History of Ballygomingo, 1758-2023, Gulph Mills, PA Site Present State

Poplar Lane, also known as "Ballygomingo," is a historic home located near

King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...

in Upper Merion Township,

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County, colloquially referred to as Montco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,553, making it the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania after Philadel ...

. The original house was built in 1758 and expanded in 1816 and about 1821. It is a two-story,

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

over stone building. It features a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

. ''Note:'' This includes It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978. Measured drawings and additional research in 2021-2023 revealed that the building has undergone a series of expansions since its original construction in 1758. The five major phases have been documented in books and maps published in the 19th and 20th centuries and confirmed on the basis of on-site architectural survey work in 2021-2023. The second owner was Thomas Lowry who doubled the size of the building in his brief ownership. The next owner, George Nugent added the columned portico in front of a wing with a spacious living room and bedroom suite above. During the later 19th century, further small additions and outbuildings were added by the Varian family (see Faris and the property atlases). The 1917 photograph in Faris may have been retouched to obscure a small kitchen wing that was enlarged by the next owner Robert Dechert. Robert Dechert was a successful lawyer in Philadelphia who bought the property in 1935. He added a large library, kitchen wing and garage. The architect for this work has not been identified. On the grounds, some of the woods and wild areas were cleared for gardens. Between 1935 and 1965, older damaged trees were removed for new specimen trees including a Cedar of Lebanon and a Chinese Sequoia. Only one of the large Poplar trees that gave the other name (Poplar Lane) to the property remains (2025). The property was subdivided in the mid-1970's and the house was left on a 1.5-acre lot that includes the main residence and a large subterranean icehouse. W. Graham Arader III purchased the historic house in 1977. The architectural additions since then included the conversion of the garage to a storage area and a further one-story storage area in new construction. A comprehensive interior and exterior restoration and rehabilitation occurred between 2021 and 2023. During this work, a detailed interior and exterior architectural survey documented the changes in this and previous phases. The building now (2025) houses a gallery with maps, art, prints, furniture and rare books from the 18th and 19th centuries with a special focus on the Revolutionary War and Pennsylvania history. Book Photo-92

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Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1821 Houses in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania {{MontgomeryCountyPA-NRHP-stub