Old Philadelphia: Redevelopment and Conservation Author(S): William E

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Old Philadelphia: Redevelopment and Conservation Author(s): William E. Lingelbach Source: Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 93, No. 2, Studies of Historical Documents in the Library of the American Philosophical Society (May 16, 1949), pp. 179-207 Published by: American Philosophical Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3143438 Accessed: 30-08-2018 19:04 UTC

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This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms OLD PHILADELPHIA: REDEVELOPMENT AND CONSERVATION

WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH

Librarian, American Philosophical Society; Professor Emeritus of Modern European History, University of Pennsylvania

FEDERAL STATE AND CITY PLANS a National Shrine in accordance with the terms

THE extraordinary awakening of ofcivic a contract interest between the city and the Department in Old Philadelphia in the last decade of the seems Interior. now Two years later, in 1945, Governor to have emerged from the blueprint stage.Martin Federal, and the Legislature at Harrisburg, al- state, and city governments have not ready only concerned inaug- about the lack of dignified ap- urated projects of rehabilitation and proaches conservation, to Independence Hall, and the fire haz- but they are coordinating their respective ards from antiquated pro- buildings on the north, were grams where historic structures and induced sites to are set in-aside a sum of from four to eight volved, in accordance with approved million canons dollars forof a great Concourse, or Mall, be- city planning. The movement, which tween Fifth has and at- Sixth Streets from Race Street tained real momentum, has been years at the in Delaware develop- River bridgehead to Independence ing. Many private citizens, cooperating Square. By thewith acquisition of the properties in civic and patriotic oranizations, have these been nine increas- city blocks, and their demolition to ingly active in their efforts to arouse make public room opin- for landscaping, parking, and the re- ion to a sense of the opportunities, construction as well as of the historic buildings, an appropriate responsibilities, in Old Philadelphia, and particularly dignified approach to the National Shrine in and about Independence Square. from the north will be created. For a time, prog- In December 1942 a City Planning ress Commission on the project, which is now under the direc- was created by an ordinance of Citytion of Council. the Departments of Highways, and of While its duties, as defined in the Forestsordinance, and Waters, are was delayed because of the largely advisory, it has, under the chairmanship hardships incident of to dispossessing owners and our fellow-member, Edward Hopkinson, tenants Jr., at a beentime of intense housing shortage very influential, not only in promoting Early in a December,large- however, Mayor Samuel re- scale program for the development ported of the to CouncilPhila- that a complete agreement as to delphia metropolitan area, but also emphasizing procedure on the the North Mall had been reached extraordinary opportunities for rehabilitation between the city and and the state with the under- conservation in Old Philadelphia, and standing in securing that the state would spend between seven through Mayor Samuel municipal cooperationand eight million in dollars on the Concourse, the De- the execution of the federal and state partment projects of Highways in widening Fifth and Sixth the historic areas of the city. Earlier Streets, in the and same the Department of Forests and year, a group of nearly one hundred Waters interested securing the properties in the area from persons, many of them representatives Chestnut of to fifty- Race Streets for redevelopment and two civic and patriotic organizations, the mettransformation in the of the area into a park. In a Hall of the American Philosophical Society and letter submitting the draft of an ordinance, the organized the "Independence Hall Association." chairman of the City Planning Commission, and Under the direction of Judge Edwin the Director 0. Lewis of Public as WNorks said: President, a vigorous campaign, carried on with great energy, perseverance, and political Completion wisdom, of the Independence Mall will provide an during the past six years, has resulted impressive in stimulat- approach to Independence Hall and a set- ing official action in several important ting worthy directions. of that great historic shrine. It will con- Within a year, Independence Square stitute was a major made advance in the city's program for the redevelopment of the older areas of the city, and in 1 Officers of the Association were: Hon. Edwin 0. conjunction with the authorized Independence Na- Lewis, President; Miss Frances A. Wister, Roy F. Lar- son, and William E. Lingelbach, Vice-Presidents; Edward tional Historical Park and other contemplated projects M. Biddle, Treasurer; and D. Knickerbocker Boyd, Ex- in the vicinity will result in major improvements of ecutive Director. the surrounding area. PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, VOL. 93, NO. 2, MAY, 1949 179

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Meanwhile, the urgent need of improving The four the separate areas which are to constitute rest of the environment of Independence the Independence Square, National Historical Park as de- especially the approaches from the east, scribed as ain com-the Act are: first, the three city blocks plement to the North Mall, was vigorously between Walnuturged and Chestnut from Fifth to Sec- upon Pennsylvania representatives at Washington,ond Streets; second, a memorial thoroughfare through whom an act was passed empowering from the south the side of Walnut Street to the north President to appoint a commission sideto beof Manningcalled Street; third, the site of the the "Philadelphia National Shrines residencePark Com- of Benjamin Franklin, called Franklin mission." The Commission was duly appointed,Court; and fourth, Christ Church and certain land and began work promptly.2 Numerous and meetingsbuildings adjacent to it. Sections 2, 3, 4, and were held, and a report on a thorough 5 dealsurvey with theof execution, or "furtherance of the the area was made.3 Armed with this generalReport, purposes" the of the Act-among others, a Commission enlisted the cooperation ofprovision Pennsyl- for an "advisory commission not to vania congressmen, the Department of exceed the elevenInte- members." The last section pro- rior and the National Park Service in videsthe forpassage an appropriation not to exceed $4,435,- of a bill which was signed by the President 000 for the acquisitionin of the properties in the April 1948. Known as respective areas. To complete the picture it should be recalled that at different times in recent PUBLIC LAW 795-80TH CONGRESS [H.R. 5053] years the Federal Government, through the De- An Act partment of the Interior and its National Parks To provide for the establishment of the Independence Service, has also acquired possession, or partial National Historical Park, and for other purposes. control, of several historic sites-Old Swedes, the Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre-Old Custom House, and Independence Square. seltatizes of the United States of America in Con-The historic sections in Old Philadelphia in gress assembled, That, for the purpose of preserving the federal and state projects are clearly indicated for the benefit of the American people as a national on the accompanying plan (fig. 1). The North historical park certain historical structures and Mall, prop- as conceived by the engineers and archi- erties of outsanding national significance located in tects, is a two-way tree-lined boulevard from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and associated with the American Revolution and the founding and growth Independence Hall (A) north to the Delaware of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior River Bridgehead. The East Mall starts on Fifth following the consummation of agreements with Street the directly opposite Independence Square, its city of Philadelphia and the Carpenters' Company axis passingof the Old Custom House (B), encir- Philadelphia as prescribed in section 2 of this clingAct, isCarpenters' Hall (C) and the Girard Bank authorized to acquire by donation or with donated (D) and then swinging south passing the Mer- funds, or to acquire by purchase, any propery, chants'real or Exchange (E). It is expected that even- personal, within the following-described areas, such tually all the properties between Walnut and park to be fully established as the 'Independence Na- tional Historical Park" when, in the opinion of Chestnut, the and Fifth and Second Streets will be Secretary, title to sufficient of the lands and interests taken over by the federal government. While in lands within such areas, shall be vested in the the Old Custom House (B) has been in the cus- United States: Provided, That the park shall not be tody of the Department of the Interior since 1939. established until title to the First United States Bank the large new Custom House (F) on the cor- property, the M erchants' Exchange property, the ner of Chestnut and Second, although within the Bishop White house, the Dilworth-Todd-Moylan area described, is not included in the proposed house, and the site of the Benjamin Franklin house, park. Franklin Court (G), a strip of one hun- together with two-thirds of the remaining lands and interests in lands within the following-described dred feet in width, starts from the north side of areas shall have been vested in the United States. Chestnut Street and runs to Market (High) Street. Christ Church (H) stands on Second Street 2The members of the Commission: Mr. George Mc- north of Market and has no direct contact with Aneny, Hon. Robert N. McGarvey, Hon. Hugh Martin Morris, Hon. Francis Myers, Dr. Carl Van Doren, Mr. either the East or North Mall. The large squares Albert M. Greenfield, Vice-Chairman, Hon. Edwin 0. at the top and bottom on the left of the plan are Lewis, Chairman. Franklin Square and Washington Square, two of "Final Report to the United States Congress" by The Philadelphia National Shrines Park Commission the five open spaces provided by Penn for his (Manuscript). "greene towne." Of all the areas under consider-

