Powel House

Architect: Robert Smith
Style: Georgian
City: Philadelphia, PA
Collection: colonial & revolutionary

Built in 1765 for merchant Charles Stedman, this Society Hill townhouse passed in 1769 to Samuel Powel, the last mayor of Philadelphia under British rule and the city's first mayor after independence, who paid £3,150 for it. Powel and his wife Elizabeth lavishly redecorated the interior, and the house has been called 'the finest Georgian row house in the city.'

the building

Understated facade, ornate interior. Like other Georgian houses of its type, the Powel House presents a plain, restrained brick front to the street, while inside the Powels created some of the most elaborate Rococo plastered ceilings in the American colonies.

the style

The Powel House is Georgian in style, the dominant idiom for well-to-do Philadelphia townhouses before the Revolution: symmetrical massing and a plain brick facade, with any real display of wealth reserved for the interior.

the architect

The house's design is attributed to Robert Smith, a noted Philadelphia builder-architect of the colonial era.

significance

Today the Powel House operates as a historic house museum, preserving the mayor's home and its Rococo interiors for public visitation.

nearby

Merchants' Exchange Building 490 ft · Greek Revival · 1834
Society Hill Towers 0.1 mi · Brutalism · 1964
First Bank of the United States 0.1 mi · Greek Revival · 1795
Carpenters' Hall 0.1 mi · Georgian
Hill-Physick-Keith House 0.2 mi · Federal
United States Custom House 0.2 mi · Art Deco · 1934

All 127 buildings in Philadelphia