A Brief While still in London in 1681, William just below the southwest border of Historical Penn developed an idealistic conception present -day . Other concentrations Review of for a utopian settlement of considerable of settlers began to form at Architecture size to be placed in his newly won proprietoryUpland (now Chester ) and Kingsessing , and province in the New World. As and , although Swedish rule ended in an initial step to raise the necessary Planning in 1655 , the people remained and continued money he planned to sell 100 shares, to thrive , extending over a fair portion Philadelphia each representing 5000 acres of country of the region . By the late 1670s land. Two percent of this property English Quakers had also begun moving would be in the " Greene Country into the area, principally on the eastern Towne," or " Liberties," laid out in such side of the Delaware River , where they a manner that in its original conception established the town of Burlington (New it would have had to extend in a milewide Jersey ) in 1677 . strip fifteen miles along the Delaware Upon this primitive but surprisingly River. Here, in the " great town ," well settled area , Penn had intended to the settlers would build their principal apply the grand conception of his Holy homes, each having accessto navigable Experiment . But the original plans water. Central to the Liberties, at a convenientclearly could not fit . When his emissaries harbor, was to be a small commercialarrived to layout Philadelphia around settlement with its area (set at the nucleus of the port at Upland , they 200 acres) apportioned to owners and discovered that most of the land they renters of larger tracts. would need was already occupied , and But the settlement of the Delaware they eventually settled on the current Valley had begun over forty years previouslylocation . Centered around the small with the founding of a Swedish cove at what became known as Dock trading post at Fort Christina (now Creek , the land was held by several owners Wilmington ) in 1638. Five years later will ing to sell and had large adjoining Governor Johan Printz established a unsettled acreage inland where the post farther up the Delaware at Tinicum , liberties could be placed . Facing what was regarded as a hostile environment ,

[ 1] the participants in the venture pressed Although rather conservative compared Swedish and for a more urban development than with contemporary English and French Early English Work Penn had planned . Following Penn's Baroque schemes, more than any other arrival in late autumn of 1682 and a community on the eastern seaboard it series of compromises and quick improvisationswas a reflection of the ideals of the Age , the settlement began . Those of Reason. Even with the further compromises who were ready to build received land that were to follow , Philadel- along the Delaware , so that the city ph ia' s senseof order and established might assume an established appearance matrix of growth contrasted significantly ; investors who did not settle were with other communities' random given lots on land Penn bought along collection of narrow, angled streets haphazardly the Schuylkill . Construction was placed. Part of the compromise energetically pursued to the point that had involved enlargement of the city , when Penn returned to London in making it , rather than the Liberties , the 1684 he reported that some 357 houses principal settlement. Still Holme's plan, had al ready been erected . while distinctly urban in its system, The 1682 plan of the city appears to attempted to retain the character of the have been closely patterned after Richard country town Penn considered so important Newcourt 's 1666 proposal for the , with free-standing housesset rebuilding of London after the Great on ample lots, gardensand yards surrounding Fire of the same year , the chief elements each. But even this remnant of which - a grand central square at the soon succumbed to economic and social intersection of axial streets (to be called pressures. An increasing number of " High " and " Broad " ), symmetrically small, narrow houseswere erected adjoining placed subordinate squares , and a grid each other along the streets, and pattern of streets - were taken up in the before 1700 the generousblocks themselves proposal for Philadelphia by Penn ' s surveyor were subdivided by alleys where , Thomas Holme . I f not especially smaller houseswere often built . original (it also had similarities to nearby Burlington ) or the first planned city in the country (for example , New Haven in 1638 and Charleston ca . 1670 ), it was of a size (two square miles ) and scope that made it unique in the English colonies .

[2] The buildings of the Swedes consisted that time , possibly reflecting the emigration of simple one - and two -room structures from london of a number of carpenters constructed from stones and logs. The no longer employed in the log cabin was introduced to the New rebuilding after the Great Fire . The majority World here by them . While it has of the rural buildings were far less achieved a certain legendary status , after advanced , dwellings acting more as a initial settlement it did not remain prominent fortress from the elements than as a in this region , and only a very few focus for the cultivation of them (for examples of these early log buildings example , the William Brinton House , survive {for example , in Delaware 1704 , near Dilworthtown ). The notable County }. The Swedes ' church es are a exception was Penn 's own country place cultural legacy , but as all extant were in Bucks County , " Pennsbury " (1692 ), erected after 1698 , they represent an which was , if the reconstruction bears al most complete assimilation of any similarities in character to the original English principles of design (see SP I 3 ). , un question ably one of the most The English initially also built wooden splendid houses in the Colonies . laid structures often following the Swedish out in a manner more I ike later Georgian model . However , the soil proved to be plantations in Virginia and South excellent for brickmaking , and eventually Carolina , it establish es a sense of order this form of masonry construction and dominance over the terrain in a became the dominant building method . manner suggestive of Penn 's attitude The early buildings were unsurprisingly toward planning and , indeed , his philos - small and simple in adornment . Aside ophy of civilization itself . from their somewhat awkward proportions , with steep roofs , and such variant details as diamond -paned windows and clustered chimneys , the general character of these houses was far more Renaissance than medieval . As such they were consider ably more advanced than most urban dwellings erected elsewhere at