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This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 182 WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

ation Independence Square, with its butsuperb was then group the Pennsylvania State House. It of colonial buildings, is unique, and wouldproperly still be themerely the old State House if inde- center with which the others are all to pendence be definitely had not been achieved and if the Constitu- integrated. The remarkable role of tionthis had historic not been ratified and put into effect. The square in the stirring formative events noble ofbuilding, the sona- venerable to later ages, might not even have survived, but might have been swept away tion's history is so well known that any attempt at in the surging growth of a modern city. In that case, summary would be superfluous. Nevertheless,a few students of history would sometimes remember Dr. Carl Van Doren's preface to the the final site asreport the stage of those lost causes. Instead, of the Philadelphia National Shrines Pennsylvania's Park Com- State House has become Independence mission to the United States Congress Hall isfor so the perti- entire United States. Nor is that all. nent that, with his permission, the Onfollowing account of ex- the Declaration of Independence, it cerpts are repeated here: is a shrine honored wherever the rights of men are honored. On account of the Constitution, it is a The United States was created in Philadelphia on shrine cherished wherever the principles of self-gov- July 4, 1776, when the Continental Congress ernment on voted a federal scale are cherished. the final form of the Declaration of Independence. The United States was perpetuated on September Speaking of 17, the Constitutional Convention, he 1787, when the Federal Convention completedadds: its work on the Constitution and referred it, through Congress, to the individual states for ratification. In the white-paneled room familiar to most of them, Both these great decisions were made the in best the minds same of Amierica had given themselves to chamber in what is now called Independence Hall, the cause of the United States for the past thirteen

FIG. 2. Independence Hall, 1876. Engraving by Poleni.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 183 years. No other deliberative chamber has orever the been usual geographical area, in which historic the scene of so much public courage and sites political and buildings are located. It is the old wisdom. This room is the tap root of American Quaker lifecity, developed during the century and a and history. ... half after its founding by William Penn on a well- Tall buildings look down on Independence Hall and chosen site between two rivers-the Delaware the other ancient structures in the Square and neigh- and the Schuylkill-with a beautiful country to the borhood, but cannot overshadow their plain honorable dignity. Abraham Lincoln, speaking at Independ- west and north as perfectly adapted to the manorial' ence Hall on Washington's birthday in the troubled system as was the city proper, with its fine water- year 1861, said what many have felt but nobody else front, to commerce and industry. With its rec- so well expressed. tangular street system, a central square of ten "I am filled with deep emiotion at finding myiself acres, and four others of eight acres each, it was standing in this place, where were collected together the first formally planned city in the British the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, Colonies. Its growth was rapid. Although from which sprang the institutions under which we founded sixty years after New York, and half a live . . ." century after Boston, it soon outstripped them, and Independence Hall and the familiar became Square the first re- city of the American Colonies, main today a symbol of freedom with and a population liberty of forty thousand, second only throughout the world. But despite to London its gloriousin the British Empire at the beginning past, and the great historic events ofassociated the Revolution. with Referring to it in his "Pro- it, the section of Old Philadelphia inposal" which for the it founding lies, of the Philosophical So- has been neglected for years. Happily, the ciety in 1743, Franklin suggested: Square itself, with its fine group of buildings, That Philadclphia being the City nearest the Center has been an outstanding exception. But even of the Continent-Colonies, communicating with all of the nation's most historic shrine received no for- them northward and southward by Post, and with all mal recognition by the federal government until the Islands by Sea, and having the Advantage of a the action of 1943, just mentioned. Owned and good growing Library be the Center of the Society. built by the State, and known as the State House. Franklin knew his Philadelphia. As postmaster at the beginning of the Revolution, it soon became for the colonies, he knew the other American cities. known as Independence Hall. In 1816 the city andl was, therefore, able to make comparisons bought it for seventy thousand dollars-a financial better than any other man. Although the city and spiritual investment unequalled in the history of American cities. A later proposal to sell the may not have been officially declared the capital of the country, it was the seat of the govern- Square fortunately came to nothing, and the city still holds the formal deed executed in 1816. ment during mnost of the Revolution and the decade from 1790 to 1800, and the real metropolis of the Since then, Philadelphia has protected it, and al- nation till the second decade of the nineteenth cen- though it has at times given it somewhat grudging care, the city has performed an inestimable tury. serv- It was noted for its schools, colleges, hos- pitals; its preeminence in science and medicine; its ice in preserving the Independence Hall group for posterity. It is difficult to imagine Philadelphia. libraries, among them the old Library Company, or the nation, without Independence Square, started or by Franklin "to bring books to every to realize the loss, even though unconscious citizen," it the Library of the American Philosophical Society, designed more particularly for scientific might be, to many thousands 4 of Americans and foreigners, who visit the city annually to and find scholarly ends; popular bookshops, famous pleasure and inspiration in the environment bookof the auctions, artists' supply shops catering to artists like Charles VVillson Peale, Gilbert Stuart. historic Square (fig. 2). and others; and an amazing number of fine HISTORIC OLDI) PHILADEILPHIA churches of every faith-Protestant, Catholic, and But Old Philadelphia is not confined Jewish-allto Inde- enjoying the broad religious tolera- tion established by the Founder; two theaters; and pendence Square. Neither is it just another city, the first great natural history museum in America. 4 The number of visitors has been growing steadily Its homes and places of business were usually till it now approximates a million annually. Significant also is the fact, that during the war years the number of of red brick. Those that stand today-and there adults, especially among the armed forces, was very are surprisingly many-speak quite as eloqently noticeable. as do the journals, contemporary newspapers,

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 184 WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC diaries, and correspondence preserved THEin manu-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY script or early imprints in our libraries and ar- AND THE PROGRAM chives, of the extraordinary intellectual While and cul-federal, state, and city plans for rehabili- tural life of this busy industrial and commercial tation and conservation in Old Philadelphia have city. an import that is both national and international in As the crisis with the mother country drew near. character, the local and community aspects of the the political ferment became intense. Although program should not be overlooked. Even in these the Loyalist element was strong, the atmosphere United States, the inauguration and execution of was on the whole as highly charged with the revo- civic improvements may readily assume a certain lutionary spirit as that of any other city in the paternalistic character not unlike that which pre- Colonies. There were many "patriots in purple," vailed in the great modernization of Vienna in many more among the city's large middle class. the 1860's, and of Paris by Baron Haussmann and many more still in "leather aprons." The under Napoleon III and the Second Empire. city quickly became the principal stage for the The interest of the American Philosophical Society momentous political drama in which the proclama- tion of the Declaration of Independence and the in the development of the national heritage, and adoption of the Constitution were so conspicuous. its lively interest in the program described above, Eight of the signers were from Philadelphia. form a happy illustration of the democratic proc- Among the members of the American Philosophi- ess at work through a scientific and scholarly cal Society, fifteen signed the Declaration, while society in support of that heritage. In addition to this broader basis for its concern for the success twenty served as delegates to the Constitutional Convention. of the program, however the Society has several No other city contributed so much to the de- very practical reasons for its interest in the velopment of a national attitude of mind-the reclamation plans for Old Philadelphia. American as opposed to the colonial of New The Society traces its origin to Benjamin England or of the South. In all this, the American Franklin and his famous "Proposal" for the for- Philosophical Society was an effective ally. As mation of a Society to be called "The .41Amricani Van Wyck Brooks expresses it in The Wlorld of Philosophical Society." Organized in 1743. after Washington Irving, in a paragraph following the the pattern of the Royal Society, it was not very enumeration of the great men that gathered in active till 1768, when rivalry with another Society. Philadelphia: "TThe .4niericaii Society for P-romotting rTsefzul

