AS THE MONEY BURNS

Podcast by Nicki Woodard

Episode 086 – An American Versailles

Outline

Largest mansion

Hiding, looting

Series Tag

00:00

[Music – My Heart Belongs to Daddy by Billy Cotton, Album The Great British Dance Bands]

AS THE MONEY BURNS is an original podcast by Nicki Woodard.  Based on historical research, this is a deep exploration into what happened to a set of actual heirs and heiresses to some of America’s most famous fortunes when the Great Depression hits.

Each episode has three primary sections.  Section 1 is a narrative story.  Section 2 goes deeper into the historical facts.  Section 3 focuses on contemporary, emotional, and personal connections.   

00:30

Story Recap

When the missing Lindbergh baby is found dead, Charles Lindbergh and Evalyn Walsh McLean realize all their recovery efforts were only hoaxes.

Now back to AS THE MONEY BURNS

Title

00:46

An American Versailles

[Music Fade Out]

Episode Tag

The times are getting tougher, and one of the largest mansions closes to prevent a potential Versailles ending.

01:00

[Music – There Isn’t Any Limit To My Love by Ambrose, Album It’s Got To Be Love]

Section 1 – Story

[Music Fade Out]

01:17

May – June 1932, Chestnut Hill outside Philadelphia

Inside the third largest home built in America, changes are happening.

Hallways and rooms once covered in art are stripped bare.  Are more coming or going?  Tapestries removed for cleaning.  Artwork placed in wooden crates.  Furniture covered and wrapped. 

Are they moving?  Will there be more extravagant shopping excursions to update and once again regale with the luxuries only the wealthiest can buy?  Maybe another magnificent mansion is to be built as its replacement?

News coverage will soon follow.  How can it not? 

02:01

Philadelphia’s biggest taxpayer and his family always get plenty of press.  Financier Edward E.T. Stotesbury has made more than a few million.  Ah yes, he got hit a little by the 1929 Wall Street Crash, but his ongoing lifestyle doesn’t seem to be hurt by it.

And here is his monument to his wealth – Whitemarsh Hall, built from 1916-1921, spending $3 million in construction (that would be $54.8 million in 2023). A celebration of his second marriage to Eva Roberts Cromwell Stotesbury, who is more than willing to play happy hostess.

02:40

Every inch of Whitemarsh Hall is opulence at its finest.  Luxuries collected from around the world.  Every detail thought out and done and redone to the max.  A home where endless parties are thrown to the hilt even during Prohibition.  The Christian Temperance Union complained about all the booze, smoke, and extravagance emanating from the lavish and politically insensitive parties hosted by Eva who will do everything to boost her husband and her family’s status as the potential reigning society queen of Philadelphia. 

03:16

She has better luck dominating Palm Beach and Bar Harbor.  Her close companion and occasional fellow co-conspirator – the equally opulent Evalyn Walsh McLean, the flamboyant owner of the Hope Diamond.  The two ladies are currently scheming to have Eva’s son James “Jimmy” HR Cromwell marry the richest girl Doris Duke.  Doris could use Eva’s guidance, who was very influential in helping Jimmy’s first wife’s family the auto dynasty Dodges finally enjoy their wealth and gain traction in society.  Socially ambitious Nanaline Duke couldn’t hope for a better opportunity to rid herself of daughter Doris while elevating their status.

04:00

The Stotesburys have long reigned in the headlines.  Their every move documented and noted.  And yeah 1932 has another flurry.  First, Eva made a small ripple when she openly supported Mrs. Grace Fortescue during her arrest for murder leading to the Massie Trial in Hawaii.  After several reports questioning E.T.’s residential status qualifying for voting, earlier this winter E.T. Stotesbury resigns from his long time 18 years participation over 18 years in the Sinking Fund Commission in Philadelphia.  Lighter reports, E.T.’s granddaughter Frances Hutchison stays with her grandparents in Palm Beach, then Eva’s granddaughter and recent debutante Louise Brooks now successfully marries within less than a year of her 1931 debut.

04:51

Now by summer focus returns to Whitemarsh Hall.  The home first built in 1917 to quickly be remodeled and expanded to its full opulence by 1921.  Stotesbury spares no expense when building his home with his new much younger second wife Eva, two of her 3 children will have their own rooms though they are adults by the time the mansion is finished.

When Eva’s son James “Jimmy” HR Cromwell serves as a naval officer during World War I in Paris, he tells his young lover coloratura soprano opera singer Cobina Wright all about how magnificent his home is back in Pennsylvania.  He brags about the buttons in every room that will summon servants, an ice cream parlor soda fountain, and even a bowling alley on the premises.

05:39

Often referred as Italian Renaissance, the actual Neo Georgian style Whitemarsh Hall is designed by architect Horace Trumbauer, who would also design the Duke Fifth Avenue mansion in Manhattan.  British art dealer and baron Lord Duveen assists in collecting many of the works of fine arts fine works of art.

