The Edward Drinker Cope House is a historic house located at 2100–2102 Pine Street in
Center City 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. Since ...
. Built in 1880, it was a longtime home of
Edward Drinker Cope
Edward Drinker Cope (July 28, 1840 – April 12, 1897) was an American zoologist, paleontologist, comparative anatomist, herpetologist, and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interes ...
(1840–1897), a prolific
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
and
paleontologist
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
and noted herpetologist who was one of the leading natural scientists of the 19th century United States. It was declared a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
in 1975.
[ and ]
Description and history
The Edward Drinker Cope House consists of two side-by-side rowhomes at the southwest corner of 21st and Pine Streets, southwest 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 ...
in Philadelphia's Center City. It is 3.5 stories in height with a larger ceiling at the top floor. The front facades are clad with rectangular cut green stone laid in random courses. The side and rear sides are brick and it is topped with a
mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. Th ...
. The main facade has polygonal bays on the outside and a pair of arched entrances in the center bays.
The rowhomes were purchased by Cope shortly after their construction in 1880. He at first lived at 2100, using 2102 as storage and a work room. Financial reverses due to a poor investment in 1886 forced him to rent 2100 out, and he occupied 2102 until his death in 1897. The Pine Street home was filled with Cope's papers, bones, stuffed and mounted animals, and specimens preserved in alcohol that covered his desks and an improvised shelf in his bathroom.
[Fowler, 196.] Cope was a prolific and talented scientist, distinguishing himself in the field of
paleontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
, where he was one of the leading figures in the infamous
Bone Wars
The Bone Wars, also known as the Great Dinosaur Rush, was a period of intense and ruthlessly competitive fossil hunting and discovery during the Gilded Age of American history, marked by a heated rivalry between Edward Drinker Cope (of the Acad ...
competition that characterized the scientific investigations of the American West in the 1870s. He is ranked with
Othniel Marsh
Othniel Charles Marsh (October 29, 1831 – March 18, 1899) was an American professor of Paleontology in Yale College and President of the National Academy of Sciences. He was one of the preeminent scientists in the field of paleontology. Among h ...
and
Joseph Leidy
Joseph Mellick Leidy (September 9, 1823 – April 30, 1891) was an American paleontologist, parasitologist and anatomist.
Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later was a professor of natural history at Swarthmore ...
as one of the nation's leading 19th-century paleontologists.
Gallery
Cope Edward Drinker 1840-1897.png, Edward Drinker Cope
E D Cope house Philly 1.JPG, NE view
DETAIL VIEW, NORTH FRONT ENTRANCES - Edward Drinker Cope Houses, 2100-2102 Pine Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA HABS PA,51-PHILA,539-4.tif, Front entrances
Edward Drinker Cope’s study in 1897.jpg, Cope's cluttered study in 1897
See also
*
List of National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia
There are 67 National Historic Landmarks within Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
See also the List of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania, which covers the 102 landmarks in the rest of the state.
Current listings
...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Center City, Philadelphia
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cope, Edward Drinker, House
National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania
Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia
Houses completed in 1880
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia
Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia