Design edit
History edit
Summerville edit
Judge William Lewis edit
Sometime in the 1850s, William Coxe erected a stone English barn house near the Laurel Hill Cemetery and the Woodford mansion in what is now Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1] That house, called Somerton, was acquired by Charles Thomson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, by 1774. Somerton was raided and ultimately destroyed by the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, purportedly under the orders of William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe. The Thomson family abandoned the property upon hearing of the incoming raid and did not return.[2]
- purchases land 1783
- completes mansion 1789
- dies 1819
Judge Joseph Hemphill edit
- purchases property 1821
- adds Greek Revival wings 1828
- dies 1842
Strawberry Mansion edit
George Crock edit
- 1846 sold by Harriet Coleman
- acquires new name
- sold to city 1867
Fairmount Park Commission edit
- deal closes 1871
- various phases of occupation
Restoration edit
- Committee of 1926
- Historic Strawberry Mansion opens 1931
- 2009 additional restorations
- Banquet Room mural project
- reopens may 2013
- Historical Marker ceremony October 2013
Reception edit
References edit
- ^ Moss 1998, p. 104.
- ^ Philadelphia Museum of Art 1956, p. 31.
Bibliography edit
- Moss, Roger W. (1998). Historic Houses of Philadelphia: A Tour of the Region's Museum Homes. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3438-3. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- Philadelphia Museum of Art (1956). The Park Houses, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Philadelphia, PA: Associate Committee of Women of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved December 13, 2021.