Whitemarsh Hall is nicknamed the American Versailles due to its ornate gardens and the main building.  The palatial home itself expands 2.5 acres.  It is 6 stories tall with 3 floors underground. It has 151 rooms, 45 bathrooms, 12 elevators, a 64 foot ballroom, indoor gym, swimming pool, squash and tennis courts, a barbershop, a movie theater, bakery, and tailor.  It has its own switchboard with an operator hence the buttons summoning servants.  Among several lesser houses and utility buildings, an onsite refrigeration plant could produce a ton of ice a day.   The estate employs hundreds of servants. 70 gardeners tend to the 300 surrounding acres, while 45 live-in servants help maintain the premises and all its functions and often travel with the couple to other residences and even international destinations. 

Eva Stotesbury herself has 3 secretaries, travels with her own fashion designer, and once spent $500,000 for a hunting expedition to collect alligator skins to create her own extensive set of luggage. (No 2023 estimate provided as not sure which year.)

07:14

Eva refers to her second marriage to Stotesbury as “the best and most profitable financial transaction I ever completed.”  Upon their 1912 marriage, then 63 year old widowed E.T. is equally exceedingly happy with his beautiful 20 years his junior wife Eva and welcomes her teenage children as well.  E.T. would then go on to build and spread his wealth generously around.  He spoils her with jewels, and Eva affectionately calls him “Kickapoo.”

Twenty years later and now in his 80s, ole Kickapoo is not so happy these days for other reasons.  Being overtly declared repeatedly in the press as Philadelphia’s wealthiest citizen has its drawbacks.

Now one might remember that back in August 1929, E.T. Stotesbury toasts at a Bar Harbor dinner that his accountant recently informed him that he is now worth $100 million (for 2023 that would be $1.77 billion).

That value didn’t last long when only months later the Wall Street Crash on October 29^th, 1929 sent many fortunes down the drain.

08:28

Yes, take the implication.  Stotesbury is hit very hard by the financial implosion.  Now, 2.5 years later recovery doesn’t look very promising.  Further agitation, the IRS is enforcing income tax payments.  Stotesbury is on top of the list of tax dodgers and evaders.  He absolutely hates the idea of taxes.

So much so that he makes a solemn vow to himself – he will spend every last remaining dime before his death.  And boy, will he fulfill that promise to the surprise of those around him.

He plans to live every last minute to the fullest, despite critics.  Oh and he really can withstand scandals.  His children, stepchildren, and their spouses alone have provided plenty of headlines.  Affairs, divorces, a failed Florida land development scheme, and even a murder suspect… 

09:33

Stotesbury and his wife also fear the growing public uproar and attention over the elite.  Thus they make a decision – to pack up and leave.  At least, until things calm down.  They will head to England and Europe for this 1932 summer and will likely spend more time at their Palm Beach or Bar Harbor homes.  The Stotesburys fear the growing discontent of the Great Depression might lead to a Versailles like pillaging of Whitemarsh Hall.

10:02

Meanwhile in 5 galleries in the north wing, the Pennsylvania Museum of Art will display to the public the Stotesbury Collection on loan. on loan in 5 galleries in the north wing the Stotesbury collection on loan to the public.  One noted to rank comparably to the Huntington collection in California.  The large display of art includes several English portraits, Beauvais tapestries, French and English furniture, Chinese porcelain, several remarkable Ispahan / Isfahan Persian carpets, and a rich series of English color prints. 

10:32

Speaking of Versailles, one remnant an exquisite large blue diamond from India known as the French Blue went missing during the French Revolution looting in September 1792 only to resurface in 1812 London once the 20 year amnesty had been declared.  The now Hope Diamond then passes several more hands until landing in the Washington Post headquarters and around the neck of Evalyn Walsh McLean.  She has been quoted as previously stating she wanted to die penniless.  Only the comment is more flippant when the time comes sooner than a deathbed ending.

Recently losing her mother and in the middle of a tumultuous and humiliating divorce, Evalyn attempts to distract herself by rescuing the Lindbergh baby.  Unfortunately, she is fleeced out of $100k (that’s $2.18 million in 2023) by former FBI agent Gaston Means.  The money disappeared, and now a short-term mortgage used to raise those funds is due.  Evalyn discreetly meets with a pawnbroker and does what she will do multiple times and pawns the Hope Diamond to raise the cash.  She will later repurchase it back.  The public at large none the wiser of her dire financial straits.

11:53

The Great Depression heightens attention on the wealthy, thus many of the ultra rich downscale due to pressure to appear less enviably opulent.  Still there are others who will use this faux modesty to hide what no longer exists.

The penultimate masters of such illusions will be E.T. Stotesbury and his wife Eva Stotesbury.  They will play cat and mouse as they will close and re-open Whitemarsh Hall several times over the next few years.  Their outside wealth a perfect mask and foible.

12:27

June 13^th, 1932

Newspapers announce the generous lending of the Stotesbury exhibit along with the indefinite closing of Whitemarsh Hall.  As several hundred servants are let go, questions float about will the mansion ever be opened again?

But no one suspects the truth…

The seemingly endless pot of gold will be empty in a few years time.  No good fortune lasts forever.