{"nrhp_refnum":"71000716","name":"Arch Street Friends Meeting House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"320 Arch St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.95181114600007,"lon":-75.14627645518323,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-05-27","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2011-06-23","areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Politics/Government","Religion","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Quaker meeting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built in 1804 with an addition in 1811. It stands on its original site.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its architecture and for its role as a religious, social and educational center in the nineteenth century. It states that much of the original fabric survives, including what is perhaps the city's largest number of original crown glass window panes. It also notes that the building keeps its quiet nineteenth-century Quaker simplicity despite several remodelings.","narrative":"Built in 1804 in Philadelphia, the Arch Street Meeting House is a two-story brick building laid in Flemish bond, with a wide hipped roof, a cross gable on the north side, and a north facade of thirteen bays centred on a projecting pavilion with three porticos. The walls, ceilings, flooring and many windows of the original 1804 structure survive, although the interior arrangement was substantially changed, most extensively in 1820. An 1811 addition was made, and two ventilation cupolas were added in 1854. The architect is generally considered to have been Owen Biddle, who also wrote a builders' guide published in 1805. In the nineteenth century the meeting house served as an important religious, social and educational centre for the community. It is noted for perhaps the city's largest number of original crown glass window panes. Today it operates as a museum for the Society of Friends, hosts the annual Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and holds regular Sunday meetings and weekday community events.","period_of_significance":"1804-1811","architect_builder":"Owen Biddle (generally considered architect)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Serves as a museum for the Society of Friends, is the annual location of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and hosts Sunday meetings and community functions.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.735373-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/71000716.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000716/7b07b60d3d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71000716/7b07b60d3d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arch_Street_Meetinghouse_from_front.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arch_Street_Meetinghouse_from_front.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000683","name":"Independence National Historical Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/independence-national-historical-park-66000683/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71997016","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch_Street_Friends_Meeting_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4785327"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/arch-street-friends-meeting-house-71000716/"}