{"nrhp_refnum":"77001189","name":"Portico Row","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"900--930 Spruce St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.94597033300005,"lon":-75.15776436499993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-12-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A block of 16 Greek Revival row houses, designed as eight mirror-image pairs, on the south side of Spruce Street between 9th and 10th Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built 1831-1832 by John Savage with Thomas Ustick Walter as designer.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the row is the last surviving example of its type of housing in Philadelphia and the only remaining row of its original scale and appearance. It is presented as an early 19th-century upper-middle-class housing development with a unified portico treatment following precedents in London, Bath and Dublin. Notable early residents included Commodore Isaac Hull and editor Sarah Hale.","narrative":"Built between 1831 and 1832 on the south side of Spruce Street between 9th and 10th Streets, Portico Row is a block of sixteen three-storey brick houses arranged as eight mirror-image pairs. Thomas Ustick Walter designed the Greek Revival front, which has marble stairs rising to shared entrance porticos with Ionic columns and iron railings. John Savage, a merchant who owned the block's land, built it as a speculative venture. Its design follows London, Bath and Dublin precedents and the nearby Colonnade Row of 1830. Interiors included marble fireplaces, walnut or mahogany trim and ornamental plasterwork. Original residents were doctors, lawyers and merchants, among them Commodore Isaac Hull and Sarah Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book. The row is valued as the only surviving example of its scale and appearance, a record of upper-middle-class urban housing of the early nineteenth century.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"John Savage (builder/developer); Thomas U. Walter (architect)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Presently a series of boarding houses; condition described as deteriorated from lack of maintenance.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:28.850276-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/77001189.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001189/84c9f6f990-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001189/84c9f6f990-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:916_Spruce_Philly.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:916_Spruce_Philly.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"84003563","name":"Washington Square West Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/washington-square-west-historic-district-84003563/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996962","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portico_Row","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7231811"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/portico-row-77001189/"}