The Thomas Hockley House (1875) is a Victorian city house in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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 ...

, designed by architect

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...

. Located west of

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. The neighborho ...

, it is a contributing property in the Walnut–Chancellor Historic District.

History

Thomas Hockley was a childhood friend of Furness, a fellow Civil War veteran, and an early supporter of the architect's career. The house was built on a

lot Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas * Land lot, an area of land * Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...

bordered by South 21st, Chancellor and St. James Streets, which allowed for windows on all sides. It is ostensibly Victorian in style, albeit with patterned brick and other features that are innovations by Furness. The exterior is

polychromatic Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statue ...

, in a dark palette of brownstone, brick red, gray granite and dark gray slate, with black accents in the

belt course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

s and

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

. The entrance porch is carved out of the house's southeast corner—its twin Moorish arches (at right angles) rest upon compressed columns, with a

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

bas-relief of an abstracted

sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

above each portal. Another abstracted sunflower is carved into the tympanum over the box window. The main chimney is brick and

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

s out from the south wall, then flares out at its top.

The unique entrance to the house of Thomas Hockley, ... never fails to attract attention. The building is of pressed brick, superimposed upon a seven foot basement of red Hummlestown sandstone. The lines are defined with black encaustic brick. The roof is compound mansard with Gothic windows and a large overhanging bay-window is sprung from the front at the second story. Furness and Evans were the architects. — "Some Novel Houses," ''The Philadelphia Press'', July 5, 1875, p. 12.

In terms of materials, detailing and palette, the Hockley House is closely related to Furness & Hewitt's

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

(1876, demolished 1963), designed by

William Le Baron Jenney William Le Baron Jenney (September 25, 1832 – June 14, 1907) was an American architect and engineer who is known for building the first skyscraper in 1884. In 1998, Jenney was ranked number 89 in the book ''1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ran ...

. Following Hockley's 1892 death, the house was bought by Mrs. Albonia Whartenby, who hired Furness, Evans & Company in 1894, to alter its interiors and add a rear addition. It was later converted into apartments.

Hockley Row

Allen Evans Allen Evans (December 8, 1849 – February 28, 1925) was an American architect and partner in the Philadelphia firm of Furness & Evans. His best known work may be the Merion Cricket Club. Biography He was the son of Dr. Edmund C. Evans (181 ...

, who had been an architect in Furness & Hewitt's office in 1875 when the Hockley House was built, designed a row of four houses adjacent to it in 1883. By then he was a full partner in Furness & Evans, and his father was the project's client. Evans designed the house at 237 S. 21st Street as his own residence; the houses at 239 and 241 S. 21st Street and the corner house at 2049 Locust Street were speculative properties that his family sold off. File:Saint James Street in Philadelphia.JPG, St. James Street at 21st Street. Hockley House is at left. File:Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, ca. 1910. (6630259307).jpg, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1871–76), Philadelphia. File:Hockley Row Philly 2.JPG, Allen Evans House, 237 S. 21st Street File:Hockley Row Philly.JPG, 2049 Locust Street (NE corner 21st & Locust Streets)

Notes

References

External links

* {{Frank Furness, state=collapsed

Hockley Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 189 ...

Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia

Victorian architecture in Pennsylvania