[3] The Georgian By the 1720s Philadelphia was emerging (CC II 7 and 8 ) and the Powel House Period as one of the Colonies ' most substantial (1765 ) (see CC II 3 ) give some indication urban areas and was clearly the of the magnificence achieved . most sophisticated . As much a center of It is interesting that no one figure comparable commerce as of science and the arts , the with William Buckland or Peter city had grown by mid -century to be Harrison appears to have been responsible the second largest in the British Empire . for the major local eighteenth - The values of the divergent and often century structures . This could , in part , conflicting elements , which are responsible be due to the guildlike Carpenters ' Company for any metropolitan growth , , which apparently control led virtually began to coalesce into two major and all building that was conducted in distinct , if interrelated , architectural the city . Robert Smith in his ecclesiastical attitudes . On the one hand , there was a work is the only master builder splendid ornate Georgian , inevitably who attained a significant reputation . reminiscent of London and frequently Gentlemen amateurs sketched out a few

more sumptuous in its details than could edifices such as the State House , but the be found elsewhere in the colonies . On carpenter still determined the final form the other hand , there was the conservative of the building . and studied austerity of the buildings of the Quakers . Christ Church (see CC I 20 ) (begun 1727 ) and the Greater Meeting House (1755 ), which once stood a block to the south , illustrate the differences at an extreme . In form as well as detail , the Georgian buildings in the city were among the most sophisticated to be found along the Eastern Seaboard . So venturesome a structure as the State House (see CC I 1 ) (begun ca . 1730 ) was then unique as a civic expression , but visually not an isolated anomaly . Domestic architecture in scale and interior embellishment was often of similar pretension ; while much of it has disappeared , the Neave and Abercrombie Houses (after 1758 ) [4] Juxtaposed with the individual architecturalgreat houses were erected there , often monuments was an equally distinct as elaborate as civic and ecclesiastical sameness fostered by the simplicity design in the city . While all traces of of the Quaker architecture , in keeping these have long since disappeared along both with their religious philosophy and the Delaware , Fairmount Park has preserved the building traditions they had known many that were built along the in England . Somewhat varied , house-by - Schuylkill . Farther into the country house , but with a prevailing unity of these formal structures were the exception basic materials and small scale, Philadelphia . Rural areas began to develop an had many aspects of astraightened - important indigenous architecture essentially out , intensified , block -on - block Buck - Quaker in character , the finest inghamshire village . The unvarying lines results of which appeared in the stone of the streets , with the regularity of farmhouses that have characterized the their intersections , helped secure an impressionregion and have provided a continued of the routine , subduing individual influence on its architecture . Basically variations in facades and giving Georgian , these houses were often built rise to a reputation of monotony . The over a period of years , being added to as most indicative Quaker buildings have the owners acquired the means or developed been the meetinghouses . Most are astute the need for additional space . The studies in sensitivity to material and result was a spontaneous and completely proportion , and although elements reflect natural mass, often asymmetrical , responding the periods of their construction , to basic needs but revealing a they possess a certain timelessness in strong and subtle sensitivity to form and their expression of the abstract . the general character of the land . The Liberties laid out inland to the When tastes in architecture began to north of the city were only sparsely shift , after the Revolution , and to coalesce settled , but the banks of both the , after the establishment of the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers continued national government , into a Federal to attract development . Through style , builders in Philadelphia remained the eighteenth century a number of content to erect Georgian designs with only slight variation . Nevertheless , there were some notable exceptions that were comparable with the finest work of the period in New England or the South .

[5] The President ' s House ( 1792 - 1797 ) was This is probably a reflection of the conservative ruefully demolished not many years nature of the populace . But after it was completed but represented more important was the fact that Philadelphia one of the grandest endeavors in the had achieved her considerable country at the time . The Center Pavilion stature before the Revolution ; her institutions of the Hospital (1794- had undergone their initial period 1805 ), designed by David Evans the of development and were now Younger , is another principal monument primarily concerned with consolidation of the style (see CC III 11). Both rather than innovation . Most other cities

