Downingtown Couple Buys Loch Aerie Mansion, Aims to Transform It into Wedding Venue

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Photo of Loch Aerie courtesy of Aaron Windhorst, Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Loch Aerie Mansion’s admirers, and there are many of them, no longer have to fret about its future.

The Swiss-Gothic manor – built in 1868 by famed architect Addison Hutton for owner William Lockwood, who made his fortune manufacturing paper shirt collars – is in good hands. (Lockwood called the estate Glenloch, Scottish for “Lake of the Glen,” but changed it to Loch Aerie after the Pennsylvania Railroad used the name Glenloch for one of its stations.)

The Tabas family, who owned the two-acre property on Lancaster Avenue in East Whiteland Township since 1967, had admittedly not done anything with it for many years.

Loch Aerie was then auctioned off last April for $710,000, but the deal fell through.

Enter Downingtown’s Steven and Dana Poirier, who, despite being outbid six months ago, never lost interest in the property.

When it returned to the market, they contacted their real-estate agent, Mike Diggin of Berkshire Hathaway, who quickly got to work. He submitted a new offer on behalf of the Poiriers that, much to their delight, was accepted.

“My husband has a medical sales company, and he’s been paying high rent for a while,” said Dana, 55. “For years, we’d been looking for a place with Chester County charm.”

Although the mansion once overlooked Lockwood’s 800-acre estate, it now sits in a commercial area, surrounded by a Home Depot, Sheraton Hotel, and Outback Steakhouse.

“Steven asked me to come look at the property,” Dana said. “He said it reminded him of the Addams Family. I was worried because I’m not crazy about that type of look. But when I drove up, I fell in love with it.”

The exterior had her at hello.

“I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was,” she said. “We’re excited to give her new life, and put some oxygen in her bloodstream.”

That oxygen will include a restoration of the first level appropriate to the mid-19th century.

“We’re probably going to put an addition onto the back of the house,” Dana said, “so we can host year-round events.”

Ultimately, the Poiriers would like to transform Loch Aerie into a wedding venue. And their vision is a sentimental one we all can appreciate.

The couple has plans to put a tree swing on the front of the property, where each newly married couple can have their pictures taken.

“We want to put together an album with pictures of all the couples who were married here,” Dana said.

Sounds like the Poiriers are giving Loch Aerie the love its admirers had hoped for.

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