Although the former private residence of a physician and then an all-girls’ school is ensconced in the Delaware River town of New Hope, guests at the newly renovated luxury event space and boutique hotel, may indeed feel as if they are transported to a country estate in France.
Turn back the clock to the 17th century to discover that William Penn deeded the acreage and the buildings that house the elegant Hotel du Village to the Ely family. In 1895 Dr. George Morley Marshall of Ohio bought a parcel of the Penn Grant from the descendants of the Ely family to create a country home for his family in bucolic Bucks County.
The land was used for both residential and educational purposes in the form of the Holmquist School in 1917 and then the Solebury School less than a decade later, which was housed on the property until 1978.
According to Kristopher Hassett, Vice President of Marketing and Sales of Landmark Hospitality; the company which manages Hotel du Village, “Yes, that was the idea. To give them the feeling of a secluded and private estate. There are farm fields in the back. There is an open, airy feel to it.”