The Lilacs is an early 18th-century farmhouse located in northwestern

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 house has a large addition constructed in the early 19th century. The name was derived from the many

lilac ''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...

bushes on the property. The original owner was Morten Garret who bought a plot of land in 1711. The farmhouse was built in two sections with the southern section constructed by Garret sometime shortly after the land was purchased. The attached section was added by Garret's descendants in 1832, as an extension from the northeast wall of the original house. The house was owned by the Garret family until the city purchased the land in 1869 to expand Fairmount Park. A

rowing club A rowing club is a club for people interested in the sport of Rowing. Rowing clubs are usually near a body of water, whether natural or artificial, that is large enough for manoeuvering the shells (rowing boats). Clubs usually have a boat house w ...

called the

University Barge Club University Barge Club of Philadelphia (also known as UBC) is an amateur rowing club located at #7 in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Hist ...

began using the house sometime after 1871 as its upstream social clubhouse along 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 ...

. In the 1990s, the house was used as a

halfway house A halfway house is an institute for people with criminal backgrounds or substance use disorder problems to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a ...

for juveniles. , a sign at the driveway entrance to the house stated ''

Outward Bound Outward Bound (OB) is an international network of outdoor education organizations that was founded in the United Kingdom by Lawrence Holt and Kurt Hahn in 1941. Today there are organizations, called schools, in over 35 countries which are att ...

—Lilac House—3600 Greenland Drive''. The same organization leases and maintains the Porter's House of the demolished Sedgeley Mansion, also in Fairmount Park on the opposite side of the river. The Lilacs house is registered on the

Philadelphia Register of Historic Places The Philadelphia Register of Historic Places (PRHP) is a register of historic places by the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Buildings, structures, sites, objects, interiors and districts can be added to the list. Criteria According to the Phila ...

and is an inventoried structure within the

Fairmount Park Historic District 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 ...

entry on 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 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilacs, The Houses in Fairmount Park Philadelphia Register of Historic Places West Fairmount Park Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia

See also

References

External links