Loudoun was built in 1801 by Thomas Armat as a countryseat for his son, Thomas Wright Armat. The elder Armat originally settled in Loudoun County, Virginia, and hence the name of the estate. Coming to Philadelphia about the time of the Revolution, his family moved to Germantown during the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and found it such a pleasing place of residence that the building of Loudoun some years later came as a natural consequence. It stands at the very outskirts of Germantown, now the twenty-second ward of Philadelphia, where Germantown Avenue starts its winding course toward Chestnut Hill. At the original lottery distribution of the land of the Frankford[82] Company in the cave of Francis Daniel Pastorius, there being no permanent houses at that time, the site fell to Thomas Kunders, in whose house at Number 5109 Germantown Avenue the first meeting of Friends was held in Germantown. After the Battle of Germantown the hill was used as a hospital, and many dead were buried there. From 1820 to 1835 Loudoun was rented to Madam Greland as a summer school for young women, and it was during this period, probably about 1830, that the pillared portico was added.
A successful Philadelphia merchant and well-known philanthropist, Thomas Armat, gave the site for St. Luke's Church in Germantown and assisted in its erection, also setting aside a chamber at Loudoun which was known as the minister's room. He was among the first to suggest the use of coal for heating, and one of the early patentees of a hay scales. Armat's daughter married Gustavus Logan, great-great-grandson of James Logan and grandson of John Dickinson, whose "Farmer's Letters", addressed to the people of England, are said to have brought about the repeal of the Stamp Act. Loudoun still remains in the Logan family.
No stranger house can be found in all Philadelphia than Solitude on the west bank of the Schuylkill in Blockley Township, Fairmount Park. It is a boxlike structure of plastered rubble masonry twenty-six feet square and two and a half stories high, with[83] a hip roof having simple pedimental dormers and two oppositely disposed chimneys. The wood trim is severely simple throughout, from the heavy molded cornice under the eaves to the pedimental recessed doorway with its Ionic columns and entablature. Two slightly projecting courses of brick, one some ten inches or so above the other, form an unusual belt at the second-floor level, while a distinctive feature of the fenestration is seen in the fact that most of the windows have nine-paned upper and six-paned lower sashes.
Within, the entrance doorway leads into a hall some nine feet wide and extending entirely across the house from side to side. The remainder of the first floor consists of a large parlor with windows opening on a portico overlooking the river. A beautiful stucco cornice and ceiling and a carved wood surbase are its best features. In one corner a staircase with wrought-iron railing rises to the second floor, where there is a library about fifteen feet square with built-in bookcases, two connecting bedrooms, one with an alcove and secret door where the owner might shut himself away from intrusive visitors, and a staircase leading to more bedrooms on the third floor. The cellar is deep and roomy, with provision for wine storage, and an underground passage communicates with the kitchen located in a separate building about twenty-five feet distant.
Solitude was built in 1785 by John Penn, a grandson[84] of William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia, and a son of Thomas Penn, whose wife was a daughter of the Earl of Pomfret. A much traveled, scholarly man, poet, idealist and art patron, he came to Philadelphia in 1783 to look after proprietary interests in Pennsylvania and intending to become an American. But his claims were made under hereditary rights, and as the State was not disposed to honor them he concluded to remain an Englishman. Vexed with the perversity of human nature, he built Solitude and named it for a lodge belonging to the Duke of Württemburg. There he lived somewhat the life of a recluse with his books and trees for three years. He was on friendly terms with his neighbors, however, who included his cousin, Governor John Penn, and Judge Richard Peters. Gay week-end parties also came in boats to enjoy his hospitality, and Washington once spent a day with him during the sitting of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
In 1788 Penn suddenly returned to England, built a handsome residence at Stoke and embarked on a notable career in public life, becoming sheriff of Bucks in 1798, a member of Parliament in 1802, and royal governor of the island of Portland in Dorset for many years after 1805. The University of Cambridge made him an LL.D. in 1811, and he won promotion to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the Royal Bucks Yeomanry. Later in his declining[85] years he formed the Outinian Society to encourage young men and women to marry, although he inconsistently died a bachelor in 1834.
|
|
| Plate XXXVI.—Doorway and Ironwork, Northeast Corner ofThird and Pine Streets; Stoop with Curved Stairs and Iron Handrail, 316South Third Street. | |
Solitude then passed by inheritance to Penn's youngest brother, Granville, and on his death ten years later to a nephew, Granville John Penn, great-grandson of William Penn, and the last Penn at Solitude. Coming to Philadelphia in middle life about 1851 he was lionized by society and in acknowledgment gave a grand "Fête Champêtre" and collation. Following his death in 1867, Solitude and its grounds were made part of Fairmount Park, and after several years without tenancy the house in its original condition was made the administration building of the Zoölogical Society.
The fine old plastered stone houses of Philadelphia comprise one of the distinctive and most admired types of its Colonial architecture. Those with pebble-dashed walls which seek to simulate no other building material or form of construction possess the added charm of frank sincerity. Fire-proof in character, pleasing in appearance, and readily adaptable to varied home requirements, they point the way wherever rubble stone incapable of forming an attractive wall is cheaply available. Many modern dwellings in the Colonial spirit are being built in this manner.[86]