Eden Hall: a Cultural Historic Landscape
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 1998 Eden Hall: A Cultural Historic Landscape Benjamin Knute Haavik University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Haavik, Benjamin Knute, "Eden Hall: A Cultural Historic Landscape" (1998). Theses (Historic Preservation). 285. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/285 Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Haavik, Benjamin Knute (1998). Eden Hall: A Cultural Historic Landscape. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/285 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Eden Hall: A Cultural Historic Landscape Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Haavik, Benjamin Knute (1998). Eden Hall: A Cultural Historic Landscape. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/285 m-^ iii mmmm- ^ ipii •ill pi mil m0M UNIVERSITY^ PENNSYLVANIA UBRARIES EDEN HALL: A CULTURAL HISTORIC LANDSCAPE Benjamin Knute Haavik A THESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 1998 Supervisor Reader^ Christa Wilmanns-Wells, Ph.D. AmyFreitag Lecturer, Historic Preservation Management and Development Admmistrator Fairmount Park Commission 4^ IMyvJA^ Graduate Group Chair Frank G. Matero Associate Professor of Architecture Acknowledgments I would like to express my deep gratitude to the following people who assisted me during the course of my work. First, I would like to thank Andrea Gottschalk, archives assistant for the Fairmount Park Commission Archives, who allowed me to continually look at and use the records and documents stored at the archives. Secondly, Amy Freitag, Management and Operations Administrator for the Fairmount Park Commission, deserves credit for the time and effort she has put in working to fund restoration work for the chapel at Eden Hall. It was through Amy that I was introduced to Fluehr Park and I thank her for this opportunity and also for providing her insights as my reader. Thirdly, I would like to express my appreciation for Christa Wilmanns-Wells, my thesis advisor, who encouraged me to explore new thoughts and ideas while keeping me motivated throughout this entire process. Finally, I would like to thank Amanda Van Vleck who had to live with me while I wrote this report and has shown incredible patience while I worked feverishly to complete my thesis. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Illustration List iii 1 Introduction ^ Chapter 1: From the Swedes to the Quakers, 1630-1734 3 Chapter 2: Development along the Delaware River, 1734-1809 13 Plot History 15 Built Environment 18 Chapter 3: From Barry Through Cowperthwaite, 1809-1847 22 Plot History 24 29 Built Environment , Chapter 4: Society of the Sacred Heart, 1847-1969 42 Plot History 46 Built Environment 5 Chapter 5: City Leased then Owned, 1969-1998 67 Built Environment 7 Conclusion ^74 Appendix A: 1798 Direct Tax. 78 Appendix B: Insurance Surveys: 1799, 1834, 1834 80 Appendix C: 1833 Orphan's Court Notice of Sale 82 Appendix D: Insurance Surveys for Eden Hall: 1884-1894 83 Appendix E: Chain of Title ^88 Selected Bibliography 98 Index. - 1 03 Illustrations 1 05 ILLUSTRATION LIST Illustration 1: Map of Region. Drawn by the author. Illustration 2: Fluehr Park Topographic Map. Courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission. Illustration 3: The New Sweden Colony. From Carol E. Hoffecker ed., et al., New Sweden in America (Newark: University of Delaware Press). Illustration 4: Holmes Map of the Province of Philadelphia With Names of Original Purchasers from William Penn 1681. Illustration 5: 1680 Survey of Pleasant Hill, surveyed by Richard Noble. Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Dlustration 6: 1843 Ellet's Map of Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Free Library, Map Collection. Dlustration 7: 1860 Map of Philadelphia. courtesy of the Philadelphia Free Library, Map Collection. Illustration 8: Topographic Map of Fluehr Park Site. U.S. Geologic Survey, 1966. Illustration 9: Section of the Road from New York to Philadelphia. From Christopher Coles, A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America. 