There was the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society and the most distinguished; 1. Independence Hall 2. and it was generally known that Franklin had first Congress Hall 3. Old City Hall and Supreme Court Building created, in founding this, the public opinion of the 4. American Philosophical Society Hall country. He had brought together the leading minds 5. The Old Customs House of all the colonies, giving them a forum and a focus, 8. Meeting House of Free Quakers so that a web of correspondence, spreading north. 10. St. Joseph's Church south, east and west, distributed fresh ideas through 11. Christ Church all the regions. 12. Carpenters' Hall Largely by means of this society, the American 13. The Girard Bank mind had found itself and knew it was no longer the 15. The Merchants Exchange New England mind or the Southern mind but the 18. The Powell House mind of a nation in posse and partly in csse. 19. St. Peter's Church 20. Market Head House All of the public buildings and churches that 25. The Philip Syng Physick House 26. survive, and many of the private houses are rich The Shippen-Wistar House 27. Site of the First Presbyterian Church in their associations with the great men and 28. The Pennsylvania Hospital events of this period of the nation's history. This, and the fact that many of the survivals are in Three sites on the south side of High (Market) Street from Seventh to Third Streets: the house where themselves artistically and architecturally beauti- Jefferson wrote the Declaration (Seventh and ful, constitute a basis for rehabilitation and con- Market Sts.); Washington's Executive Mansion, servation in city planning that is unequalled in between Fifth and Sixth Streets; and Franklin Court, this country (fig. 3). off Market Street between Third and Fourth Streets.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms FIG. 3. Old Philadelphia-Central Area, looking south. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.)

185

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Knowledge held at Philadelphia" seemed to Anid iWhereas nations truly civilized (however un- awaken its latent energies. Early in 1769, after happily at variance on other accounts) will never a rather hectic race by both of these organizations wage war with the Arts and Sciences, and the com- to increase their membership, the two Societies mon Interests of humanity: united to form "The American Philosophical So- Be it f,rlther enacted by the anlthority aforesaid, ciety held at Philadelphia for Promoting Useful That it shall andi may be lawful for the said Society Knowledge." Franklin was at once elected presi- by their proper officers, at all times, whether in peace or war, to correspond with learned Societies, as well dent, and annually thereafter till his death in 1790. as individual learned men, of any nation or country, He was succeeded by America's famous astrono- upon matters merely belonging to the business of the mer, David Rittenhouse: At his death in 1796, said Society, such as the mutual commiunication of Thomas Jefferson was chosen president to be re-their discoveries and proceedings in Philosophy and elected annually for the next eighteen years." Science; the procuring books, apparatus, natural The Charter and early acts of the American curiosities, and such other articles and intelligence Philosophical Society are shot through and as are usually exchanged between learned bodies, for through with the ideals and principles which these furthering their commlon pursuits; Provided always, early presidents of the Society did so much to That such correspondence of the said Society be at formulate and incorporate into the political and all times open to the inspection of the Supreme Exe- cutive Council of this Commonwealth. cultural life of the nation. Granted in 1780, while the Revolution was still in progress, the Charter Space does not permit even a sketchy review of emphasizes the universality of science, and the im- the manner in which the principles of the Charter portance of the freedom of research and com- were iml)lemented in the policies and activities of munication. The preamble reads in part: the Society in the decades following the Revolu- . . the experience of ages shows that improvements tion. Reference may, however, be made in passing of a public nature, are best carried on by societies to the growth of an intense interest in everything of liberal and ingenious men, uniting their labours, American, in which nationalism at times threatened without regard to nation, sect or party, in one grand the broader outlook of sicence. The Society be- pursuit, alike interesting to all, whereby mutual preju- came the mnother of a number of other societies dices are worn off, a humane and philosophical spirit and associations like the Historical Society of is cherished, and youth are stimulated to a laudable Pennsylvania (1824), and the Academy of Natural diligence and emulation in the pursuit of wisdom, .Sciences . . (1812). In the last war, it fostered and Even more pertinent are the statements in the last housed the Pennsylvania Commission for the sections of the Charter: Conservation of Cultural Resources under the chairmanship of the writer, and contributed ma- 5 For a succinct and understanding history of the So- terially to the development of local history society, see Conklin, E. G., Brief history of the American Philosophical Society, Yr. Bk. Ai;mer. Philos. Soc. forcieties amonlg junior, and senior high school stu- 1946: 7-26, 1947, and since. (lents throughout the state. A\ little over a year

FI;. 4. Independence Square looking east from Sixth Street. 4. Hall of the American Philosophical Society. 5. The Philadelphia Library Company. Coltumbian Magazine, 1790.

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This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 188 WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC ago, it gave a grant of four thousand many dollars William to- Penn documents (fig. 6); the dia- ward the development of a nationwide ries,program and letter-booksby of Charles Willson Peale; the National Association for State and Local the original journals of Lewis and Clark; and History. other more recent manuscript collections like the From these illustrations of the Society's con- Elihu Thomson (fig. 7) and the Boas Papers. cern for the perpetuation of the American heritage, it is obvious that a keen interest in the plans for PHILOSOPHICAL HALL the rehabilitation and conservation of Old Phila- Physical evidence of the Society's understand- delphia would be assured from the beginning. ing of, and cooperation in, the rehabilitation and Indeed the Society has already taken the lead conservation in of Old Philadelphia appears in its carrying the program into effect by putting decisionits to restore the Hall to its original ap- own house in order, as it were, in restoring pearance,its and thus bring it again in line archi- Hall to its original condition. To appreciate this, tecturally with the other buildings on Independ- it must be recalled that for the entire period enceof Square. The import of this decision appears its existence, the Society's home has been in clearlythe when it is considered in connection with heart of Old Philadelphia (fig. 4). Its Hall, built the alterations to the Hall in 1890 by imposing by Franklin and his friends, is the only privately a heavy third story superstructure on its modest owned building on Independence Square. From eighteenth century building (cp. figs. 8 and 9). the beginning its Library has been collecting and At the meeting of the Society in January 1890, conserving the publications of scientific andthe one hundredth anniversary year of Franklin's learned societies at home and abroad, and the death, the Minutes record that the President was ,writings of statesmen, scholars, and scientists of authorized to appoint a committee to ascertain if the colonial and early national periods. It has additional space for the Library could be obtained much the largest collection of the original manu- in the vicinity of the Hall.6 On April 18, the scripts of Benjamin Franklin (fig. 5); a great Committee known as- "The Committee on Ex- tended Accomodations" reported that,

they have carefully considered various propositions referred to them; and after due deliberation, con- cluded to request from J. M. Wilson Esq., architect plans for the alteration of the present building, such as would render it completely fire-proof, harmonise A ' WI ar' with its surroundings, [italics are mine] and provide for the Society's needs as well as its prospective ones for a period of at least twenty years to come.

Mr. Wilson's plans were submitted and approved (; by a vote of 21 to 5, at a special meeting called for that purpose on April 25, and the Committee was ordered to "proceed with the business." This was apparently done with considerable dispatch as shown by the following note between the minutes ; .. ' '7; for May 16 and November 7:

About the beginning of June the Society tempo- .. / O. rarily removed and stored its possessions, library etc., etc. and vacated its building to enable alterations to be J.. 6 .7 made that would render the same more commodious - ,~: .:' and fire-proof. The interior was remodeled, the two Southern meeting rooms thrown into one, as also were the two Northern rooms, and a new third story to contain the books and mss. of the Society was added. No meeting was held until November 7, 1890.

6 Amer. Philos. Soc. Ms. Minutes, 1879-1892, 323, FIG. 6. Penn Cash Book. et passim.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 189

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FIG. 7. Circular family letter, Elihu Thomson.

The Society came together in the new meeting The committee room. appointed to consider the propriety Present 31 members .... of raising an additional Story to the Society's Hall, are of opinion that if the plan proposed were ex- At the stated meeting on April 3, 1891, the ecuted the external appearance of the building would Trustees of the Building Fund reported on be the injured. ex- . . . ecution of the instructions voted on April 25, 1890. for the sale of certain securities held by the In passingSo- it may be mentioned that during the ciety to defray the expenses of remodeling decade the of 1890 Independence Square narrowly Hall.7 escaped a more serious intrusion in the form of a The addition violated all accepted archaeological large equestrian statue of Washington in the and architectural canons, and reflected a curious flamboyant style of the period, presented by the disregard for the environment of the historic Society of the Cincinnati. The agitation of several Square. It is all the more surprising, because patriotic organizations, and a number of petitions years earlier the Minutes tell of a similar proposal against the plan convinced a reluctant Mayor and which was roundly denounced by a Special Com- Council to abandon the project. The Washington mittee composed of the Librarian John Vaughan. monument has found a suitable place on the Frank- William Strickland, and Peter S. Du Ponceau. lin Parkway, and the colonial dignity and sim- In their report under date of Dec. 5, 1823. they plicity of Independence Square, now that the said: Society's Hall is being remodeled, will be un- [ bid., 351. spoiled by any inappropriate additions save one.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 190 9WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC.

