Save La Ronda!

It always saddens me to hear about developers wanting to raze amazing, historically important architecture in order to make room for yet another McMansion. Meet La Ronda, located in Bryn Mawr, PA which was the last commission of the famous architect Addison Mizner in 1929. It’s a grand example of his work, not often found in the northeast, as he designed mostly in the southern states. My good friend Audra (from here and here) alerted me ot this story in which she is personally involved, as her grandfather’s company built La Ronda. The new owners are planning to tear down the property because, well, it doesn’t have A/C. No, I’m not kidding. While I understand the need for air conditioning, I am pretty certain that they figured out how to put it into other Mizner properties without tearing them down.
Read the article here about how preservationists are trying to save La Ronda from being destroyed. If you are in the area and want to help save this historically important building you can attend a meeting on June 3rd at 7pm at the Lower Merion Township Building in Ardmore – 75 East Lancaster Avenue.

There are ways of preserving the architecture of Mizner while moving into the 21st century- just look at the Boca Raton Club, one of the brightest jewels in Mizner’s crown. Respecting his work, they simply renovated and added onto the property to modernize the function and form of it while using his style as a guide. It look fabulous now (and check out the new Serendipity they just opened there, same as the famous one in NYC)

Serendipity :)


Also, a property very close to my husband’s family’s heart– The Cloister at Sea Island was designed by Mizner and recently renovated.


I really hope that people will continue to respect the beauty and importance of old buildings and maintain and preserve rather than destroy.