The Abram Huston house, known as Graystone, sits in a park-like setting directly across First Avenue from the Lukens Main Office and rolling mills. From its construction in 1889 until the 1930s, it was the estate of the Abram Huston family, thereafter the Coatesville city hall and police station. Although the borough still owns Graystone, the offices recently moved to a new borough hall and the house stands vacant. Despite long governmental use, Graystone retains excellent original integrity and is in good condition.
Graystone is the design of the renown Philadelphia firm of Cope and Stewardson (1886-
1912) which is justifiably best known nationally as the chief purveyor of the Collegiate
Gothic style. For Graystone, Cope and Stewardson primarily used a Tudor Gothic idiom
with some elements of the Queen Anne style mixed in.
The house sits at the center of an approximately three-acre grassy lot that is surrounded by a
cast-iron fence. A curving drive enters from the First Avenue side, and a paved parking lot
was added in the rear when the house was the borough hall. Among the notable
miscellaneous deciduous and evergreen specimen trees are magnolias and a large weeping
beech in the front. At the rear, northeast corner of the property stands the original stone
carriage house (which until recently housed the borough's police station) accessible via a
drive from Harmony street on the north.
From the exterior, Graystone gives the intentional impression of an irregular, somewhat
informally composed compilation of parts, but actually it was logically designed: The living
quarters of the Huston family lay within the 21/4-story cross-gabled main block whose
"footprint" is a broad cruciform. The entertaining spaces occupied the first floor, with
private quarters on the second. Extending at an oblique angle from the north arm of the
cruciform section is a long 21/4-story, hip-roofed service wing which contained functional
spaces such as a kitchen on the first floor and living quarters for the servants on the second.
Three other notable "pieces" complete the composition of the house: a 21/4-story, conicalroofed
turret (which contains the service stairs) wedged between the main block and service
wing; a hip-roofed front porch that infills the angle between the western and southern arms
of the main block; and a two-story, parapet-walled dining room (bedroom on second floor)
section which infills the angle between the southern and eastern (rear) arms. Abutting this
last section is a two-story, flat-roofed addition which contains vault rooms, added when the
building was used as a borough hall, the only significant alteration to the house. Although a
rear porch was removed to accommodate this addition, the use of randomly-coursed, rockfaced
micaceous schist as the exterior material matches that of the original building.
The roofs are slate with "kick" (flared) eaves. Miscellaneous weathervanes, lightning rods,
chimneys (one has an "1889" datestone), and tiny peaked dormers seem almost randomly
placed throughout the roofs. The fenestration of the house is irregular. Most windows are
one-over-one sash enframed in flat-topped limestone surrounds. Many of the windows are
banded in groups of two or three. Other notable exterior features include: a front porch
which is supported on square posts with chamfered edges; paired main doors with a
wrought-iron window grate and a carved linen-fold design in the panel below; a secondfloor
wood-shingled oriel projecting from a second-floor bedroom; and a substantial hiproofed
hood supported on large curved brackets which extends from the end of the service
wing.
Interior spaces range from the elaborately ornamented "public" rooms, to the more chastely
finished private family rooms, to the completely utilitarian service rooms. The most
impressive spaces are four rooms and a stairway which open onto a central "living" hall
which has a coffered, wood-beam ceiling. The broad openings between these rooms are
topped by low Tudor-Gothic archways. Oak-strip floors are throughout and most windows
have interior folding shutters.
The west parlor has a coffered oak-beam ceiling, high oak wainscots composed of square,
raised panels, built-in window seats, and the house's most impressive fireplace. Its oak
breastpiece is embellished with Ionic pilasters, console brackets, and many intricate
moldings; it is also exquisitely carved with linenfold designs and the slogan "Est, West,
Haus ist Best" ("East, West, Home is Best") in the frieze. SOURCE
There are a series of markers scattered throughout this small historic district, especially in front of all the contributing structures, including this one. The markers are the standard interpretives, held horizontally, thick black, frame, tilted for good viewing and maybe 3 or 4 feet off the ground. There are two interpretives here. One concentrates on the flora located at the property. The other is more pertinent to this waymark. This interpretive in located in front of the house near the horseshoe drive way. The interpretive reads:
The Lukens National Historic District
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GRAYSTONE - ABRAM FRANCIS HUSTON HOUSE
Graystone Mansion is Coatesville's most architecturally significant residence and
was the home of Abram Francis Huston who succeeded his father, Dr. Charles
Huston as president of the Lukens Iron & Steel Company in 1897. A grandson of
Rebecca Lukens, A.F. Huston built Graystone in 1889, the same year he married
Alice Calley. He lived there until his death in 1930. Graystone was sold to the city
of Coatesville in 1938, and served as City Hall from 1939 until 1992. Philadelphia
architects Cope & Stewardson designed Graystone and its matching carriage house,
employing the Collegiate Gothic styling for which the firm is famous. The mansion's
stately exterior of stone and slate is complemented by an equally handsome interior
of fine wood beams, carved panels, and decorative mantels. A spacious lawn studded
with specimen trees provide an appropriate setting for this architectural gem.
Graystone remains largely intact despite long use as a municipal office. The Graystone
Society acquired the property in 1995 and is undertaking the restoration of the
mansion and its grounds.
About the Historic District
The nominated district consists of four major buildings: Brandywine; Terracina; Graystone; and
the Lukens Main Office Building. All lie on a one block stretch of First Avenue in
Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The street is one of the city's main north-south corridors which
bisects its prominent east-west thoroughfare, Lincoln Highway, about one block north of the
historic resources. All nominated resources are listed on the National Register of Historic
Places as part of the Coatesville Historic District. All totaled, there are 9 resources which contribute to the historic district, seven buildings and two structures.