Just about everyone traveling on Lawrence Street wants to know what’s on the other side of the beautiful stone walls. Some may be aware that it was once the private estate of millionaire philanthropist Edward F. Searles (1841-1920). Others remember it as the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary Academy (PMA) property (1957-2024). But aside from the few times the sisters opened the site for tours, very few people have been inside the walls. So, what’s in there and what’s so historic about it?
Searles was born on this site in 1841 in his parents’ modest 1815 farmhouse. He was only 3 years old when his father died, leaving his mother to raise him and an older brother while struggling to pay the mortgage. Despite his poor childhood, he later studied art, architecture and music.
Although not formally educated in those fields, he went on to become a top interior designer for the prestigious Herter Brothers in New York City in the mid-1870s. His clients included Gilded Age millionaires such as the Vanderbilts. By the end of that decade, his generous salary with the company made him one of Methuen’s wealthiest citizens.
In 1875, he and his brother paid off their mother’s mortgage. In 1880, he bought out his brother’s share and purchased the neighboring home. He soon made extensive renovations to the house and the grounds, turning it into one of the finest residences in Methuen. He named his estate Pine Lodge for the many pine trees he planted on the property.
In 1887, he married Mary (Sherwood) Hopkins of San Francisco, the wealthy widow of Central Pacific Railroad magnate Mark Hopkins. The couple shared a great mutual interest in art, architecture and culture. They traveled to Europe on an extended honeymoon, collecting rare antiques, valuable furnishings, historical artifacts and various types of artwork and statuary from renowned artisans for their newly constructed mansion in Great Barrington, Mass., and for Pine Lodge. Mary died in Methuen in 1891. In her will, she left her vast fortune to Edward, making him one of the wealthiest men in the country.
Searles was deeply affected by harsh public criticism he faced over his marriage to a much older and very wealthy widow, and the controversial will that left him with nearly all of her money and assets. In response, he withdrew from the public eye and began surrounding his property with tall stone walls and trees for privacy.
He spent the rest of his life building and enhancing his estate. He removed much of the artwork and many architectural features from the Great Barrington mansion to bring to Pine Lodge. As his art collection grew, he added several additions to his home. He also built several large buildings specifically designed to display certain categories of his collection. The architect of his many buildings was the renowned Henry Vaughan, a designer of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
At the back of his house, he attached a two-story, wood-framed International Wing featuring a French Drawing Room on the first floor and a Holland Room on the second, each adorned with valuable artwork reflective of their designation. On the west side of the home, he attached a large, museum-like building called the Italian Gallery, featuring beautiful marble columns. In Searles’ time, the walls were lined with large tapestries depicting the siege of Rome.
His home soon became more like a museum than a residence. In 1900, he built a separate Residence Building for himself and his staff on the eastern side of the property. In 1906, he attached a large Banquet Hall to the back of that building to display his extensive collection of Medieval-style armor. Several feet behind that building stood an existing, six-story wooden chime tower, originally built in 1888 as a windmill. On the opposite side of the tower, he built a large Tapestry Hall in 1912 to display four valuable 16th-century tapestries known as the “Field of the Cloth of Gold.” He connected all of these buildings with an enclosed corridor passing through the chime tower.
In 1915, Searles added the magnificent Marble Museum to the back of the Pine Lodge home. The building, similar in size and design to the Italian Gallery, featured marble from all over the world. He added a series of enclosed corridors from this building to the Tapestry Hall, allowing him to go from his residence to the Pine Lodge house without stepping outside. The walls of the museum-like corridors were covered in silk and satin, with tapestries, paintings and fine furniture displayed in the various sections.
Other buildings on the estate include a tall Stone Chime Tower built in 1896, a circa 1900 Gardener’s Cottage connected by a portico to the Residence Building and the separate Pine Hall building (aka Children’s Theater) nearby. This unique building features a small stage for live performances.
There are several structures atop the stone wall in front of the estate, including the magnificent Gate Lodge built over the main gate in 1900. In 1905, he built a Tudor-style, covered footbridge over what was then East Street to reach his stables on the other side of the road without crossing the public roadway. He purchased the abutting Butters Farm, and later had old East Street rerouted away from his estate in 1913.
The finely manicured landscaping throughout the estate featured many types of trees, exotic plants and flowering shrubbery. A Grecian Garden on the lower grounds featured decorative columns and large urns arranged in a circular pattern around a goldfish pond. Hillside Terrace just inside the main gate featured various bronze and marble statues.
The final structure Searles built was the spectacular Brownstone Chapel, designed by Vaughan after a 15th-century church in Stanton-Harcourt in Oxfordshire, England – Searles’ ancestral home. Construction began in 1915, but it wasn’t completed until 1918. Sadly, Vaughan never saw the finished results; he died in 1917. Searles died in 1920 and is entombed in the crypt below.
Searles had no children or direct relatives. In his will, he left the Pine Lodge Estate to Benjamin “Allen” Rowland, the 10-year-old son of a distant cousin. The Rowland family lived on the estate until 1957, when they sold the property to the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary order.
All but one of the structures from Searles’ time still exist. In 1943, the wooden Pine Lodge home had to be razed due to extensive termite damage. It is now the site of the blond-brick St. Claire Infirmary building, built by the sisters in 1958.
The rest of the upper section of the estate is pretty much as Searles left it, thanks to the great care provided by the sisters. They built a high school building between old East Street and Lawrence Street and converted several of the older buildings there for school purposes. The lower section was sold to Notre Dame Cristo Rey Academy in 2020. The city acquired the remaining property in 2024 with the intention of preserving it as a historical site.
The volunteer, grassroots organization known as the Friends of the Searles Estate is currently working with the Mayor’s Office to develop a plan for the preservation and reuse of the estate. For more information, visit their website at SearlesEstate.org, or follow them on Facebook on The Friends of the Searles Estate page.
Ken Doherty is a lifelong resident of Methuen. He served on the Methuen Fire Department from 1980 to 2010. He is the Fire Department historian and a former member of the Methuen Historical Commission. He wrote “Á History of Methuen and its Fire Department” in 1996. He is retired and still living in Methuen with his wife, Paula.
Shown in this section of Pine Lodge are (from left) rear gate, corridors, Tapestry Hall, Wooden Chime Tower, Banquet Hall and residence. Photo: KHD 2026
