Series of late 18th and early 19th-century views of principal sections of the city of Philadelphia including primary streets, government buildings, local landmarks, and financial, religious, educational, and benevolent institutions. The series, the first of its kind in the United States, was created to attract new citizens and to illustrate to an international audience the vitality of the nation's premiere city. The views focus on structures, but also contain lively depictions of daily street life in Philadelphia.

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Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia [graphic] / Designed & Published by W. Birch Enamel Painter 1800.
Street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street in Philadelphia, including Christ Church and the Old Courthouse and market. Depicts the busy street corner with people riding horses, driving and loading carts, conducting business, and walking and performing errands. In front of the Courthouse, vendors sit and sell their goods while nearby a constable on horseback is flanked by citizens. An African American boy carrying a basket strolls across Second Street. He walks toward two men and a child convened together and a man on horseback traveling toward the church (his back to the viewer). A dog runs in front of the horse. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The Old Courthouse, completed in 1710 was the town hall, seat of the Legislature, market house, and the Pennsylvania statehouse until Independence Hall was opened in 1748. The Courthouse was demolished in 1837., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 15., Accessioned 1982., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn & engraved by W. Birch & Son.; Published by R. Campbell & Co. No. 30 Chesnut [sic] Street Philada.
Street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street in Philadelphia including Christ Church and the Old Courthouse and market. Depicts the busy street corner with people riding horses, driving and loading carts, conducting business, and walking and performing errands. In front of the Courthouse, vendors sit and sell their goods while nearby a constable on horseback is flanked by citizens. An African American boy carrying a basket strolls across Second Street. He walks toward two men and a child convened together and a man on horseback traveling toward the church (his back to the viewer). A dog runs in front of the horse. Christ Church, a Protestant Episcopal Church, was built between 1727 and 1744 and was founded as part of a provision of the original charter given to Pennsylvania founder William Penn. The Old Courthouse, completed in 1710 was the town hall, seat of the Legislature, market house, and the Pennsylvania statehouse until Independence Hall was opened in 1748. The Courthouse was demolished in 1837., Manuscript note on recto: John A McAllister with compl[imen]ts of Jacob Broome., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 15., Broome was a Philadelphia lawyer and Pennsylvania legislator., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
South east corner of Third, and Market Street. Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn, Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son.; Sold by R. Campbell & Co. No. 30 Chesnut St. Philada.
Street scene depicting the bustling southeast corner of Third and Market Streets. Several vendors, mostly women, sell meat and produce from their basic stands and baskets to the numerous patrons, including two Black women in kerchiefs and shawls, milling on Market Street. View includes the commercial business block erected in 1792 by prosperous jeweler and developer Joseph Cooke, known as "Cooke's Folly." The lavish building, containing residences and stores to be won as lottery prizes, was demolished in 1838 after several years of decay from lack of investment., Title from item., Manuscript note on recto: Presented by Thos. Marsh., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 8., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021., Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
South east corner of Third, and Market Street. Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn, Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son.; Sold by R. Campbell & Co. No. 30 Chesnut St. Philada.
Street scene depicting the bustling southeast corner of Third and Market Streets. Several vendors, mostly women, sell meat and produce from their basic stands and baskets to the numerous patrons, including two Black women in kerchiefs and shawls, milling on Market Street. View includes the commercial business block erected in 1792 by prosperous jeweler and developer Joseph Cooke, known as "Cooke's Folly." The lavish building, containing residences and stores to have been won as lottery prizes, was demolished in 1838 after several years of decay from lack of investment., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982), pl. 8., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
State-House garden, Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn & Engraved by W. Birch & Son.
View showing the well-patronized garden enclosed by a brick wall with a tall gateway with wooden doors on Walnut Street at the rear of the State House. Depicts several individuals at leisure, walking, sitting on a bench, and conversing on the grounds landscaped with trees. The garden grounds purchased in 1760, enclosed in 1770 (the gate given by legislator and State House trustee Joseph Fox), was landscaped under the direction of visiting Jamaican trader and American Philosophical Society member Samuel Vaughan around 1784., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 23.
