Blithewold (1896)

Completed in 1896, for Augustus S. Van Wickle (1856-1898) and his wife, Bessie Pardee (1860-1936). It was designed in the Queen Anne Style by Francis L.V. Hoppin, of Hoppin & Koen who is perhaps better associated with Edith Wharton's The Mount and Blithewood. Augustus Van Wickle was a coal baron and his wife was the daughter of another coal baron. Depending on which account you believe, Augustus either took his own life or died in a shooting accident in 1898. In 1901, his widow remarried William L. McKee (1863-1946) of Boston and they lived here with her two children until 1906 when a fire destroyed the house. They demolished the remains and built the 26,000 square foot mansion that stands in its place today: Blithewold.