Chapter XII: Public Buildings (1)

As in its domestic architecture of Colonial times, Philadelphia is so rich in its fine old public buildings that a readable and instructive book could be made about them alone. Intended for religious, political and commercial purposes, erected from one to two centuries ago and ranging from the frugal simplicity of the Mennonite Meeting House in Germantown to the stately beauty of Independence Hall, these noble edifices of bygone days were the scenes of momentous events in the most glorious and troublous period of the world's first republic. Their histories are inspiring and likewise their architecture. Exigencies of space in a book of this sort render it impossible to include all worthy examples, but an effort has been made to present a representative collection that does justice to the annals and building genius of this remarkable city.

Probably the most famous historical monument in the United States is Independence Hall, on Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. Here the American nation really came into being and began to function, and here come thousands of visitors annually to view in awed admiration the greatest patriotic shrine of a free people. The building, designed by Andrew Hamilton, speaker of the Assembly, and built under his direction for the State House, was used for that purpose until 1799. The foundations were laid in 1731, and the main building was ready for occupancy in 1735, although the wings and steeple were not completed until 1751. The steeple was taken down in 1781, but was restored to its original condition by William Strickland in 1828, and further restorations of the building to its original condition were effected later by the city government. The east, or "Declaration" chamber, still appears substantially as it did when that famous document was signed, but the restoration of certain other rooms has been less satisfactory. The building has been set apart by the city, which purchased it from the State in 1816, as a museum of historical relics, and during the past century has been used by various public offices and societies.

Many famous buildings of Colonial times were the work of amateur architects, but this is without exception the finest contemporary administrative building in America; a noble building rich in glorious memories; nobler even than the Bulfinch State House at Boston or the Maryland State House at Annapolis. It is an enduring monument to Hamilton's versatility, showing that with his genius he might have won distinction as an architect no less than as a barrister. His sense of design, mass and proportion, his appreciation of the relative value and most effective uses of classic detail and his ability to harmonize the exigencies of the floor plan with attractive appearance were second to those of no professional architect of his time.

Independence Hall is a stately structure of exceptionally well-balanced symmetrical arrangement, beautiful alike in its general mass and minutest details, and presenting a delightful appearance from whatever viewpoint it is seen,--dignified, spacious and picturesque, a building that seems to typify the serenity of mind and steadfastness of purpose of those sturdy patriots who made it famous.

The structure comprises three parts; a large central building with hip-roofed wings for offices connected with the main building by open arcaded loggias. The present wings are restorations. Beyond the wings are two buildings erected after the close of the Revolution, but forming part of the group. That at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut streets was erected as the Philadelphia County Court House, while that at the corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets was the City Hall.

The entire group is of characteristic Philadelphia brick construction, delightfully mellowed by age, with marble and white-painted wood trim. The main building is two stories high with a decked gable roof, heavily balustraded between large, arched quadruple chimney stacks at each end, corners heavily quoined with marble and ends without fenestration other than a round bull's-eye window in each. Across the one hundred and seven feet of the Chestnut Street façade there is a range of nine broad, high, twenty-four-paned windows with flat gauged brick arches and high marble keystones, the central window being replaced by a simple, very high and deeply recessed doorway with a broad stone stoop before it. Tying into the keystones is a horizontal belt of marble across the entire front. A similar belt is located immediately beneath the window sills of the second story, and between the two belts and ranging with the windows are nine oblong marble panels set into the brickwork.

On the Independence Square façade everything is subordinated to the great square steeple-like clock tower, centrally located, which stands its entire height outside but adjoining the walls of the main building. In construction the lower two stories of the tower correspond to those of the building itself, and the cornice of the latter is effectively carried around the tower. Above, the tower rises two more stories of brick with pedimented and pilastered walls in the Ionic order and surmounted with classic urns and flame motives. Above this level the construction of the clock tower is of white-painted wood, one story with Corinthian pilasters and another balustraded, rising in four-sided diminutions to the octagonal, open arched belfry and superstructure, above which is a tapering pinnacle and gilt weathervane. It is a tower of grace, dignity and repose, a tower suggestive of ecclesiastical work, perhaps, yet withal in complete harmony with its situation and purpose. In the base of this tower is the main entrance, a simple and dignified pillared doorway in the mutulary Doric order with double four-panel doors, and a magnificent Palladian window in the Ionic order above, to which reference was made in a previous chapter. Thus three distinct orders of architecture are used in this tower alone, presenting another instance of the great freedom with which early American architects utilized their favorite motives.

Entering this doorway one comes into a great, square, lofty, brick-paved hall in the base of the tower where now reposes the Liberty Bell at the foot of what has often been called the finest staircase in America. And where, indeed, is to be found a more splendid combination of nicely worked white wood trim with touches of mahogany and dark green stairs? Done in the Ionic order, with a heavy cornice having carved modillions and a prominent dentil course, deeply embrasured windows with paneled jambs and broad sills supported by beautifully hand-tooled consoles, and a nicely spaced paneled wainscot, this entrance is a fitting frame for the broad winding staircase. Rising ramp after ramp by broad treads and low risers, it leads first to a broad landing in front lighted by the Palladian window over the entrance, and thence upward and around to a gallery across the opposite wall, where a broad double doorway with delightful fanlight above leads into the main hall of the second floor. To the right a narrow staircase rises to the belfry. The classic balustrade, with its mahogany-capped rail and simple landing newels is heavy but well proportioned; the paneled wainscot along the wall follows the contour of the ramped rail opposite, and the under side of the landings, gallery and upper runs are nicely paneled. Elaborately carved scroll brackets adorn the stair ends, and a harmonious floreated volute spiral band runs along the edge of the gallery; while the pilaster casings of the upper doorway and of the Palladian window are enriched with straight hanging garlands. At the foot of the staircase the newel treatment takes the scroll form of the Ionic volute, the rail and balusters on the circular end of the broad lower step winding around a central column like the landing newels.

