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- Title
- The Water Works, in Centre Square Philadelphia
- Description
- 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The city's first waterworks delivered water from the Schuylkill River to subscribers and city hydrants until 1815, when superseded by the Fairmount Waterworks.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.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- [1800]
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 28a/P.2276.64]
- Title
- Congress Hall and New Theatre, in Chestnut Street Philadelphia
- Description
- Street scene showing Chestnut Street near Sixth Street, including views of Congress Hall and the New Theatre. Depicts white men and women and an African American woman holding an African American baby in her arms and with a white boy at her side, strolling or conversing near a wooden post in front of the hall. In front of the theatre a large crowd is gathered, a white female peddler sells her goods, and a coach travels up Chestnut Street. Congress Hall, completed in 1789 to house the Pennsylvania district and county courts, was the first quarters of the U.S. Congress from 1790 until 1800. Completed in 1793, the New Theatre, or the First Chestnut Street Theatre, was established by actor Thomas Wignell and musician Alexander Reinagle. Modeled after a lavish English theatre, it quickly became the fashionable theatre of the city., Title from item., Illustrated in Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 20., 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.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1800
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 20/P.2276.45]
- Title
- Arch Street, with the Second Presbyterian Church
- Description
- Street scene showing Arch Street between Third and Fourth Streets including the Second Presbyterian Church. Depicts many well-dressed white men and women pedestrians walking down the sidewalks, a horse-drawn carriage and cart traveling up the cobblestone street, and an African American boy leaning against a lamp post upon which a saddled horse is hitched. The Second Presbyterian church, ministered by New Light Gilbert Tennent, was built between 1750 and 1753 after the split between the Old and New Light Presbyterians. It was demolished around 1838., Title from item., Illustrated in S. Robert Teitelman's Birch's views of Philadelphia. (Philadelphia: The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1982, rev. 2000), pl. 5., LCP copy has a large vertical crease down the center of the print., 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.
- Creator
- W. Birch & Son
- Date
- 1799
- Location
- Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Birch's views [Sn 5/P.2276.9]