One of Delaware's best examples of Gothic Revival (along with Rockwood,
BR18
), this thirty-five-room stuccoed-brick house with ten fireplaces was built by Philadelphia-born surgeon Allen V. Lesley, whose father had served on the board of the C&D Canal company. The noted architects Dixon of Baltimore designed the house, which bears a resemblance to their Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital there (begun 1858). Augustin Van Kirk of Salem, New Jersey, built it. The roofline is studded with tall gables with massive, pierced vergeboards, and a square tower with a tall pointed roof soars overhead. Window sills and hood moldings are cast-iron. Inside are an oak stair, speaking tubes, and original gas lighting fixtures.