Hanging from its original beam, but within an ornamental frame erected in the center of this staircase hall, is the best-known relic of the building, the famous Liberty Bell, which is supposed, without adequate evidence, to have been the first bell to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It was cast in England early in 1752 and bears the following inscription: "By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania for the State House in Philadelphia, 1752", and underneath: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof, Lev. XXV, V, X." In August, 1752, the bell was received in Philadelphia, but was cracked by a stroke of the clapper the following month. It was recast, but the work being unsatisfactory, it was again recast with more copper, in Philadelphia during May, 1753, and in June was hung in the State House steeple, where it remained until taken to Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1777, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the British. In 1781 the bell was lowered and the steeple removed. In 1828 a new steeple was erected, and a new bell put in place, the Liberty Bell being given a place in an upper story of the tower to be rung only on occasions of great importance. On July 8, 1835, it suddenly cracked again while being tolled in memory of Chief Justice John Marshall, and on February 22, 1843, this crack was so increased as nearly to destroy its sound. In 1864 it was placed in the east or Declaration room, but in 1876, the Centennial year, it was again hung in the tower by a chain of thirteen links. From the time of its second recasting in 1753, until it lost its sound in 1843, the Liberty Bell was sounded on all important occasions, both grave and gay. It convened town meetings and the Assembly, proclaimed the national anniversary, ushered in the new year, welcomed distinguished men, tolled for the honored dead, and on several occasions was muffled and tolled as an expression of public disapproval of various acts of British tyranny.

Passing through a high, round-headed arch with paneled jambs and soffit one enters the central hall, a magnificent apartment in the mutulary Doric order, extending through the building to the Chestnut Street entrance. Fluted columns standing on a high, broad pedestal which runs about the walls like a wainscot, support a heavy complete entablature enriched with beautifully hand-carved moldings, notably an egg and dart ovolo between cornice and frieze and foliated moldings about the mutules and the panels of the soffit and metopes. It is a hall of charming vistas in a noble architectural frame,--straight ahead to the Chestnut Street entrance; back through the great single arch to the staircase; to the left through an arcade of three pilastered arches into the west or Supreme Court chamber; to the right through a broad, double doorway into the east or "Declaration" room, the original Assembly chamber.

The treatment of the latter wall of the hall is most elaborate. Three cased arches correspond to the open arches opposite. On the wall within the two end ones are handsome, pedimental-topped, inscribed tablets, while in the middle one is located the doorway with an ornate, broken, pedimental doorhead taking the form of a swag.

Like the hall, the Supreme Court chamber is Doric with fluted pilasters instead of engaged columns, and walls entirely paneled up. There are three windows at each end and two back of the judge's bench with its paneled platform and rail, and balustraded staircases at each end. In this room the convention to form a new constitution for Pennsylvania met July 15, 1776, and unanimously approved the Declaration of Independence, and pledged the support of the State. Delegates to Congress were elected who were signers of the Declaration. In this room now stands the statue of Washington carved out of a single block of wood by Colonel William Rush, after Stuart.

Across the hall is the Declaration chamber, forty feet and two inches long, thirty-nine feet and six inches wide and nineteen feet and eight inches high. As in size, its architecture is substantially the same as the chamber opposite, and like it the two corners near the hall are rounding. Also it is of spacious appearance, light, beautiful and cheerful, a room to inspire noble deeds. Instead of the high judge's bench at the side opposite the entrance, there is a relatively small platform or dais of two steps on which stands the presiding officer's desk in front of a large, elaborate, pedimental-topped frame with exquisitely enriched carved moldings, within which is a smaller frame containing a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. To either side, between fluted pilasters, are segmental arched fireplaces with heavy mantel shelves above, supported by carved consoles, while beyond these are single doors with pedimental heads. Otherwise the room is substantially like that across the hall. They are regarded as the best of the restored rooms of the building, and of the two the courtroom is perhaps rather the better in its greater simplicity.

In the east or so-called Declaration chamber, the second Continental Congress met May 10, 1775; George Washington was chosen commander in chief of the Continental Army June 15, 1775; and the Declaration of Independence was adopted July 4, 1776. The American officers taken prisoners at the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, and of Germantown, October 4, 1777, were held here as prisoners of war, and on July 9, 1778, the Articles of Confederation and perpetual union between the States were signed here by representatives of eight States. The room contains much of the furniture of those days. The table and high-backed Chippendale chair of mahogany used by the presidents of the Continental Congress and occupied by John Hancock at the signing still remain, and on the table is to be seen the silver ink-stand with its quill box and sand shaker, in which the delegates dipped their pens in autographing the famous document. There are also fourteen of the original chairs used by delegates. On the walls hang portraits of forty-five of the fifty-six signers, also a portrait of Washington by Rembrandt Peale.

In fact, the collection of portraits is largely based on canvases secured from the famous Peale Museum which at one time occupied the upper floors of the building. There are also valuable paintings by Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Edgar Pine, Thomas Sully and Allan Ramsay. The bronze statue of Washington standing in front of Independence Hall on Chestnut Street is a replica of the original one in white marble by Bailey, which was removed on account of its disintegration. Forty-five crayons and pastels by John Sharpless, purchased by the city in 1876, form a notable collection estimated to be worth half a million dollars. What is supposed to be the earliest exhibition of paintings ever held in America was that of Robert Edge Pine, which occurred in Independence Hall in 1784.

On the second floor the principal room is a great banqueting hall extending across the entire building on the Chestnut Street side with its range of nine windows and having a fireplace at each end. There are smaller rooms on each side of the broad entrance corridor; its wide, flat arch has four fluted columns supporting a heavy pedimental head with elliptical fanlight. Architecturally the restoration of the second floor is less happy than that of the first. It is not in the spirit of the work below; nor does it accord with typical Colonial work of pre-Revolutionary days. It lacks that simple, straight-forward dignity of design; that fine sense of proportion; that refinement and appropriateness of detail. The spacing of the paneling of both the wainscot and the fireplace mantels is not characteristic; the detail of the latter is poorly chosen and assembled, and the whole aspect, especially the entrance arch, suggests a studied effort to achieve picturesque effect.