The period of "twenty years," mentioned by the Committee in 1890, passed rapidly, and nearly twenty more before the Society's "prospective needs," as they appeared at the time, so over- crowded the "extended accommodations,"' that more space was absolutely necessary. This, and the recognition of the fact that the fire hazard had become very serious, was greatly stressed in the late twenties of the present century, in the campaign to remove from the Square altogetherl sell the Hall to the city, and estallish the Society on the new Parkway. Fortunately, the plans were abandoned, the Society cleci(ling to continue per- manently in its old home. But the Library continued to grow. M [any books, and especially manuscripts, had to be kept FIG. 9. Philosophical Hall, 1890-1948. in dead storage. Finally, in 1934, new quarters Plans for sweeping alterations in the interior as well as the exterior of the Hall were discussed and submitted, and, after certaiii modifications, they were adopted by the Council, and referred to the Society for its approval at the Annual Meeting in April 1948. By a unanimous vote, the plans were approved, and the Officers authorized to proceed with the work as promptly as possible, the cost to be defrayed out of the Building Fund.8 Work was started iimmediately. During the year, the ad(lition was taken ldown and rapid progress made in remodleling the interior, installing new electric wiring, new heating and ventilating systems, and t= mirp'IMP-T!"' a large fire-proof vault in the basement. But in spite of these tangilble improvements, and the modernization of the Hall, the plan would be open FI;. 8. Philoso)phical Hall, before 1890. to serious criticisml because of the loss of already s Minutes of the Annual Meeting. April 22. 1948. were found in the formier homie of the Phila- delphia Stock Exchange, across the street from the Hall. For the time being, this removed the pressure for space. On the other hand, ideas as to what constitutes a fire-proof building had become more rigid, and, what is equally important, tastes and canons as to alterations to historical buildings, especially in an environment such as Independence Square, had become embarrassingly exacting. These two factors, especially the latter, weighed heavily in the decision to restore' the Hall to its original lines. At the Annual Meeting of the Society, in 1946, it was voted to remove the third story and re- model the interior making it as fire-proof as possible. During the following year the Officers and the Committee on the Hall conferred frequently FIG. on 10. Philosophical Hall undergoing restoration, the subject with Mr. Sydney Maartin, the architect. 1948-1949.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 191 limited space and the lieavy outlay at a time wheln /t- building costs are skyrocketing, if it were not motivated, as it were, by the determination Charles of the Society to cooperate in every way in 'THoyjonthe rehabilitation and conservationo program. As the late President Gates expressed it in his Annual Report onl April 22, 1948: o\ oo* The develop)ments to the north and east ('of Inde- pendence Square are, of course, of vital imlportance to the Society, and your'officers have kept in close touch with both State and Federal authorities with con- ad' stant conferenlces so that we may be aware of and assist in every way we can in the fulfillment of the N projectedl park and areas involved. Your officers have had the benefit of the helpful and complete cooperation of the authorities pressing forward the federal project under the leadership of Judge Edwinl 0. Lewis; with the City Planning Commlission under the leadership of its chairman, Edward Hopkinson, Jr. Your Presidenlt appeared before the Colmmittee on Public Lands in Washington on March 1 in company with these gentlemen and others, in urging that steps ahlead be taken as promptly as possible. The report of the coimmittee appointed to consider the matter is of noteworthy value, laying emphasis upon the public relationship our Society bears toward the country at large and the significance of the development as a national shrine....

FRANKLIN COURT

One of the projects of the Ildel)endence National Histor- ical Park in which the Society ,i has a very particular interest is Franklin Court. It is the ;. 1 site of Franklin's home in FI (;. 12. Franklin Court before 1786. (Courtesy of which the Society occasionlly Fred J. Gorman.) imet during the last years of his life; where he was escorted lby tance from the nlain house, which stood in the FIc. 11. his, enthusiastic countrymen center of Franklin Court as it was called later. when he returned froin France A rich and important group of primary sources ini 1785; and where Washington called to pay his relating to Franklin Court is found in the So- respects in 1787, upon his arrival in Plhiladelphia ciety's Library. There are early patents, leases, to attend the Constitutional Convention. and deeds, the earliest one under date of 7 April, The site is oin Market (High) Street in the 1707, being a patent from WAilliam Penn, through middle of the llock between Third and Fourth his Commissioners of Property, to Henry Hayes Streets. By an inheritance from Deborah's forpa- a plot of ground situated in Philadelphia be- rents, Franklin had acquired one of the lots. tween High and Chestnut and Third and Fourth The others were secured by purchases. As Streets.shown There is a "deed of 10 April, 1734, from in the accompanying plan (fig. 12), the entrance Sarah Read to Benjamin Franklin and his wife wras by a driveway immllediately to the east of for lot on south side of High Street . . . recorded Charles Thomson's lot and the rear of the popular Febr. 21, 1757." But these documents on the hostelry, the Indian Queen. At the turn of the location of the lots, and the acquisition of the land drive onl the left was the coach house, a little dis- on which Franklin built his home and at least four

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 192 1AWILLIAM E. IINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC. other houses, are rather spotty, and (which the recordcost much more than I was made to ex- has to be pieced together from sources pect) ."found in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds, the Sur- Before going abroad, in 1765, he arranged with veyor's Office, and other depositories. In aMessrs. Foxcroft to supply Deborah ?30 a month, thorough search under the auspices of the Phila- which, as he wrote her in 1771, he thought suf- delphia National Shrines Park Commission, Mr. ficient, when added to the "rent from seven Fred J. Gorman has assembled the materials for houses" which she was also receiving. A close the history of what might be called, the real estate friend, and member of the Junto, and later mayor aspect of Franklin's properties on High Street. of the city, Samuel Rhoads, was entrusted with Of greater interest to many, however, than the overseeing the erection of the building. From his records of land transfers, surveys and the like, records, is Franklin's Receipt Book of 1764-1766,10 the evidence on the house and the layout of Frank- a volume of Miscellaneous Accounts, and other lin Court in which it stood. Here, too, some of sources, it appears that Rhoads acted on behalf of the problems are quite baffling. Despite the fact Franklin and Deborah in the building of the house, that Franklin, the most widely-known American paying bills, engaging David Rose to supply bricks, in the world, himself designed the house and ar- Will Anlderson to do the plastering, and David ranged to have the plans carried out, no adequate Beard to dig the well. There is a good deal about plans of the interior, or front or rear elevations the cost of labor, and what, in the parlance of tohave been found.9 The family occupied the house day, would be called sub-contracts for masonry, continually from the time it was built in 1765. In brick work, building of the brick wall along three 1775, on his return from England, Franklin joined sides of the court, etc. them, and the place became the center of intense Somewhat more direct is the factual survey in political activity after the news of Lexington andthe records of the first colonial insurance company Concord reached Philadelphia. The next year he-"The Philadelphia Contributionship for the In- left for France where he remained for nine and a surance of Houses and Loss by Fire," which half years, returning in September of 1785. The Franklin helped to found. The survey dated remaining five years of his life he occupied the August 5, 1766 (cp. fig. 13), describes it as a home in Franklin Court, surrounded by his building thirty-four feet square, of three stories, daughter's family and his many friends. with fourteen inch outside walls, nine inch brick Fortunately there is a great deal of incidental in- partitions on the easternmost part of the house to formation on which an approximate description of the garret floor, and three rooms on a floor. the house can be based. The fact that Franklin In a letter of September 21, 1786 Franklin left for England the year after work on the build- wrote to his sister, Jane Mecom, concerning an ing was begun, made it necessary for him to keep addition to his house: in touch with it by correspondence. More than a score of letters between Franklin and Deborah I had begun to build two good Houses next the in the Society's Franklin Papers testify to his con- Street instead of three old Ones which I pulled down. tinued concern, not only in the construction of Butthe my Neighbour disputing my Bounds, I have been building, but in its furnishings and other appoint- obliged to postpone till that Dispute is settled by Law. ments. Among numerous letters to others, there In the mean time, the Workmen & Materials being are several to his favorite sister, Jane Mecom, ready, I have ordered an Addition to the House I which, like the Autobiography', give considerable live in, it being too small for our growing Family. detail about the addition to his home and the IThere are a good many Hands emplov'd. and I hope construction of several other houses. In a letter to see it cover'd in before Winter. I propose to written as late as April 27, 1789, to Francis Childs have in it a long Room for my Library and Instru- less than a year before he died, Franklin wrote ments, of with two good Bedchambers and two Garrets. The Library is to be even with the Floor of lmy best his "late heavy Expense in building five houses old Chamber; . . . This Addition is on the Side 9 There is among the Library's Franklin Papers an iext the River. I hardly know how to justify build- intriguing outline of a plan in pencil on the back of aing a Library at an Age that will so soon oblige me receipt for paper under date of May 17, 1764. Too sketchy to be definitive, it does, however, raise doubts t ?Account book of money spent by Samuel Rhoads as to the correctness of the architectural plans developed 1764-1766. Ms. in the possession of the Historical So- some years ago for the Franklin House in Chicago. ciety of Pennsylvania.