Dr . William Thornton , before he won were really only beginning to establish the National Capitol competition , and comparable status for themselves and Major Pierre Charles L' Enfant left their were predict ably more receptive to new mark on the city ; Samuel Blodgett 's architectural concepts that could be First Bank of the ( 1797 ) associated with their new prosperity . was one of the most impressive heralds The changes that did occur in Philadelphia of the change (CC I 14 ). The First Bank did so very slowly . Gradually appears in the background of photograph through the first decades of the nineteenth CC I 15. century houses grew in scale and Still , the members of the Carpenters ' size , generally becoming simpler in detail Company remained the main force in and more austere in appearance . building . I n an era of considerable Variants of this sort of dwelling continued expansion , when the city began to spill to be standard through to the 1850s out to the north of its intended boundary when the Brownstone came into vogue . , most of the new structures were It was in the early 1800s that the house little more than variations on what had row grew to a prevalent status . An obviously already occurred . The Carpenters ' Company profitable solution for the land 1786 Rule Book and even Owen speculator , the number of these often Biddle 's Young Carpenter 's Assistant very fine blocks quickly increased until published in 1805 , which were used as they dominated the residential areas of the standard rJ:1odels for building , gave the city . Even most nonrow dwell ing little indication of the very radical shifts construction occurred as semidetached in style that were occurring elsewhere . or twin houses until the latter part of Many structures of this period (such as the century , and the row house has continued the bulk of what exists today in Society to be a standard form in the Hill ) (CC II ) bear close similarity to city to the present day . their predecessors of a number of years . Arch itects and It was Philadelphia 's prominence that form in buildings consciously conceived Classical Forms attracted Benjamin Henry Latrobe from in abstract terms . The end result still Virginia in 1798 . A brilliant , sensitive retained a certain Federal scale and delicacy architect and engineer , far advanced for , and while more antique elements his time , he had been professionally were often incorporated , they were still trained in his native England and arrived freely adapted to serve contemporary in this country as the first man to bear building functions . that distinction . While he entered a society Taught by both Latrobe and Thomas that was often unsympathetic to his Jefferson , Robert Mills was inheritor of creativity (as architects ' services were much of their flair for innovation as still generally regarded as an unnecessary well as Latrobe 's highly professional attitude luxury and the unpredictability of scientific toward his work . The style of his experimentation in engineering designs remained very much under the was not always tolerated ), he nevertheless influence of Latrobe while he was made a very significant impression in Philadelphia , experimenting freely upon the city 's architectural development with classical forms but with a sound and presented the first serious knowledge of precedent . I t was not until challenge to either the amateur designers he left the city that his works began or the seemingly impregnable position to assume a strong personal character . of the Carpenters ' Company . Both architects stayed in the city only Styl istically , his designs represented a few years , designing a relatively small what was felt to be a return to antique number of buildings , almost all of which prototypes , which in many respects have long since been demolished . Atal - closely conformed to English NeoClassical ented but hardly original amateur such examples of the period . But as John Dorsey borrowed directly from aside from both this and the important them and received far more commissions nationalistic connotations that his revived by virtue of the fact that he Greek forms were quickly to assume worked for little or no fee . Still Latrobe , Latrobe 's Philadelphia work and Mills had enormous influence on marked a fundamental shift in architectural the ensuing decades. Partly as a result of expression in this country , emphasizingtheir example , the concept of the mass and the use of geometric architect was beginning to change in the public ' s mind , and through their work Philadelphia assumed a position of principal leadership in the development of [7] the Greek Revival in America . It was William Strickland , as much as Of no less importance was John any other architect , who was responsible Havi land whose austere , brutal interpretation for bringing the style to its prominence of forms was the opposite in in the city . Achieving distinction approach to that of Strickland . His designs with his winning design for the Second show h is interest in expressing Bank of the United States ( 1818 - 1824 , a strong abstraction of form , with ar - see CC I 7) his work embodied acreative chaeological style seemingly of secondary archaeological approach that extended importance . While parallels can be seen the Greek Revival to a high level with latrobe ' s work , both in attitude of sophistication and freed it of its and scale, Haviland gave consider ably Federal vestiges. With some of the subtleties more emphasis to pure geometric expression of Greek monumental ity , sympathetically , and even in his more academic reinterpreted to the Philadelphia Classical designs the simple massiveness streetscape , his best bui Idings rests in contrast to latrobe ' s delicate became dominant focuses in the city , balance between solids and voids . achieving , through different means, All of the early architects to some what the Georgian church es and State degree also engaged in the more exotic House complex had done over half a Gothic , Egyptian , and Chinese modes . century earl ier . Strickland appears to latrobe 's awkward and naive Sedgeley have had more of an interest in the refinement (1799 ) was one of the earl Lest endeavors of his achievement than in further in the country in a style best called experimentation . His approach met Gothick (to separate it from the later with considerable success , and he was Gothic Revival ) (FP I 4 ). Mills and able to conduct a flourishing practice Strickland made similar infrequent indulgences for some thirty years , designing many in the picturesque . Haviland of the city 's more important buildings . was particularly known for his Gothic Inaddition , his seldom discussed planning and Egyptian Revival prisons . Although efforts have an unobtrusive dignity their later works became more archae - that fits well into the pattern of the ologically credible , these styles were city . Unfortunately such farsighted projects nonetheless still employed more for as the plan for Cairo , Illinois their literary significance and associative (1838 ), or a scheme for the redevelopment connotations ; most of the buildings of virtually the entire Philadelphia were essentially classical in their predominant waterfront for Stephen Girard (1836 ) attitude of order and symmetry . never materialized . [8] The other primary form giver of the Although principally known for his Classical Revival in Philadelphia was later work in New York , Napoleon Thomas Ustick Walter , whose work was LeBrun played an important role in Philadelphia often as florid as Haviland ' s was stark . as well . A student of Walter 's, In this light , it is interesting that his efforts he designed works difficult to classify were perhaps the most successful within the framework of then contemporary in achieving monumentality in large American architecture . H is two commissions . Certainly his adroitness in major commissions here , the Cathedral manipulating classical forms on a very of Saints Peter and Paul ( 1846 - 1864 ) large scale is evidenced by Founder 's (CC VII 8 ) and the American Academy Hall for Girard College ( 1833 -1847 ) (see of Music ( 1855 ) (see CC V 27 ), as conceived NP I 18 ). Haviland 's work , while far , were closely derived from the more massive in appearance , lacked a NeoBaroque that was then becoming sensitivity to scale and when executed popular in France . Their grandiose , in too large a size tended to sacrifice heavily embellished spaces were a somewhat monumentality for oppressiveness ; abrupt departure from Philadel - Strickland 's more subdued assertions becameph ia' s past . Lesser works , however , were unconvincing once they exceeded usually executed with more conventional certain dimensions . These were falterings means . in the style which were not uncommon either for architects or builders in