On the northwest corner of Independence Square, which is the southeast corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets, is old Congress Hall, erected in 1787, in which Congress sat from 1790 to 1800, and in which Washington was inaugurated in 1793 for a second term with Adams as vice-president, and in which Adams, in 1797, was inaugurated president with Jefferson as vice-president.

Here Washington presented his famous message concerning Jay's treaty with England; here, toward the close of his second administration, he pronounced his farewell address, which is still regarded as a model of dignity and farsightedness. Here, too, was officially announced the death of Washington, when John Marshall offered a resolution that a joint committee of the House and Senate consider "the most suitable manner of paying honor to the memory of the man first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen", thus originating a phrase never to be forgotten in America. For some years after 1800 the building was occupied by the criminal courts, now located in the City Hall.

Were it not so near the more pretentious Independence Hall, this demure little building would receive much more attention, for it is architecturally a gem of the Colonial period, and such of its interior woodwork as has been restored has been more happily treated than is often the case. It is an oblong structure of brick, with marble and white wood trim, two stories high, hip-roofed and surmounted in the center by a well-proportioned, octagonal open cupola. On the front a pediment springs from the cornice over a slightly projecting central section of the façade, while a three-sided bay breaks the rear wall and enlarges the building. The stoop and doorway are of simple dignity, the double doors having the appearance of being four separate, very narrow four-panel doors, and the graceful fanlight above being in accord with the round-headed windows of the lower story. These windows are set effectively in brick arches with marble sills, keystones and imposts. On the upper story the windows are twenty-four-paned and square-headed with gauged brick arches and marble keystones. Under the central front window over the entrance there is a handsome wrought-iron fire balcony. The best exterior feature of the building is the beautifully hand-tooled cornice with its coved member having a series of recessed arches and the well-known Grecian band or double denticulated molding beneath. At the second-floor level a white marble belt accords well with the general scheme.

No less interesting than the outward appearance of the entrance is its inward aspect, with its deeply paneled embrasures and soffit, its quaint strap hinges and rim lock. The arrangement of the double staircases with a halfway landing in this lofty, airy stair hall compels admiration for effective simplicity. The stair ends are unadorned, but the spaces under the lower run of both flights are nicely paneled up. The balusters are of good, though familiar pattern, and the lines of the dark ramped rail gracefully drawn.

Interest centers in the Senate chamber with its barrel ceiling and panel-fronted galleries along both sides supported by slender round columns. Here momentous business was transacted during the early years of the American nation, and many relics of those troublous times are here preserved. In the bay at the rear end the President's dais has been restored from remains found beneath an old platform. It is of graceful design with free-flowing curves and an elliptical swell front where the balustrade has a solid three-panel insert. The turned balusters are of slender grace, while the paneled pilasters or newels at the ends and corners are adorned with straight hanging garlands in applied work. There is also a festooned border in applied work above the opening into the bay that is carried about the room above the galleries. The central decoration of the ceiling and the eagle over the President's dais furnish excellent examples of eighteenth-century frescoes.

A short distance east of Independence Square, in a narrow court off Chestnut Street, between South Third and South Fourth streets, hedged about by high modern office buildings that dwarf its size, is Carpenters' Hall, in which the first Continental Congress assembled, September 5, 1774, and in which the National Convention, in 1787, framed the present Constitution of the United States. The building was also the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence; the basement was used as a magazine for ammunition during the Revolution, and from 1791 to 1797 the whole of it was occupied by the first United States Bank.

The Carpenters' Company, established in 1724, was patterned after the Worshipful Company of Carpenters of London, which dates back to 1477, and the early organization of such a guild in America indicates the large number and high character of the Colonial builders of Philadelphia and explains the excellence of the architecture in this neighborhood. The present building was begun in 1770, but was not completed until 1792, so that throughout the Revolutionary period it was used in a partly finished condition. Since 1857 it has been preserved wholly for its historic associations. Here was conceived that liberty which had its birth in Independence Hall, so that its claim to fame is second only to the latter. Like it, too, there are many interesting relics of those glorious days to be seen within. An inscription on a tablet outside very properly reads, "Within these walls, Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired the delegates of the Colonies with nerve and sinew for the toils of war."

The building is in the form of a Greek cross with four projecting gable ends and an octagonal cupola of graceful design and proportions at the center of the roof. It is of characteristic Philadelphia brickwork, with handsomely cased twenty-four-paned windows shuttered on the lower floor. The entrance façade, with its broad, high stoop and pedimental doorway, double doors and fanlight above; its pleasing fenestration, especially the round-headed, Palladian windows of the second floor, above balustrade sections resting on a horizontal belt of white at the second-floor level, and its pediment with a handsome hand-tooled cornice in which an always pleasing Grecian band is prominent, does credit to its design, and altogether the structure was worthy of its purpose.

Within, the meeting room is of surprisingly generous size, considering the small impression given by the exterior aspect of the building. The restored woodwork is unfortunate, yet the general effect of bygone years remains.

For two centuries Philadelphia has been justly famous for its public markets, numerous and readily accessible to the entire community. Marketing has ever been one of the duties of the thrifty housewife, to which Philadelphia women have given particular attention, and everything possible has been done to make the task easy and satisfactory to them. When the city was first laid out its few wide streets, with the exception of Broad Street, were laid out for the convenience of markets, which in those days were placed in their center. A few of these old-time markets still remain, notably that at Second and Pine streets, its market house or central building of quaintly interesting design embracing features such as the octagonal cupola, marble lintels, sills and belt, and the elliptical and semicircular fanlights which are typically Colonial.

To Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia is largely indebted for the Pennsylvania Hospital fronting on Pine Street between South Eighth and South Ninth streets, the first hospital in the United States, which was projected in 1751, erected in 1755 and still continues to be the foremost of some one hundred institutions in the city. The main building was designed by Samuel Rhodes, mayor of Philadelphia, and in architectural excellence is regarded as second only to Independence Hall.

