Edmund Woolley

Edmund Woolley designed and built Independence Hall, although it is traditionally attributed to Andrew Hamilton

Edmund Woolley (c. 1695 – 1771) was an Anglo-American architect and master carpenter. He was responsible for designing and erecting the first building on the University of Pennsylvania's first campus, the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) and Hope Lodge. Woolley was born in England around 1695, and emigrated to America around the year 1705. He was one of the first members of The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia.[1]

Design and construction of Independence Hall

Beginning in 1732, Woolley was responsible for the design and construction of the Pennsylvania State House (better known today as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, a project that employed Woolley and his apprentices well into the 1750s. Traditionally, credit has been given to Andrew Hamilton for the design, but contemporary scholarship has revealed that Hamilton was an amateur architect who contributed very little to the project.[2]

Design and construction of the Whitefield Meeting House

Woolley designed and built the Whitefield Meeting House, also in Philadelphia, which was erected in 1740. This building, which was originally built as a charity school and a pulpit for preacher George Whitefield, was chosen by Benjamin Franklin in 1749 and purchased as the site for the first classes of the Academy of Philadelphia (1751) and the College of Philadelphia (1755) (both predecessors of the University of Pennsylvania).[3] At the time, the Whitefield Meeting House was the largest building in Philadelphia, being two stories high and having dimensions of 100 feet by 70 feet.[4]

Design and construction of Hope Lodge

Between the years of 1743 and 1748, Woolley was responsible for the design and construction of the Whitemarsh Estate (today known as Hope Lodge), a Georgian country mansion built by Quaker businessman Samuel Morris in present-day Fort Washington, Pennsylvania.[5]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ Biography of Edmund Woolley at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project
  2. ↑ Biography of Andrew Hamilton at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project
  3. ↑ Penn Archives: Indenture transferring land on the west side of Fourth Street to the Trustees of the Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia
  4. ↑ PENN: The Early Years - The Charity School, Academy and College of Philadelphia
  5. ↑ Through a Looking Glass: Colonial and Colonial Revival Hope Lodge