In a bucolic stretch of countryside along the Delaware and Chester County borders–once the site of the Battle of Brandywine during the American Revolution–sits a 170-year-old home whose moniker is finally catching up to it: Painter’s Folly.

In a bizarre accumulation of coincidences, that name now has three connotations. The first was bestowed critically by neighbors upon the 1857 construction of the robust, three-story Italianate home, by farmer Samuel Painter in Chadds Ford, for its lack of cohesion with the modest Quaker community of the time.

The second came at the turn of the 20th century, when the property helped birth an artistic movement that made it dear to famous American painters such as Howard Pyle and Andrew Wyeth.

The third act has seen the name come full circle again: a home in limbo, still beloved by artists, but viewed as a financial albatross by the current leaders of Chadds Ford Township, which purchased the property with open space funds in 2018. In recent months, the township’s Board of Supervisors has telegraphed their intent to sell Painter’s Folly at public auction sometime in the not-too-distant future, an idea that, even with planned facade and landscape protections, is opposed by some preservationists and historians.

The dynamics of this debate simmering about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia will ring familiar to proponents of historical preservation in the city proper. On one hand, township officials say they are responsible owners who have done the best they can, but that they have been unable to find outside help and simply can no longer afford the upkeep. On the other are those who believe financial or political expediency is getting in the way of the best possible outcome for a historic property. “Their transparency is misleading,” said Emma Leuschner, a member of the Heritage Commission of Delaware County, of the township’s efforts to publicly make their case for the auction.

A Landscape for Painters

Most of the indisputable facts of Painter’s Folly, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, lie in the past. It was originally constructed by Painter, who was not an artist, but a prosperous Quaker farmer with a taste for architecture beyond his denomination’s social norms, according to a history compiled by the Painter’s Folly Preservation Alliance (PFPA), a group advocating against the township’s current plans. Having already been disowned by his Quaker meeting for other reasons prior to his construction of the home, Painter apparently only leaned in further to his ostracism. The home has 16 rooms and is adorned both inside, with “high, molded plaster ceilings and carved woodwork,” and out, featuring a “towering cupola, sprawling piazzas, and distinctive green shutters,” according to PFPA.

Samuel Painter lived there only about a decade before selling to an attorney named Joseph Turner, whose wife Eliza Sproat Turner was a published author, women’s club founder, suffragette, and abolitionist. In line with her obvious passion for civic improvement, she turned the country home into a summertime destination for disadvantaged children from Philadelphia. Her work as a suffragette led her to a relationship with the Drexel Institute, employer of artist Howard Pyle. By 1898, Joseph and Eliza had officially leased Painter’s Folly to Pyle, who also happened to be the nephew of Samuel Painter. The artist then used it as a launching point for his Brandywine School of Art.

Pyle, a Wilmington native enamored with the countryside of Chadds Ford, began a competitive program among top Drexel art students to come to Painter’s Folly for an immersive summer experience. “Applicants were required to study with Pyle for two years before the summer course. Pyle accepted many women into his program, which likely pleased suffragette Eliza L. Sproat Turner when he began renting her property,” PFPA’s historical account states.

Among the many students accepted include Newell Convers “NC” Wyeth, who would later go on to become a famous artist and illustrator of Scribner’s fame. He is also father of Andrew Wyeth and the grandfather of Jamie Wyeth, both renowned 20th century painters. The arrangement with Drexel and Painter’s Folly lasted just a few years before Pyle left to launch his Howard Pyle School of Art, later the Brandywine School, nearby.

However, the seeds of an influential American artistic moment had been sown at Painter’s Folly, Leuschner explained. Pyle and his students would model for each other and went so far as to dress up in colonial garb. Pyle, obsessed with the American Revolution, in 1902 used the arrangement to paint The Nation Makers, one of his most famous works and a depiction of the Battle of Brandywine. This focus on American history and landscapes, along with an emphasis on illustration and commercial success, defined the Brandywine School. “All of his students were learning to immediately sell their work to publishing houses and magazines. All of those things really made the Brandywine School of Art unique,” Leuschner said.

