A plot of land in Upper Merion Township was sold for development in the 1950’s for $2.5 million. The 655 acres were located at the intersection of the Schuylkill Expressway and the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the Valley Forge interchange. The acreage was known as the “Irwin Estate” and had been owned by “gentleman farmer,” Alexander D. Irwin who acquired the land a farm at a time.
A.D. Irwin married Aimee Lawson, a widow with a young daughter. In 1918, the couple purchased the historic John Moore House, a Revolutionary War-era farmhouse in Upper Merion Township once visited by George Washington and used by General Peter Muhlenberg as his quarters during the Valley Forge encampment.
Having been impressed with Richardson Brognard Okie’s work on “Stonecrop” for the Leightons, A.D. hired him to design a country haven. The architect adapted the original farmhouse and an 1846 addition and added a large wing. Calling it Irwin Farm, they completed this first project in 1932.
In 1944, Okie designed an expansion of the attached servant’s quarters, further expanding the capacity to entertain at the estate. Interestingly, Irwin is said to have added salvaged elements from his own job sites to add to the house. The expansion was completed in 1946, after Okie’s death in December of 1945.
In 1957 Irwin sold a portion of his 800 acre estate to the developers of the King of Prussia Business Park, Boston development firm of Cabot, Cabot & Forbes Co. At the time, he retained a parcel on North Gulph Road where, in the 1970’s, his company would develop The Irwin and The Leighton Buildings, as well as build a major hotel.
The CC&F land was developed into a suburban metropolitan district. The King of Prussia Industrial Park would include office buildings, research and development laboratories, warehousing and office combinations and light manufacturing facilities.
In 1965, at the age of 81, A.D. Irwin, founder of Irwin & Leighton, Inc. general contractors, died at Winter Quarters Farm, his home in King of Prussia.
In 2014, with nudging from the King of Prussia District, Upper Merion changed the zoning of the area’s industrial district to mixed-use, which allows houses and retail. The former industrial complex was renamed Moore Park in 2018 as a nod to the historic local Moore-Irwin House, where Revolutionary War General Peter Muhlenberg stayed during an encampment in 1777-78.
Today the Moore-Irwin House, 700 Moore Rd, which the Upper Merion Township purchased and used as a Cultural Center from the late 1960s until the late 1980s, sits awaiting a township decision as to its future.
2019 Moore Irwin Lee house (courtesy of Russell Rubert)
2019 Moore Irwin Lee house (courtesy of Russell Rubert)