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Sweetbriar is a Neoclassical mansion in the
Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...
built in 1797 in West
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 ...
. The mansion was built by Samuel Breck and named for the roses that grew on the property.Historical Society of Pennsylvania - Who built Sweetbriar Mansion in 1797?
/ref> The interior includes a double parlor and floor-to-ceiling windows with sweeping views of 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 ...
. Period pieces include Chinese
armorial porcelain Armorial ware or heraldic china (and a variety of other terms) are ceramics decorated with a coat of arms, either that of a family, or an institution or place. Armorials have been popular on European pottery from the Middle Ages with examples see ...
,
Hepplewhite George Hepplewhite (1727? – 21 June 1786) was a cabinetmaker. He is regarded as having been one of the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century, along with Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Chippendale. There are no pieces of furnit ...
and
Sheraton style Sheraton is a late 18th-century Neoclassical English furniture style, in vogue 1785–1820, that was coined by 19th-century collectors and dealers to credit furniture designer Thomas Sheraton, whose books, ''The Cabinet Dictionary'' (1803) of e ...
chairs, and
Adam style The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...
furniture.
Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
jasperware Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...
and fireplaces with delicate plaster decorations were influenced by discoveries in the ancient houses of
Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...
. Bird prints by
John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...
and paintings by William Birch decorate the walls. The house was operated by the Modern Club of Philadelphia from 1939 to 2014. It has been closed while undergoing renovations as the city looks for a new organization to maintain it.


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 ...


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Official Fairmount Park website
History Of Sweetbriar Mansion *
Historic Photographs of Sweetbriar
''Philly''History.org {{coord, 39.9769833, -75.2008667, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1797 Federal architecture in Pennsylvania Houses in Fairmount Park Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia West Fairmount Park