Exterior views of the mansion built 1761-1765 for Captain John Macpherson after the designs of Thomas Nevil in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pa. 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., Negative numbers: 54 & 54a-d, Negative numbers 54a-54d dated 1928 in manuscript note on negative sleeve., Purchase 1978., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator
Jennings, William Nicholson, 1860-1946, photographer
Date
1928
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Jennings [P.9480.54 ; P.9480.54a-54d]
Exterior view of the colonial residence built 1763-1767 by master carpenter Jacob Knor for Philadelphia attorney Benjamin Chew at 6401 Germantown Avenue. Shows the facade of the two-story stone building with a pediment over the front door, shuttered windows, and dormers and chimneys on the roof. Chew House, also known as Cliveden, was the site of the turning point in the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The Chew family enslaved people of African descent in the city of Philadelphia and in Germantown during the 18th and 19th centuries. The estate was the Chew family residence until 1972 when it was acquired by the National Trust for Historic Preservation., Negative numbers: H-54, H-54a & b, Modern reference prints available., Acquired 1981., Description revised 2022., Access points revised 2022.
Creator
Jennings, William Nicholson, 1860-1946, photographer
Date
[ca. 1925]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Jennings [P.9480.H-54 ; P.9480.H-54a & b]
