© Copyright 2025 - The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. TEL (215) 546-3181 FAX (215) 546-5167
For inquiries, please contact our IT Department
- Title
- [Library and Surgeons Hall, in Fifth Street Philadelphia]
- Description
- View on Fifth Street above Walnut Street including the halls of the Library Company of Philadelphia (built 1790) and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (built 1792). Depicts patrons entering and leaving the red brick Palladian library building; men and a boy playing dice on the sidewalk; a blacksmith working in his shop; and a man leading a horse-drawn cart down the street. The Library Company, established by Benjamin Franklin and his Junto in 1731, remained at the hall designed by Dr. William Thornton until 1880; the building razed in 1887. Surgeons or Anatomical Hall served as a lecture room and chemistry laboratory for the University's medical students until 1807., 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. 19., Part of the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom (PW-285234-22), 2023-2025.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1799
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 19a/P.2276.42]
- Title
- [Back of the State House, Philadelphia]
- Description
- View of the courtyard and rear of the State House with the mason tall case clock visible on the west wall. Several visitors utilize the grounds including a delegation of Native Americans on tour, strolling couples, women promenading, and boys playing near a grove of trees. In the background, stand the American Philosophical Hall (completed in 1789); the site of the Library Company of Philadelphia, Library Hall (completed in 1791); and guard houses. Also visible is signage for Peale's Museum, housed in American Philosophical Hall between 1794 and 1811., Print trimmed., Title from duplicate print., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 22., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Part of the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom (PW-285234-22), 2023-2025.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1799
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 22a/P.2276.49]
- Title
- Back of the State House, Philadelphia
- Description
- View of the courtyard and rear of the State House, with the mason tall case clock visible on the west wall. Several visitors utilize the grounds, including a delegation of Native Americans on tour, strolling couples, women promenading, and boys playing near a grove of trees. In the background, stand the American Philosophical Hall (built 1789); the site of the Library Company of Philadelphia, Library Hall (built 1791); and guard houses. Also visible is signage for Peale's Museum, housed in American Philosophical Hall between 1794 and 1811., Contains watermark: AMIES PHILA and dove with branch., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's Views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 22., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Part of the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom (PW-285234-22), 2023-2025.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
- Date
- [1828]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [ Sn 22c/P.2276.50]
- Title
- State-House, with a view of Chesnut [sic] Street Philadelphia
- Description
- 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.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1798
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 21/P.2276.47]
- Title
- Old State House, Congress Hall and Town Hall, Chesnut [sic] Street Philadelphia
- Description
- Street scene on Chestnut Street below Sixth Street with views of Independence Hall (completed in 1748), and the adjacent Congress Hall (Town Hall), completed in 1789 as a county courthouse, and used by Congress from 1790 to 1800. Depicts several men convened outside Congress Hall; couples strolling the sidewalk; and horse-drawn carriages, a man on horseback, and a boy with a dog traversing the street. Includes view of the building originally built as a city hall, and used as the seat of the Supreme Court from 1790 to 1800., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
- Date
- [1804]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 33/P.2276.69]
- Title
- First plate of four subjects for Birch's Philadelphia
- Description
- Montage of four titled vignette views showing the Philadelphia landmarks: "Franklin Library in 1800" (Library Hall) at Fifth and Library streets; "Pennsylvania Hospital in 1800" on Pine Street between Eighth and Ninth streets; "Swedes Church Southwark" (Gloria Dei); and "High St. Market House in 1800" above Second Street. Depicts the exterior of the library, hospital, and church, and the interior of the busy market shed., Proof copy., Retrospective conversion record: original entry, edited., Part of the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom (PW-285234-22), 2023-2025.
- Creator
- Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834
- Date
- [1828]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 41a/P.2276.76]
- Title
- Goal, in Walnut Street Philadelphia
- Description
- Active street scene at Sixth and Walnut streets with a view of the Walnut Street Jail, completed in 1776, after the designs of Philadelphia architect Robert Smith. Depicts several individuals, including a child, lining Sixth Street witnessing a large wood shed on wheels, possibly the first edifice of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, being moved by a team of horses. A dog runs in the street and another sits next to a spectator in the right foreground. The prison closed and was razed in 1835, the prisoners relocated to Moyamensing Prison. The first edifice of Bethel Church, a former blacksmith shop, was transported to Sixth and Lombard streets., 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. 24., Accessioned 1979., Description revised 2021., Access points revised 2021.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1799
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 24/P.2276.56]

