Historic Strawberry Mansion is a summer home in East
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
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 ...
,
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, ...
, United States. It was originally named Summerville by Judge William Lewis who had it built sometime between 1783 and 1789."Historic Strawberry Mansion timeline" ''historicstrawberrymansion.org''. The Committee of 1926. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
Early history
Lewis purchased land in what is now Fairmount Park, including some existing buildings, and built the mansion sometime between 1783 and 1789. He lived there until his death in 1819 at the age of 68.
Joseph Hemphill
Joseph Hemphill (January 7, 1770May 29, 1842) was an American politician who served as a Federalist Party, Federalist member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 1801 to 1803, as a Jackson Feder ...
(born 1770) purchased Strawberry Mansion in 1821, two years after Lewis's death. His family was responsible for adding the
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 ...
wings to 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 structure erected by Lewis, ca. 1828.
In 1867 the mansion was sold to the city by a landowner who had owned it since Judge Hemphill's death in 1842. The purchase of the mansion, along with a great deal of the surrounding land, was part of an effort to protect the source of the city's drinking water, 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 fl ...
. The area was named East Fairmount Park, under the supervision of the Fairmount Park Commission.
Renovations
In 1926, several women's clubs combined efforts with Mayor
W. Freeland Kendrick
W. Freeland Kendrick (1873 – March 20, 1953 Accessed March 24, 2008.) was the to create a
Sesquicentennial Exposition
The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition of 1926 was a world's fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its purpose was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the 50th anniversary o ...
in South Philadelphia in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Several women from the event did not want to disband, and instead sought an area to move many of the antique furniture collections to another location. Under the supervision of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an 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 the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...
and the
Fairmount Park Commission
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 ...
, the new Committee of 1926 renovated Strawberry Mansion to be used as a museum and place of hospitality. Funds for the renovation were donated by Joseph Horn of
Horn and Hardart
Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore.
Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Fra ...
's
automat
An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895.
By country Germany
The first automat in the world was the Quisisana ...
s, who grew up in the Philadelphia area and played in the park as a child. Women's societies throughout the city filled the rooms with exceptional period furnishings. The house officially reopened in 1931 with Mrs. J. Willis Martin (Elizabeth Price) as the first president of the Committee of 1926. Today the Committee of 1926 continues to preserve the historic house museum and the principles of hospitality on which it was founded.
The mansion was renovated again in the early 21st century.
Name
Strawberry Mansion received its current name during the period from 1846 to 1867, when farmers renting the mansion served strawberries and cream to the public.
Tours
The mansion is open for tours from February to December, as follows:
* In February, tours are from 10am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, by appointment only
* In March, it is open 10am-4pm Thursday through Saturday and Sundays, by appointment only.
* In Mid-April through December, the house is open Thursday through Sunday 10am-4pm. The last tour leaves promptly at 3pm.
See also
*
List of houses in Fairmount Park
__NOTOC__
This list contains all of the extant historic houses located in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Most of the houses are referred to as mansions due to their size and use as the summer country estates of Philadelphia's affl ...
*
Nannie Lee House
The Nannie Lee House, often referred to as Strawberry Mansion, is a historic U.S. home located at 1218 East New Haven Avenue, Melbourne, Florida. John B. Lee and his wife Nannie McBride Lee from Albion, New York built the house in 1905. Lily Tidw ...
aka Strawberry Mansion in Florida
*
Strawberry Mansion (disambiguation) Strawberry Mansion may refer to:
* ''Strawberry Mansion'' (album), a 2021 album by Langhorne Slim
* ''Strawberry Mansion'' (film), a 2021 film directed and written by Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley
* Strawberry Mansion, Philadelphia, a neighb ...
*
Strawberry Mansion Bridge
The Strawberry Mansion Bridge is a steel arch truss bridge across the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was built in 1896–1897 by the Phoenix Iron Company in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, under private ownersh ...
*
Strawberry Mansion High School
Strawberry Mansion High School is a public high school in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia. It is part of the School District of Philadelphia. It was previously named Strawberry Mansion Junior / Senior High School, and Strawberry M ...
*
Strawberry Mansion, Philadelphia
Strawberry Mansion is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located east of Fairmount Park in North Philadelphia. The neighborhood is bounded by 33rd Street to the west, 29th Street to the east, Lehigh Avenue to the north, ...