The Powel House is a historic house museum located at 244 South 3rd Street, between Willings Alley and Spruce Street, in the Society Hill neighborhood of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Built in 1765 in the

Georgian style Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, Ge ...

,, p.46 and embellished by second owner Samuel Powel (1738–1793), it has been called "the finest Georgian row house in the city." As with other houses of this type, the exterior facade is understated and simple, but the interior was elaborately appointed.

History

The elegant brick city house was built for Charles Stedman, a merchant and shipmaster. Before he occupied it, Stedman fell into financial trouble – eventually winding up in

debtors' prison A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Histor ...

., p.28 The house was purchased for £3,150 on August 2, 1769, by Samuel Powel, who would become the last

mayor of Philadelphia The mayor of Philadelphia is the chief executive of the government of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as stipulated by the Charter of the City of Philadelphia. The current mayor of Philadelphia is Cherelle Parker, who is the first woman to hold the ...

under British rule and the city's first mayor following independence. A

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

who converted to

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, he supported the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

and was dubbed the "Patriot Mayor." Design of the building is attributed to architect/builder Robert Smith. Powel and his wife Elizabeth (née Willing) lavishly redecorated, creating some of the most ornate interiors in the Colonies. The Rococo plastered ceilings are attributed to James Clow, and the architectural woodwork is attributed to carvers Hercules Courtnay and Martin Jugiez.Powel House Room
from Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Powel House shared a party wall with the Governor John Penn house, next door. The governor's house was confiscated during the Revolutionary War, and George and

Martha Washington Martha Dandridge Custis Washington (June 2, 1731 Old Style, O.S. – May 22, 1802) was the wife of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, she served as the ...

occupied it for several months, following the October 1781 victory at Yorktown. The Powels entertained the Washingtons, and other notable guests, such as

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

, and the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

. Philadelphia served as temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800, and President Washington occupied a house on Market Street for more than six years. Prior to moving in, he built a two-story, semicircular "Bow Window" addition to the south wall of the President's House, enlarging the State Dining Room and the State Drawing Room above it. This may have inspired the Powels to build the three-story half-turret addition to their city house. While its exterior was canted (like a

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. A bow window is a form of bay with a curve rather than angular facets; an oriel window is a bay window that does not touch the g ...

), the interior wall seems to have been bowed (curved), enlarging the rear parlors on the first and second floors and the rear bedroom on the third, and adding windows overlooking the garden. The half-turret addition is visible in a 1799 print by William Birch and an 1817 print attributed to William Strickland. Some time in the mid-19th century, the half-turret addition was demolished and the south wall of the Powel House became a party wall shared with a new building. Samuel Powel died in the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that killed about 10% of the city's population. After President-Elect John Adams passed on buying them, Mrs. Powel bought a number of items from soon-to-be-ex-President Washington in early 1797. These included his presidential coach and horses (the coach is now at Mount Vernon), his presidential desk (now at the

Philadelphia History Museum The Philadelphia History Museum was a public history museum located in Center City, Philadelphia from 1938 until 2018. From 1938 until 2010, the museum was known as the Atwater Kent Museum. The museum occupied architect John Haviland's landmark ...

), and a pair of

girandole A girandole () is an ornamental branched candle holder consisting of several lights that may be on a stand or mounted on the wall, either by itself or attached to a mirror. Girandole has been used to refer to a number of different objects and des ...

mirrors (now at

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

). Elizabeth Willing Powel sold this house in November 1798, to

William Bingham William Bingham (March 8, 1752February 7, 1804) was an American statesman from Philadelphia. He was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788 and served in the United States Senate from 1795 to 1801. Bingham was o ...

, the husband of her niece Ann Willing Bingham. The Marquis de Lafayette gave the Powels a set of china that is on display in the Powel House. A 1793 portrait of Mrs. Powel attributed to

Matthew Pratt Matthew Pratt (September 23, 1734 – January 9, 1805) was an American "Colonial Era" artist famous for his portraits of American men and women. Early life He was born in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, to goldsmith Henry Pratt and Re ...

is on long-term loan from the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

Saved from demolition

Early in the 20th century, the house served as a warehouse for a business that imported and exported Russian and Siberian horse hair and bristles. In 1918, the owners sold the second floor rear parlor's architectural woodwork to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, where it is now a

period room A period room is a display that represents the interior design and decorative art of a particular historical social setting usually in a museum. Though it may incorporate elements of an individual real room that once existed somewhere, it is usual ...

in the American Wing. The ballroom's plaster ceiling and architectural woodwork was sold to the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

in 1925. By 1930, the Powel House was slated for demolition, with the property to be converted into a parking lot. Antiquarian Frances Wister saved the house, forming the

Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks The Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks (aka Landmarks) founded in 1931, maintains and preserves four historic house museums in the region around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These are: * Grumblethorpe * Hill–Physick–Keith ...

and raising the funds to purchase the property in 1931. Over the next decade, Wister and the Society bought and demolished the 19th-century building that covered the east end of the walled garden, and hired architect H. Louis Duhring Jr. to restore the house to its appearance during Powel's residency and re-create its lost interiors. The Society opened the restored house as a museum interpreting the daily lives of wealthy Philadelphians at the time of the American Revolution. Today, the rich history of the Powel House may be seen in its decorative arts collection, its portraits of Powels and Willings, and its formal, walled garden so typical of Colonial Philadelphia. Its beautiful entryway, ballroom with bas-relief plasterwork, and mahogany wainscoting give the house its reputation as perhaps America's finest existing Georgian Colonial townhouse. In more recent years, it has been alleged that the house is haunted by the ghost of

Peggy Shippen Margaret Shippen (July 11, 1760 – August 24, 1804) was the second wife of General Benedict Arnold. She has been described as "the highest-paid spy in the American Revolution". Shippen was born into a prominent Philadelphia family with Loyalist ...

, Elizabeth Powel's second cousin and wife of

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

Gallery

File:ENTRANCE DETAIL - Samuel Powel House, 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA,51-PHILA,25-4.tif, Front door. File:HALL AND STAIL, LOOKING WEST FROM ENTRANCE DOOR (1962) - Samuel Powel House, 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA,51-PHILA,25-6.tif, Entrance hall. File:STAIR DETAIL, LOOKING NORTHEAST (1967) - Samuel Powel House, 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA,51-PHILA,25-9.tif, Mahogany staircase. File:PARLOR (OR DRAWING ROOM), LOOKING NORTHWEST (1967) - Samuel Powel House, 244 South Third Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA,51-PHILA,25-7.tif, First floor front parlor.

In popular culture

* The 1986

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

miniseries '' George Washington II: The Making of a Nation'' used the Powel House garden as a stand-in for the garden of the President's House in Philadelphia. * In

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

''Southern Victory'' Series novels, Philadelphia becomes the ''de facto'' capital of the United States in the 1880s and the Powel House, the executive mansion. During a 1942 Confederate bombing raid of Philadelphia, President

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was the 42nd governor of New York, serving from 1919 to 1920 and again from 1923 to 1928. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party's presidential nominee in the 1 ...

is killed at the house.

References

Notes Further reading *Eberlein, H.D. and Lippincott, H.M., ''The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighborhoods'', J.B. Lippincott Co., Phila. and London, 1912. *Tatum, George B., ''Philadelphia Georgian: The City House of Samuel Powel and Some of Its 18th Century Neighbors'', Wesleyan, 1976.

External links

*
Room from the Powel House
exhibit at the