CHC Commonwealth Chateau Full of History

What was old was made new, and then old again, on ’s Sugarloaf campus.

The Commonwealth Chateau, which was dedicated last month after $6 million in renovations, has been restored to its original look.

According to Mark McGrath, the director of facilities for the college, the Chateau was built as a mansion for the Steel family in 1929. In 1952, the Greenfields bought the land, along with the Wyncliffe Estate, which also sat on the campus, and renovated the Chateau to give it a more modern look.

McGrath has been the caretaker for the estate for most of his adult life, long before Chestnut Hill College purchased the property in 2008.

“I pretty much came with the property when they bought it,” he said.

He was a project manager on the school’s renovations to the Chateau, and he researched old photographs and photographs of the mansion to help architects restore it from a ’50s-style mansion back to its stone façade of the Steel era.

“The restored façade fits in better with the homes of Chestnut Hill,” said Lisa Mixon, a public relations specialist for the college.

The Chateau is adjacent to a pool house, which has also been renovated as a student lounge, and what was once a motel for visitors who came to the campus for conferences when Temple University owned the campus, which has since been transformed into student housing.

It is the Chateau itself, however, that was the subject of a May dedication, and has the richest history of the campus.

Some of the original woodwork, including the hardwood floors in the original dining room, is in place. McGrath said the new wood was made to match the design of the original.

The college expanded the added dining room to seat more as part of the renovation. Now the Chateau can be used for conferences, weddings and other events, and there have also been several classrooms installed for use by night classes.

A small door on the second floor of the Chateau leads to a hidden staircase, which leads up to an apartment, elegantly renovated for use by more prestigious visitors to the site.

The apartment had once been two smaller residences, and had been used for prominent visitors and keynote speakers at conferences held at the estate. McGrath added that John F. Kennedy had stayed in the residences before his presidency. Lyndon B. Johnson stayed there before his presidency as well.

Later, when Temple owned the property, Gerald Ford stayed there, twice, as a past president.

The apartment sits on one of the topmost points of the Hill, and looks out onto the Wissahickon Valley.

McGrath shows the property with pride. It has been his job and his home for more than 30 years, he said. For some time, he even lived in the carriage house, about 100 yards from the Chateau, until it was turned into housing for Sisters from the college.

It is a point of pride for him that the Chateau was transformed from a retro mansion back to its stone façade glory.

Check back at Chestnut Hill Patch for a photo gallery tour of the Chateau.