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms dst 1 .4A PV'. t ?t e,,

?%<3^/gL^- >'/ f ,-r',fl f /^^- ^^. /y Jff.^ L J/ c>/ttstt//>< 6 /lA2 / .i2 g^^;.. t.,/t;X

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FIG. 13. Survey of Franklin's House. (Courtesy of The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses and Loss by Fire.)

193

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 194 WILLIAM E. LINGELBACH [PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC. to quit it; but we are apt to forget that depth we areof the grown house, the walls lined with books to old, and Building is an Amusement.1l the ceiling, was spoken of as the largest private library of the day. The house stood in the middle Seven months later on May 30, 1787, in response of the garden which, he wrote to a friend, he to her inquiries, he goes into more detail: turned "into grass plots" and gravel walks with Dear Sister: trees, flowers, and shrubs, since the market on In your Letter of March 9, you mention that High you Street now supplied all his needs on that wanted to know all about my Buildings. To the score. East A mulberry tree and several sycamores af- End of my Dwelling-House I have made an fordedAddi- shade for the Court which was surrounded tion of 16 Feet and an half wide and 33 feet long, on three sides by a brick wall, there being no outlet that is the whole Length of the old House, so that the Front and Back of the old and new Building on Chestnut Street to the south (fig. 14). range even, and the Row of Windows, Eaves, and 99tpo Roof are continu'd so as to appear but one Building. A(#.1412CF-I "W - I . Ao..- - /o > L Ii -. - 'OCIA, By this Addition I have gain'd a large Cellar for /11 1o' Y'9" Wood, a Drawing-Room or Dining-Room on the same Level with our old Dining-Room, in which new Room we can dine a Company of 24 Persons, it being 16 feet wide and 3012 long and it has 2 Windows at each End, the North and South, which will make it ,,Pies ^ . Wetr *n #-- i A4. /7tC I an airy Summer Room; and for Winter there is a A7l good Chimney in the Middle, made handsome with marble Slabs. Over this Room is my Library, of the same Dimensions, with like Windows at each End, and lin'd with Books to the Ceiling. Over this are 2 lodging-Rooms: and over all a fine Garret. The Way into the Lower Room is out of the Entry pass- I I ing by the Foot of the Stairs. Into the Library I go C.drl thro' one of the Closets of the old Drawing-Room I or Bed-Chalmber. And into the two new Rooms I I; above thro' a Passage cut off from the Nursery. All !' Crt these Rooms are now finished and inhabited, very much to the Convenience of the Familv, who were before too much crowded. The two new Houses next the Street are three li Stories high, besides the Garrets, and an arch'd Passage is left in the middle between them to come thro' down to my Dwelling, wide enough for a Car- I ; riage; so that I have the old Passage Lot left free to build another House. The two Houses are 24 u

feet front each, and 45 deep. We are all well. and I I join in Love to you and yours. I am ever, your 3 affectionate Brother, B. Franklin.12 / /

1 /

As a result, both the house and the court were S greatly improved. Entrance was now direct from 1

High Street through the arch, and the house, 33' .rM~ io: ki which was originally thirty-four feet square, now ad to had a front of fifty feet, the depth remaining as frl4/,flS . before. In the spacious dining-room on the first Mj floor the American Philosophical Society occa- /7' 6 sionally met when their president's indisposition 33. . ,.... /. . made it too difficult for him to go to the Hall. The library on the second floor extending the full 11 Library of Congress. Papers of Benjamin Franklin, miscellaneous VIII. FIG;. 14. Franklin Court after 1786. (Courtesy of 12Ibid.; Smyth, IX: 589. Fred J. Gorman.)

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Even with these details, the picture Builders, is incom- within the Power of Tradesmen & People plete. Unlike the Shippen-Wistar of mloderateHouse Circumlstances(fig. to imitate & follow.'l 22), the Powell House (fig. 23), and other Even if housesthe document were not in Franklin's which still stand, Franklin Court has hand, to this be feeling re- for the usefulness and social im- created on the basis of the documentary plications materials of the plan would suggest the author. just described. We know little or nothing Nevertheless, al)out its application to his own Franklin the other houses, the two fronting on Court the street,in a relatively short time after his death the one built on the former driveway, would the probablyprinting have come somewhat as a surprise house he built for his grandson, B. even F. toBache, him. In be-the course of the next two de- tween his own home and the backs of the houses cades the court was cut up into no less than on High Street (fig. 14). twenty-seven building lots, and in 1811 Franklin's Evidence that building had a fascination for home was torn down. Franklin has been noted above, and there is ample \\What is needed as a prerequisite for the recla- proof that he approached it with his usual thor- mation of Franklin Court is a carefully planned oughness. In a hitherto unused, and undated. archaeological search for the remains of founda- memorandum on "Mr. Franklin's Piece of Ground tions, cornerstones, the brick wall, and the well; on which he proposed to Build a Dwelling House and a scientific analysis of the style and materials for a small Family . . ." he describes the lot, soil, of the arched passageway to High Street under depth at which water is found, building materials, the two houses Franklin built in 1786 to replace etc., and concludes with a suggestion on cheap three smaller ones. The results should add much houses which is as applicable today as it was twoto the written and printed records. It is a special hundred years ago: task that might well be a first consideration for the Advisory Commission appointed by President The Plan of a House . . . in which Plan. Regard Truman in connection with the Philadelphia Na- is to be had chiefly to these Particulars, Convenience, tional Historical Park. The support and coop- Security against Fire & Cheapness; so that it erationmay of the Historical and Museum Commis- be considered as a kind of Pattern House bv futir'e sion of the State, the American Philosophical So- ciety, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Franklin Institute, and other organizations, will obviously be available to the full extent of their separate capacities.

THE OLD LIBRARY COMPANY SITE

Among the other important historic sites of the P:hiladelphia National Historical Park area is that once occupied by the beautiful building of the Library Company of Philadelphia located on the east side of Fifth Street, almost directly across from the Hall of the Society (cp. fig. 4). Built in 1789, according to plans of Dr. William Thornton (fig. 16), later one of the architects of the national Capitol, it was one of the finest Georgian colonial buildings of the period, quite in harmony with the Independence Square group. Speaking of it in 1793 Moreau de St. MeIry 14 says:

This is situated opposite the Philosophical Society and adds to the beauty of the square on which it fronts. It was, incorporated in 1747, and was originally established by subscription in 1731. It has

13 Amer. Philos. Soc. Franklin Papers. 14 Moreau de St. Mery's Anmerican Journey (1793- FIG. 15. Archway entrance to Franklin Court 1798), 352, tr. and ed. by Kenneth and Anna MA. Roberts, as it is today. N. Y., Doubleday, 1947.

