.. Ye Olde Front Desk ..Lotta Crabtree .. More on Lotta from California
The grandeur that graced the area of Mount Arlington known as Breslin Park is being recaptured by Robert and Sherry O'Donnell in the restoration of Attol Tryst.
Originally built as the summer cottage of Lotta Crabtree, the house was designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and is considered the best design of a private home in historical architecture. Furness designed many of the buildings in the city of Philadelphia, including the library at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The O'Donnells are the sixth owners to reside at Attol Tryst. The others have included a bootlegger, and a gambler who ran an old-fashioned gambling house. The O'Donnells purchased the Crabtree house and lot in 1988 and have been restoring it to the original design, except for combining rooms which, when completed, will total 20 instead of the original 22.
The exterior of the original house had been brown with a green roof. The O'Donnells have redone the roof using cedar shakes and the new gutters are of mahogany and copper. The main entrance to the house faces Edgemere Avenue with a circular driveway leading through a gabled porte-cochere. The original front door was a heavily wood-planked Dutch design and at one time had seven locks. [This was when the bootlegger lived there.]
Entering through the front door into the foyer is like taking a step back in time. In the foyer is one of 10 carved stone fireplaces. Two gargoyles adorn the sides and the fire screen shows a lily motif, a Furness trademark. Entrance to all the downstairs rooms is off the foyer. There is an open walnut staircase, once lined with stained glass windows along its left side. Unfortunately, all the stained glass has disappeared between changes of ownership. Upstairs are the bedrooms. When it was a gambling house, the master bedroom was the center of activity, with the roulette wheel going at all hours. In the bedroom across the hall was a master switch which controlled all the lighting in the house and could be easily reached in case case of a raid.
[excerpted from "Mount Arlington: A Pictorial History]
.. Ye Olde Front Desk