Individuals gave funds freely for its erection; the British Parliament turned over to it some funds unclaimed by a land company; Bishop Whitefield gave a considerable sum; Benjamin West painted a replica of his famous work, "Christ Healing the Sick", now in the entrance hall, which was exhibited and earned four thousand pounds sterling in admissions; some players gave "Hamlet" for the benefit of the hospital, and money was raised in numerous other ways.

The building is a large and beautiful one of noble appearance, three stories high, having long, balanced wings two and a half stories high, with dormers and an octagon tower over the cross wings at each end. The total frontage is some two hundred and seventy-five feet. It is of reddish-brown brick, faced on the front of the first story of the main building with gray marble, and pierced by two large round-topped windows each side of a central doorway with a balustraded stoop and handsome semicircular fanlight and side lights. Above, six Corinthian pilasters support a beautifully detailed entablature at the eaves, from which springs a pediment with ornamental oval window. Surmounting the hip roof is a square superstructure of wood, paneled and painted white, above which is a low octagonal belvedere platform with a huge, round balustrade. Brick walls and an ornamental wistaria-clad iron fence surround the grounds, and no visitor has entered the central gate since La Fayette.

Within the building there is much splendid interior wood finish. Its best feature, however, is the high, broad hall, with fluted Ionic columns supporting a mutulary Doric entablature, leading back to a double winding staircase, which is a marvelous work of art, combining the simplicity and purity as well as the beauty of the middle Georgian period. There are two landings on each flight, and from the spiral newels at the bottom the balustrades with ramped rails and heavy, turned balusters swing upward, as do the staircases, to the third floor. One notes with interest the unusual outline of the brackets under the overhang of the stair treads.

A few important public buildings of Philadelphia that were not erected until early in the nineteenth century had their inception directly or indirectly in the outgrowth of the War of Independence, and their omission would render any treatise of the public buildings of the city noticeably incomplete. Their inclusion here finds still further justification in the fact that they are of classic architecture and so to a degree in accord with Colonial traditions.

The Custom House, a classic stone structure, on the south side of Chestnut Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, was built for the second United States Bank, authorized by Congress in April, 1816, because of the bad financial condition into which the government had fallen during the War of 1812. The building was designed by William Strickland, in his day the leading American architect, being modeled after the Parthenon of Athens. It was completed in 1824 and was put to its present use in 1845.

The main building of Girard College on Girard Avenue between North 19th and North 25th streets, of which Thomas Ustick Walter, a pupil of Strickland's, was the architect, is one of the finest specimens of pure Greek architecture in America. Indeed, this imposing Corinthian structure of stone has been called "the most perfect Greek temple in existence." Work upon it was begun in 1833, and the college was opened January 1, 1848. To a sarcophagus in this main building were removed the remains of Stephen Girard in 1851. The building is 111 feet wide and 169 feet long, and is surrounded by thirty-four fluted columns fifty-six feet high and seven feet in diameter at the base, which cost thirteen thousand dollars each. The total height of the building is ninety-seven feet, and it is arched throughout with brick and stone, and roofed with marble tiles. The weight of the roof is estimated at nearly one thousand tons.

The old Stock Exchange at Third and Walnut and Dock streets, facing a broad open space once an old-time market, is also the work of William Strickland, who likewise designed St. Paul's Church, St. Stephen's Church, the almshouse and the United States Naval Asylum. It is an impressive round-fronted classic structure of gray stone in the Corinthian order, with a semicircular colonnade above the first story supporting a handsomely executed entablature with conspicuous antefixes about the cornice. Instead of a central flight of steps leading to a main entrance, there were two well-designed flights at each side. Surmounting the whole is a daring, tall, round cupola, its roof supported by engaged columns and the spaces between pierced by classic grilles. The structure is notable throughout for excellence in mass and detail.

At Number 116 South Third Street stands the oldest banking building in America, and withal one of the handsomest of such buildings. Erected in 1795 by the first Bank of the United States, this beautiful stone and brick structure in the Corinthian order, with its fine pedimental portico bearing in high relief a modification of the seal of the United States, was owned and occupied by Stephen Girard from 1812 to 1831, and since 1832 by the Girard Bank and the Girard National Bank. It is one of those classic structures which by reason of nicety in proportion and precision in detail still compares favorably with the best modern buildings of the city. The high, fluted columns and pilasters with their nicely wrought capitals lend an imposing nobility that immediately arrests attention, while the refinement of detail throughout well repays careful scrutiny. In this latter respect its best features are the cornice with its beautifully enriched moldings and modillions, the balustrade above, the window heads supported by hand-tooled consoles and the insert panels under the portico.

The first Bank of the United States was incorporated in 1791 with a capital of ten million dollars. It was the first national bank of issue essential to the system of banking built up by Alexander Hamilton in organizing the finances of the Federal Government under the constitution of 1789. It issued circulating notes, discounted commercial paper and aided the government in its financial operations. Although the government subscribed one-fifth of the capital, it was paid for by a roundabout process which actually resulted in the loan of the amount by the bank to the treasury. Other loans were made by the bank to the government, until by the end of 1795 its obligations had reached $6,200,000. In order to meet these obligations, the government gradually disposed of its bank stock and by 1802 had sold its entire holdings at a profit of $671,860. A statement submitted to Congress January 24, 1811, by Albert Gallatin, then Secretary of the Treasury, showed resources of $24,183,046, of which $14,578,294 was in loans and discounts, $2,750,000 in United States stock and $5,009,567 in specie.

The expiration of the charter of the bank, in 1811, was the occasion for a party contest which prevented renewal and added greatly to the financial difficulties of the government during the War of 1812. Although foreign stockholders were not permitted to vote by proxy, and the twenty-five directors were required to be citizens of the United States, the bank was attacked on the ground of foreign ownership, and it was also claimed that Congress had no constitutional power to create such an institution.

Thereupon the bank building and the cashier's house in Philadelphia were purchased at a third of the original cost by Girard, who, in May, 1812, established the Bank of Stephen Girard and thereafter assisted the government very materially. He was, in fact, the financier of the War of 1812.

No less interesting than the governmental and commercial public buildings of Philadelphia are its churches, of which several of noble architecture date back to the Colonial period.

