The Presidents House in Philadelphia: the Rediscovery of a Lost Landmark
The Presidents House in Philadelphia: The Rediscovery of a Lost Landmark I R MORE THAN 150 YEARS there has been confusion about the fPresident's House in Philadelphia (fig. 1), the building which served s the executive mansion of the United States from 1790 to 1800, the "White House" of George Washington and John Adams. Congress had named Philadelphia the temporary national capital for a ten-year period while the new Federal City (now Washington, D.C.) was under con- struction, and one of the finest houses in Philadelphia was selected for President Washington's residence and office. Prior to its tenure as the President's House, the building had housed such other famous (or infamous) residents as proprietary governor Richard Penn, British general Sir William Howe, American general Benedict Arnold, French consul John Holker, and financier Robert Morris. Historians have long recognized the importance of the house, and many have attempted to tell its story, but most of them have gotten the facts wrong about how the building looked when Washington and Adams lived there, and even about where it stood. 1 am indebted to John Alviti, Penelope Hartshorne Batcheler, George Brighitbill, Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel Burt, Jeffrey A- Cohen, William Creech, David Dashiell, Scott DeHaven, Susan Drinan, Kenneth Fmkel, Jeffrey Faherty, Marsha Fritz, Kristen Froehlich, Roy Harker, Sharon Ann Holt, Sue Keeler, Roger G. Kennedy, Bruce Laverty, Edward Lawler, Sr., Jack and Alice-Mary Lawler, Joann Lawler, Andrea Ashby Lerari, Mark Fraze Lloyd, Barbara A. McMillan, Jefferson M. Moak, Howell T. Morgan, Gene Morris, Roger W. Moss, C.
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