The following updates are based on information shared at the Chadds Ford Township January 28, 2026 Board of Supervisors Workshop Meeting, the Chadds Ford Township website, and correspondence from the Township. Updates to PF Website Chadds Ford Township updated the Painter’s Folly webpage in late January 2026 ahead of the January 28, 2026, Board of Supervisors Meeting. This is the first major update on the page since July 31, 2025. Updates include information related to recen

As of January 6, 2026, Chadds Ford Township Board of Supervisors has not taken action to appoint Painter’s Folly liaisons for 2026. Chadds Ford Township resident Ed Worteck previously served as Painter’s Folly liaison from January 2025 to January 2026. Worteck is a Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History at Goucher College with an expertise in photography and historic preservation documentation with projects associated with the Lancaster Preservation Trust, Franklin Marshal

Painter’s Folly was featured as a Place to Save by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia  in the Winter 2026 issue of Extant magazine! Extant, the Preservation Alliance’s quarterly publication produced in collaboration with Hidden City Philadelphia , debuted in Winter 2015 and is distributed free to members and supporters.

Writer Kyle Bagenstose covered Painter's Folly for Hidden City Philadelphia in October 2025. Read here!: https://hiddencityphila.org/2025/10/plan-to-auction-historic-home-and-andrew-wyeth-studio-riles-chadds-ford/

Helen Murray Sipala was the longtime owner of Painter's Folly from 1974 to 2018. Helen was a close friend, model, and confidante to the American artist, Andrew Wyeth, and recorded her friendship with Wyeth in a diary, now published as a book. Members of the Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance hired historian Thomas Wood to record Helen's oral history. Wood interviewed Helen Sipala in her home over the course of three sessions. The recordings are held in perpetuity at the U

How long did it run: The Artist Studios at Painter's Folly program was an idea born out of both an artist's dream of a local art studio in Chadds Ford and the Patterhn Ives 2022 Preservation Plan , which proposed three potential uses for the building: a bed and breakfast, artist studios, and artist apartments. The Artist Studios at Painter's Folly operated from January 2023 to March 2024. Building Use: The program used three rooms as communal art studios: the Pyle and Wyeth s

Below is a letter petition intended for the Chadds Ford Board of Supervisors. If you are compelled, please add your name to the formal petition at https://www.change.org/preservepaintersfolly Painter’s Folly is a c. 1856-1857 Italianate house located in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Painter’s Folly is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is within the Chadds Ford Historic District and the Brandywine Battlefield Historic District. Painter’s Folly is nationally s

The following article was researched and written by Emma Leuschner for the Painter's Folly Preservation Alliance. Painter's Folly under a blanket of snow. © 2025 by Ed Worteck. High atop a hill overlooking one of the oldest roads leading to Philadelphia stands the striking white Italianate mansion known as “Painter’s Folly.” [1] The c. 1856-1857 building is a three-story manse complete with a towering cupola, sprawling piazzas, and distinctive green shutters. Inside, the roo

The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines co-stewardship as the model where historic sites are owned by one organization but operated by another, typically a special-purpose non-profit organization created to serve as the site’s operating entity. Eighteen historic sites in Delaware County are municipally owned but operated by a separate organization, such as a friends group, historical society, or other nonprofit. These historic sites are: Village Green Schoolhouse

Chadds Ford Township is a Class II Township and falls under the Second Class Township Code. The following section of the code , Article XV and Section 1503: Real Property , outlines the options available to Chadds Ford Township should it decide to dispose of the property. Options available under the code: Sealed Bidding Process: must be sold to the highest bidder after due notice Public Auction: must be sold to the highest bidder; the township can set a minimum bid based on t