{"nrhp_refnum":"79002320","name":"Glen Foerd at Torresdale","other_names":["Lutheran Center for Education and the Arts at Glen Foerd"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5001 Grant Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":40.04248206550005,"lon":-74.98047747308081,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Landscape Architecture","Literature","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story mansion with landscaped grounds on the Delaware River at Torresdale in Philadelphia. It was built about 1850 for Charles Macalester and remodeled in 1902 for Robert H. Foerderer.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the property is a grand home on a superb riverfront site, with exterior and interior design and craftsmanship available only to the wealthy. It describes the landscape as one of the best executed and best preserved late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential sites in Philadelphia. It also represents the cultural tastes of leaders in commerce, politics, and industry.","narrative":"Riverside mansion on the Delaware in Torresdale, Philadelphia, begun about 1850 for Charles Macalester, a Philadelphia broker and financial adviser to several presidents, who named the estate Glengarry. In 1902 Robert H. Foerderer, whose tanning business VICI KID made him wealthy, enlarged and remodeled the house, renaming it Glen Foerd by combining his name with Glengarry. McAuley & Company carried out the 1902 work. The interior has marble fireplaces, a domed stained glass skylight over the grand staircase, a Haslett organ, and an art gallery patterned after London's Tate. The roughly seventeen-acre grounds include a boathouse, a brick carriage house, and twin gate houses. Its landscape is regarded as one of the best preserved residential sites of its era in Philadelphia, with rare plantings from the original owners. Mrs. William T. Tonner held the estate after 1934, and in 1971 she gave the furnished mansion and its collections to the Lutheran Church in America. It is significant for its architecture, interior craftsmanship, landscape, and its link to leaders in commerce, politics, and industry.","period_of_significance":"c. 1850","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Open to community groups for meetings and meals; an unused water tower, pump house, and tennis courts are noted on the grounds.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.855397-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002320.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002320/5090aa1af7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79002320/5090aa1af7-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glen_Foerd_at_T.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glen_Foerd_at_T.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997082","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Foerd_on_the_Delaware","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5567757"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/glen-foerd-at-torresdale-79002320/"}