the country . Walter was one of the very few men of his era who could have enjoyed in the additions to the United States Capitol (1851 -1865 ) the same degree of success he had atta i ned in his smaller buildings . The Capitol became probably the first building in the nation which could rival the great palaces of Europe in civic grandeur if not inrefinement . On the other hand , several buildings he executed in the small town of West Chester , Pennsylvania , are almost equally monumental but rendered in a scale entirely sensitive to the size and nature of the community . Trends to the Evolving concurrently with the mature New York , his ecclesiastical work in the Romantic Classical Revival was the Romantic vocabulary of the English rural Gothic movement , a principal member of which was instrumental in bringing a maturation was John Notman . Although the extent and relevance to the American of his work has yet to be fully evaluated Gothic Revival . and his buildings are not widely known Of no less importance to the Romantics outside the area , it is certain that he was landscape design . Notman 's played a very significant part in the developmentLaurel H ill Cemetery (NP III 4 ) exem - of early Victorian architecture pi ified the adaptation of wild acreage in America . Having emigrated from for its own sake as well as the picturesque Scotland in 1831 , he had a firsthand juxtaposition of man -made objects knowledge of current British design . In in nature . The same approach was part inspired by the works of John Nash , applied by the engineers and planners he erected what is credited as being the of the rapidly developing Fairmount first Italianate villa in the country for Park , which grew along the Schuylkill Bishop Doane (1837 ), which stood until River from a nucleus at the Waterworks recently in Burlington , . A (see FP I 1). I n corpora ting a balance of beautiful and sophisticated study in winding roadways , wild glens , and open asymmetrical balance , it received immediate pastures with a restrained number of attention through illustration in visual landmarks (including Georgian Andrew Jackson Downing 's widely circulatedhouses and Centennial buildings ), it represents books and exerted enormous planned Romantic naturalness at influence on ensuing country house design its very best . I t also set the notable precedent . The style was , in turn , appl Led to of keeping the river free from

urban commissions , but now with an exploitation , protection that in later emphasis on the symmetrical rectilin - years was extended to include creek valleys earity of the Italian Renaissance . With elsewhere in the city . such works as the Athenaeum ( 1845 ) Samuel Sloan was the most prolific (see CC 1111), Notman did much to foster contributor to the Romantic ethic in the formal and urbane approach that Philadelphia . While possibly not possessing was to gain immense popularity during the same degree of originality as the next three decades . Indeed he may Notman , he executed a wide variety of well have designed the first house in the commissions including great Gothic , country faced in the brownstone with Italianate , and Moorish villas . He was which the style is so commonly associated responsible for some of the most sumptuous . Along with Richard U pjohn of town houses erected in the city as [10] well as numerous speculative ventures , for the time . Unfortunately the majority particularly in then suburban West Philadelphia of their numerous noncommercial

