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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Ridgeland Mansion
Ridgeland Mansion is an historic 2+1⁄2-story, gable-roofed house located in west Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The land was purchased by a yeoman named William Couch in 1718 and the current house was probably constructed sometime between 1752 and 1762.

History and architectural features

Originally created as a farm house, it was expanded to mansion proportions through various alterations and additions made by later owners, as well as by the city which had acquired the property in 1869 for the expansion of Fairmount Park. George Clymer, a Founding Father of the United States, owned the house between 1784 and 1794, though he apparently only rented it out and never lived there.

A notable feature of the house is the use of round windows, including two small oval windows, one on each of the first and second stories of the northwestern facade, and a divided semicircular window in the southeastern gable. Though the main part of the house is composed of Wissahickon schist, several wood-frame extensions with stone foundations adjoin the northeastern end of the house. These extensions include a two-story gable-roofed addition with clapboard siding and a large chimney on the northern corner, and another two-story clapboard addition to the east with a gable roof including a dentilled cornice and a semi-octagonal wall. Finally, a one-story clapboard kitchen wing was attached to the northeastern wall. Two barns and an ice house also stand on the property.

Since 1997, the house has been leased and operated by the Cancer Support Community Greater Philadelphia (CSCGP) through the Fairmount Park Conservancy's Historic Preservation Trust. Events are held at the house and on the grounds of what has been named the CSCGP at The Suzanne Morgan Center at Ridgeland. The city's leasing agreements for Fairmount Park properties require lessees to commit financial resources to help with restoration and ongoing maintenance work. The lessees are not permitted to alter the historic architectural features of the structures, and must allow for public access.

Ridgeland Mansion is registered on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and is an inventoried structure within the Fairmount Park Historic District entry on the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Resources Listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Without Official Addresses" (archive). phila.gov. Philadelphia Historical Commission. April 9, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  2. ^ "National Register Information System – Fairmount Park (#72001151)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2017. (archive)
  3. ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form". (archive) by George B. Tatum of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. dot7.state.pa.us. National Park Service document via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Cultural Resources Geographic Information System, the Department of Transportation website and the records of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. January 11, 1972. Retrieved November 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Wunsch, Aaron (August 1995). "Ridgeland (Mount Prospect)" (PDF). Historic American Buildings Survey. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  5. ^ "Leasing Success Story: Ridgeland". (archive) fairmountparktrust.org. Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  6. ^ "Our History". (archive) cancersupportphiladelphia.org. Cancer Support Community Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved November 5, 2017.
  7. ^ "Fairmount Park Conservancy – History of the Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust" (archive). myphillypark.org. Fairmount Park Conservancy. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
  8. ^ "Leasing Program" (archive). fairmountparktrust.org. Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust. Retrieved December 14, 2017.
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