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- Title
- View from Springland Cot, Na Shaminy [sic]
- Description
- Study for the plate, "The View from Springland," published in Birch's "Country Seats of the United States," showing the gated lush grounds of Springland, William Birch's Pennsylvania country home near Neshaminy Creek in Bucks County from 1798 to 1818. Birch sold the property in 1805, continue to dwell on the grounds, and repurchased the estate in 1813. View includes an abandoned bridge and abandoned toll house. The toll house puportedly converted by Birch into his studio., Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Country Seats of the United States" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 81 (July 1957), p. 225-254., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 48. (LCP Print Room Albums).
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1808]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Springland Cot [P.8759.3]
- Title
- Van Brant's [sic] place on the Delaware River
- Description
- View, probably an artist's study for "Birch's Country Seats," depicting the Bucks County estate China Retreat, near the Delaware River , built in 1796 by former Resident Director of the East India Company in China, André Everadus Van Braam-Houckgeest. Sold by Van Braam in 1798, the estate passed through several owners, including Gabriel Manigault in 1807, and at various times housed Bristol College, a boarding house, and an orphan asylum for African American children. The mansion, the estate grounds severly diminished, was demolished in the mid 20th century. View includes cows drinking on the banks of the river and two men paddling a boat., Title from manuscript note on verso., Accompanied by scrap inscribed with manuscript note: Van Braam's Delaware River nearly opposite to Burlington. Afterward Penna Cottage., See William Snyder's "William Birch: His Country Seats of the United States" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 81 (July 1957), p. 225-254., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1808]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Van Braam's China Retreat [P.8759.2]
- Title
- [Artist's study for Alms House in Spruce Street. Philadelphia]
- Description
- Street scene on Spruce Street between Tenth and Eleventh streets with a view of the Almshouse and House of Employment, built after the designs of Philadelphia architect Robert Smith in 1767. In the foreground, human figures capture an animal figure escaped from a nearby horse-drawn cart. The Alms House provided shelter to indigents incapable of labor, while the House of Employment housed the poor able to work. The inmates predominately manufactued textiles. The houses were razed in 1835, superseded by the Blockley Almshouse in West Philadelphia., Title from plate 25 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1799]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Alms House [P.9329]
- Title
- [Artist's study for an unfinished house in Chesnut [sic] Street. Philadelphia]
- Description
- 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 past a guardhouse. Construction began on the mansion about 1796 and was halted as a result of Morris's bankruptcy. The building was demolished in 1800 and its materials sold to finance creditors., Title from plate 14 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 44. (LCP Print Room Albums)., Also accessioned as P.9661.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1800]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Unfinished House [5394.Q]
- Title
- [Artist's study of detail from Second Street north from Market St. wth. Christ Church. Philadelphia.]
- Description
- Artist's study of a street scene showing Second Street north from Market Street with a view of Christ Church. Depicts a man on horseback, his back to the viewer, traveling down the street toward the church. A dog runs past him. To his right, pedestrians, including an African American boy with a basket, stroll near a horse-drawn cart. In the left, men and a boy gather around a man on horseback. 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., Title from plate 15 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Quarter of a millennium...(Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia in cooperation with Camino Books, 1981), p. 144., See Snyder 's "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 42. (LCP Print Room Albums), Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., Accessioned 1999., 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.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1798]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors-Birch [P.9667]
- Title
- [Artist's study for the State-House garden, Philadelphia]
- Description
- 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., Title from plate 23 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 45. (LCP Print Room Albums), See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Philadelphia Views," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1798]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - State House Garden [P.9668]
- Title
- [Artist's study of detail from New Lutheran Church, in Fourth Street Philadelphia]
- Description
- Street scene on Fourth Street below Cherry Street depicting Speaker of the House of Representatives, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, leading a tour of a delegation of Native American men. Native American delegations visited the city to pay respects and to negotiate land treaties when Philadelphia served as the nation's capitol. Muhlenberg led a tour of several tribal groups in 1793. Also shows buildings in the right, including the New Lutheran Church built 1795-1796., Title from plate 6 in the first edition of Birch's "Views of Philadelphia.", Bequest of Charles Poulson, 1866., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Originally part of a Poulson scrapbook., See Martin Snyder's "William Birch: His Philadelphia views," The Pennsylvania magazine of history and biography 73 (July 1949), p. 271-315., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 43. (LCP Print Room Albums)., Reproduced in Edwin Wolf's Philadelphia : Portrait of an American city (Philadelphia: Camino Books in cooperation with The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1990), p. 105.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1799]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Colonel Muhlenberg [P.9666]
- Title
- [Andalusia]
- Description
- View, probably created as a study intended for later publication in the artist's "Country Seats," showing the Bucks County estate on the Delaware River originally purchased in 1795 by Philadelphia merchant John Craig, procured around 1814 by his son-in-law Nicholas Biddle. Originally named Craig's Hall, the federal-style mansion was renovated and altered from 1797-1798; 1806-1808 (by Benjamin Henry Latrobe); and 1836-1838 (by Thomas U. Walter). Depicts a sideview, shortly after the Latrobe alterations, of the front elevation of the mansion and the grounds of the estate, including a small summer house. Three women convene on the covered porch. Also includes a view of sailboats on the river., Title supplied by cataloguer., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., See William Snyder's "William Birch: His Country Seats of the United States" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 81 (July 1957), p. 225-254., Described in Nicholas B. Wainwright's "Andalusia countryseat of the Craig Family and of Nicholas Biddle and his descendants" The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 101 (January 1977), p. 27., Reproduced in Julius Sachse's Pictures of old Philadelphia from the originals in the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1901), vol. 1, plate 47. (LCP Print Room Albums)
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1808]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Andalusia [P.9665]
- Title
- [Eaglesfield estate near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]
- Description
- Unfinished artist's study showing the banks of the Schuylkill River west of Philadelphia including Eaglesfield mansion conveyed to Robert Egglesfield Griffith in 1798. The country estate, possessed by numerous property owners, including Ann and James Greenleaf and Richard Rundle, declined to obscurity following the completion of the new Fairmount dam in 1822, the mid-century construction of the Girard Avenue Railroad Bridge, and the development of Fairmount Park in the 1860s. The house was razed around 1869., Title supplied by cataloguer., Attribution from manuscript note on mount., Includes manuscript note on mount: Trees on the mound, commencement of the Dam where the new works are now being built - 1861 - looking up the River. Turtle Rock. Schuylkill River above the Dam., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Gift of David Doret.
- Creator
- Birch, Thomas, 1779-1851, artist
- Date
- [ca. 1820]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department drawings & watercolors - Birch - Eaglesfield [P.9903]