Gloria Dei, often called Old Swedes’ Church, is recognizable by its historic Flemish bond brickwork and its park-like setting of nearly five acres. It holds the title of the oldest surviving brick building in Philadelphia and the oldest…
Philadelphia Historic Landmarks
We’ll walk through the physical history of Philadelphia, tracing its development from early Swedish settlement structures to major nineteenth-century municipal projects. Along the way, we'll visit the actual sites where the nation's foundational documents were adopted and early institutions took shape.
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1. Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church
2. Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is a three-story masonry building with large round-arch windows and Romanesque styling. It stands on a parcel of land at the corner of South Sixth and Addison Streets that has been…
3. Christ Church
Christ Church is defined by its soaring, one hundred ninety-six foot tall white steeple, which rises above the surrounding brick architecture of Olde City. Founded in sixteen ninety-five, the church served as the first parish of the Church…
4. First Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States rises behind a grand portico of six Corinthian columns, a design modeled after classical Greek temples to project federal stability. Its most striking feature is the pediment above these columns, which…
5. Carpenters' Hall
Carpenters' Hall is a two-story brick building with a symmetrical, square Georgian design and distinct cutouts at each corner. It sits at the end of an alley off Chestnut Street, built between seventeen seventy and seventeen seventy-four…
6. Independence Hall
Independence Hall is a red brick building recognized by its central tower and the symmetry of its Georgian architecture. Construction began in seventeen thirty-two and lasted until seventeen fifty-three, when it opened as the Pennsylvania…
7. Congress Hall
Congress Hall is a two-story red brick building with a triangular pediment at the corner of Chestnut and Sixth Streets. While it was constructed between seventeen eighty-seven and seventeen eighty-nine to serve as the Philadelphia County…
8. Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is distinguished by the massive, thirty-seven-foot bronze statue of William Penn that crowns its central tower. Rising five hundred forty-eight feet above Penn Square, this Second Empire style structure served as the…
9. Eastern State Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary dominates its corner of Fairmount with thirty-foot-tall stone walls that look like a medieval fortress. When it opened in eighteen twenty-nine, the building was the largest and most expensive public project in…