Historic Strawberry Mansion is a summer home in East

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, wit ...

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. Since ...

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, ...

, United States. It was originally named Summerville by Judge William Lewis who had it built sometime between 1783 and 1789."Historic Strawberry Mansion timeline"
''historicstrawberrymansion.org''. The Committee of 1926. Retrieved November 6, 2017.

Early history

Lewis purchased land in what is now Fairmount Park, including some existing buildings, and built the mansion sometime between 1783 and 1789. He lived there until his death in 1819 at the age of 68.

Joseph Hemphill Joseph Hemphill (January 7, 1770May 29, 1842) was an American politician who served as a Federalist member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 1801 to 1803, as a Jackson Federalist representat ...

(born 1770) purchased Strawberry Mansion in 1821, two years after Lewis's death. His family was responsible for adding the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

wings to the Federal style structure erected by Lewis, ca. 1828. In 1867 the mansion was sold to the city by a landowner who had owned it since Judge Hemphill's death in 1842. The purchase of the mansion, along with a great deal of the surrounding land, was part of an effort to protect the source of the city's drinking water, 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 f ...

. The area was named East Fairmount Park, under the supervision of the Fairmount Park Commission.

Renovations

In 1926, several women's clubs combined efforts with Mayor W. Freeland Kendrick to create a

Sesquicentennial Exposition The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition of 1926 was a world's fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its purpose was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the 50th anniversary o ...

in South Philadelphia in honor of the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Several women from the event did not want to disband, and instead sought an area to move many of the antique furniture collections to another location. Under the supervision of the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin ...

and 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, wi ...

, the new Committee of 1926 renovated Strawberry Mansion to be used as a museum and place of hospitality. Funds for the renovation were donated by Joseph Horn of

Horn and Hardart Horn & Hardart was a food services company in the United States noted for operating the first food service automats in Philadelphia, New York City, and Baltimore. Philadelphia's Joseph Horn (1861–1941) and German-born, New Orleans-raised Fra ...

automat An automat is a fast food restaurant where simple foods and drinks are served by vending machines. The world's first automat, Quisisana, opened in Berlin, Germany in 1895. By country Germany The first automat in the world was the Quisisan ...

s, who grew up in the Philadelphia area and played in the park as a child. Women's societies throughout the city filled the rooms with exceptional period furnishings. The house officially reopened in 1931 with Mrs. J. Willis Martin (Elizabeth Price) as the first president of the Committee of 1926. Today the Committee of 1926 continues to preserve the historic house museum and the principles of hospitality on which it was founded. The mansion was renovated again in the early 21st century.

Name

Strawberry Mansion received its current name during the period from 1846 to 1867, when farmers renting the mansion served strawberries and cream to the public.

Tours

The mansion is open for tours from February to December, as follows: * In February, tours are from 10am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays, by appointment only * In March, it is open 10am-4pm Thursday through Saturday and Sundays, by appointment only. * In Mid-April through December, the house is open Thursday through Sunday 10am-4pm. The last tour leaves promptly at 3pm.

References

External links