1789 . Walter Ristow, ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961), 161. Illustration 10: Section of the Road from New York to Philadelphia. From the "Traveler's Directory," S. S. Moore and T. W. Jones, 1802. John T. Fans, Old Roads out of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1917), 287. Illustration 11: Diagram of Evan Thomas' Bake House Estate, 1746. Map drawn by the author. : Illustration 12: Diagram of John Barry's Estate, Eton Hill, in Lower Dublin Township, 1809. Map drawn by the author. Illustration 13: Diagram of Rebecca Cowperthwaite's Estate, 1839. Map drawn by the author. Illustration 14: Layout of the Barry and Myers Estate as inferred from documentation. Map drawn by the author. Illustration 15: John Barry House, circa 1834, first floor plan as described by insurance surveys. Drawn by the author. Illustration 16: Icehouse. Photographer: Link Harper, August 26, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 17: John Myers Bam, circa 1834, first floor plan as described by insurance surveys. Drawn by the author. Dlustration 18: Eden Hall, circa 1926-1949. From Convent of the Sacred Heart Eden Hall: school pamphlet. Illustration 19: Lithograph, "Eden Hall — yesterday." Author dates to pre- 1863. Illustration 20: Lithograph, "Eden Hall." Author dates to circa 1890. Illustration 2 1 Ward Atlas, 1877, G. M. Hopkins. Illustration 22: Ward Atlas, 1910. Illustration 23: Ward Atlas, 1953. Illustration 24: Diagram of the Society of the Sacred Heart Property, Eden Hall, circa 1847. Map drawn by the author. Illustration 25: Footprint of the school complex. Courtesy of the Society of the Sacred Heart Archives. : 1 Dlustration 26: Front facade of the chapel at Eden Hall. Photographer: Link Harper. August 26, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 27: East facade of the chapel at Eden Hall, circa 1987. Courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 28: South facade of the chapel at Eden Hall, circa 1987. Courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 29: St. Anne's Church, Fredericton, New Brunswick, 1846, Frank Wills. From Phoebe B. Stanton, The Gothic Revival & American Church Architecture (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1968). Illustration 30: Christ Episcopal Church, Napoleonville, LA, circa 1850, Frank Wills. " From James Patrick, "Ecclesiological Gothic in the Ante-bellum South, Winterthur Portfolio. 15, no. 2 (Summer 1980): 117-138. Dlustration 3 1 All Saint's Church, Torresdale, PA, 1854, Frank Wills. Gary H. Rush, All Saints Church: A 225 Year History of a Parish 1772 to 1997 . Illustration 32: Interior of the Chapel at Eden Hall, 1977. Courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 33: "Eden Hall Blueprint," May 1949. Courtesy of the Society of the Sacred Heart Archives. Illustration 34: Stereoview, "Convent of the Sacred Heart" author dates to c. 1860. Courtesy of the Library Company, Philadelphia, PA. Illustration 35: Front Drive of Eden Hall. Photographer: Link Harper, August 26, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 36: Entry Gates to Eden Hall, Grant Avenue. Photographer: Link Harper, August 26, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Illustration 37: Shrine/Grotto. Photographer: Link Harper, August 26, 1997. Photo courtesy of the Fairmount Park Commission Archives. Introduction When driving on Interstate 95 or taking the commuter train through the Northeast, a region of Philadelphia county, one passes the small town of Torresdale (Illus. 1). Situated on the Delaware River and the Poquessing Creek, at the border of Philadelphia and Bucks county, Torresdale was founded in the 1850s. In the center of Torresdale is the 62 acre Fluehr Park, a community park administered by the Fairmount Park Commission (Illus. 2). This park offers opportunities for many different activities; there are large fields well used as athletic venues and several meadows available for picnicking, general recreation, or exercising one's dog. There are several tree lined paths and groves of trees which spot the landscape allowing shady places to sit and relax. Fluehr Park is well used for these purposes. Based on my experiences at the site, the park is continually active. On nice weekends, there are many people enjoying the park. Rainy days brought fewer casual park attendees but many dog owners came with their pets for rousing games of fetch on the big open fields. In the middle of this park, seemingly out of place, is a Gothic Revival chapel completed in 1852. If that was not enough to pique your curiosity, a one story, stone icehouse dating from the early nineteenth century is located just a short distance away. Following a trail