Details
Creator Taylor, Frank H. (Frank Hamilton), 1846-1927
Title At Seventh and Chestnut Streets in 1853
Date ca. 1922
Description Balcony view of Barnum's Museum from across Chestnut Street filled with horse-drawn carriages. A woman in the foreground wearing a ruffled dress looks down on the busy street from the balcony, while a dog rests in the chair next to her.
Notes The Waln mansion, one of the city's most pretentious residences, was built in 1807 by William Waln, a son of the more widely known Nicholas Waln, at the southeastern corner of Seventh and Chestnut streets. The owner, having fallen upon evil days, sold the property to William Swaim, whose medical laboratory was located adjoining upon the south. Dr. Swaim's son removed the Waln house in 1848 and built upon the site the structure here depicted. The upper floors were devoted to a large concert hall and exhibition rooms, which were opened in the winter of 1848 as "Silsbee's Atheneum and Museum." A few years later Phineas T. Barnum leased the establishment and conducted it to the delight and instruction of Philadelphia, until it was destroyed by fire on the night of December 30, 1859. The drawing is made from a lithograph printed in 1853.
Taylor Catalog Number: 76
Is part of Frank H. Taylor Collection
Identifier Taylor - Case 1-19 [2717.F]