Fonthill
Doylestown, Pa.
Henry Chapman Mercer home
“Fonthill”
84 South Pine Street
So I’m sitting in the vet’s office, waiting for my dog, Lucy, who’s in the back getting an X-ray. (Don’t worry – she’s okay.) And they only have two magazines to read – Parents and Bark. Since I’m not a parent (well, not of a child, at least), I pick up Bark and start thumbing through it. It’s one of those content-light glossies crammed with pictures of cute dogs, the kind that make you say “Aw-w-w” right out loud.
I get to an article called “A Dog’s Castle: Delightful Discovery in Doylestown,” and suddenly I’m interested enough to read more than the first paragraph. The story is about Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930), a rich guy who, in the 1910s, built a concrete castle for himself called Fonthill, which is today a big tourist draw in Doylestown. The author of the article talked about how cold the castle seemed to her, until she learned more about Mercer. “He may have been a bachelor and an eccentric,” Sally Silverman wrote,” “but he also was an avid dog lover and advocate for all creatures.” That’s when my gaydar started going off, so I read on: “Mercer was a private man and destroyed much of the personal information that might have given historians a window into his life…” Ding ding ding ding ding!
Fonthill is apparently something to see, with 44 rooms, 32 stairwells, 200 windows, and 18 fireplaces. It’s filled with pottery and tiles, which Mercer collected. It turns out that he was also an antiquarian and archaeologist, a founding member of the Bucks County Historical Society, and the founder of the Mercer Museum and the Moravian Tile Works, both also in Doylestown. When I got home from the vet, I tried to locate any source that suggested he was gay, but all I could find was a small reference to him in Will Fellows’ excellent book, A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture.
Mercer deserves more study by gay scholars, although probably much of what we would have found useful was in those files he destroyed (as did so many other queer personages of the past). I did find a reference to his having come down with gonorrhea after a trip to Europe as a young man (and the suggestion that that was why he never married). If anyone has other information about Mercer, I’d love to hear about it.
The Queerest Places 
I grew up in Doylestown over 40 years ago, was in awe of the Mercer Museum and Font Hill, and still love to see those places on my return visits. My gaydar suddenly went off this year and I too am curious for clues. Sadly I have none beyond what you have provided but will keep my ears to the ground!
Am signing up to receive email comments on the subject.
I believe I read that Mercer had a friend, who lived at Fonthill first with Henry, then, when the friend married, he and his wife continued to live there. This might have been the perfect arrangement in the late 19th, early 20th century for one gay man and one bisexual or closeted man.
You are correct: Mercer’s lifelong friend, Frank Swain, helped Mercer build Fonthill. After locals started whispering about the men’s relationship, Mercer conveniently married-off his housekeeper, Laura, to Frank Swain. Doylestown/New Hope has a long history and association with queers and artistic sorts.
We just toured Foothill Castle today. Mr. Mercer contracted gonorrhea in his early 20’s. There was no cure at the time and he lived the rest of his life with the disease.
All fascinating and true facts, but unless it was in the papers he destroyed, there is no solid evidence that he was gay (not that we’d love and respect him any less! :). It’s also well known that he had a very close “lady friend” Frances Lurman of Baltimore and she visited Fonthill many times. There’s also anecdotal evidence that she was very distraught at his death and was the last person to leave his graveside the day of his funeral in March, 1930.
Marc – you wrote that the locals started whispering about henry and frank’s relationship – do you have a source on that? – just curious…..on another note, as a little kid it was great fun to get to sit on the huge dog statues outside the mercer museum library…and that guillotine was so scary way up at the top of the stairs…and then there was the abandoned shell of a house in the woods towards the north end of east street….
That house is still there in the woods. I live 2 blocks away and often walk in that area.
Hi there! I’m a research librarian, working inside the library at the Mercer Museum. Mercer (I was as surprised as you) was not gay — or at least not completely gay. He fathered an illegitimate child during a trip to Austria in 1886, and also had a close female friend — a Baltimore socialite named Frances Lurman.
Frank Swain, on the other hand, could very well have been gay — or not; as of yet we haven’t found evidence either way.
Thanks, that’s good information – although a child and a close female friend wouldn’t necessarily make him straight, either. Plenty of gay men have fathered children. Perhaps he was bisexual or even trying not to be gay. Its seems we won’t know.
You’re absolutely correct — we won’t know, somewhat maddeningly, though I’m fairly sure Henry wouldn’t be happy about nosy librarians from the future snooping around in his private life. On the other hand, he left the Historical Society *so* many diaries …
Henry contracted an incurable (at the time) STI at some point in his life — gonorrhea, I think — and we do have a letter from him that cites this as his reason for never marrying. (I can’t recall the exact wording, and don’t have the letter on hand, but if I manage to dig it up I’ll happily scan it for you.)
I wrote an article about Henry Mercer and the issue of his possible sexuality, which may interest you.
https://www.marymcintyresound.com/post/henry-mercer-man-of-mystery