Bolingbroke Mansion, Radnor Pennsylvania
Sections of this home date from 1700 and 1792. However many additions and alterations, mostly in the early 1900s transformer this early fieldstone farmhouse into a mansion.
The first floor of the home consists of a center hall plan, with one large parlor on the left, and three "other main rooms" on the right. There is also a kitchen and service wing. The second floor has nine bedrooms and four bathrooms. The third floor has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Ownership pre 1792 is unknown. From 1792-1811 it was owned by David Brooke, from 1811-1828 it was own by David Brooke heirs, from 1828-1866 John Stacker, from 1866-1887 John Staker Jr, from 1887-1901 heirs of John Stacker Jr, from 1901-1950 Ledyard Heckscher and heirs. In 1950 it was purchased by Roy J. McKee and was to pass on to St. Martins's P.E. Church.
In 1901 Mr. Keckscher built a three-story wing on the west side, adjoining what became the middle or oldest ("1700") section of house; he added a third dormer on the third floor front of the old section and had a new door and ground-floor window cut in rear, although the front remained In the old form, except for new doorway. J, Brognard Okie of firm of Duhring, Okie & Ziegler was the architect for both the 1901 and 1908 additions.
In 1908 the center or 1700 section was pushed out, so original rear wall was lost in that section. Another wing was added on west side of the house, so by this time the home was doubled in size. The original front walls in both 1792 and "1700" section remained except that the present front door was Okie's 1901 doorway. The new continuous roofline at rear installed at this time was extended with third floor as an overhang and columns run up, thus making a two-story verandah.
The 1792 datestone (DB 1792) bears the initials of David Brooke, its builder, who died intestate in 1811; his Administrator, Samuel Maulsby, eventually conveyed it on April 4, 1828 (Delaware County Deed Book S, p. 80) to John Stacker, farmer; Stacker by deed of February 14, 1866, conveyed it to John Stacker, Jr. (Delaware County Deed Book R-2, p. 691); the latter died on April 25, 1887, leaving a wife, Mary G.; she died November 14, 1899 and her heirs conveyed the house to Ledyard Heckscher, December 7, 1901 (Delaware County Deed Book M-10, p. 520), who made the major changes to the house.
There are claims that the house was haunted by "the ghost of a drover who is said to have been murdered here."