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FIG. 16. The Old Philadelphia Library Company. Birch Print, 1800. fifteen thousand volumes. It is open to the public trance up the double flight of stairs from the daily except Sunday. Books are borrowed by leaving ground level. a sum of mloney as a guarantee of their return, and Often spoken of as Franklin's library, it was to replace them when they are worn out. started in 1731, and the charter of incorporation In 1792 a decree added to this Library the rare and was obtained in 1742. In 1769 several other valuable collection bequeathed to the public by Dr. library groups "were blended with the Library James Logan. The structure of this Library is well Company of Philadelphia, the title conferred upon designed. One enters by a door which opens on a cir- it by the Charter." In a brief "Account of the cular staircase built as a ramp .... Library" in the Catalogue of 1789 is the following In a niche on the front of the building, above the interesting statement: entrance, is a statue of Benjamin Franklin a little larger than life size. He wears a Roman robe .... A spirit of literary improvement made its way among all classes of people, and the philanthropy of The statue to which St. Mery refers is still the in great and amiable character * who suggested the existence. It is of Cararra marble, was executed plan, was gratified by tracing the books as well into by the Italian sculptor, Francesco Lazarrini, the and hands of the opulent, with whom literature is sometimes no more then one of the ornaments of installed in 1792. It would doubtless be available civil life, as among those to whom it renders a more to any approved reconstruction project along substantialwith benefit.15 other objects salvaged when the building was de- * Doctor Franklin. stroyed in 1887, like the ornamental rainspouts 15 A Catalogue of the Books, belonging to the Library and wrought-iron balustrade which led to the Company en- of-Philadelphia, Phila., 1789.

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Franklin's share in initiating the movement for non-attendance for at Board meetings of "two the library, and his continued interest bottles in it ofappears good wine"; consulted with friends and frequently in his correspondence and directors, in the especiallyAuto- the Librarian, Francis Hop- biography. In the latter he tells how, kinson, after on thethe acquisition and loan of books. As experiment by the Junto of "clubbing the our first books circulating to library in America, it func- a common library" he thought of the tioned project on a very for humane basis, as is attested by a library on a larger scale: the extension to William Bartram of the use of And now I set on foot my first project books of withouta public payment of the usual price of a nature, that for a subscription library. share. I drew up the proposals, got them put into form Manyby our of thegreat members of the Company were also scrivener, Brockden, and, by the help of members my friends of the in American Philosophical Society, the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of and forty the intercommunications,shillings as well as the rival- each to begin with, and ten shillings a ries,year werefor fiftynot infrequent. Franklin was devoted years, the term our company was to continue.to the Library, We and towards the end of his life afterwards obtain'd a charter, the company being increased to one hundred: this was the mother of all he suggested that there be enclosed in the corner- the North American subscription libraries, now stone so of the building a scroll with the names of the numerous. It is become a great thing itself, and young men who started the project. In his ex- continually increasing. These libraries have im- cellent "Historical Background" for the Report proved the general conversation of the Americans, of the Com0missioners referred to above, M. J. made the common tradesmen and farmers as intelli- MIcCosker tells of the legend that Franklin's gent as most gentlemen from other countries, and ghost per- was often seen among the books of the Old haps have contributed in some degree to the stand Library so Company. A charming story with many generally made throughout the colonies in defence implications! Among these, the subtle sugges- of their privileges. tion of Franklin's deep respect for books, and the Franklin printed the first catalogue in 1733, dynamicand force of ideas conserved and perpetuated it was his firm that printed the laws in 1746. in our It libraries, merits emphasis here for various was he who induced the directors to impose areasons. fine

FIG. 17. Proposed East Mall, showing Carpenters' Hall, Old Custom House, and New Custom House. (Courtesy of the Fairmount Park Art Association.)

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FIG. 18. Entrance to East Mall as it is today.

The possibility of the restoration by the Ameri- third story to the Hall, it will become imperative. can Philosophical Society of this historical land- Furthermore, in past years, far-seeing members of mark in Old Philadelphia to house our Library the Society, impressed with its future needs, pro- deserves serious consideration. I say "possibility" vided for just this contingency by creating a because there may be other solutions. The Society Building Fund. owns the large lot on the southwest corner of The Founders were not all wealthy men, yet Fourth and Chestnut Streets, located in the Inde- they paid out of their own pockets for the erec- pendence National Park area. Midway between tion of these two beautiful buildings. The Hall of the Square and Franklin Court, it offers attractive the Society still stands as concrete evidence of opportunities of its own. Meanwhile, the expen- their vision and courage. The building of the Old diture of the relatively large sum of money in- Library Company was demolished in 1887. But volved will properly be questioned. At first blush, the site on which it stood will become availalle many will doubtless feel that the money should be when the Commission of the Philadelphia Na- devoted to research. But the priority claims of tional Historical Park carries out the program of the Library are strong. Libraries, particularly Public Law 795 of the 80th Conlgress. Probably specialized libraries like ours, are essential to re- nothing in the entire plan of conservation and research. Side by side with the laboratories, they habilitation would contribute so much to the reali- are an integral part of research and the promotion zation of the spirit behind the action of our na- of knowledge. It doesn't matter whether the re- tional government, as the restoration of this fine search is in the mathematical, biological, or social o(ld home of the Old Library Comnpany across the sciences, or in the humanities, the records of past way from the great Square at the entrance to the progress and achievement in practice or theory are Independence National Historical Park. necessary even to the most individualistic scientist THE EAST MALL and scholar. In the case of our Society, there is at present The East Mall is, of course, the main fea- great need for better housing of our manuscript ture, the axis as it were, of the Independence collections and books. Every year the need National in- Historical Park. As described in the creases. Indeed if we consider the present rate Act, of it extends from the east side of Fifth to accessions over a period of another decade, notSecond Street, occupying the three city blocks be- to speak of the "twenty years," which, in 1890, tweenled Chestnut and Walnut Streets (cp. figs. 3 to the mistaken action of temporizing, by adding and a 17). The most important building from the

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 199 historical and architectural standpoint nut Streetin the below area Fifth Street, one occupied by is Carpenters' Hall. Located almost Gilbertat the Stuart;center the Bishop White House; the of the proposed park, it was built by houses the occupied Carpen- at different times by Benjamin ters' Company in 1770, and stands Rush; today the Dilworth-Todd-Moylan as a house; the monument to the good taste and workmanship Friends' Academy, of and many others. At the colonial builders. Its association with some of eastern end, on Second Street, was William the most stirring events of the Revolution Penn's give official mansion, the Slate Roof House, it an especial historic significance. This and where the he met with his Council. Immediately ad- story of the building have been made the joining subject it on the south, stands the Drinker House, of intensive research by Charles E. Peterson, popularly known today as Kreider's Gun Shop. Regional Architect of the National Park Service, Tradition has it that the first male child of Phila- and the results embodied in an excellent manu- delphia was born there. script: "Notes on Carpenters' Hall in the Pro- But while there were many private homes in posed Philadelphia National Historical Park." the section before the national period, its proximity During the colonial period, and for some yearsto the political and commercial centers led to a thereafter, the area in which it stands was mostly rapid transformation in the nineteenth century. occupied by private houses. Among them, Financial to interests, banks, insurance companies, mention only a few, were: the oldest house the in Stock Exchange, the Merchants' Exchange, Philadelphia; the official house of the President the Customs, and the Post Office invaded and of the Continental Congress; the house of Alex-took over the area. The transition was accom- ander Hamilton, and the Treasury Department; panied also by a radical change in architectural a row of fine houses on the south side of Chest- style away from the colonial, as shown in the Old

FIG. 19. First National Bank, later known as Girard Bank. Birch Print, 1800, first state.

