Free to a Good Home: The Historic 1834 Hood Mansion in Limerick

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The 17-room 1834 summer mansion in Limerick, built by Philadelphia merchant John McClellan Hood.
Image via Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society.
The Hood mansion, a 17-room 1834 summer place in Limerick, built by Philadelphia merchant John McClellan Hood.

The historic 1834 Hood Mansion in Limerick is free for the taking. Literally.

“FREE TO ANYONE WHO CAN MOVE HER,” reads a notice on the website of the Eastern Pennsylvania Preservation Society (EPPS).

It’s got to move quickly, or it becomes a pile of rubble, writes Rita Giordano for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Pennsylvania brownstone has 17 rooms, oak beams, chestnut floors, and nine fireplaces.

The Hood Mansion was built by Philadelphia merchant and northern Ireland immigrant John McClellan Hood. It was a summer residence for his wife and their 13 children.

Called the Bessie Belle, the Montgomery County property was reportedly a stop on the Underground Railroad.

A Brooklyn developer now owns the property and he wants to put up a warehouse center. He’s been willing to let someone remove the home before he has it demolished.

There are two interested parties, said Tyler Schumacher, president of EPPS. One wants to dismantle it and reconstruct it on a nearby property. The other wants to move it to Chadds Ford for use as a personal residence.

“So conversations are ongoing. We don’t have anything in writing yet.”

Read more about the cost and difficulty of moving the Hood mansion in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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