Spring Garden District (Boundary Increase)

Three-story brick row houses built mainly between 1850 and 1870 form the core of the Spring Garden district in north-central Philadelphia, which extends from Spring Garden Street north to Coates (now Fairmount) Avenue and from Broad Street west to the Schuylkill River. Many were speculative rows, with about 300 houses built by one firm, Randolph and Parry, local lumber merchants. The houses have pressed brick facades, marble trim, flat bracketed cornices and varied cast ironwork, and their interiors included bathrooms, central heating and gas lighting. Later mansard roofs, bay windows and individually designed houses from 1880 to 1910 were added within the same scale. The district was developed for lawyers, bankers, merchants and manufacturers after its 1854 annexation to Philadelphia. Notable residents included engineer Coleman Sellers, financier Edward T. Stotesbury, painter Thomas Eakins and Bishop Matthew Simpson. The district is regarded as a leading example of mid-19th-century urban residential planning.