From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carpenters' Hall is a two-story brick building
in the Center City neighborhood of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that was a key
meeting place in the early history of the United States. Completed
in 1773 and set back from Chestnut Street, the
meeting hall was built for and is still owned by the Carpenters’
Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the country's
oldest extant trade guild. The
building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on 15
April 1970 (# 70000552)[3] and
part of Independence National
Historical Park.
|
“ |
Within these Walls
Henry, Hancock, & Adams inspired the Delegates of the Colonies
With Verve and Sinew for the Toils of War |
” |
|
—Inscription over south doorway of
Assembly Room, Historic American Buildings Survey [4]
|
History
Carpenters' Hall was designed by architect Robert Smith (1722-1777) in
the Georgian style[5] and
built as a two-story brick building between 1770 and 1773 by the
Carpenters' Company. It would be first used as a meeting site by
the guild on January 21, 1771, and would continue to hold annual
meetings there until 1777 when the British would capture
Philadelphia.[6]
On April 23, 1773 (St. George's Day),
it would be used by the Society of Englishmen and Sons of
Englishmen.[6]
The First Continental Congress
of the United Colonies of North America met
here from September 5 to
October 26, 1774, since the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall)
was being used by the moderate Provincial Assembly of Pennsylvania. It was
here that Congress resolved to ban further imports of slaves and to
discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, a step toward
phasing out slavery in British North America.[7] The
building has a long history as an assembly place and has been the
home to numerous tenants in the arts, sciences and commerce. The
meeting hall served as a hospital for both British and American
troops in the Revolutionary War, and other institutions in
Philadelphia have held meetings in Carpenters' Hall, including
Franklin's Library Company of
Philadelphia, the American Philosophical
Society, the First and Second Banks of the United
States.
It was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 1970.[2][8]
Numerous dignitaries have visited Carpenters' Hall, including United States Supreme
Court Chief Justice Warren Burger, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen
Silvia of Sweden, President Václav Havel of the Czech Republic,
President Guntis
Ulmanis of Latvia, and
Texas Governor (later U.S. President) George W. Bush with Pennsylvania Governor
Tom Ridge.[6]
Today, Carpenters' Hall is free to the public, visited annually
by more than 150,000 tourists from around the world.[9] The
structure still serves the purpose for which it was built: a
meeting place for the Carpenters' Company.
Notes
External
links
Coordinates: 39°56′53″N 75°08′50″W / 39.94814°N
75.14722°W / 39.94814;
-75.14722
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