The Cliffs is a historic country house located near 33rd and Oxford Streets in
East Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It is a
Registered Historic Place.
History
![TheCliffs1931](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/TheCliffs1931.jpg)
The Cliffs was built in 1753 by Philadelphia merchant
Joshua Fisher (1707–1783), the great-grandfather of
Joseph Wharton
Joseph Wharton (March 3, 1826 – January 11, 1909) was an American industrialist. He was involved in mining, manufacturing and education. He founded the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, co-founded the Bethlehem Steel comp ...
.
It overlooks 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 ...
from the east, just north of Girard Avenue Bridge and quite close to where Fountain Green Drive meets Kelly Drive along the river. It is a country house in the Georgian style, constructed in stone, with two stories and a basement, originally heated by double fireplaces on both floors and basement. The estate surrounding the house included a farm.
The house was the location where
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
's daughter,
Sarah Franklin Bache
Sarah Franklin Bache (September 11, 1743 – October 5, 1808), sometimes known as Sally Bache, was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Read. She was a leader in relief work during the American Revolutionary War and frequently served as ...
, and her sewing group made clothing and bandages for the Continental soldiers during the
Revolutionary War.
Joshua Fisher settled in
Lewes, Delaware
Lewes ( ) is an incorporated city on the Delaware Bay in eastern Sussex County, Delaware, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population is 2,747. Along with neighboring Rehoboth Beach, Lewes is one of the principal cities of Delawar ...
, marrying Sarah Rodman, and as a young man started a hat-making business using the locally plentiful animal skins. He developed a robust transatlantic trade in animal pelts and became wealthy, moving his family to downtown Philadelphia in 1746, and building the Cliffs as a country getaway. He brought his family to the Cliffs house and farm in the summer and they grew up interested in nature, with an appreciation of the
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
testimony of simplicity. Fisher's son
Samuel Rowland Fisher, his wife Hannah Rodman Fisher, and their three children, Sarah,
Deborah
According to the Book of Judges, Deborah ( he, דְּבוֹרָה, ''Dəḇōrā'', "bee") was a prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel and the only female judge mentioned in the Bible. Many scholars ...
, and Thomas, spent their summers in the house during the years 1793–1834.
The house remained in the Fisher family for more than 100 years until 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 ...
purchased it in 1868. The house was rented and maintained until the 1960s when it became vacant. The house had a substantial amount of woodwork and paneling. It was taken over and repaired in the 1960s by the Shackamaxon Society, a local civic group.
Vandalism
![the cliffs 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/The_cliffs_3.jpg)
The Cliffs house was vandalized in the 1970s and 1980s, possibly due to publicity that 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 ...
allowed city officials to live in the park's 45 historic houses rent-free. As a result of the news stories, the Park Commission decided to charge rent, but renters could not be found for some of the houses. Those that were occupied were thereby protected and maintained. The Cliffs was unoccupied from 1970, and due to a lack of funds, neither the Park Commission nor the Shackamaxon Society could maintain it.
Fire
The Cliffs burned on February 22, 1986, due to vandalism and arson. Firefighters were unable to extinguish the fire because their heavy trucks sank in the clay earth surrounding the house. The clay had been trucked into the site in order to cover an area near the house used as a dump for refuse from various municipal construction projects.
Today, what remains of the Cliffs is a shell of masonry that can only hint at its history and former glory. It is visible from the
Schuylkill Expressway
The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a Controlled-access highway, freeway through southern Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Philade ...
and the West River Drive just north of the Girard Avenue bridge in the winter months when the foliage has dropped from the trees.
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 aff ...
*
List of Registered Historic Places in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
References
Fisher Family Papers 1761–1889, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
* "The Deborah Fisher Wharton Papers, 1815–1876" Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.
* "Biographical Memoranda concerning Joseph Wharton, 1826–1909" by his daughter Joanna Wharton Lippincott.
* W. Ross Yates, ''Joseph Wharton: Quaker Industrial Pioneer'', 1987, Lehigh University Press
* Joseph Wharton Family Papers, 1691–1962, Library of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore PA
* Article in ''The Evening Bulletin'', November 22, 1971, on the plans to convert the Cliffs to a historic farm.
* Article in ''The Evening Bulletin'', January 27, 1975, on the plans to restore 16 historic houses including the Cliffs.
* Article in ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', February 23, 1986 on the burning of the Cliffs.
* Thomas M. Doerflinger, ''A Vigorous Spirit of Enterprise: Merchants and Economic Development in Revolutionary Philadelphia'', 1986, UNC Press.
External links
Fairmount Park history*Building – #72001147 in the National Register of Historic Places: http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/PA/Philadelphia/state2.html
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cliffs, The
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
Houses in Fairmount Park
Georgian architecture in Pennsylvania
Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia
Houses completed in 1753
East Fairmount Park