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Custom I-ouse on the left of the vista (fig. 18) from Independence Square down to the proposed East Mall. This view also illustrates the non- descript jumble of buildings of the later period which still remain. In addition to the Second Bank of the United States or the Old Custom House, there are two other remarkable structures, built in response to the demands of financial and mercantile interest: the Girard Bank and the Merchants' Exchange. All three remain today as physical survivals, not only of the transformation of the area, but as superb examples of the neo- classical trend in architecture in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Almost within a stone's throw of each other, they are near neighbors to Carpenters' Hall, the only survival of the colonial in the area. The Second Bank of the United States, or the Old Custom House after Jackson took away the bank charter, is usually attributed to Strickland, though the original plans were apparently done by Latrobe. It is a striking re- production of the Parthenon, the best of three built at the time, the second being in New York, the third in Munich, Germany. The Girard Bank on Fourth Street, with its fine facade of Corinthian columns and pediment, was at one time the financial center of the nation (fig. 19). Untenanted for a time, it seemed in danger of demolition, when it was taken over by the City Trusts, which now occupies it. It could with propriety be made into a national museum of banking and finance. Across the street and less than a block to the south is the Merchants' Exchange (fig. 20). Once the proud headquarters and the terminal of the city transport system, its lower story behind its fine classical colonade is now given over to market stalls. Nowhere else in America are there found FIG. 21. North side of Chestnut Street between Fourth and Fifth.

such superb survivals of the Greek revival which, despite the strong nationalistic trend in the twenties and thirties of the nineteenth century, slread into many American cities and even to Europe. At the eastern end of the National His- torical Park, as if setting limits to it, is.the site of William Penn's official town mansion, the Slate Roof House. In the ilmmediate neighborhood are Kreider's Gun Shop mentioned above and the large new Custom House, in good modern colonial, as if to put Carpenters' Hall "in countenance."

FIG. 20. The Girard Bank and Merchants' Exchange. The heavy inartistic buildings on Chestnut (Engraving by J. Sartain of William Strickland's Street between Fifth and Second Streets (fig. 21) painting.) will serve at this point as a sort of boundary to

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 201 the Mall. The group represents the prosperous decades of the last century. In the opinion of some, the structures ought to come down; Op- posed to this is the more generally accepted view, that, since they are the expression of the taste and outlook of a particular period in our history, they should be preserved.

ASSOCIATED AREA TO THE SOUTH Equally intriguing in its survivals is the area immediately to the south of the proposed national park. In contrast to the latter, it always has been residential in character. Private houses, churches, and markets predominated, rather than buildings devoted to public affairs, finance, and commerce. Furthermore, unlike the area to the north, it has never been subjected to the high pressure demands involved in the transition from one type of community to another. Hence, while financial and commercial interests invaded and took over the district north of Walnut Street, ruthlessly wiping out scores of private residences, it stayed its hand in the area immediately to the south of the East Mall. Business and finance preferred to follow the general trend westward rather than southward which led to nowhere in particular. As a result the section south of Walnut has not changed FIG. 23. Powell House-hall and stairs. (Courtesy of greatly in the last one hundred and fifty years, save J. B. Lippincott Co.) perhaps in a gradual exodus of the older elements of the population and the invasion of new and lition of whole areas, but rather deterioration re- foreign stocks. There has been no sweeping demo- sulting from stagnation. As a consequence, there are an amazing number of fine examples of domestic architecture of the colonial period, some well preserved, but many more in various stages of decay. According to a survey made by the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Architects in 1934, seventy-three structures of historical and architectural interest erected during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries still remained in the ten block area between Walnut and Lombard and Fifth and Sixth Streets. Merely to enumerate some of the more outstanding would suggest the significance of this section in the city's cultural and social history, as well as its value as a laboratory for the study of early American domestic and ecclesiastical architecture. More than sixty private houses, five churches, and a charming Market Head House have survived here, while not a single building of this type remains in the Independence National Historical Park area. Unfortunately, FIG. 22. The Shippen-Wistar House, Fourth and however, this condition won't last unless protection Locust Streets. and conservation measures are taken promptly.

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historically so closely linked to the Independence National Historical Park, is expected to receive attention in the not distant future. Meanwhile, the federal plan for the East Mall carries a modest project for the area in the form of a series of walk-ways along gardens, old streets,

., I i E' i'' ? 1; .?. and buildings, which tie together points of his- Fi 1-. Y A toric interest and their relationship to the larger

?' : I e i features of the rehabilitation program. U'nfor- : jlil i dI ii ICCn" a tunately, it is quite inadequate when examined in d light of the wealth of oportunity. Instead of a r:rSi'r;?i:YLUuy short walk-way from Walnut Street to the north side of Manning Street, the program should carry '?'?" -- ` --L-L--E through to Pine, if not to Lombard Street. This does not mean, however, that the federal government should do it. The associations of the area i;;2. 24. Doorway of the Hill-Physick House built in 1786 on a portion of the are local,Old rather Alms than Housenational. Theground prevailing by Henry Hill, a close friend of Franklin's and an ex- characteristics of the region would suggest that the ecutor in his last will. (Courtesy of the Ledger people of Philadelphia themselves should assume Syndicate.) the responsibilities of conservation in the transformation confronting this part of Old Philadelphia. Of the seventy-three structures listed by the archi- Indeed, if only church edifices are considered, tectural survey referred to above, eight have been the need for action is urgent. Colonial survivals of demolished. Others have deteriorated and been this group, as seen in Old St. Peter's, Old St. dismantled-doorways , interior woodwork, stairs, Joseph's, the Pine Street Presbyterian, St. Paul's, and balustrades of colonial design and origin have and St. Mary's are not only architecturally excel- been taken away by private owners, and looters, lent, but, with their cemeteries, reflect historic as- or purchased by museums. Of the relatively many sociations of especial significance in the city's and historic buildings of this area in and about what the nation's social and ecclesiastical history. Like was known as Society Hill few suggestive examples are shown here by way of illustration: first, the Shippen-Wistar House (fig. 22); second, the hall and stairway of the Powell House (fig. 23); third, the doorway of the Hill-Physick House (fig. 24) ; and fourth, the Market Head House (fig. 25). The last with its broken windows and neglected appearance graphically suggests the dangers of decay as a prelude to destruction. Now that the whole character of the section is to be transformed by the intrusion into the region of high-speed transportation, properties lying dor- mant for decades will be in demand and come to life. Under the authority vested in it by the State Redevelopment Law, the city has presented the entire area from the waterfront west to Seventh Street, and from Vine Street south to Lombard, as "The Old City Redevelopmnent Area" for special study and action by City Council.16 And since the city's annual budget for the redevelopment of blighted areas has been increased to five million dollars, this section, which is geographically and 16 Recommended Program of Public Improvements, 1948-1953, Philadelphia City Planning Commission, Phil- adelphia, 1947. I;(;. 25. Market Head House. Second and Pine Streets.

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F . 26. F- i_r=t--" a~.---~~--~-- -- Churc-.--- -(u -e - .of P t. Hi_sti \ l . S o ;.. -

FIG. 26. First Presbyterian Church. (Courtesy of Presbyterianl Historical Society.) the old private houses, the Pennsylvania Hospital, and a half to two hours going and coming from and other historic buildings, they should le suburban pro- homes to the in-town offices, look with tected, lest they share the fate of the First Presby- interest on the potentialities of attractive apart- terian Church (fig. 26) on Washington Square, ments overlooking a reclaimed Delaware, yet which was unfortunately demolished ten yearswithin twenty to twenty-five minutes actual walk- ago to make room for a parking lot. For manying distance, or a ten minute trolley or bus ride, years it made an attractive colonial background to and from business. for Washington Square and a reminder of the early years of Presbyterianism in Philadelphia. OMISSIONS IN THE FEDERAL ACT The conditions that led to its destruction are, of course, inherent in the radical change in the popu- One of the canons of con- lation of this part of the city. Nevertheless one servation and reconstruc- cannot resist expressing the hope that they will '_ >:X:: Vtion in historic areas is a not again be allowed to operate in similai cases. avek e il . tsensitive response to op- It is inconceivable that a like fate should befall .. portunities for reclamatioln Old St. Peter's, Old St. Joseph's, the Pine Street and restoration. On this Presbyterian, and other landmarks of the early score the Report of the religious life of Philadelphia. Certainly the coop- Comlmmission to Congress eration of the different ecclesiastical groups for is admiralble. On the other the conservation of these historic shrines could hand, the law as finally be secured. Meanwhile, private initiative and p)assed omnitted several im- capital are quite aware of latent possibilities in this l)ortant locations in Old area from the real estate standpoint, as is evi- FIc. 27. Philadelphia that should, denced in the discussions of plans for large-scale in the opinion of many, alartment house projects somewhat similar tohave been included. Of these the most outstand- the developments in New York's East Side. Not ing is closely associated with four of the founders a few suburbanites, who spend from an hour ofand our republic-Washington, Jefferson, JohnI

