Carpenters' Hall, in

Independence National Historical Park Independence National Historical Park is a federally protected historic district in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National ...

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, is the official birthplace of the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, 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, Maryland to its south, West ...

and a key meeting place for colonial delegates during the early part of 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 ...

. Completed in 1775, the two-story brick meeting hall was built for and is still privately owned by the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the country's oldest extant

craft guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

. The

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies held from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia at the beginning of the American Revolution. The meeting was organized b ...

met at the building in 1774 and passed and signed the

Continental Association The Continental Association, also known as the Articles of Association or simply the Association, was an agreement among the Thirteen Colonies, American colonies, adopted by the First Continental Congress, which met inside Carpenters' Hall in Phi ...

. In June 1776, it was where the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference officially declared the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from ...

's independence from the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

and established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, mobilized the

Pennsylvania militia The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 pe ...

for the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, set up the machinery for the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention from July 15 to September 28 in 1776, which framed the

Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 (ratified September 28, 1776) was the state's first constitution following its declaration of independence and has been described as the most democratic in America. It was drafted by Robert Whitehill, Timot ...

and enabled the

Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the territory of another state or failed state, or are breaka ...

to be written and ultimately adopted. It was briefly occupied in 1777 by the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the war. The site was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

on April 15, 1970. On November 30, 1982, the

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...

succeeded in passing

Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvani ...

166(R) HR180 to recognize "Carpenters' Hall as the official birthplace of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania". The building is free to enter and receives 120,000 visitors per year. Numerous dignitaries have visited Carpenters' Hall, including

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

Chief Justice

Warren E. Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the William Mitchell College o ...

, King

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and

Queen Silvia of Sweden Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Vict ...

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President

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n President Guntis Ulmanis, Texas governor and future

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

, and

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Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served in the Presidency of George W. Bush, George W. Bush administration as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003 and as the U ...

History

18th century

The land on which Carpenters' Hall is built was purchased on behalf of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1768 by Benjamin Loxley, Robert Smith, and Thomas Nevell. The hall was designed by Robert Smith 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 ...

based on both the town halls of Scotland, where Smith was born, and the villas of

Palladio Andrea Palladio ( , ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one ...

in Italy. The carpenters' guild held their first meeting there on January 21, 1771, and continued to do so until 1777 when the

captured Philadelphia. On April 23, 1773, which was

Saint George's Day Saint George's Day is the feast day of Saint George, celebrated by Christian churches, countries, regions, and cities of which he is the patron saint, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, England, Ethiopia, Greece, Georgia, Port ...

, it was used for the founding meeting of the St. George Society of Philadelphia. The

of the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

of North America met at Carpenters Hall from September 5 to October 26, 1774. The First Continental Congress resolved to ban further imports of slaves and to discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, a step toward phasing out slavery in

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

. It also passed and signed the

. In June 1776, meeting at Carpenters' Hall, the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference declared the

's independence from the

and established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, mobilized the

for the

, set up the machinery for the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention from July 15 to September 28 in 1776, which framed the

. In the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, which established American independence ...

, which met inside present-day

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of ...

in Philadelphia, delegates established the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

and appointed

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

as its commander-in-chief in 1775. The following year, in July 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the

, which

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

largely authored from his second-floor apartment on Market Street within walking distance of Carpenters' Hall. From September 1777 to June 1778, the hall and all of Philadelphia was occupied by the

during the Revolutionary War. The meeting hall served as a hospital for both British and American troops in the Revolutionary War, and other Philadelphia institutions have held meetings in Carpenters' Hall, including Ben Franklin's

Library Company of Philadelphia The Library Company of Philadelphia (LCP) is a non-profit organization based on Locust Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia. Founded as a library in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin, the Library Company of Philadelphia has a ...

, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

, and the First and Second Banks of the United States. Carpenters Hall was the site of the 1798 Bank of Pennsylvania heist.

19th century

The federal Custom House in Philadelphia was located at Carpenters' Hall between 1802 and 1819, except for a brief interruption between January and April, 1811.

20th century

In 1970, Carpenters' Hall was declared a

. On November 30, 1982, the

passed

166(R) HR180 to recognize Carpenters' Hall as the official birthplace of Pennsylvania.

21st century

In 2022, a fire in the basement of the building was suspected to be

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

; at the time, the building were closed for renovations.

Construction and design

The Carpenters Company was founded in 1724, but had no meeting house of their own, resorting to rented tavern rooms for their meetings. Carpenters Company members finally selected a new building site in 1768 on Chestnut Street, a few hundred feet from

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 ...

's home. Robert Smith submitted the plans for the design, but did not supervise the construction of the hall. The decision to proceed with construction was made on January 30, 1770. Construction was completed in August 1774.Peterson, Charles E. ''Robert Smith: Architect, Builder, Patriot, 1722–1777''. The Athenaeum of Philadelphia: 2000. 112–116.

Inscription

Over the south door of Carpenters' Hall reads the following inscription:

References

External links

Official website
* *
The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia published 1887"> The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia published 1887
{{Authority control 18th-century architecture in the United States American Revolutionary War museums in Pennsylvania American Revolutionary War sites Buildings and structures in Independence National Historical Park Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Carpenters' trade unions Chestnut Street (Philadelphia) Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Continental Congress Federal architecture in Pennsylvania Former national capitol buildings in the United States Government buildings completed in 1773 Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia Historic district contributing properties in Pennsylvania Museums in Philadelphia National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Old City, Philadelphia