Dear Friends,
We are ready to raise the roof! We have an exciting piece of progress for Friends of Eliestoun. We have received an anonymous challenge grant for $25,000! For every dollar donated for the Eliestoun roof project a donor will match up to $25,000 by June 30.
Before we can do other work on the Eliestoun estate c. 1890, a highly significant regional and architectural masterpiece of shingle-style architecture in the entire St. Louis area, we need to replace the roof, gutters, and downspouts. This will protect the inside of the building and allow us to resume work on the interior.
Eliestoun and the Arts and Crafts Movement is a significant part of Principia’s architectural legacy of East meets West at Elsah on the Mississippi River. Eliestoun’s architect, Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr., known for his East coast shingle-style was a co-founder of the Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston. San Francisco’s Bernard Maybeck, architect of 11 surviving buildings on Principia’s campus, brought creative eclecticism inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement. Both architects were classically trained at Ecole de Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.
The Eliestoun estate serves as a physical and architectural intersection for the careers of Longfellow and Maybeck, both prominent American architects. Decades after the construction of Longfellow’s Eliestoun estate, Bernard Maybeck and his wife Annie resided at Eliestoun with Mary Kimball Morgan from 1931 to 1935, during the planning and construction of his masterpiece Principia campus.
For more information on Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow, Jr, please use this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Wadsworth_Longfellow_Jr.
Please consider donating as much as you can to this worthy project. Please use this link to our website for more information on Eliestoun and use this link to donate: https://www.friendsofeliestoun.org/donate
Eliestoun holds a special place in the hearts of many Principia alums, including the late Professor Emeritus Charles B. Hosmer, Jr. as well as visitors from around the country and the globe. As someone said when he was told about this project, “The sooner, the better!”
Sincerely,
Friends of Eliestoun Board
Jeri Hosmer Lewitz
Phil Smith
Danne Rheasa
Linda Mace
Alice Stanley Dervin