. But he is probably best known commissions were mediocre , their for his institutional work , which seems clumsy handling of I Taiianate forms to have represented a continuation of often providing unintended comic relief . the Quaker tradition of simple , functional The effects of the Civil War were of building . Many of his schools and sufficient magnitude to relegate the Romantic hospitals set standards for organization ethic in architecture to a subordinate and design that had wide following in position , with almost all the th is country and abroad . optimistic , straightforward , and slightly A separate commercial architecture as naive aspects of its approach becoming such evolved in the early nineteenth greatly subdued in a material istic century , and the work in Philadelphia and pretentious mixing of styles . after 1820 is considered to be as impor - The years that followed saw the continued tant as that of New York or Boston in spread of urban development into the development of later functional areas adjoining the old city (the city architecture . Resulting from a period of annexed the rest of the county in 1854 ). flourishing trade , these mainly anonymous But with few exceptions , the prominent structures once comprised a large architects of the prewar era had little and cohesive district along the Delaware influence in this expansion . Variants of River . The Independence National Park the so-called Second Empire Style never in the 1950s destroyed a majority of the gained the immense popularity in Philadelphia most significant examples , not the least that they did elsewhere throughout of which , the Jayne Building by William the country . Nonetheless , one of the L . Johnston and Thomas U . Walter most significant achievements of the ( 1849 ) , was generally regarded as the movement is City Hall (see CC V 4 ) , country ' s first protoskyscraper . The which attains the symbolic (civic ) mon - remnants of the district to the north of umentality so eagerly sought after in the Park remain - threatened (see this " national " style . Its creator . John CC I 19 ). McArthur , Jr . , was a competent but Joseph Hoxie and Stephen Button hardly exceptional architect , and , in were two designers of commercial buildings comparison to the bulk of his work , who achieved a clarity of architectonics City Hall is especially remarkable . As without violating the sense of with the Second Empire , the High Victorian structure or denying the bu ilding 's intended Gothic and the later Romanesque use that was quite exceptional Revival also were never prevalent . Furness and A large portion of the buildings erected existing buildings throughout the city . Regionalism in the 1870s and 1880swere strongly H is consider ably better known contemporary regional in character , although identifi - , H . H . Richard son , justly received able with construction of the era elsewhere recognition for the order and clarity he . To some extent this was due to brought to design ; Furness 's work , on Frank Furness , who in 1866 established the other hand , emphasized the heterogeneous practice in Philadelphia after training in and uncertain state of the period the then radical office of Richard Morris with a haunting deliberateness that Hunt in New York . A brilliant designer could border on parody . Unlike his lessers of practical and stylishly upsetting structures who heaped a more or less standard , he became the city 's preeminent bonanza of conceits on what were basically architect for nearly two decades . With simple structures , Furness would the force of h is personality and the construct a fundamenta Jly complex dearth of comparable talent in Philadelphia structure and express it in a clear , if at that time , the influence of his awkward and often insul ting , manner . In work appears to have been very strong the old I ibrary at the Un iversi ty of throughout the city and its surrounding Pennsylvania (1888 - 1891 ) (see W P 113 ) area . he developed a series of flagrant Pirane - I n Furness ' s youthful work , much of sian spaces, enjoying the discomfort of which was his finest , Hunt ' s sophistication direct confrontation of masonry and and experimentation were reflected iron c.onstruction . Where vast expanses along with the influence of such European of raw steel " atrociously " join frantic contemporaries as Ruskin and piles of masonry , fig leaves mockingly Viollet - le - Duc . A keen admiration for cover the " meeting place ." the strong mercantile tradition in the On the other hand , a sense of rational city was also seen combined with his order and clarity , certainly related to own maniacal love for contradiction . the Quaker precedent , became increas - That he was one of the earl Lest American ingly important in Furness ' s later work . architects actively to pursue the use While occurring partly as the result of of negative elements as a vocabulary of personal maturation and changes in the architectonic expression is an aspect cultural climate , as well as the ascendency that renders Furness particularly significant of Allen Evans as a design partner . I t was in part an expression of his in the firm , there was evidence of this rebellion against the austere Quaker strain in the early years of his practice , simplicity that was still so dominant in as indicated in his long -demolished [ 12] Jefferson Medical College Hospital of 1875 . The austere , simple houses standing Willis Hale was one of the least disciplined at 2206 - 2208 Walnut Street architects of this era . Perhaps his (probably ca. 1873 ) again contrast most significant contribution was the sharply with the once -adjoining Living - design of hundreds of speculative row ston House ( 1887 ) , which represents houses in North , South , and West Philadelphia the more popular conception of (see NP I 29 and WP I 33 ) , Furness's work . More sizable buildings which seem to have become models for in "later years , such as the Merion the character of the other work in these Cricket Club ( 1895 ) and the demolished areas . Indeed , the extent of the popularity Broad Street Station ( 1893 ) , (and the commercialization ) of employed a heavy terra -cotta masonry this generally vulgar eclecticism in the interaction , reiterated in the forms newly developed portions of both the themselves , which created a direct if city and its suburbs is astounding . somewhat weak expression . Theophilus Chandler , who ultimately If the qualities that distinguish Furness had a strong influence as an architectural above his eccentricity were not entirely teacher , scorned Furness ' s inven - shared by his contemporaries , there tiveness . But while his own work was nonetheless was a certain similarity in the product of a distinctly different approach attitude , but as is frequently the case to design , parallels of distortion such a bond was not necessarily apparent and tension now appear evident . Chandler at the time . There is aprevailing considered himself an academician , awkward ugl iness in Philadelphia design but his designs ultimately bear little of the period which it is difficult to believe similarity to High Victorian work elsewhere was wholly unintentional . The in the country . brooding and inherently gloomy atmosphere Frequently openly parallel to Furness is perhaps more closely associated in design , the work of the architecture - with Teutonic rather than engineer i Qg firm of The Wilson Brothers Anglo -Saxon design of the nineteenth was often less bold and / or more refined . century . In keeping with this character A chief competitor with Furness for the was the work of George W. & WilliamD . railroads ' business , they should be particularly Hewitt , the former having been an early noted for their commercial and partner of Furness ' s, and the latter a industrial designs. James Windrim , later draftsman in the firm . joined by son John , was also aprosperous commercial architect , designing a number of handsome if not entirely original buildings . [ 13] Coming from about 1860 , A Tasteful , Jr ., chief draftsman for

Henry Sims was active in. Philadelphia Creative James Sims , inherited the firm upon the until his death in 1875 . Henry was later Eclecticism latter ' s untimely death in 1882 . Soon associated with his younger brother emerging as one of the leading practitioners James, who succeeded him . They both of the Queen Anne Revival in the seemed somewhat independent of regional country , he gave it a seldom known cohesiveness impressions in their approach and wh ile relating it to the Philadelphia worked with competence and originality tradition of strong , simple in new and fashionable modes from the masonry construction . Integrating the Stick Style to the emerging Queen Anne small -scale , eclectic detail and stress Revival as well as the High Victorian upon the picturesque in both plan and Gothic . The bulk of their active practice elevation , which were the most significant , although limited to about a decade elements of the style , he added to and a half , was extremely influential in them a unique sensibility and feeling introducing the quieter and more sensitive for asymmetrical balance . Also present approach that was to become dominant was a new concern for the work of the