State House garden, Philadelphia [graphic] / Designed Engraved & Published by W. Birch Enamel Painter.
View showing the well-patronized garden at the rear of the State House on Walnut Street, enclosed by a brick wall and a tall gateway with wooden doors. Depicts several individuals at leisure, walking, sitting on a bench, and conversing on the landscaped grounds. The grounds purchased in 1760, enclosed in 1770 (the gate given by legislator and State House trustee Joseph Fox), was landscaped with trees and promenades under the direction of visiting Jamaican trader and American Philosophical Society member Samuel Vaughan around 1784., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
State-House, with a view of Chesnut [sic] Street Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn & Engraved by W. Birch & Son.
View showing Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth streets including Independence Hall (built from 1732-48) and the U.S. Supreme Court building, orginally built in 1791 for a city hall. In the foreground, a woman and child walk passed a guardhouse and pump. The State House, built after the designs of Andrewr Hamilton and Edmund Wooley, was initially used as the meeting place of the Pennsylvania Assembly. The U.S. Supreme Court adjudicated in Philadelphia from 1790 to 1800., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 21.
An unfinished house, in Chesnut [sic] Street Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son ; Sold by R. Campbell & Co. No. 30 Chesnut [sic] Street Philada. 1800.
View showing "Morris' Folly", the unfinished brick and marble mansion on Chestnut Street above Seventh Street, designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant for Philadelphia merchant and financier Robert Morris. Individuals stroll the grounds, and a laborer carries a ladder passed a guardhouse. Morris' mansion, begun about 1796 and unfinished as a result of his bankruptcy, was demolished in 1800, the building materials sold to finance creditors., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 14., Reproduced with article in Poulson's Scrapbook of Philadelphia History, vol. VII, p. 54-55. (LCP reference copy Uy 8, 2526.F)
[An unfinished house, in Chestnut Street Philadelphia] [graphic] / Drawn Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son ; Sold by R. Campbell & Co.No. 30 Chesnut [sic] Street. Philada.
View showing "Morris' Folly," the unfinished brick and marble mansion on Chestnut Street above Seventh Street designed by Pierre Charles L'Enfant for Philadelphia merchant and financier Robert Morris. Individuals stroll the grounds, and a laborer carries a ladder passed a guardhouse. Morris' mansion, begun in 1796 and unfinished as a result of his bankruptcy, was demolished in 1800, the building materials sold to finance creditors., Title from duplicate print., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 14., Reproduced with article in Poulson's Scrapbook of Philadelphia History, vol. VII, p. 54-55. (LCP reference copy Uy 8, 2526.F).
View in Third Street, from Spruce Street Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn, Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son Neshaminy Ferry.
View of the tree-lined street with the Federal style mansion of wealthy legislator, William Bingham, built in 1789, and the Powel House, residence of Mayor Samuel Powel, built after the designs of Robert Smith in 1765. Depicts street and pedestrian traffic including several women promenading with escorts, a man in military uniform, a woman holding a baby, and a horse-drawn carriage. The Bingham Mansion, converted to the Mansion House Hotel in 1807, was razed about 1850.The Powel House, was designated a historic landmark in 1931., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 18.
The Water Works, in Centre Square Philadelphia [graphic] / Drawn, Engraved & Published by W. Birch & Son, Neshaminy Bridge.
View of the neo-classical style marble pump house, completed in 1800 after the designs of architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, in the tree-lined public square at High (Market) and Broad streets. The city's first waterworks delivered water from the Schuylkill River to subscribers and city hydrants until 1815, when superseded by the Fairmount Waterworks. The pump house was razed in 1827. Depicts individuals using the grounds, including a boy rolling a hoop, and horse-drawn carts, wagons, and men on horse-back traveling the road in the background., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelmans's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 28.

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