from the late 19th to early 20th century, cheltenham established itself as one of the most prominent communities in the philadelphia area. railroad tycoon jay cooke was one of the first to build his mansion in cheltenham. his 200-acre estate was eventually converted to a school in 1883 and was later demolished. john wanamaker built his mansion lindenhurst, which was destroyed by a fire in 1907. his second lindenhurst was destroyed by another fire in 1944. henry breyer, jr. eventually bought the land from wanamaker. other famous mansions built include abraham barker's "lyndon," cyrus h. k. curtis' "curtis hall," george horace lorimer's "belgrame," and john b. stetson's "idro." perhaps the most famous mansions that still stand to this day are the prominent widener family mansion lynnewood hall, the elkins estate which was home to william elkins, and grey towers castle which was home to william welsh harrison. the latter is a national historic landmark and was designed by famed architect horace trumbauer, who designed many buildings and homes in cheltenham.