by the late 1890s . Collaborating traditional artisan , not unrelated to the with them on occasion was T . Roney concurrent Arts and Crafts Movement Williams on , who , while working with in England . While he was the most talented similar inclinations , fused them with the , Eyre was only one of a group of studied complexities Furness enjoyed . young men whose work appeared in the After a brief practice in the city , he 1880s and 90s as an exciting and more moved to West Chester , where he practiced " tasteful " reaction to prevailing architectural for a number of years , designing inclinations . some of the most delight fully original Still , his earl Lest designs embody the work of the period in the region , much overt awkwardness of Furness . If the of which remains intact . means were different , the spirit was much the same, expressing an inherent delight in the unexpected through the intricate modeling of unlike elements . In his urban structures , like Furness and his generation , Eyre attempted con - sci,ously to break the " monotony " of the conservative neighbors , interrupting peacefully established patterns of the [14] block . This was achieved , however , with a facade finely studied in terms of tradition Eyre 's principal colleagues , Frank Miles and carefully related in its individuality Day and partners Walter Cope and John to the bui Idings around it. Steward son , although of considerable With his maturation , Eyre's designsbecame talent , never developed an equal power increasingly evocative of the si m- or personal style . More academically inclined pie and comfortable unpretentiousness and almost never concerned with of Pennsylvania rural models of the expression of either awkwardness or eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as complexity , they did produce a number well as related English prototypes . Even of excellent designs in the last decades in the largest housesa quiet unity between of the nineteenth century . With Eyre , building and the environment they were responsible for the great monument prevailed over any interest in architec- of Philadelphia Romantic Eclecticism turallavishness. Superb detail and balanced , the Museum of the University but not static composition of of Pennsylvania (begun 1893 ) (see massand interior space remained, but WP I 10 ). An interesting portion of their increasing stresswas placed on the inherent early work , while in part derived from qualities of materials and setting the Renaissance , also in some respects to evolve an architecture that ultimately anticipated the spirit of the somewhat seemedto transcend style. Such structures later Prairie School . Cope & Steward - as the Turner House (1907) (see son 's recently demolished Harrison Laboratories GM I 30) and the Townsend House in at the University of Pennsylvania Radnor (1914) reveal this evolution of (1893 ) afforded a prime example , a unique design approach from a regional but by the turn of the century both base that parallels the important firms had become well entrenched in the work of Eyre's contemporary , Irving Beaux Arts orientation , which never really Gill , in southern California . seemed to interest Eyre . However , country houses and their collegiate work , for which they were especially noted , were frequently Tudor or Jacobean in derivation , incorporating those elements that stressed the styles ' informal , asymmetrical qualities . Urban designs , if more classical in origin , nonetheless retained a certain freedom and informality typical of the city , which was quite unlike the " fashionable " work in New [ 15] York , Boston , or . ' s work was wholly in the spirit of those other cities . While the earliest buildings were executed in a weak and reason ably standard version of regional eclecticism , his first significant commission , an enormous " castle " for Will Lam Harrison in Glenside (1892 ), was of a scale and stylistic pretentiousness competitive with the contemporary country houses of Richard Morris Hunt . For the next thirty -five -odd years the majority of Trumbauer 's work was to continue in this vein , borrowing principally from English and French Renaissance examples . The huge palaces he erected along the Eastern Seaboard had a display of formality and lavishness which was unusual for the city and frequently brought scorn from old Philadelphians . Nevertheless , in an age of fast fortunes , he was never without clients . I n recent reevaluations of the Beaux Arts design , Trumbauer 's significance on a national level has often been overlooked , possibly because he tended to keep his work within safe formulas somewhat at the expense of originality . Yet his finesse of detail and ability to manipulate masses inproportion should place him on a par with the best architects of the school in this country .

[ 16] The Beaux Arts I n recognition of the growing national Other than Cret there were not many and the Pastoral dominance of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, architects in the area who designed

Philadelphia in 1903 imported one of competently in the moderne . A notable

its most promising young graduates, exception was Ralph Bencker , who

Paul Cret, to instruct at the University continued the work of William Price ' s

of Pennsylvania. He fit well with Philadelphia firm of Price & McLanahan . That office and became a leading force in had developed a strikingly original

planning and architecture for several style marking a fusion of English and

decades. The Pan American Building inWashingtonD Sezessionist sources , which Bencker developed

.C. (1910, with Albert more fully in his commercial

Kelsey) is perhaps the most noteworthy projects for the ubiquitous chain of

early example of his work . Horn & Hardart restaurants and the

But it was in the late 1920s and early enormous ( now demolished ) State Theatre 1930s that Cret was the most successful ( 1930 ) .

in expressing the formal statement. As imposing as were the Beaux Arts

Through a sensitivity in the handling of works in the city , they remained isolated

massand detail , a prevailing senseof monuments , and in an era of rapid form in the abstract transcends the materials physical expansion for Philadelphia ma - and a certain period bias; Cret's terialized principally as conspicuous

best work has much the same quiet buildings in commercial centers rather

monumentality Strickland had achieved than having any primary effect on the

one hundred years before. His buildings city ' s growth patterns . The two major

are superbly sited, achieving a serenity products of the City Beautiful movement

that , while formal , renders building and , the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

grounds a natural whole. Beyond this , ( see CC VII 6 ) and the Roosevelt Boulevard

Cret devoted much effort to effecting a , were exceptions to the body of

Beaux Arts integration of architecture urban development . and engineering. His broad scope of design included numerous bridges, dams, and even super stream lined trains.

