Details
Creator M'Clees, Jas. E. (James E.), photographer.
Title [Chew mansion, Germantown] [graphic] / [Taken February 1857 by James E. McClees]
Publisher [Philadelphia]
Date February 1857
Physical Description 1 photograph : albumen ; sheet 21 x 16 cm (8 x 6 in.)
Description Exterior view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Shows the facade of the two-story stone building with a pediment over the front door, shuttered windows, and dormers and chimneys on the roof. On the grounds in front of the house is a classical female nude sculpture without a head and arms. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Notes Title, date, and photographer's imprint from duplicate.
Originally part of a McAllister scrapbook of views of Philadelphia. McAllister Collection, gift, 1886.
Description revised 2022.
Access points revised 2022.
McClees 1857-1a.
Reproduced in Kenneth Finkel's Nineteenth century photography in Philadelphia (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. in cooperation with the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1980), entry #56.
Biographical / historical note McClees, a prominent Philadelphia photographer and daguerreotypist, produced some of the earliest paper photographic views of Philadelphia between 1853 and 1859.
Subject Chew, Benjamin, 1758-1844 -- Homes and haunts.
Cliveden of the National Trust (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Dwellings -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Slavery -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia.
Geographic subject Germantown Avenue (Philadelphia, Pa.) -- 6401.
Germantown (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Genre Albumen prints -- 1850-1860.
Associated name Knor, Jacob, builder.
Provenance McAllister, John A. (John Allister), 1822-1896, collector.
Location Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| photo - McClees - Residences - C [(7)1322.F.61b]
Accession number (7)1322.F.61b