Alnwick Hall - The Abbey - Morris Township

Completed in 1904, Alnwick Hall was the residence of Edward and Rosalie Behr Meany. The Meanys were known for hosting festive, annual musicals in the mansion’s grand ballroom featuring members of the Metropolitan Opera orchestra (and such international musical stars as violinist Efrem Zimbalist). With attendees comprising the top tier of area society, these elegant events were often catered by the famed Delmonico’s restaurant of New York City.

Named for Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, England, the imposing 20,000-square-foot, orange-colored brick and stone mansion with terracotta ornamentation and crenellated parapets was loosely modeled after various fifteenth and sixteenth-century English prototypes.

Alnwick Hall is now a rare and largely unaltered survivor of “Millionaire’s Row”: Madison Avenue (Route 124) between Morristown and Madison. During the area’s Gilded Age, this stretch of road was lined by a nearly unbroken series of large and elegant estate houses. It was also called “the street of the 100 millionaires” and “the finest four miles in the world.” Notable neighbors included Florence Vanderbilt and Hamilton McKown Twombly of “Florham” (now Fairleigh Dickinson), Geraldine Rockefeller and Marcellus Hartley Dodge Sr. of “Giralda” in Madison, and Addie Wolff and Otto Hermann Kahn of “Cedar Court.”