©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Lane’s End: One woman’s dream
by JENNIFER KATZ

A view of Lane’s End taken around the time of construction in the 1920s. (Photo courtesy of the Springfield Historical Society)

Sitting on 47-acres in Wyndmoor, the Wharton-Sinkler estate was as much a monument to its mistress’ notoriety as it was to the English manor houses of the 15th and 16th century for which it was designed. That is according to historian and Springfield resident Terry Buckalew, who will give a lecture on the history of the home, originally dubbed “Lane’s End,” on May 25 for the Springfield Historical Society.

Samuel Rotan and his wife Allethaire commissioned Chestnut Hill resident and architect Robert McGoodwin to design and build the estate in 1924. It was the dream, said Buckalew, to build a house of rooms styled after the great manor houses of England, most notably Sutton Place, home to the Duke of Sutherland, built in 1525.

“Allethaire was an anglophile. She traveled to England 30 times by ship during her life,” said Buckalew. As facilities manager of the estate from 1989 to 1997, Buckalew has pieced together an exhaustive history of the house and a fascinating portrait of its mistress through research including interviews with former staff members and Allethaire’s two daughters.

Samuel Rotan was not Allethaire’s first husband, nor the first man with whom she wanted to build Lane’s End. It was while married to her second husband, George William Elkins, that Allethaire first began daydreaming of the grand estate.

In 1916, Allethaire’s best friend Louise Elkins, having lost her mother in the months proceeding, invited her friend to spend the holidays with her and her father and brothers. Seven months later on June 19, 1917, Allethaire, 36, married George “Bill” Elkins, 59, becoming Louise’s stepmother. Elkins was the very wealthy owner of Philadelphia Rapid Transit Association (now known as SEPTA). Elkins died a few years later on the 16th hole of the Whitemarsh Golf Club. The next twelve months would see a firestorm of controversy for the young widow landing her on the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer, said Buckalew. Allie, as she was called, knew that her husband’s will stipulated that she would inherit the bulk of his estate if their marriage produced children. She contested the will and promptly adopted two daughters. Elkins’ sons were outraged but eventually settled with Allie for would be millions of dollars by today’s standards. But it was her re-marriage just 14 months later that made headlines. Allie married Elkins personal attorney, the man who wrote the will she had just successfully contested and who was district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, Samuel Rotan.

Rotan would live only two years in the house they built together before he too died, leaving Allie with a reputation as the “Black Widow.”

In the end, even Allie did not live on the estate for very long. Too many bad memories, Buckalew said. The house of rooms sat empty while Allethaire moved between a plantation in Savannah, Ga. and a summer house in Rhode Island. Finally in 1948, she sold the house to her best friends Louise and her husband, Wharton Sinkler. Sinkler was the grandson George Wharton for whom the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business is named. The Sinklers lived on the estate until 1971 and bequeathed it to the University upon Mrs. Sinkler’s death. It was used as a conference center until 2000 when it was divided into four separate homes and sold to individual owners.

Buckalew will speak more on the history of the house and show a slide presentation at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem Pike and East Mill Road in Flourtown.