On North Second Street, just north of Market, is located Christ Church, Protestant Episcopal, the first diocesan church of Pennsylvania. It is a fine old building designed mainly by Doctor John Kearsley, a vestryman and physician. The corner stone was laid in 1727, and the building was completed in 1744, but the steeple, in part designed by Benjamin Franklin and containing a famous chime of eight bells, was not erected until 1754. Franklin was one of the managers of a lottery in 1753 for raising funds for the steeple and bells, the latter being imported at a cost of five hundred pounds sterling. On July 4, 1776, after the Declaration of Independence had been read, these bells "rang out a merry chime."

This imposing edifice eloquently indicates what architectural triumphs can be achieved in brickwork in the Colonial style. Apart from the spire, interest centers in the fenestration, which has already been treated in Chapter VIII, and in the wood trim. As in much contemporary architecture, the woodwork is conspicuous for the free use of the orders. For example, one immediately notes the mutulary Doric cornice and frieze along the sides, and the pulvinated Ionic entablature across the chancel gable above the Palladian window. The roof is heavily balustraded in white-painted wood with the urns on the several pedestals holding torches with carved flames. A brick belfry rises square and sturdy above the roof and then continues upward in diminishing construction of wood, first virtually four-sided, then octagonal and finally in a low, tapering spire surmounted by a weather-vane. A distinctive feature is the simple iron fence along the street with two wrought-iron arched gates, as beautiful as any in America, hung from high, ball-topped stone posts.

Imposing in its simplicity, the interior is generally Doric in character, but the Ionic entablatures over the side sections of the beautiful Palladian chancel window reflect the treatment outside. Fluted columns standing on high pedestals, with square, Doric entablature sections above, support graceful, elliptical arches, which separate the nave from the aisles in which are panel-fronted galleries. The organ loft over the main entrance is bow-fronted and highly ornate.

Certain alterations to the interior were made in 1836, and in 1882 it was restored to its ancient character, but the high old-fashioned wineglass pulpit of 1770 remains, as does the font. A silver bowl, weighing more than five pounds, presented in 1712 by Colonel Quarry of the British Army, is still in use, while a set of communion plate presented by Queen Anne in 1708 is brought forth on special occasions. The brass chandelier for candles has hung in its central position since 1749. Bishop White officiated as rector during Revolutionary days, and his body lies under the altar. Many well-known figures of American history worshiped here, both Washington and Franklin maintaining pews which are still preserved. That in which Washington sat was placed in Independence Hall in 1836.

In the churchyard adjoining are buried a number of noted patriots, including Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, James Wilson, the first justice of the State and a signer of the Declaration and Constitution, Brigadier General John Forbes, John Penn, Peyton Randolph, Francis Hopkinson, Doctor Benjamin Rush, Generals Lambert, Cadwalader, Charles Lee and Jacob Morgan of the Continental Army, and Commodores Truxton, Bainbridge and Dale of the Navy.

In the southeast part of the city, at Swanson and Christian streets, just east of Front Street, is located the ivy-clad Old Swedes' Church, one of the most venerable buildings in America. It stands on the site of a blockhouse erected by the Swedish settlers in 1677. The present structure of brick was begun in 1698 and finished two years later. For one hundred and forty-three years it remained a worshiping place of the Swedish Lutherans, and for one hundred and thirty years it was in charge of ministers sent over from Sweden. The baptismal font is the original one brought from Sweden, and the communion service has been in use since 1773. In the adjoining churchyard the oldest tombstone bearing a legible epitaph is dated 1708. Here Alexander Wilson, the celebrated naturalist, was buried at his own request, saying that the "birds would be apt to come and sing over my grave."

Although generally Colonial in external appearance, and frankly so in the detail of its wood trim, the arrangement of the structure and its proportions, especially the peaked gable over the entrance and the small, low and square wooden belfry, give it a somewhat foreign aspect which is by no means surprising in the circumstances. Indeed, it may be said to have decided Norse suggestion. The interior, with its severely simple galleries, straight-backed wooden pews and high pulpit under the chancel window, has that quaintness to be seen in the earliest country churches of America. Two big-eyed, winged cherubim on the organ loft are interesting examples of early Swedish wood carving probably taken from an old Swedish ship.

St. Peter's at South Third and Pine streets, the second Protestant Episcopal Church in the city, was an offshoot of Christ Church, and for many years both were under the same rectorship. Washington, during his various sojourns in Philadelphia, attended sometimes one and again the other, and Pew Number 41 in St. Peter's is pointed out as his. The building was erected in 1761 and still retains its Colonial characteristics.

It is a brick structure two and a half stories in height, having pedimental ends and corners quoined with stone. The fenestration with many round-headed windows is excellent and has already been alluded to in Chapter VIII. At one end a massive, square, vine-clad belfry tower of brick rises to a height of six stories, above which there is a tall, slender wooden spire surmounted by a ball and cross.

Within are the original square box pews with doors, and seats facing both ways, those of the galleries being similarly arranged. The whole aspect is one of great plainness and simple dignity, yet withal pleasing. A unique feature is the location of the organ and altar at the eastern end and the reading desk and lofty wineglass pulpit, with sounding board overhead, at the western end. This compels the rector to conduct part of the service at each end of the church and obliges the congregation to change to the other seat of the pews in order to face in the opposite direction. In the adjoining churchyard are buried many distinguished early residents of the city, including Commodore Stephen Decatur.

Trinity Church, Oxford, stands on the site of a log meetinghouse where Church of England services were held as early as 1698. The present brick structure was erected in 1711. Standing among fine old trees in the midst of a picturesque churchyard, it has an appearance rather English than American. The detail of the wood trim is obviously Colonial, however, and the brickwork corresponds to the best in Philadelphia. The influence of Flemish brickwork is seen in the large diamond patterns each side of the semicircular marble inscription tablet above the principal doorway.

St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, South Third and Walnut streets, was designed by William Strickland and built some years later than St. Peter's. The exterior remains the same, but the interior has been considerably altered. It is a simple gable-roof structure of plastered rubble masonry, and its façade with broad pilasters, handsome round-topped windows and simple doorway is heavily vine-clad. A handsome fence with highly ornamental wrought-iron gates and large ball-topped posts lends a touch of added refinement to the picture. Edwin Forrest, the eminent American actor, is buried in one of the vaults of the church.