[17] Concurrently , however, the influence Completely unobtrusive , their buildings of Wilson Eyre and several of his contemporarieswere nonetheless a product of an began to coalesce in the intensely creative search for natural work of a you nger generation of architects anonymity ; the extent of their ingenuity who , like him, concerned themselves within a traditional orientation can be primarily with suburban domestic matched only by the best work of the design and who had an enormous influence Spanish Colonial Revival in southern in directing the nature of the California during the 1920s . growth in these areas. While reflecting certain aspects of the shift in taste toward the academic for its own sake, they rested only on the fringe of the American Beaux Arts movement. These Pastoral architects were interested in creating an atmosphere that ultimately involved an idealization of rural life , whether that of Pennsylvania, England, or Normandy , using prototypes freely in creative and often sophisticated academic exercise. The group included Edmund Gilchrist (who had trained with Eyre but did not really carryon his primary concern for practicality before precedent), Robert McGoodwin , Mellor & Meigs, and Duhring , Okie, & Ziegler. Especially notable as an early example of their creative suburban work were the extensive speculative developments for Dr. George Woodward on his properties in Chestnut H ill (see GM II 12).

[18] Ultimately the most significant member I t was during these decades of the Pastoral of the group was George Howe who , that literally hundreds of old farmhouses after working in the Furness office at a were restored and added to , and time when its meaningful existence had even with some of the most extensive long passed, joined Mellor & Meigs in places the simplicity of the old buildings 1917 as a design partner . H is own house was carefully maintained throughout . in Chestnut H ill (see GM II 22 ), executed The counties surrounding Philadelphia two years before , had already establishedunderwent a degree of natural cultivation him as a leading practitioner (in many ways similar to that of of the Pastoral , and with the new firm the eighteenth -century English garden ) his work rapidly matured . Throughout that few other rural areas in the country the 1920s buildings were simplified with have chanced to experience . R. Brog - an increased concentration on form and nard Okie was one of the first to make its relation to the site . Yet especially in a scholarly study of the rural vernacular the exterior expression , the general attitude and , especially later "in his career (when had strong similarities to that of in practice on his own ), developed the the Shingle Style of some forty years capacity to manipulate its elements as previous . Natural materials - brick , stone , though he were an eighteenth -century wood , and iron - were astutely contrasted master builder . His originality and cre- in the same direct manner . Towers ativity within these very limited boundaries and complex roof patterns became were quite remarkable . as much abstract elements used to formulate a balanced but varied composition as they were picturesque attractions to charm their clients , and they also assumed a certain Mannerist distortion . Perhaps the finest of these houses was erected at laverock for Arthur Newbold (1919 -1924 ). The dwelling itself became only a component of a large , picturesque compound that emphasized the elements of a working farm , and although it was enormous it was completely informal .