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Adams, and Robert Morris. It is the site Marketof the Street froim Sixth to Seventh Street, the Graff House (fig. 28) at the southwest cornerJefferson of site would be brought in plain view of Seventh and High Streets, where Jefferson that of the hadExecutive Mansion in the Sixth Street his lodgings, and where he wrote the block great of theDec- State Park and could easily be com- laration. Of its significance in any program bined with of it into a single project. Moreover, by historic restoration in Old Philadelphia, similarly there recessing can and landscaping the same side be no question. The Commission's Report of Market refers Street eastward for a block and a half, to it as "one of the most notable historic sites in the project could be linked up with Franklin Court the world." Within a stone's throw of the Jef- which is included in the Act as a part of the Na- ferson site to the east at 190-High Street, now tional Park. By this modest extension of the area 526, 528, and 530 Market Street, stood the presi- in the federal law, the association of Washington, dential mansion occupied by Washington while Jefferson, in John Adams, and Robert Morris, as Philadelphia from 1790 to 1797. After the con- well as Franklin, with Old Philadelphia would be clusion of Washington's second term, John Adams brought out, and their relationship to each other, in occupied it from 1797 to 1800. Owned by Robert a somewhat more personal way tllan at Independ- Morris, it had been rented to Washington through ence Square, emphasized. the city when the national government moved The more intimate rela- from New York to Philadelphia. Morris himself tionshliips of these national lived in the mansion adjoining at the southeast figures resident on High corner of High and Sixth Streets. Witlh the Street is strikingly illus- opening of the North Mall, both the Washington trated in several interest- and Morris sites will be cleared, affording a re- ing possessions of the So- markable opportunity for cooperation between ciety, especially three re- federal and state authorities. It should be man- markable portraits of the datory to link up the Jefferson site with that of colonial period which now the Executive Mansion where the national gov- grace the north wall of ernment was implemented and its administrative FIG. 29. its main assembly room: machinery developed under the Constitution. The inclusion of this area in the Independence Franklin by Charles Willson Peale after Martin National Historical Park as a monument to the (fig. 11); Washington by Gilbert Stuart, painted author of the Declaration of Independence on commission is for the Society (fig. 29); and of Jefferson, late in life, in a masterly painting by most desirable for other reasons. By recessing the building line slightly on the south sideThomas of Sully (fig. 27). The Society also has the priceless copy of the Declaration of Independence in Jefferson's own hand,17 with Franklin's and f. Lp Adams' slight changes, and the chair with a desk arm which he used while writing the Declaration (fig. 30). Across State House Yard in the Na- tional Museum, Independence Hall, is the Peale portrait of Jefferson painted in 1791. Here repro- duced from the engraving by Akin and Harrison, Jr., in 1800 (fig. 31), it has a peculiar interest both artistically and historically, for although Jefferson was then forty-eight years old, one cannot resist the feeling that, although Peale-was every inch a realist, he nevertheless, in painting his friend, instinctively caught something of the younger Jefferson, and the writing of the great Declaration fifteen years earlier, at the age of thirty-three. Obviously the Independence National Historical s-- ' Park would be greatly enriched by the develop- 17 Boyd, Julian P., The Declaration of Independence- FIG. 28. The Evolution of the GraffText . . ., Princeton Univ. Press, House, 1883. Drawing by Joseph 1943. Pennell.

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FI G. 31. Thomas Jeff erson by Charles Wilison Peale, 1791. (Courtesy of the Atwater Kent Museum.)

205

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The extraordinary growth and transformation of cities in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century is the most significant charac- teristic of our civilization. While the city has been a dominant factor in the evolution of society since the earliest historical records, urbanization in the modern sense has gone hand in hand with the industrial revolution. With the progress of machine industry and the factory system, cities began to grow by leaps and bounds, bringing in its wake the modern slum, the gradual dispersion of the well-to-do to the suburbs, and in recent years the substitution of the apartment for the home. This in turn has interjected an alarming degree of biological sterility into the centers of population which once were so prolific. For the most part, our cities today depend on the flow of immigration from the rural districts or from abroad. Among the cultural implications of the process is a steady weakening of the ties with the past, and the loss of that sense for the continuity FIc;. 30. The chair Jefferson used while writing the of the cultural and spiritual life of the people in Declaration of Independence. precisely those places where it is of vital impor- tance that it be understood and appreciated. And ment of the Jefferson site project, while yet cities the Stateare preeminently the custodians of the Park would be made more impressive cultural and beauti-heritage of nations. Somehow they live ful just at a point where it enters its most his- and carry on, when the empires and political svs- toric section from the north. At the same time, tems of which they are a part crumble and die. it would establish a better balance in the redevel- Even though shattered and seemingly crushed by opment of historic Philadelphia, inviting attention the savagery of modern warfare, they survive. A to the Christ Church area, and the existence of new Coventry, and a greater London arise phoenix- such unique survivals as Elfreth's Alley, the likeBetsy from the ruins, better and more beautiful. Ross House, and other places of historic interest because scientifically planned to meet the needs of in the section north of Market Street. From every a new civilization. Moreover in all worthwhile standpoint, the Jefferson-Washington-Franklin post-war city planning careful attention is given project offers an historical park area of national to the conservation of cultural resources. significance not to be found elsewhere in America. The Blitz was no respecter of things cultural.

MODERNIZING AMERICAN CITIES AND THE Quite the contrary! Next to military targets, NATIONAL HERITAGE they were among the first objectives of the bar- barous attacks from the air. By the same token, The modernizing of an historical thecity stricken is a chal- peoples, as if sensing the real mean- lenge-a great responsibility and a inggreat of these oppor- survivals, strove to protect and save tunity. While the everyday needs ofthem. the With citizens infinite patience, they tragically come first, and must be met, the conservation searched the andwreckage to salvage all they possibly care of historical survivals is a patriotic could of cathedrals,duty. churches, shrines, works of Happily the two are not incompatible. art, preciousIn general, manuscripts and books-the shattered though not always, they can be harmonized. symbols of the That continuity of history-as essentials this has been so frequently overlooked in the in keeping alive the national credo. By way of growth of our cities has resulted in irreparable cooperation, our government, acting on the be- loss to our national heritage. Priceless historic lief that these things are also the cherished evi- buildings and sites have been wiped out almost dence of the creative genius of peoples, and the overnight in the mad rush of an increasingly expression of their faith, sent commissions to megalopolitan civilization. study and assist in the work of restoration and

This content downloaded from 65.213.241.226 on Thu, 30 Aug 2018 19:04:00 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. 93, NO. 2, 1949] OLD PHILADELPHIA 207 conservation. At the same time, special with. federal instruc- aid, in honor of Jefferson and the tions were issued to our armies and navies to Louisiana Purchase in St. Louis, the more modest, protect and respect the cultural m1onuments but none of the less significant, conservation and the peoples whose lands they might occupy. restoration In- of Old St. Augustine, and that of deed, the safeguarding of these national treasures historic areas of other American cities. In the of enemly, as well as allied countries, became face ofal- these things, and the close associatiol of most an article of faith in the catechism of our Philadelphia's historic landmarks with the ideals soldiers and sailors. fundamental to our liberty, it would be laloring The application of these principles in peace- the obvious to press further the special responsi- time to our own cities accounts for the restora- bility for the conservation of the symbols of our tion of Colonial Williamsburg, the time honored national heritage in this city at a timie when the care of Boston and other New Enngland towns for propaganda of a ruthless and alien ideology is so their historic shrines, the great civic development, aggressively rampant at home and abroad.

Fr;. 32. Merchants' Exchange and Market Stalls.

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