Although the Friends were the first sect to erect a meetinghouse of their own in Germantown, about 1693, the Mennonites built a log meetinghouse in 1709, the first of this sect in America, and their present stone church on Germantown Avenue, near Herman Street, in 1770, a modest one-story gable-roof structure of ledge stone. It would be impossible to conceive anything simpler than the tall, narrow, double doors with the little hood above a stone stoop with plain, iron handrail on one side. In the churchyard in front of it lie the remains of the man who shot and mortally wounded General Agnew during the Battle of Germantown.

INDEX

Abacus, 109, 112

Acanthus leaf, 81, 164

Adam, mantels, 92, 179, 183;
design, in American building, 166;
cornice and frieze, 187

Agnew, General, 63

Allen, Nathaniel, 3

Ambler, Doctor W. S., 121

American flag, the first, tradition concerning the making of, 51, 52

Andirons, 172, 181

André, Major John, 14, 22

Arch Street, house at No. 229 (Ross house), 51, 52

Arches, detailed, 20;
flat brick, 23;
elliptical, 24, 172;
with cores of brick, 26, 27;
at foot of stairway, 60;
Palladian window recessed within, 66;
recessed, 66;
gauged, 141;
relieving, 141;
flanked by two narrow arches, 165;
across main hall, 193

Architects, amateur, 6

Architecture, advantage of study of, 2;
a part of gentleman's education in Colonial times, 6

Architrave casings, of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
fine-scale hand carving in, 111;
of Wharton house, 113;
molded, 162;
of old Spruce Street house, 178;
were the rule, 190;
miter-joined, 191

Architraves, fluted, 109;
molded, 112;
incised, 115;
of Upsala, 120;
horizontal, 172

Areaways, 40, 49, 61

Armat, Thomas, 81, 82

Armat, Thomas Wright, 81

Arnold, Benedict, 75, 76

Articles of Confederation, signing of, 205

Astragal, 176, 177, 180, 181

Bainbridge, Commodore, 221

Balconies, hall, 154

Ball and cross, 223

Ball and disk, 97

Balusters, of Stenton, 157;
of Whitby Hall, 159;
of Upsala, 167;
in Congress Hall, 209, 210

Balustraded, belvederes, 19, 73;
roof, 199;
clock-tower, 200

Balustrades, of stairway, 74, 157, 159, 167;
of porch, 92;
of wing steps, 98;
patterned after cathedral grilles and screens, 127;
of cast iron, of Wistar house, spiral design in, 129;
of house No. 207 La Grange Alley, 130;
of Independence Hall, 201

Bank of North America, 8, 9

Bank of Stephen Girard, 218

Bank of the United States, the first, and the building it occupied, 216-218

Barclay, Alexander, 20

"Barn" pointing, 55, 95

Bartram, John, 94

Bartram, William, 95

Bartram House, 93-95;
windows of, 136;
dormers of, 140;
with neither outside shutters nor blinds, 142

Bead and reel, 175, 176, 180, 181

Bed-molding, reeded, 109;
denticulated, 112

Belfry, 219

Belting, of Stenton, 26;
of Port Royal House, 35;
of city blocks, 39;
of Morris house, 49;
of Upsala, 60;
of The Woodlands stable, 66;
of Mount Pleasant, 73;
of Solitude, 83;
of Cliveden, 88;
of The Highlands, 91;
of Independence Hall, 199

Belvedere platform, 214

Belvederes, of Woodford, 19;
of Port Royal House, 35;
of Mount Pleasant, 73

Bezan, John, 3

Billmeyer, Michael, 99

Billmeyer house, description of, 98, 99;
history of, 99;
six-panel door of, 103;
seats of entrance of, 107;
stoop of, 129;
windows of, 138;
dormers of, 141

Bingham, Hannah, 44

Bingham, William, 43, 44

Blackwell, Colonel Jacob, 43

Blackwell, Rev. Doctor Robert, 43, 44

Blackwell house, description of, 42, 43;
history of, 43, 44;
eight-panel door of, 104;
windows of, 136, 138;
shutters of, 143, 145;
doorhead of, 192

Blinds, of Girard house, 31;
of Port Royal House, 35;
of city blocks, 40;
of Upsala, 60;
of Grumblethorpe, 61;
of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Loudoun, 81;
of The Highlands, 92;
use of, 143, 144;
structure of, 145, 146;
methods of hanging and fastening, 146-148

Blocks, houses in, 15, 38;
characteristics of, 38, 39;
many of them palatial, 40;
decay of, 41;
of Camac Street, 41, 42

Bolts, 147

Bonding, 18, 23, 38, 48, 49

Books on joinery, 6

Botanical garden of John Bartram, 94, 95

Brackets, 167, 168, 214

Brandywine, Battle of, 205

Brick, favored from the outset in preference to wood, 16, 17;
Georgian country houses of, 17-37;
city residences of, 38-52

"Brick" stone, 86, 87, 95, 98

Brick trim, 170

Brickwork, how laid up, 18;
of Morris house, 48, 49

Builders, attracted to Philadelphia at an early time, 5

Bull baiting, 13

Bull's-eye, light, 160;
window, 199

Cadwalader, General, 221

Camac Street, 41, 42

Capitals, of acanthus-leaf motive, 81;
Corinthian, 116;
Ionic, 121, 159

Carlton, windows of, 137;
dormers of, 140

Carpenter house, 168

Carpenters, attracted to Philadelphia at an early time, 5

Carpenters' Company, the, 5, 210

Carpenters' Hall, 8;
windows of, 148;
description and history of, 210-212

Carr, Colonel, 95

Carving, elliptical, 97;
floreated, 173

Casement sashes, 31

Casings. _See_ DOOR-CASINGS, WINDOW-CASINGS

Cedar Grove, windows of, 135;
dormers of, 139;
shutters of, 143

Chalkley Hall, eight-panel door of, 104;
windows of, 137, 139;
dormers of, 140;
blinds of, 143, 146

