matter, along with a $3.5 million gift (equivalent to $70 million today) for which Harvard bestowed the name Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library to the building. At the 1915 opening, Eleanor met Harvard professor Alexander Hamilton Rice, a surgeon and explorer. They married, and she traveled in the Amazon region with him.

After losing his son and grandson, Peter Widener’s health declined, and he died at Lynnewood Hall in late fall of 1915. His younger son, Joseph Early Widener, a Harvard graduate, acquired the estate. Like his father, Joseph’s passion was art, and he became a founding benefactor of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. When he died at age 70, his art collection, appraised at $19 million, was donated to the gallery.  

After Joseph’s death in 1943, none of his children wanted to shoulder the responsibility for the mansion’s upkeep, and no one stepped forward to purchase the property even with a significant price reduction. The 400 acres were subdivided and sold, and finally, in 1952 Faith Theological Seminary bought Lynnewood Hall and the remaining 33 acres for a mere $192,000. Even at such a bargain, the seminary found the cost of sustaining the estate overwhelming, and they packed up and left what had been one of the grandest homes in America. 

Still standing, today the vacant and deteriorating Lynnewood Hall is listed as the 12th largest historic home in the United States.

Buy Sheltering Angel, A Novel Based on a True Story of the Titanic