The most beautiful color photograph I've ever seen?

The composition, the use of depth of field, the shadows, the vibrancy of the colors, the mix of colors, the bold statement of the opposing lines of the red bricks and perpendicular tree, the detail which draws you into a myriad of different places, and amidst all that sensational beauty and harmony, the glum Mrs Associated Press.

Does she feel sad, remorseful, guilty of something, unhappy in her marriage?
We'll never know, but she sure makes a mighty powerful contrasting point of interest.

So sad. It appears she doesn’t have any friends and no one came over to play, a real shame on such a nice day. All those flowers picked for no one.

I would advise Clare to get up and get out there, start moving and find things to do. Make things happen. Others have done it. She can too.

Climb out of those doldrums - join a crafts club, volunteer at a hospital, buy the Philadelphia Eagles …

Beautiful day in an exquisite setting. How incongruous that the well-dressed, carefully posed Mrs. McLean looks so unhappy.

In a remarkable coincidence, that nurse in the Philadelphia Bulletin promotional cartoon Notcom shared looks like she could've been Mrs. McLean's sister or daughter. Mrs. McLean's much happier sister or daughter.

I cannot find an address for this Pheasant Run Farm, but I did find it was on Sheaff Lane and designed between 1927 and 1929 by the Philadelphia firm of Mellor, Meigs & Howe, known for their Neo-Norman residential designs.

I found early photos of the estate; all labeled the same. Attached are the:
Forecourt and front door, and south end of house looking back towards the courtyard,
South end (location of living room) and tree that would be in 1963 photo,
Stair hall, looking at front door and through to back of house,
Light fixture hanging in stair hall,
Driveway to the house, stable and barn on the right,
Barn, belfry, and house for farmer,
Stable, and small pond next to driveway.
 
Today, tax records show only six houses on Sheaff Lane built in the late 1920s. Looking at each on Earth View, I'm pretty sure the former McLean estate is now at 7135 Sheaff Lane. When the estate last sold for $5 million in 2021, it was 8 bedrooms, 6½ baths in 12,189 square feet on 25.29 acres. The barn is definitely in the Norman style. There is still a large, brick patio built around a tree next to the house. I believe this is where Mrs. McLean was sitting in 1963.

Census records didn't designate addresses for any houses on Sheaff Lane. In 1930 Robert, 38, and Clare, 37, lived here with their newborn son, Donald, and five live-in servants -- a German cook, an English child's nurse, an Irish waitress, an Irish chambermaid, and a female Irish servant. I didn't find the McLean family in the 1940 Census. In 1950 Robert and Clare are living with their 16-year-old daughter, Jenipher, two live-in Irish maids, and possibly a chauffeur and his wife and son on the property.

Click to embiggen

Well, almost: at one time the largest evening paper in America - and the source of mirthful ads - by the time Mrs. McLean had passed on, so had the Bulletin.