The doorway of the Perot-Morris house, deeply recessed because of the thick stone walls, presents at its best another variation of this sturdiest of Philadelphia types with a single, eight-panel, dark-painted door and a very broad top stone step before it. Virtually a pure Tuscan adaptation, it differs in a few particulars from others of similar character, notably in the pronounced tapering of the columns toward the top and the recessing of the entablature above the door to form pilaster projections above the columns. In other words, the recessed entablature of this doorhead replaces the fanlight of another type already referred to and of which the doorways at Number 5200 Germantown[119] Avenue and Number 4927 Frankford Avenue are examples. The brass knob, the heavy iron latch and fastenings inside are the ones Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox and Randolph handled in passing in and out during Washington's occupancy.
Above the pediment is to be plainly seen the picturesque, cast-iron, hand-in-hand fire mark about a foot high, consisting of four clasped hands crossed in the unbreakable grasp of "My Lady Goes to London" of childhood days. This ancient design, to be seen on the Morris, Betsy Ross and numerous other houses, was that of the oldest fire insurance company in the United States, organized in 1752 under Franklin's leadership. This and other designs, such as the green tree, eagle, hand fire engine and hose and hydrant still remain on many old Philadelphia buildings, indicating in earlier years which company held the policy. For a long time it was the custom to place these emblems on all insured houses, the principal reason for doing so being that certain volunteer fire companies were financed or assisted by certain insurance companies and consequently made special efforts to save burning houses insured by the company concerned.
Porches were the exception rather than the rule in the early architecture of Philadelphia. Only a few old Colonial houses now remaining have them, and for the most part they are entrances to[120] countryseats in the present suburbs rather than to residences in the city proper. The Highlands and Hope Lodge have such porches to which reference has already been made in connection with the houses themselves. Of scant architectural merit, the porch at Hope Lodge may possibly be of more recent origin than the house. Except for the narrow double doors the entrance to The Highlands is strongly reminiscent of New England doorways and porches. Both have hipped roofs so low as to be almost flat.
A splendid example of the gable roof or pedimental porch more typical of Philadelphia architecture is that at Upsala. Although displaying free use of the orders, it is regarded as one of the best in America. On a square stone platform reached by three broad stone steps, slender, fluted Doric columns, with engaged columns each side of the doorway, support a roof in the form of a pediment of generally Ionic character, the architrave and cornice being notable for fine-scale hand tooling. It will be noticed that the motive of the cornice with its jig-sawed modillions, rope molding and enriched dentil course suggests Ionic influence; that of the architrave, with its groups of five vertical flutings in alternation with an incised conventionalized flower, Doric. The same entablature is carried about the inside of the roof, projecting over the doorway to form a much favored Philadelphia doorhead[121] supported by flanking engaged columns. The doorway itself is distinctly of Philadelphia type, high, relatively narrow, and deeply recessed, with the soffit of the arch and the cheeks of the jambs beautifully paneled and a handsome semicircular fanlight above the single eight-panel door but with no side lights. The effect of the keystone and imposts, also the enrichment of the semicircular architrave casings are characteristic. The paneling of the door consists of pairs of small and large panels in alternation, the upper pair of large panels being noticeably higher than the lower pair.
Of far more modest character is the porch of the old Henry house, Number 4908 Germantown Avenue, long occupied by Doctor W. S. Ambler. It is much smaller, extremely simple in its detail and of generally less pleasing proportions. Two slender, smooth columns and corresponding pilasters on the wall of the house support a pediment rather too flat for good appearance. Except for the Ionic capitals, the detail is rather nondescript as to its order. The round-arched, deeply recessed doorway has the usual paneled jambs and soffit, but the reeded casings and square impost blocks are of the sort that came into vogue about the beginning of the nineteenth century. The single door with its eight molded and raised panels is of that type, having three pairs of small panels of uniform size above a single pair of high panels, the lock rail being more[122] than double the width of the rails above and wider than the bottom rail. Unlike the usual fanlight, this one is patterned after a much used Palladian window with sash bar divisions suggested by Gothic tracery.
At Number 39 Fisher's Lane, Wayne Junction, in connection with a doorway much like the above, is an elliptical porch much like those of Salem, Massachusetts, although devoid of their excellent proportion and nicety of detail. Both the porch platform and steps are of wood, but the slender, smooth columns supporting the roof, which takes the form of an entablature, stand on high stone bases. Only simple moldings have been employed, and the detail can hardly be said to belong to any particular order of architecture. The door itself is unusual in having molded flat rather than raised panels, while the fanlight is of more conventional pattern than that of the Henry house.
Side lights and elliptical fanlights, so characteristic of New England doorways, are as rare as porches in the Colonial architecture of Philadelphia. The entrance of The Highlands is thus unique in combining the three. The doorway at Number 224 South Eighth Street has the New England spirit in its breadth and general proportion; in the beauty of its leaded side lights and fanlight, but the broad stone steps on the sidewalk and the iron rails are typically Philadelphian. So, too, is the paneling[123] of the wide single door. The ornate woodwork of the frame and casings, however, especially the frieze across the lintel, with its oval and elliptical fluted designs elaborately hand-tooled, suggests the Dutch influence of New York and New Jersey. The iron rails of the steps present an interesting instance of the adaptation of Gothic tracery, arches and quatrefoils.