Ellenborough

In 1659, Richard Tilghman (1626-1675) was granted 1,000-acres and built the first house recorded on the property, Canterbury Manor. In 1853, his descendant, Matthew Tilghman Goldsborough (1812-1861), purchased 100-acres from his ancestor’s original grant and on it built a home that he named "Ellenborough" for his wife, "Ellen Goldsborough". From 1885, it became the home of their second son, Colonel F. Carroll Goldsborough who bred Oxford Down sheep and Jersey cattle, but a fire in about 1905 all but destroyed the mansion and in the following year he built a new home nearby. In the same year, he sold 236 of his 300-plus acres to Charles Nickerson for $30,000. In about 1927, Nickerson sold the land on which the ruined Goldsborough mansion stood to Mrs Margaret Chaplin. 

Built with Brass & Steel

Mrs Chaplin's father, Henry M. Curry, volunteered to fight with the Union Army before he was sixteen. Joining as a regimental flag-bearer, he served the duration of the war before being discharged with the rank of Sergeant. In Pittsburgh, he was noticed by Andrew Carnegie and now climbed the ranks in the steel industry, retiring as a partner and Treasurer of the Carnegie Steel Company. Mrs Chaplin's husband, William Craig Chaplin, came from a distinguished family long settled in Pittsburgh. His father co-founded the "very successful" Chaplin-Fulton Manufacturing Company and as his only son, he succeeded him in the family business and lived with Margaret at Sewickley.

"The Epitome of Grandeur"

In 1935, the Chaplins demolished what remained of the ruined Goldsborough house. They employed Emory Ross to design them a new mansion on the site of the old one, keeping the name "Ellenborough". Country Life described the result as, “the epitome of grandeur”. The architectural historian Christopher Weeks called it, “a superior composition, and a fine, late, academic example of the colonial revival”. The central brick mansion of 2.5 stories is flanked by frame hyphens that connect the wings of beaded weatherboard. The 5-bay façade features a 3-bay Ionic portico with fluted columns supporting a pediment.

It's approached by a half-mile drive flanked with maples planted by Goldsborough. The front entrance opens onto a large central hall with 12-foot ceilings and a magnificent curved staircase. Ellenborough’s 10,000 square feet of living space contains 9-bedrooms and 7-bathrooms, that are all accessible from the main hall. The rear of the house has three dormer windows in the gable roof and is accessed by a typically Georgian entrance. Its elevated garden leads down to the half-mile of waterfront on which a new boathouse has since been built. The 54-acre estate includes a barn, swimming pool, and tennis court.

Wedding Crashed?

Mrs Chaplin survived her husband by thirty years, but never remarried, happily living on alone at Ellenborough until her death in 1981. The Chaplins adopted two daughters, the elder of whom, Peggy, was first married to Richard L. Merrick, and they held their wedding reception here in 1941... there was a "Vaughan" in attendance. The old caretaker's cottage was sold off separately in 1993, but otherwise the estate remains in tact. It last changed hands in 2007 for $13.6 million, bought by David Bradley, Chairman of Atlantic Media, and his wife Katherine, President of the CityBridge Foundation.