View of front facade of the mansion built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. A person, attired in a hat, a long coat, and shoes, sits on a wooden chair at the top of the steps on the right side of the house. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Inscribed in negative: 2494., Title from negative sleeve., Also identified as the Arnold Mansion., Purchase 1988., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator
Hand, Alfred, photographer
Date
[ca. 1920]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department 4x5 Glass Negatives - Hand [P.9259.43]
View of front facade of the mansion built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. A person, attired in a hat, a scarf, a long coat, and shoes, sits on a wooden chair at the top of the steps on the left side of the house. Mount Pleasant was described by John Adams as "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania," and is an excellent example of Philadelphia's Middle Georgian country houses of the 1760s. Macpherson, a privateer during the Seven Years’ War, purchased the estate with profits from these operations. Free white and Black laborers, indentured servants, and at least four enslaved people of African descent, whose names are unknown, worked on the plantation. In 1779, General Benedict Arnold purchased Mount Pleasant for his wife Peggy Shippen, but they never occupied the house. In 1792, General Jonathan Williams purchased the mansion. The City of Philadelphia purchased the property from the Williams family in 1869. On behalf of the city, the Philadelphia Museum of Art restored the house in 1926., Inscribed in negative: 2495., Title from negative sleeve., Also identified as the Arnold Mansion., Purchase 1988., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator
Hand, Alfred, photographer
Date
[ca. 1920]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department 4x5 Glass Negatives - Hand [P.9259.44]