Soon after Pyle’s departure, the home would be sold again, passing through the hands of several prominent families before a 1975 purchase by George and Helen Sipala. The couple were real estate professionals and had no inclination to use the property for artistic purposes until 1989 when they found a man on their property sketching the house in the middle of a snowstorm. It was none other than Andrew Wyeth, then later in his career, but still appreciative of the buildings and landscapes of his native Chadds Ford. The encounter sparked a 20-year relationship between the couple and Wyeth in which he regularly used Painter’s Folly’s cupola for painting and its many rooms for socializing. In 1991, a photo for the cover story of National Geographic captured Wyeth climbing out of the cupola.

“Wyeth often retreated to Painter’s Folly to escape the press, prying neighbors, jealous models, and even his own family,” PFPA notes in its collected history. “Wyeth left materials, studies, and paintings in Painter’s Folly and used a bedroom on the third floor as a private studio. Soon enough, others from Wyeth’s world, such as model Helga Testorf, figured out where he was stowed away and would burst into the house to search for him.”

At Painter’s Folly, Wyeth painted several dozen works until his death in 2009 including the notable work Marriage, which depicts the Sipalas asleep in their bed, as well as several others he made of the home and its cupola, including the appropriately titled Painter’s Folly. Helen Sipala, who served as model for some of his works and is now 91, still lives in an auxiliary structure on the property. The home and land itself, however, are owned by Chadds Ford Township.

Chadds Ford’s White Whale?

Those at the center of Chadds Ford’s 2018 purchase of Painter’s Folly for $625,000 are no longer in charge. The township’s three supervisors and manager have turned over since, some several times. Generally, the belief is that former Supervisor Chairman Frank Murphy was instrumental in purchasing the property for $625,000 after learning about its history. Township officials said the Sipalas had put it up for sale and the price had dropped several times, and Murphy worried it could fall victim to a developer’s bulldozer. “This [Chadds Ford] is possibly the most historic seven miles around,” news site Chadds Ford Live quoted Murphy saying in 2018 as he pushed for more historical preservation efforts.

Current officials say their read was that the purchase of the property was a well-intended move, but that it lacked a formal plan and ultimately didn’t pan out. “The house was purchased with all good intent, but is a white whale. It’s a dinosaur,” claimed Thomas Bradley, a member of the township’s planning commission and retired real estate developer and general contractor. “None of this was well thought out.”

Exactly how much the township has spent on the property, beyond the initial $625,000, is somewhat unclear. In an interview, Township Supervisor Vice Chair Kathleen Goodier and manager Lacey Faber declined to offer a total, instead referring to financial documents made available on the township’s website. Those appear to show operating and maintenance losses of about $214,000 in the six years since 2019, most of which occurred in 2023 when repairs to the roof and masonry cost nearly $100,000.

That squares with the assessment of Bradley, who said the township has spent a total of about $800,000 on the property. Bradley believes Painter’s Folly had several hundred thousand dollars of deferred maintenance when the township purchased it and that mounting costs are too much to afford. “The roof was leaking, the windows were leaking, the paint was peeling, the plaster was wet and coming apart,” Bradley explained. “It’s failing because we didn’t get all of the problems, and now there are new problems.”

Goodier and Faber further defended the township’s stewardship and decision-making. Faber said the township obtained a $20,000 grant and chipped in another $12,000 perform a feasibility study for best uses of the property in 2021, which described the property as being in “very good condition.” Nevertheless, the study found that its sloped landscape and problematic entrance off a busy Baltimore Pike “ruled out all retail and business uses.” Instead, the report recommended sustaining uses as a bed and breakfast or artists studios, the latter of which it noted had “the strongest community support.”

Indeed, the township moved forward with what Faber described as a pilot program in 2023 to rent artist studios. That year the township took in about $26,000 in rent between the studios and the carriage house in which Helen Sipala lives, a figure greatly exceeded by the expensive operations and maintenance costs of that year. In January 2024, the township held a public meeting to discuss expanding the program. “The conversation centered around restructuring the program to expand studio space, offer rotating exhibits, host classes and youth programming, and expand public access and tours—all to better serve the community and increase engagement with the historic site,” the township’s records indicate.

