Visiting Glen Foerd, Northeast Philly’s historic gem

If you missed the family summer fun of third Thursdays at the historic Glen Foerd Mansion on the Delaware Waterfront, you’ve still got time for another month. The event is resuming next week, providing the public with all sorts of games and activities for the kids, as well as the opportunity to see one of America’s finest Gilded Age mansions with self-guided tours and that legendary Haskell Organ from 1902 — expertly restored in 2023.

Torresdale — which was named in the 1850s thanks in part to successful philanthropist Charles Macalester as an ode to his home in Scotland. And very soon, his summer home on the river is about to get a $3.5 million exterior update.

The area around modern-day Torresdale going all the way to the Delaware River was once populated by the Lenni Lenape. Even before William Penn had settled on Philadelphia’s present-day location, Swedish settlers were negotiating with the native population in the late 1600s for land around the River due to its perfect soil for planting crops.

For Charles Macalester —a broker for the Philadelphia firm of Gaw, Macalester and Company — the Delaware River shoreline was the perfect location for his summer home of Glengerry. Built in 1850 in the Italianate style, the house that we’ve now come to call Glen Foerd was originally constructed with five greenhouses, an over fifty-foot water tower, and a formidable gatehouse in gothic-style. In 1873, Macalester would die in the house, which would be passed down to his daughter, Lily Macalester Laughton. She would also pass away in the house in 1891.

But the most significant ownership was under Robert and Caroline Foerderer, which began with their purchase of the estate in 1895. It was Foerderer who would employ architect William McAuley to not only enlarge the house, but to also bring the improvements of the classical revival style that many of us recognize today. His embellishments also included that 121-year old Haskell organ (1902) that re-opened in January 2024, as well as an art gallery. Mrs. Foerderer and her daughter would own the grand estate on the Delaware until the early 1970s.

Today, Glen Foerd remains the only mansion on the Delaware Riverfront that is currently open to the visiting public. This summer — with a (pay-as-you’d-like) donation — Glen Foerd is open on the third Thursday of each month during the summer months complete with (live) music, arts and crafts, happy hour, and of course the ability to access to the beautiful grounds of the estate and obviously the main attraction: the historic house that sits on the Delaware itself.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.