Wynnestay or Wynnstay is a historic house, one of the oldest extant houses in
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 ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The two-and-a-half-story house was first built in 1689 as the residence of Dr.
Thomas Wynne
Thomas Wynne (July 20, 1627 – January 16, 1692) was personal physician of William Penn and one of the original settlers of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania. Born in Ysceifiog, Wales, where his family dated back seventeen generat ...
, Pennsylvania founder
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
's personal physician and first Speaker of the
Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to Wi ...
.
The land surrounding Wynnestay was developed starting about 1895 with the encouragement of Pennsylvania Railroad President
George B. Roberts
George Brooke Roberts (January 15, 1833 – January 30, 1897) was a civil engineer and the fifth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (1880–96).
Early life and education
Roberts was born at his family's farm in the Pencoyd region of Bala ...
, and the building of the nearby
Wynnefield Station. The house was extensively renovated in 1904, with the addition of a large ell designed by Walter Smedley.
The home was added to 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 ...
in 2008.
The home is available for touring by appointment only.
References
External links
Official web site
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Colonial Revival architecture in Pennsylvania
Houses completed in 1689
Houses in Philadelphia
West Philadelphia
National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
1689 establishments in Pennsylvania
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