In 1908 Jay Cooke III bought a large property in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania. He hired Wilson Eyre, the finest architect of his day, and Olmsted Brothers, the outstanding landscape architecture firm. He then built an amazing home complete with a library and reception room, a conservatory, a huge kitchen, countless master bedrooms, Italian-tiled chandeliered bathrooms, and ample space for an army of maids, butlers, and gardeners. Perhaps the crowning glory of the house was a full formal ballroom with an elegant series of terraces and gardens. There were fountains everywhere because Jay Cooke loved them, three full commercial-sized greenhouses, a potting shed, a huge kitchen and flower garden, a clay tennis court, and a large carriage house and barn, all seated on 15 acres on the geographical high point of Philadelphia.
When it was completed, he named it Brookfield.
Brookfield quickly became recognized as one of the outstanding estates of Philadelphia and was chosen for the cover article of Better Homes and Garden several years later. Four decades later, Brookfield would become the home of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, which became internationally known as the place where parents from all over the world traveled to get help and hope for their brain-injured children.
Over the years The Institutes has celebrated holidays, christenings, birthdays, weddings, graduations, and memorial celebrations for its staff, the staff’s families, and friends. It is a beautiful place to celebrate any occasion.
In the fall of 2021, we decided that we would share our beautiful home with others who needed an elegant place to celebrate, and the idea of holding events here was born. The funds earned will be used to support our splendid 100-year-old buildings and greatly help the work of The Institutes. As we put together our plans, we needed a name, so we decided to give our new venture an old, venerable title, and so Brookfield Events was born.
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