It was determined that in order to expand, upgrades would need to be made to meet ADA compliance. The township was awarded a $100,000 Keystone Historic Preservation Grant to make the upgrades, but officials said the funding would only be unlocked if the township contributes $217,000 from its own coffers and makes a 10-year ownership commitment. After Murphy’s passing last year, Faber said, Goodier and other supervisors decided to perform a comprehensive review. “We said, ‘We need to stop and reevaluate.”

In August 2024, the township held another public meeting on the topic. While it received a diversity of feedback, “about half of the residents” thought the township should put protections on the building and sell it, explained Farber. An online survey conducted later garnered feedback that the township should instead try to find a preservation partner. Officials maintain they have made numerous such overtures to outside organizations including the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and Delaware County to seek financial support or advice, or even entertain offers of a sale, but that no dynamic-shifting support has materialized.

While speaking with the North American Land Trust, Faber said the parties originally talked about the prospects of a sale. Yet, that evolved into an idea for the township to instead place conservation easements to maintain the exterior of the property and forbid subdivisions, which North American Land Trust would maintain in perpetuity even after a sale of Painter’s Folly. Faber said the township is currently pursuing that option and applying for grants to pay for the development of the easements. “[Former chairman Murphy] did not want to see development or anything like that,” on the property, said Goodier. “And I think these easements are the answer to that. This property was purchased to be preserved. Let’s do it. Once these easements are in place, this will never be townhouses.”

Painter’s Fury

Opponents of a public auction are painting a different picture. Edward Worteck, a retired professor of art history at Yale and Goucher College who lives in Chadds Ford, said he believes the township has never actually come up with a “coherent plan” during its ownership of the building. He cites a lack of “basic historical practices,” giving an example of himself and other preservationists taking it upon themselves to fundraise to record an oral history from Helen Sipala. He is also “puzzled” why the Brandywine Conservancy hasn’t been more involved, and says he recently notified the township of a grant opportunity at the Wyeth Foundation for American Art. “It doesn’t seem like the township has pursued anything” for the grant, said Worteck. “The lack of interest in local institutions is surprising.”

Worteck had previously been appointed by the township’s supervisors as liaison for Painter’s Folly, granting him access to the property and ability to photograph its interior. But he says he was recently told he was no longer permitted to do so, and has been unable to determine whether he still officially holds the title.

He also doubts the level of hardship to the township. Both he and Leuschner said they believe a reluctance to invest more in the property is driven primarily from the township’s general political conservatism. Worteck also believes the township has mischaracterized the level of support for its plan thus far. Instead, he said, it was his impression at a July public meeting on the topic that most were concerned about the preservation of Painter’s Folly than selling it. He also believes the artists’ studio plan was abandoned prematurely after one resident complained about possible mold in the house.

Leuschner also thinks the township threw in the towel too early. “Outside of the preservation plan study from 2022 there really hasn’t been any documented efforts to try and look into other solutions or possible uses.” She believes that, while the township has met to some degree with various organizations, it has not been forthcoming about the content of the discussions.

She said the township first floated the idea of a public auction in January 2025, prior to discussing it publicly or “calling for help” from preservations or other outside groups Materials from the township’s August 2024 meeting show some audience members expressing support for a sale, but do not indicate whether officials first raised or supported the possibility. Leuschner said she would actually welcome the township divesting itself of the property, but not in the manner it is planning. The conservation easements being discussed would only protect the exterior of the building, and Leuschner thinks it should remain open to the public. She fears a private owner will come in, completely renovate the interior, and keep its doors closed. “This building is so significant to Chadds Ford’s identity and would directly bring in tourism dollars. It adds to the vibrancy of the arts tourism in the area,” said Leuschner. “If you have a public auction you run the risk of it being closed forever. In my opinion, it belongs to the public. It belongs to the creatives.”

Opponents of a public auction have created a Change.org petition which has garnered several hundred signatures. The primary ask: “Encourage Chadds Ford Township to share a sense of a timeline, request that ample time be given to explore preservation partnerships, and provide regular, two-way updates to the community.”

Township officials said they do not believe any public auction will be imminent and that they expect the process of obtaining funds for and developing easements will take at least many months. They haven’t closed the door on another arrangement as well, even as the property progresses toward an auction. “We’re still meeting and looking into potential partnerships,” explained Faber.

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