This Floral Exhibit Lets You Step Inside Lynnewood Hall for 10 Days Only

Designers put the finishing touches on “Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age” in Lynnewood Hall. / Photography by Shaunice Ajiwe

Beginning today, Lynnewood Hall — Elkins Park’s once-abandoned, circa-1897 mansion — opens to the public for the first time in more than eight decades to host “Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age.” The traveling flower exhibition — created in collaboration with Vancouver-based floral events brand Fleurs de Villes and HBO original series The Gilded Age — runs through October 4th (that’s 10 days only, folks!) and takes place on the front lawn and first floor of the 110-room structure (its other two floors are still undergoing extensive restoration efforts and are off-limits), where 15 different installations will be on display.

This is just one of multiple visits on Fleurs de Villes’ tour of historic estates across the country in promotion of The Gilded Age’s upcoming fourth season, set to premiere on November 4th. For this third stop, florists — all Philly-based — were commissioned to create new pieces inspired by characters from the show, their clothing, and the late-19th-century setting. Visitors will be able to vote for their favorites by participating floral designers.

“This is a great time for us as a team to come together, bring our artistry together, and really create in the historical Lynnewood Hall,” says Ayanna Harris, owner of Willow Grove-based A Floral Designs. “I’ve passed this estate multiple times, and I’ve always wanted to know more about it. So it’s really an honor, as a floral designer.” On Thursday morning, Harris and her staff were hard at work in a sunny room on the eastern end of the floor, installing a vast piece that nods to characters Dr. William Kirkland and Peggy Scott. (The latter has a tragic and Philly-heavy storyline throughout the show.) Their installation uses contrasting colors and rich textures, she tells me, harkening to themes of social struggles in the series and the moneyed aesthetics of the period.

Other Philly-based florists providing one-of-a-kind pieces for the exhibition include Fishtown’s Caroline Florals, who reinterpreted the style of character Jack Trotter, and West Chester-based We Are Wildflowers, whose work was inspired by a dress worn by character Aurora Fane.

While the event is a big deal for flower fans — or for any Philadelphian who has driven past the grand estate’s grounds and wondered what it looks like inside — it’s an even bigger deal for the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation, who acquired all 34 acres in 2023 after it spent approximately two decades derelict, with the goal of restoring and conserving the property.

The Neoclassical Revival home was commissioned by industrial tycoon and Widener family patriarch Peter A.B. Widener, where he amassed a hefty art collection and hosted lavish parties. After his death in 1915, his heirs opened the home’s art galleries to the public. But around 1943, the property changed ownership from the Widener family to outside buyers (and back), eventually being purchased by two different religious groups aiming (unsuccessfully) to convert the place into a seminary. Ultimately, Lynnewood Hall was left to decay by the late ’90s.

Then, in 2023, the foundation’s whopping $9 million purchase was finalized. So far, this nonprofit has overseen intensive restoration efforts like structural stabilization, roof repairs, and replacing windows and doors, with more on the horizon, including heating and running water.

The foundation has permitted very limited foot traffic in the meantime, allowing a film crew to shoot year and hosting a volunteer spring cleanup this past March. But the expected turnout for “Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age” is unprecedented, says Edward Thome, CEO and executive director of the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation.

“I am most excited to see the house come alive with people,” says Thorne, who expects more than 10,000 visitors across the exhibition’s 10 days. “Buildings like these are meant to be appreciated through three-dimensional works of art that you can walk through and experience and enjoy. It’s going to change the entire perspective of Lynnewood Hall as the old, abandoned house. I hope people will view this as a cultural community hub where they can come for a myriad of different events — music, horticulture, art, whatever. I think it’s finally going to change the tide.”

Adult tickets from $30.50; Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age runs from September 25th to October 4th at Lynnewood Hall, 920 Spring Avenue, Elkins Park.