"Historic Houses of Philadelphia" brings the region's most impressive museum homes to life with maps, touring information, and historical notes on 50 distinctive homes. 160 photos, 150 in color.

Cedar Grove, The Cliffs, Grumblethorpe, Mount Airy, Bartram's House and Garden: Accommodation of the Vernacular

Officially known as Washington Square Park, Philadelphia’s Society Hill district contains an impressive number of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century houses—perhaps as many as any other comparable area in the United States. This book presents, in text and pictures, the stories of its outstanding Colonial and Early American mansions and dwellings and simple row houses; its churches and other exceptional historic buildings. Old Philadelphia Houseson Society Hill contains both notes and illustrations on the design and architectural details of early Philadelphia row houses. There are also enlightening chapters devoted to such famous places as Bell’s Court, the Drinker House and Drinker’s Court, the Head House and Old Market, the Hill-Physick-Keith House and the Latta House, Old Pine Street Church and the Pennsylvania Hospital, the Man Full of Trouble Inn and many others, all complemented by photos. Featured are the uses of brick and the traditional design and decoration of the period’s interiors, showing antique furniture and prevailing modes of interior decoration. The 150 photographs strike a nice balance of exteriors and interiors, showing characteristic basics and details of structure and charming furniture pieces and accessories of old-time daily living. Tidbits of information concerning such personages as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Benjamin Rush and other eminent Americans are scattered throughout the book.

"Examines 40 properties in detail with over 300 archival and contemporary photographs, drawings, and floor plans." -- Dust jacket.

This opulent volume, by the author and photographer of the acclaimed Historic Houses of Philadelphia, will serve as a guide through the architectural and religious traditions of Philadelphia, complete with maps, telephone numbers, and web sites.

West of the Schuylkill River, what was once Blockley and Kingsessing Townships is now West Philadelphia. Here is a comprehensive look at the rich architectural history of neighborhoods in and around University City and biographies of the architects who made it possible. In more than 500 images, see this area of the "City of Brotherly Love" transition from humble beginnings as a collection of sprawling farms and dusty hamlets to a streetcar suburb for upwardly mobile types looking to escape the old city and a haven for esteemed educational institutions. Packed with archival images, maps, and color photos, the book covers Cedar Park to Powelton Village, chronicling the charm and elegance found in West Philadelphia's architecture, much of which is still on public display. Examples include Second Empire, Victorian, Queen Anne, Collegiate Gothic, and Italianate styles. This is a global and historic review ideal for architects, urban planners, historians, and of course residents of Blockley and Kingsessing.

How entrepreneurial housebuilders fueled a rapid economy. "A well-written and easily read business book with a historical perspective, quite fit for a general readership interested in the history of American enterprise."—APT Bulletin

The Main Line is the suburban region northwest of Philadelphia synonomous with quiet wealth & exclusivity. This book records the efforts to establish the region as the paradigm of aristocratic country life in America & documents the evolution of the American country dwelling from Victorian gargoyle to domestic ideal.

"A collection of essays examining how patterns of use and attitudes to green spaces within Penn's city plan and along the Schuylkill informed notions of place from the time of Philadelphia's founding to the formation of the modern Fairmount Park system in the mid-19th century"--Provided by publisher.

A richly detailed history of the baronial splendor of the Philadelphia Main Line estate Ardrossan and of the Montgomery family who built it. Real-life American counterparts of the Granthams of Downton Abbey, the Montgomerys are best known as the family on which Philip Barry based his 1939 play, The Philadelphia Story, featuring Katharine Hepburn who also starred in the later Hollywood film. The Montgomerys entertained in the grand manner, hosting fox hunts and dinner dances. Guests included diplomat W. Averell Harriman; First Lady Edith Roosevelt; and famed vaudevillians the Duncan sisters.The magnificent estate, still owned by the family, encompassed roughly 760 acres at its height. Located at its center is a magnificent 50-room Georgian style manor house. Essentially unaltered since 1913, the family home designed in 1911 by Horace Trumbauer, one of America's foremost classical architects, stands as a glorious reminder of the halcyon days of the Gilded Age. The first-floor rooms, decorated by the London-based firm of White, Allom, & Company, feature the family's art collection, including works by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Morris Young. The book also chronicles the history of the family's commercial dairy and prized herd of Ayrshires. Features never-before-published architectural drawings from Horace Trumbauer's office and interior photographs shot by Mattie E. Hewitt in the 1930s; as well as family snapshots and images by celebrated photographers Cecil Beaton and Toni Frissell commissioned by Vogue and Country Life. This intimate portrait captures the elegant lifestyle of the Montgomerys and the majesty of their beloved home and estate, Ardrossan.