Sliding Board and Bridge

Moister Steel Co.

More than six acres with two houses, one yellow capped by a Spanish-tile roof. A five-car garage, a tennis court, a gazebo, many pillars scattered around the property, and, in the center of the huge expanse of lawn, a concrete structure with a sliding board coming down into what looks like used to be a pond and a concrete "bridge to nowhere".

I'm sure more people than myself have asked themselves "What did that place used to be?" Many guesses - a camp, a playground, a swimming hole, an amusement park?

The estate was built by Martin Moister in the 1920s. Mr. Moister was a wealthy Philadelphia electrical contractor. He owned the Moister Steel Co. in Phila.

In 1929, Mr. Moister bought "hundreds" of decorative tiles from Henry Mercer's tile works in Doylestown. Today, the property is dotted with as many as 2000 Mercer tiles. He expanded his original estate by adding a masonry tower, other decorative elements, and, for his children, the front lawn playground including a pool with a sliding board and a bridge.

The tiled pool is now just a "grassy hole", but the sliding board and bridge still stand for all to see.

Mr. Moister later sold the estate to Wolfgang Lohrbeer. Mr. Lohrbeer later partitioned the estate and sold the front house separately from the larger property in the rear.

The present owner of the larger property, another Philadelphia businessman, bought it 17 years ago.

"I'm the only guy who mows my pool."