You are here

Delaware » Lower New Castle County » Middletown » Cochran Grange

Cochran Grange

-A A +A
c. 1840. South side of U.S. 301, east of the intersection with Levels Rd.
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • Cochran Grange (HABS)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)

Southern New Castle County's nineteenth-century agricultural heyday is recalled in this two-story brick house, the consummate “Peach Mansion” (though it predates the height of the peach boom), crowned with a square, windowed observatory overlooking the wide fields of The Levels. Built by John P. Cochran, largest peach producer in the area and governor of Delaware (1875–1879), the house was one of several family dwellings in the vicinity; the frame Hedgelawn (1856) and Summerton (c. 1850) stand to the west. Though built in stylish Greek Revival style, Cochran Grange is often said to show the conservatism of Delaware architecture, as Georgian massing and Flemish-bond brick-work were holdovers from a bygone era. The two-story square porch pillars were once green with white panels. Sources differ as to the date of the building, ranging from 1834 to 1842. The farmstead remained in the family for generations, but plans in 2007 called for much of the site to become an auto mall.

Writing Credits

Author: 
W. Barksdale Maynard
×

Data

What's Nearby

Outbuildings
The Maples
North Cass Street Houses
Academy Building
St. Anne's Church

Citation

W. Barksdale Maynard, "Cochran Grange", [Middletown, Delaware], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DE-01-LN17.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Delaware

Buildings of Delaware, W. Barksdale Maynard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, 217-218.

If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.

SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.

,