Chandeliers, 187

Chew, Benjamin, 88-90

Chew, John, 89

Chew house, shutters of, 147

Chew's Woods, 91

Chimney breast, 171, 175

Chimney-pieces, of Hope Lodge, 24;
of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Cliveden, 88;
development of, 171;
of Whitby Hall, 172, 173;
of Mount Pleasant, 175, 176;
of Cliveden, 177;
of old house on Spruce Street, 178;
paneled, 188;
of Stenton, 188

Chimney stacks, of Port Royal House, 35;
of Mount Pleasant, 73;
of Cliveden, 88;
of Independence Hall, 199

Chimneys, of Woodford, 19;
of Stenton, 26;
of Girard house, 31;
of city blocks, 39;
of Grumblethorpe, 61;
of Vernon, 79;
of Solitude, 83

China closets, 189

Christ church, designed by Doctor John Kearsley, 6;
windows of, 148-150;
history and description of, 219-221

Churches, 218-225

City Troop, the, 50

Clarendon Code, the, 3

Classic, façade, 88;
moldings, 113;
entablature, 115;
detail, 127, 165, 178, 179, 187, 194, 198;
orders, application of, to walls, etc., 186;
urns, 199;
three orders used in tower of Independence Hall, 200;
balustrade, 201;
Custom House, 215;
Girard College, 215;
Stock Exchange, 216;
Bank Building, 217

Clay, makeshift for lime, 96

Cleveland, Parker, 63

Cliveden, description of, 87, 88;
history of, 88-91, 98, 99;
door of, 105;
doorway of, 117, 118;
stoop of, 127, 128;
windows of, 137;
dormers of, 141;
lintels of, 142;
shutters of, 143, 144;
hall and staircase of, 165, 166;
chimney piece of, 177;
parlor of, 186;
interior finish of, 188, 191

Clock tower, 199

Closets, with sliding top, 27;
fireplace, 172-174

Clunie. _See_ MOUNT PLEASANT

Coach, old family, 91

Cock fighting, 13

Coin d'Or, 42

Coleman, William, 20

Colonial domestic architecture, much of best,
to be found in neighborhood of Philadelphia, 2

Colonial pointing, 55

Colonial style of architecture, in Philadelphia, 3;
reference books on joinery the fountainhead of, 6;
more or less common to all buildings of the period in Philadelphia, 14

Colonnettes, 152, 183

Columns, of Hope Lodge, 23;
of city blocks, 40;
engaged Ionic, of The Woodlands, 65;
Tuscan, of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Loudoun, 81;
Ionic, of Solitude, 83;
reeded, of The Highlands, 92;
of Bartram House, 94;
engaged, supporting
pediment, 108;
engaged, supporting massive entablature, 112;
of Wharton house, 113;
fluted, of house No. 6105 Germantown Avenue, 115;
fluted, of Dr. Denton's house, 116;
of Upsala, 120;
fluted, in Independence Hall, 203;
engaged, in Independence Hall, 204

Combes Alley, 41

Combes Alley house, windows of, 136;
shutters of, 144

Congress Hall, windows of, 148;
history and description of, 207-210

Consoles, hand-carved, 107, 173, 174, 177, 192, 200;
of dental course, 115;
of Mount Pleasant, 176;
of Independence Hall, 200

Constitution of United States, setting of convention which framed, 9

Continental Congresses in Philadelphia, 8, 9, 205

Corinthian, doorways, 115;
capitals, 116;
pilasters, 200, 213, 214;
Girard College, 215;
Stock Exchange, 216

Cornices, of Woodford, 19, 20;
of Hope Lodge, 23, 24;
of Girard house, 31;
of Port Royal House, 35;
of city blocks, 39;
of Morris house, 49;
of Upsala, 60;
of Mount Pleasant, 73, 74, 163, 176, 192;
of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Vernon, 80;
of Solitude, 83;
of Cliveden, 88, 165;
of The Highlands, 91;
of Green Tree Inn, 97;
of house No. 6504 Germantown Avenue, 110;
of house No. 709 Spruce Street, 111;
of house No. 5200 Germantown Avenue, 111;
of house No. 4927 Frankford Avenue, 111;
of Grumblethorpe, 114;
of Stenton, 156;
of Whitby Hall, 159, 172;
of Mount Vernon, 173;
as usually used, 186, 187;
of house No. 224 Pine Street, 192;
with prominent modillions, 193;
of Independence Hall, 199, 200;
of Congress Hall, 208;
in Girard National Bank building, 217

Corona, 180

Coultas, Colonel, 160, 161

Coultas, James, 160

Country houses, Georgian, of brick, 17-37;
ledge-stone, 53-68

Coving, of Hope Lodge, 23;
of Girard house, 31;
of Green Tree Inn, 97

Cupolas, 208, 211

Custom House, 215

Cymatium, 176, 177, 180, 183

Cypress Street, house No. 312, mantel of, 182

Dado, 157, 159, 164, 186, 191

Dais, President's, in Congress Hall, 209, 210

Dale, Commodore, 221

Decatur, Commodore Stephen, 223

Declaration of Independence, signing of, 9, 205

De Lancy, Captain John Peter, 14

Dentil course, of Morris house, 109;
of house No. 6504 Germantown Avenue, 110;
of house No. 4927 Frankford Avenue, 112;
of house No. 6105 Germantown Avenue, 115;
of Dr. Denton's house, 115;
of Upsala, 120;
of The Woodlands, 152;
of Mount Pleasant, 176, 192;
and mantel,
180, 181;
of Independence Hall, 200

Denton, Dr., his house, 115, 128

Deschler, David, 78

Deschler, Widow, 99

Dickinson, John, 82

Dirck, Keyser house, footscraper of, 131

Door-casings, of Hope Lodge, 24;
of Blackwell house, 42;
of Mount Pleasant, 74;
molded, 106;
of houses No. 114 League Street and No. 5933 Germantown Avenue, 107;
rusticated, 116;
of Whitby Hall, 172

