Wayne History : Estates : Woodcrest

Woodcrest

Radnor, King of Prussia and Eagle Rd.
1900
Currently Cabrini College

Woodcrest was the residence of James W. Paul, an investment banker, and his three children. The mansion was accompanied by extensive stables, a gatehouse on King of Prussia Road, cow barn and dairy, springhouse, garage and a pavilion for the pool, all on 230 wooded acres. All buildings were designed by Horace Trumbauer in the Elizabethan-Tudor style. One of the most impressive features of Woodcrest was the stable complex. It was capable of holding 60 horses and also housed the estate’s non-household staff. His nephew Oglesby Paul was known locally as an excellent landscape architect, and designed the plantings for the entire estate. Paul came from an important family. His father was a well-known attorney in Philadelphia, his wife was daughter of banker and Wayne developer Anthony J. Drexel, and his sister was married to New York’s William Waldorf Astor, who died on the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912.

1900: Woodcrest construction begins
1901: The stables were built
1906: Estate undergoes renovations, including the addition of a stone wall around the courtyard
1908: The estate is inherited by Paul’s two daughters and son, none of whom decide to live in the house
1914: Daughter Ellen Drexel Paul builds Woodcrest Lodge on the grounds of the original estate
1924: John T. Dorrance, president of the Campbell Soup Company, buys Woodcrest
1925: St. Davids Golf Club moves to Radnor, and acquires part of the estate
1954: Woodcrest sold by the Dorrance family to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart; turned into an orphanage
1957: Becomes the campus of Cabrini College

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Architectural Journal; Carnegie Mellon University Library	GP Collection	A magazine ad offering the estate for sale. Online Source

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