[19] Influence of In 1928 Howe left Mellor & Meigs and , Howe ' s few commissions of this period the International after several months of practice on his was remark ably inconsistent . Not long Style own , joined in partnership with Swiss- after designing several rather awkward born William Lescaze, who had briefly moderne residences , he produced a summer and un success fully practiced in New house for Mrs . C . F . Thomas in York City . The dynamics of their six - Maine which is un question ably derived year association is somewhat obscure , from International Style theory yet employs but the result was a small number of warm materials and a pitched roof International Style bui Idings , the most along with details that render it in conscious important of which was the Philadelphia sympathy with its surroundings . Saving Fund Society Building (1930 ) Such interesting and early efforts in this (see CC IV 7 ). This structure , built by a direction can also be found in the work conservative , Quaker -dominated institution of Kenneth Day , who , like Howe , had at the height of the Depression , formerly designed in the Pastoral (in joined the seemingly incompatible backgroundspartnership with Edmund Purves ). and philosophies of the partners The other major figure at that time into a beautifully integrated statement was Oskar Stonorov , who was one of . Their smaller work is, perhaps , the first men to introduce the advanced more indicative of the unresolved difficulties European concepts of mass housing and of their partnership , suggesting urban planning to this country , designing that they were still groping in their attempts several housing projects that were to express the New World Architectureto serve as models for similar work . Their first commission was , in throughout the country . They remain fact , the first building in the International sensitive balances between the organization Style in the East , the now demolished which a planner must give and the Oak Lane Country Day School individuality and intimate scale which is ( 1928 ). A certain awkwardness , and at desired by the inhabitants . H is country times contradiction , here and in other houses of the thirties and forties form (unexecuted ) jobs may also have been some of his most interesting work , with Howe working in a spirit close to Fur - a sophistication acquirecrfrom his European ness's, but of more importance was his training coupled with a sympathy interest in relating local materials and for the landscape and understanding of elements of design to modernistic principals the local , traditional architecture . There . Once the partnership of Howe & also exists the element of complexity , Lescaze was dissolved , this effort was partially the result of his love for the [20] partially continued , but the quality of unexpected . Through the late 1930s , despite the I f the city lacked a substantial quantity quality of Howe 's, Day 's, and Stono - of good new architecture during the rov 's building , the city was basically ~ 1950s , it did have one of the most dynamic tardataire in its general design ideas and and comprehensive city plans . in the immediate postwar period responded This was principally the creation of the only vaguely to the forces that then director of the City Planning Corn.- contributed to architectural innovation mission , , who allied his elsewhere in the country . After the war efforts with many of the city 's more the three maintained generally lean able architects . Oskar Stonorov and practices (although Stonorov 's grew siz- Lou is Kahn made important contributions ably by the 1960s ). , after sensitive to the nature of the city association with Howe and Stonorov , and its diverse elements . Likewise , established his own office , producing a Vincent Kling , with a sophisticated organization few searching works , but was recognized of systems and design coordination more for his role in education . Other , added significantly . Stressing prominent designers , Robert Montgom - practicality and taste above architectural ery Brown , George Daub , and Norman innovation , Bacon 's plans have estab- Rice , had only limited commissions . The I ished a pattern of quality firmly cast in new firm built by Vincent Kling seemed the character of the city which is unusual to be the only group wholly committed for most mid -century urban renewal to the modern ethic able to secure large . Indeed , with maturation and a projects , bringing to them a number of surprisingly large amount of similarly design and engineering innovations . pleasant speculative work , these efforts are proving to be among the most successful in the country . But aside from the compromises apparently inherent in the realization of any significant change , the many plans for quiet and sensible neighborhood revitalization which seemed so promising an element twenty years ago genera II y have been forgotten . With the actual destruction of much of Southwark (see SP I 1) and the moral destruction of South Street , a less sympathetic attitude toward some of the [21] city 's assets now seems evident . Contemporary With the 1960s , Philadelphia reemerged Giurgola , while less involved with a rigidly Development as a place of significant defined philosophy , is more integrative new architecture and architectural of divergent attitudes , reflecting thought with the late maturation of both his contemporaries and elements Louis Kahn , the arrival of Romaldo of Philadelphia tradition . Giurgola , and Robert Venturi ' s start of The influence of these men has been practice . Although substantially different evidenced more in general stimulation from one another , they share an of the work of others than in a significant overriding and somewhat binding attitude collection of their own buildings . toward building which fits them Kahn , though idolized by many students well into the continuum of Philadel - and critics , has scared many in the city phia 's past . The dominating geometric with a reputation for gross impracticality order that becomes the criterion for organizationI and amidst his honors glares the fact in Kahn 's buildings , as well that he has not had a major commission as their monumental Soi idlty , seems an built in Philadelphia for a decade . aspect evolving from his training with Venturi likewise has been limited to Paul Cret . However , unlike Cret but only minor work in the city , and shared with Furness is the recognition Giurgola is only beginning to receive that architectural statement need not conspicuous commissions . But a number always be in either beautiful or simple of other architects are now expressing terms . Not unrelated is Venturi 's interest a decisive interest in their work , in redefining contemporaryvernacu - even if in execution they often fail to Jar architecture without violating its capture the integrity of the ethic with frequently ugly qualities . While the which they have become allied . A considerable unifying elements in his work are not always amount of the new construction immediately apparent , there is a and design of the past several years pervading simplicity of the dominant seems to reflect this new attitude . If mass and individual detail which has a calling this phenomenon the " Philadelphia directness and austerity that relate to School " is a bit overenthusiastic , the indigenous Quaker tradition . This there is nonetheless a suggestion of the interest in studied complexities subordinatedemergence of a vital , and once again to a quiet , simple whole is not widely practiced , regionalism not dissimilar dissimilar in spirit to the work of Wilson to that evident during creative Eyre and his successors in redeveloping periods of the past . an anonymous farm architecture in the [22] first decades of this century . Romaldo The scope of contemporary architecture Likewise , Joel Levinson , whi Ie just beginning in the city extends, of course, well his practice , is part of no school beyond these limits. Both the firms of but a source of tasteful and inventive Geddes, Brecher, Quails & Cunning ham works . and Bower & Fradley share a certain The patterns of architectural and urban sympathy with such work , yet their development of the city are intricate buildings usually expressa more direct and exceedingly complex ; no attempt and essentially simple clarity . The resulting has been made even to summarize them conservative dignity is even more here . Further research , particularly in consciously apparent in the work of the work of the past one hundred years , Vincent Kling, whose office continues is needed before an accurate depiction to produce many of the larger buildings of such events can be attempted . Essential in the area and has been instrumental in to such progress is a well -founded keeping the general level of commercial knowledge of the buildings themselves and civic development at a high standard and of the environments they help to of integrity and taste. Carroll , Grisdale create , and it is toward this end that the & Van Alen have worked toward a more following pages are devoted . open Iy eccentric but not unrelated concern . While there has been no large body of significant domestic design in the Philadelphia area over the past twenty years, a number of offices have done some notable residential work . Cope & Lippincott along with Montgomery , Bishop, & Arnold have done modern work with a clear appreciation of the early local traditions . Louis Sauer displays the rare ability to give a " wide" appeal to irnaginative, livable, and distinctively personal residential design, often of a multiunit type . Frank Weise has been conducting interesting architectural experirrlents for the past twenty years and has produced some of the more fascinating houses in the area. [23]