South Wayne Historic District

Laid out in the late 1880s and built up into the 1930s, South Wayne is a planned residential district of roughly the southern half of the Wayne Estate in Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Developers Anthony J. Drexel and George W. Childs, working through managers Herman Wendell and Frank Smith, arranged curving streets, larger lots and park-like plantings to suit commuters who wanted country surroundings with city services, including public water and sewer and a telephone exchange. The houses, mostly two and three stories, are built of stone, weatherboard, wood shingle and stucco in Queen Anne, Shingle Style, Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival designs. Architects included the Price Brothers, who supplied seven designs for the area, and Horace Trumbauer, who designed many houses here. The district is regarded as a well-preserved example of an early suburban plan along the Pennsylvania Railroad's Main Line, and its architecture reflects the period's picturesque ideals.