Drinker's Court

Drinker's Court at 236-238 Delancey Street in Philadelphia is a small group of brick buildings from the eighteenth century. Each street-facing main building is two and a half stories tall with a half gambrel roof, box cornice and sash windows, and behind each stand a row of three one-room-per-story houses known as bandbox houses, arranged around a narrow courtyard. John Drinker, a bricklayer, built the group in 1765-1766, and he also built the houses at 241-243 Pine Street directly behind. The complex is important because it is regarded as the only surviving eighteenth-century bandbox court houses in the Washington Square East area, which makes it a rare example of this building type. The main buildings were restored and converted into single dwellings in 1966 and 1968, and some original openings were altered during that work, including the removal of one doorway and the cutting of openings for air-conditioning equipment. The surviving brick walls, roof forms and courtyard layout keep the early character of the area visible to visitors today.