Chamounix is a historic home located in

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, with ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

-style house was built in 1802 by George Plumsted who was a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, then enlarged to nearly double its original size by subsequent owners after 1853. Chamounix is a 2½-story

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

ed stone dwelling measuring 45 feet long and 47 feet deep, featuring a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

with

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

s and a

porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...

on three sides with decorative iron supports. The house served as a country retreat until it was appropriated by the state via eminent domain in 1869 to become a part of Fairmount Park, from which time it was used in various ways including as a boarding house, a restaurant, and a refreshment stand. After years of neglect and then fire damage, the Fairmount Park Commission decided to demolish Chamounix; however, a committee of the former American Youth Hostels (AYH, now HI USA) successfully petitioned to save it and, since 1964, it has served as an international youth hostel. ''Note:'' This includes Chamounix was added to the

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 v ...

in 1972.

References

External links

Hostelling International - Chamounix Mansion websiteLibrary of Congress
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Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Houses completed in 1856 Philadelphia Register of Historic Places West Fairmount Park Houses in Fairmount Park Federal architecture in Pennsylvania

See also

References

External links