The Music RoomThe Elkins Estate is the former Dominican Retreat Center and summer home of Philadelphia philanthropist William L. Elkins. Built as a summer retreat for Elkins — a  turn of the century railway magnate and titan of industry — the Elkins Estate boasts two of only a few remaining examples of Gilded Age architecture in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, a quiet suburb that once provided a popular refuge for the wealthiest and most prominent Philadelphia businessmen and their families.

The Estate was designed and built by renowned architect Horace Trumbauer, whose resume includes such notable monuments as the Free Library of Philadelphia, 30th Street Station, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This private, 42-acre property boasts a magnificent 64,000 square foot Italian Renaissance-style palace and an elegant 31,000 square foot Elizabethan Tudor mansion nestled among rolling lawns, sculpted gardens and water features.The Great Hall

In 1932, the Elkins family sold the Estate to the Order of the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de Ricci, who preserved and maintained the property behind closed doors and a tree-lined perimeter while operating it as a religious retreat house for women for 75 years until financial pressures forced them to sell.

The East Portico - Elstowe HouseWhite Pines Productions is a partner in the evolution of this historic property, seeking to bring arts, educational and cultural events to the site to augment its transition into multi-use facility benefitting Chetenham Township, North Philadelphia and the entire five county region.