Doorheads, pedimental, 74, 162, 164, 192;
elaborated, 107

Door trim, 191

Doors, paneled, of Hope Lodge, 23, 24;
paneled, of Stenton, 27;
of Girard house, 31;
paneled, of city blocks, 40;
of Blackwell house, 43;
of Upsala, 60;
of Grumblethorpe, 62;
of Wyck, 71;
paneled, of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
paneled, of Loudoun, 81;
of The Highlands, 92;
of Johnson house, 96;
four types common in Colonial period, 102;
single and double, 102;
types classified according to arrangement of panels 103;
six-panel, 103, 104, 107, 108;
three-panel, 104;
four-panel, 200;
eight-panel, 104, 105;
of Morris house, 109;
of house No. 701 South Seventh Street, 110;
of house No. 709 Spruce Street, 111;
of house No. 5200 Germantown Avenue, 111;
of house No. 4927 Frankford Avenue, 111;
of Powel house, 113;
of Wharton house, 113;
of Grumblethorpe, 114;
of house No. 6105 Germantown Avenue, 115;
double blind, 116;
of Mount Pleasant, 116;
of Cliveden, 116;
of Solitude, 118;
of Perot-Morris house, 118;
of Upsala, 121;
with molded flat panels, 122;
in round-arched doorways, 124, 125;
closet, 174;
by the side of the fireplace, 178

Doorways, of Woodford, 19;
Doric, of Port Royal house, 35;
of city blocks, 40;
of Blackwell house, 42;
pedimental, of Morris house, 49;
of Grumblethorpe, 61;
of The Woodlands, 65;
of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Vernon, 80;
of Loudoun, 81;
of Solitude, 83;
Doric, of Cliveden, 88;
of The Highlands, 92;
of Bartram House, 94;
the dominating feature of façade, 101;
have character and individuality, 101;
broad range of, in Philadelphia houses, 102;
unlike those of New England, 102;
high and narrow, and speak of Quaker severity, 102;
recessed, 105;
the simplest type of, 106, 107;
of houses No. 114 League Street and No. 5933 Germantown Avenue, 107;
the characteristic type of pedimental door trim, 108;
of houses No. 5011 Germantown Avenue and No. 247 Pine Street, 108, 109;
of Morris house, 109;
of houses No. 6504 Germantown Avenue and No. 701 South Seventh Street, 110;
of house No. 709 Spruce Street, 111;
of house No. 5200 Germantown Avenue, 111;
of house No. 4927 Frankford Avenue, 111, 112;
of the Powel house, 112, 113;
of house No. 301 South Seventh Street, 114;
of Grumblethorpe, 114;
of house No. 6105 Germantown Avenue, 114, 115;
of Corinthian order, 115;
of Dr. Denton's house, 115;
of Mount Pleasant, 116;
having complete entablature above fanlight surmounted by pediment, 116;
Tuscan, 116;
Doric, 116;
of Cliveden, 117, 118;
fine specimen of mutulary Doric, 117;
of Solitude, 118;
of Perot-Morris house, 118, 119;
of Upsala, 121;
of Henry house, 121;
of house No. 224 South Eighth Street, 122, 123;
of Stenton, earliest instance of side lights in Philadelphia, 123, 124;
round-arched, 124;
examples of round-arched, 124, 125;
of Mount Vernon, 174;
round-headed, 192, 193;
of Congress Hall, 208

Doric, doorway, 35, 88, 116, 117, 151, 200;
inspiration, in Morris house, 110;
columns, 112, 120;
capitals, 116;
architrave, 120;
entablature, 162, 214;
cornice, 191, 219;
apartment, 203, 204;
frieze, 219;
mutulary, 117, 162, 200, 203, 214, 219

Dormers of Hope Lodge, 23;
of Stenton, 26;
of Port Royal House, 35;
pedimental, of city blocks, 39;
of Morris house, 48;
shed-roof, of Livezey house, 56;
of Upsala, 59;
of Grumblethorpe, 61;
of Mount Pleasant, 73;
of house No. 5442 Germantown Avenue, 77;
of Vernon, 80;
of Loudoun, 81;
of Solitude, 83;
of Cliveden, 88;
of Bartram House, 94;
of the Johnson house, 95;
of Green Tree Inn, 97;
of the Billmeyer house, 99;
pedimental or gable-roofed, segmental topped,
lean-to or shed-roofed, 139-141

Dots and dashes, 180

Douglass, David, 14

Drama, introduced into Philadelphia, 14

Drilled rope, 180, 181

Drop handles, 106, 117

Drops, 159

Dunkin, Ann, 49

Dutch seats, 94

Eastwick, Andrew, 95

Eaves, 60, 61, 96

Egg and dart motive, 175, 176, 177, 203

Eighth and Spruce streets, house at, doorway of, 124;
stoop of, 129

Elfret Alley, 41

English Classic style of architecture. _See_ GEORGIAN

Entablature, 40;
of Loudoun, 81;
Ionic, 112, 113;
Corinthian, 115;
above fanlight, 116;
recessed, 118;
Doric, 120, 214;
of Mount Pleasant, 162, 164;
at Cliveden, 165;
at Upsala, 180;
at house No. 729 Walnut Street, 183;
at Independence Hall, 203

Entrances, of Hope Lodge, 23;
of Stenton, 27;
characteristic, 40;
of Upsala, 60;
of Grumblethorpe, 62;
of The Woodlands, 65;
of the Billmeyer house, 98;
house associated with, 101;
of the Morris house, 109.
_See_ DOORWAYS, PORCHES.

Estates of the countryside of Philadelphia, 15

Evans house, windows of, 137, 138;
dormers of, 140;
shutters and blinds of, 144, 145, 146

Façade, of Woodford, 19;
of Hope Lodge, 23;
of Morris house, 48;
of Upsala, 59, 60;
of Grumblethorpe, 61;
of Mount Pleasant, 73;
of Vernon, 79;
of Cliveden, 88;
of The Highlands, 91;
of Bartram House, 94;
of Independence Hall, 199