Philadelphia was the most important city in the colonies and the home of
many leaders of thought and action in the days which saw the birth of
the American nation. We are fortunate in having preserved for us the few
historic landmarks in Fairmount Park, which have been restored through
the leadership of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art and cooperative
institutions and by the generosity of Philadelphians. This book contains
pictures and sketches of eight old colonial houses, several of which
date back to the middle of the eighteenth century.
Of the houses described, Cedar Grove, Belmont, The Cliffs, Woodford and
Mount Pleasant antedate the Revolution, and are examples of early
Georgian and mid-Georgian styles. The simple stone cottages which stand
on the grounds at Belmont, Woodford and Strawberry antedate in style the
mansion-houses there. Even the oldest portion of Cedar Grove, 1721,
already shows a front of squared masonry, while the oldest part of
Woodford has on the end the glazed headers which characterize the
earliest brick buildings of the colony. The later houses are generally
covered with stucco.
By the middle of the century there were bold classic doorways, as at
Belmont, Woodford (then enlarged) and Mount Pleasant. Rich ornamented
ceilings from about 1760 are found at Belmont; the principal rooms at
Woodford and Mount Pleasant are adorned with elaborate carving in the
Chippendale style. After the Revolution the more slender proportions of
the Adam style were adopted, in the later part of Cedar Grove and at
Lemon Hill, Sweetbrier and Strawberry. The wings at Strawberry show the
severe classic detail of the Greek Revival.
[Illustration: SWEETBRIER, 1797 Shown on map as No. 1]