Druim Moir, also known as the Houston Estate Historic District, is a historic district in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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. Druim Moir was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979. It is a contributing property of the Chestnut Hill National Historic District. "Druim Moir" means Great Ridge in

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Contributing properties

The centerpiece of the historic district is Druim Moir Castle (1885–86), whose main gate is at the corner of Willow Grove Avenue and Cherokee Street. Designed by architects G. W. & W. D. Hewitt, and built at a cost of over $115,000 for Henry H. Houston, the thirty-room home was the largest in its neighborhood. Local Wissahickon

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

was used for the walls, Eastern

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

for the trim, and slate for the roof. The interior is notable for its variety of woods: oak for the hall and stairway, butternut walnut for the parlor, mahogany for the reception room, quartered oak in the dining room and library, sycamore for the office, and cypress for the servant's section. Oak, cherry, and sycamore were used on the second floor, and white pine for the third-floor servants' quarters. Houston was the largest landowner in Philadelphia in the 1880s. He earned his wealth as the freight manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad, as well as from gold mining, shipping, and petroleum products. Houston also developed the neighborhood of over 80 homes known as Wissahickon Heights that surrounds Druim Moir. Nearby Brinkwood, a Shingle-style residence, was a wedding present from Houston to his son, Samuel F. Houston, in 1887. The gardens were altered in 1920-1921 by

Robert Rodes McGoodwin Robert Rhodes McGoodwin (July 6, 1886 – February 25, 1967) was an American architect and educator, best known for his suburban houses in the Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy sections of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He taught at University of Pennsy ...

for Samuel F. Houston. In 1952, the house was modified by the removal of the top story and towers. In addition to the eponymous castle and Brinkwood, the historic district comprises five other contributing properties and eight non-contributing properties. File:DruimMoir 1901 MosesKing.jpg, ''Druim Moir'' in 1901 File:Druim Moir.JPG, Gateway to ''Druim Moir'', built before 1904

References

External links

Listing and photographs
at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
Photograph of the castle in its original state
at

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{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Shingle Style architecture in Pennsylvania Neighborhoods in Philadelphia History of Philadelphia Historic districts in Philadelphia Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania Houses in Philadelphia Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia