__NOTOC__ This list contains all of the extant historic houses located in Fairmount Park in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Most of the houses are referred to as mansions due to their size and use as the summer country estates of Philadelphia's affluent citizens in the 18th and 19th centuries. During that period, the city's only developed areas were located several miles away to the southeast along the Delaware River, making the current park areas along the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

an ideal refuge from epidemics during the summer months."The Cliffs: Fairmount Park Ruins with a Link to Joseph Wharton"

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by Steven Ujifusa. ''phillyhistory.org''. City of Philadelphia. November 9, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2017. "The Cliffs was...an informal retreat where the Fishers escaped the city's miserable, disease-ridden summers."

''fairmountparkhistoricsites.org''. The Fairmount Park Council for Historic Sites. Retrieved November 5, 2017. "Samuel Breck...built Sweetbriar Mansion in 1797 to escape the Yellow Fever epidemic." The mansions were built between 1742 ( Belmont Mansion) and 1810 ( Rockland), in various architectural styles including

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

, Federal, Georgian, Gothic Revival,

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

, and

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

, with some in combinations of those styles. There are 19 extant historic houses of which 16 were constructed within the current boundaries of Fairmount Park, while three of the houses were moved to the park from elsewhere in the city—

Cedar Grove Mansion Cedar Grove Mansion, located in west Fairmount Park, was the summer residence for five generations of Philadelphia families. The house was built as a rural retreat from city life, and was originally located within the present day Frankford neig ...

from Frankford,

Hatfield House Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house, a leading example of the prodigy house, was built in 1611 by Robert Cec ...

from Nicetown, and

Letitia Street House Letitia Street House is a modest eighteenth-century house in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It was built along the Delaware riverfront about 1713, and relocated to its current site in 1883. The house was once celebrated as the city residence ...

from Old City. All of the 19 houses were designed and used as private residences. The Cliffs Mansion, located in east park, has been left in ruins since a 1986 fire caused by arson. Other historic houses were demolished due to extensive deterioration, vandalism, fire damage or insufficient funds for restoration. Demolished houses are not included in this list. Three additional historic park buildings were designed like residential houses though they were never intended to be used as private residences: the Ohio House—built by the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

delegation for the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

; the Shofuso Japanese House—built in Japan as a museum exhibit for display at MoMA, then relocated to Fairmount Park; and the Smith Memorial Playhouse—designed, and still used, as an indoor play area for children. This list does not include the historic boathouses on

Boathouse Row Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and ro ...

which were designed as sporting clubhouses rather than residential homes. The historic houses within the adjacent

Wissahickon Valley Park Wissahickon Valley Park is a large urban park in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It protects of woodland surrounding the Wissahickon Creek between the Montgomery County border and the Schuylkill River. For several miles, the creek winds th ...

are also not included though that park was previously within the ''Fairmount Park system''. Since 2010, all park areas and facilities are administered separately after the merger of the Fairmount Park Commission and the Department of Recreation into the new

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) is the municipal department responsible for managing parks, recreation centers, playgrounds, trails, community gardens, and historic properties in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its inventory includes more than 15 ...

department. The Fairmount Park Conservancy's Historic Preservation Trust, in collaboration with the city of Philadelphia, offers long-term leasing of some historic houses to civic organizations and businesses. The lessees must commit to rehabilitate and maintain the buildings, without altering their historic architectural features, while allowing public access. The trust offers assistance to prospective lessees in assessing feasibility, identifying financial incentives, and managing rehabilitation and maintenance work."Leasing Program"

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''fairmountparktrust.org''. Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust. Retrieved November 5, 2017. Note: the general Fairmount Park

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

(NRHP) listing date of February 7, 1972, is entered for all sites with no individual designation record; ~ is entered for Style and Architect when unknown.

Notes

References

External links

*
Philadelphia Parks & Recreation
– park administration
Fairmount Park Conservancy
– capital projects and historic preservation efforts; merged with the Preservation Trust in 2015
Fairmount Park Trail Master Plan
– includes a summary of mansions and houses
Map of historic sites and buildings in Fairmount Park

– article a
philly.com
{{authority control Houses Fairmount Park Fairmount Park Houses

See also

Notes

References

External links