Historic houses and walking tours in Pennsylvania
Belmont Mansion Fairmount Park West, Philadelphia, PA Completed as a mansion in 1755 from the original cottage on the property, Belmont was the country seat of William Peters, an Englishman who practiced law in Philadelphia. He held various public offices on account of his connections with the William Penn family. An Anglican and son-in-law of […]
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Sweetbriar 1797 Fairmount Park West, Philadelphia, PA Samuel Breck moved to Philadelphia from Boston in 1792 at the age of twenty-one, after training at a military school in France. Five years later, he commissioned a house on 33 acres along the Schuylkill River received as a gift from his father-in-law. He lived in the house with his
Chamounix Mansion and Carriage House Fairmount Park West, Philadelphia Chamounix is located in a beautiful part of Fairmount Park that once commanded a fine view over the entire Schuylkill Valley from Manayunk to Center City. Later, trees slowly filled-in around the house at the edge of the hillside. The greatest loss was the destruction of
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Hatfield House 1760 Fairmount Park East, Philadelphia, PA Built in 1760 in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia and operated as a boarding school from 1806 to 1824. Mr. William J. Hay bought the building and added the Greek Revival temple at the front, and perhaps the attractive porches over the two entry doors on the sides that
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Memorial Hall 1876 Memorial Hall is one of the few buildings that remain from the International Centennial Exhibition held in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the United States. Architecturally, it’s an early example of a monumental building in the country and one of America’s first in the Beaux-Arts manner. The plan
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Woodford Mansion 1758 Fairmount Park East, Philadelphia, PA Judge William Coleman had a single-story house built in the Georgian style and completed in 1758. Coleman was a Quaker, born in Philadelphia and close friends with Benjamin Franklin. Woodford sits on the edge of East Fairmount Park, near Ridge Avenue and 33rd Street, and accessible in the park from Randolph Street.
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Rockland Mansion 1810 Fairmount Park East, Philadelphia, PA Rockland Mansion (Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia) Pristine example of an Adams Federal style house with original details unchanged for 200 years. Rockland was built in 1810 as a modest Schuylkill River villa with the same basic plan (three bays wide) as Laurel Hill, Woodford, The Solitude, Ormiston and
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Ridgeland 1762 Fairmount Park West, Philadelphia, PA Ridgeland’s unique oval windows(( Image source Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust )) One of the oldest houses in Fairmount Park, Ridgeland was built for William Couch in the Schuylkill River Valley and completed in 1762 as a farmhouse. Only at the end of the 18th century was it used primarily
Cedar Grove Farmhouse 1750 Fairmount Park West, Philadelphia, PA Cedar Grove was originally located in northeast Philadelphia, beginning with a simple plan completed in 1750, with additions over the years. Five generations of Philadelphia families lived in the farmhouse from 1793 to 1926 when the building was acquired by the Fairmount Park Commission and relocated
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Bellaire Manor, Fairmount Park FDR Park, Philadelphia, PA Bellaire Mansion (1735) FDR Park History Early Georgian-style mansion located in Philadelphia’s FDR Park, completed sometime between 1714 and 1735. Flemish-bond with glazed header bricks, simple window frames and narrow, double-leaf entry doors. Good example of a half-dome door hood and second floor balustrade, both reconstructed from
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