St. Francis Renewal Center (Samuel N. Trump House)

Motorists driving north on I-95 cannot miss the pointy, complex roofline of this house rising above the treetops. Philadelphia architects Baker and Dallett met in the office of Frank Furness and later practiced together (1888–1912). They undertook many Wilmington commissions, as Dallett's wife was a native. Nearly all their houses have been demolished. This one was for the owner of Trump Brothers Machine Company. It recalls, in several ways, Furness's Chalfont House, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (c. 1884). The tall roof and corbeled chimneys still show a hint of the firm's signature style, despite many exterior alterations. Inside, the central hall contains a fireplace of granite and terra-cotta with a decorative, cast-iron fireback, and a spectacular stair rises three stories. An Irish order of Capuchins established St. Patrick's Monastery at this site, adding an Avondale-stone Friary (c. 1935). Father Thomas Pietrantonio has spent three decades rehabilitating the house, and he installed an upstairs chapel from architectural fragments.