Laurel Hill Mansion, previously known as Randolph House, is a historic mansion 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, w ...

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.

History

There are conflicting histories about the origins of the home. Some sources claim that it was built by Joseph Shute in 1748 after which it was purchased by Francis Rawle for use as his family's summer retreat. Other sources, including the organization that manages the home, state that the land where the house sits was purchased by Francis Rawle in 1760 and, after Rawle was killed in a shooting accident in 1761, his wife,

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

, proceeded with plans to build Laurel Hill. Francis and Rebecca had three children together; Anna, William, and Margaret. Rebecca married Samuel Shoemaker who would later become mayor of Philadelphia. The Shoemakers retained multiple residences including Laurel Hill. Samuel Shoemaker was a British Loyalist and fled to England to avoid arrest. Laurel Hill was seized and sold at auction. Major James Parr purchased the home and leased it to French Prime Minister, the Chevalier de la Luzern. Rebecca was able to reclaim the home by 1791. Rebecca died in 1819 and her son, William, inherited the home. William sold the home to Philadelphia surgeon Dr. Philip Syng Physick. Physick's daughter, Sally Randolph, inherited the house upon his death, at which time it became known as the Randolph Mansion, or Randolph House. The house was renamed Laurel Hill Mansion in 1976 by the City of Philadelphia during the

United States Bicentennial The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memo ...

Style

The central portion of the house was built around 1767 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 ...

and expanded in the early 19th century with a one-story addition on the south side. The

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

ally-shaped

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...

addition on the north side was built in 1846."Property History and Architecture of House"
Women for Greater Philadelphia Inc. 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2017. The house was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on March 24, 1972.

Present day

Laurel Hill Mansion is managed by the nonprofit organization, Women for Greater Philadelphia, Inc. The organization hosts social and fundraising events at the home.

References

External links

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS) documentation: ** ** of historical context
Randolph
at the Historical Society of Philadelphia {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Georgian architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1750 Houses in Fairmount Park Historic house museums in Philadelphia Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Federal architecture in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia East Fairmount Park

History

Style

Present day

See also

References

External links