Requiem for the Joseph Lewis House

History Spotlight by Doug Humes

Photos courtesy of Newtown Square Historical Society

Due to a recent storm, our neighbors in Marple lost their historic Pond House on the 11th fairway of Paxon Hollow Golf Course. We can sympathize as we have had our own losses.

If you have driven Rt. 252 north and exited to follow Newtown Road, you used to see an old house on the right with a historic marker. The owner died in 2007; her heirs took no interest in the house and did no maintenance or repairs.

The Joseph Lewis House, in happier days

These old stone homes did not have 21st-century mortars to hold the stones in place, but mud and clay and what was available in the 18th century. And so when the roof began to leak and give way, water entered the house and began the structure's slow demolition by neglect.

The estate finally sold the house in 2014. When the new owner took action to clean it out, it was discovered to be the home of a hoarder and filled knee-deep with trash. He secured the property with the idea of eventually restoring it. But the damage that had occurred during the years of neglect had impaired the integrity of the stone walls.

His engineer advised that he would need to largely re-build it, and that was cost prohibitive to him. And so on New Year’s Eve of 2015, the house built somewhere between 1730 and 1780 was reduced to rubble to be carted off to a landfill.

Lewis House being demolished

Several generations of the Lewis family had lived at that house, and for close to 300 years, various other Newtown residents had taken good care of the house. But from 2007, we had to sit by and watch as the house was allowed to fall down.

Unlike Marple, we have no preservation ordinance in Newtown. We had proposed a very good ordinance that would have given the Township the tools to address a situation like this. The ordinance was “tabled” by a 3-2 vote in 2003, and has never seen the light of day since.

300 years of history going into a dumpster

Until we have an ordinance that contains those powers, we will continue to lose our historic resources, the structures and landscapes of the past that made the Township such an attractive place to live and work. So when you see community leaders such as our Township Manager and Supervisors, let them know what you think about the continued loss of our historic homes and barns.

For more history on Newtown Square, Delaware County, and membership information, please visit the web site of the Newtown Square Historical Society at www.HistoricNewtownSquare.org.