The Blockley Almshouse , later known as Philadelphia General Hospital , was a charity hospital and poorhouse located in West Philadelphia . It originally opened in 1732/33 in a different part of the city as the Philadelphia Almshouse (not to be confused with the Friends' Almshouse , established 1713). Philadelphia General Hospital closed in 1977.
21-538: The Blockley Almshouse had its roots in the Philadelphia Almshouse, a facility first located in the block between Third, fifth, Spruce and Pine Streets. Constructed in 1731–32, this institution provided the first government-sponsored care of the poor in America, as it offered an infirmary and hospital for the sick and insane, besides housing and feeding the impoverished. In 1767, it moved to larger quarters occupying
42-428: A quadrangle of four sizable buildings including a poorhouse, a hospital, an orphanage, and an insane asylum. Construction of the first building had begun in 1830, with its cornerstone laid on May 26. William Strickland was the architect and Samuel Sloan , later to be a well-known architect, worked as journeyman carpenter on the project. The institution was later renamed the Philadelphia Almshouse and Hospital, but it
63-671: A system of skilled nursing. In 1903, operations of the hospital were turned over to the newly created Bureau of Hospitals in the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. In 1906, the insane were moved to the Byberry Mental Hospital , later known as the Philadelphia State Hospital. "Old Blockley" was renamed Philadelphia General Hospital (PGH) in 1919. In the next few decades, the original almshouse buildings were gradually replaced with modern facilities. By
84-473: Is based on the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates — but is a unique building styled to fit the site. It was to be located on a triangular plot at the intersection of two major thoroughfares between the waterfront and the business district . The elegant, curved east façade faces the waterfront, and reflects the carriage and foot traffic that would have been circulating in front of the building. This elevation
105-516: Is unique — Greek Revival, but modern — while a more staid and formal elevation can be found on the west side, facing Third Street. In the same year he designed the Merchants' Exchange, 1832, Strickland entered a project in the competition for Philadelphia's Girard College, which won the second prize. Strickland's 1836 National Mechanic Bank at 22 South 3rd Street, set on a narrow plot between two taller neighbors, has strong, square pilasters to support
126-1094: The Delaware and Maryland Railroad . Strickland designed and built the Delaware Breakwater , the first breakwater in the Americas and the third in the world. Strickland died in Nashville and is buried within the walls of his final, and arguably greatest work, the Tennessee State Capitol . A cenotaph for him exists in the family plot in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Several architects and engineers of note began or developed their careers in Strickland's employ, including Thomas Ustick Walter , Gideon Shryock and John Trautwine . The Woodlands Cemetery Too Many Requests If you report this error to
147-509: The University of Pennsylvania , with its medical school, moved to a site just north of the Almshouse grounds in 1871. As the latter 19th century saw advancements in both medicine and psychiatry, Blockley's mission gradually embraced that of a more conventional public hospital. A nursing school was opened at the site in 1885 under the direction of Alice Fisher , replacing ad hoc patient nurses with
168-562: The 1950s the site contained the city's public hospital, as well as a nursing home and a home for the indigent. In 1952, the new City Home Rule Charter placed the control of Philadelphia General Hospital with a board of trustees. Under contracts signed in 1959, care at PGH was carried out by the medical schools of Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, who subcontracted work to Jefferson Medical College , Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania , and Hahnemann Medical School . By
189-623: The First Presbyterian Church (now the Downtown Presbyterian Church ) was controversial but today is widely recognized as a masterpiece and an important evocation of the Egyptian Revival style. Strickland was also a civil engineer and one of the first to advocate the use of steam locomotives on railways. Some argue that Strickland's observations made during visits to England in the 1820s were highly influential in
210-665: The Western Hemisphere. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1820. Strickland was born in the Navesink, New Jersey to John and Elizabeth Strickland. While William was still a child, the family moved to Philadelphia (c. 1790), where his father -- a master carpenter -- became, in 1811, a charter member of the Practical House Carpenters' Society In his youth, Strickland
231-532: The block between Tenth, Eleventh, Spruce and Pine Streets. This site was officially called the Philadelphia Bettering House . In 1835, the overcrowded Philadelphia Almshouse moved to Blockley Township in West Philadelphia, an area once known as "Blockley Farm" now between 34th Street and University Avenue. Built to house a variety of Philadelphia's indigent population, the facility consisted of
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#1732868970452252-518: The church as a “neat and elegant edifice” whose “design was given by Mr. William Strickland, of this city,” and whose “execution has done justice to the taste of the Architect.” (Jeffrey. A. Cohen, 1983). Strickland's evolving talent and confidence is seen in the later Merchants' Exchange (1832–34). Also in Philadelphia, the Merchant Exchange is built on classical example — for example, the cupola
273-606: The early 1970s, public support including Medicaid allowed private hospitals to expand treatment for the poor. Facing both financial difficulties as well as a stock of aging buildings, the board of PGH closed the hospital entirely in 1977. The Almshouse was built by the city in what was then known as Blockley Township , on land purchased from the Andrew Hamilton estate. This parcel of land stretched from what are now known as Civic Center Boulevard to Guardian Drive and from University Avenue to 34th Street. A blue historical marker
294-712: The iconic Parthenon of Athens . Proud of the building, Strickland had it included in the background of his 1829 portrait by Philadelphia society painter John Neagle . The oldest building designed by W. Strickland, which is preserved to this day, is the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church, located at 222-230 Brown Street Philadelphia (Northern Liberties Area), formerly known as St. John's Episcopalian Church . An anonymous report from its consecration, published on September 21, 1816, in Relf’s Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertiser , describes
315-690: The portico and ornate stone carving at their tops to defend the building against its taller and bulkier neighbors. One of Strickland's last Philadelphia designs and among his smallest, the building is now occupied by National Mechanics Bar and Restaurant . Strickland also executed works in other styles, including very early American work in the Gothic Revival style, including his Masonic Hall (1808–11, burned 1819) and his Saint Stephen's Church (1823), both in Philadelphia. He also made use of Egyptian, Saracenic and Italianate styles. He later moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where his Egyptian -influenced design of
336-417: The southern and western boundaries of the site. In 2001, more than 1,000 bodies associated with the Almshouse were recovered from an adjacent construction site and reburied in nearby Woodlands Cemetery . 39°56′39″N 75°11′46″W / 39.94406°N 75.19618°W / 39.94406; -75.19618 William Strickland (architect) William Strickland (November 1788 – April 6, 1854)
357-526: The transfer of railway technology to the United States: "William Strickland's Reports are the starting point of American railway engineering, and represent the state of knowledge as the first railways were planned in that country." In 1835, the Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad hired him to survey a route from Wilmington, Delaware , to Charlestown, Maryland . Later that year, he was named chief engineer of
378-597: Was a landscape painter, illustrator for periodicals, theatrical scene painter, engraver, and pioneer aquatintist . His Greek Revival designs drew much inspiration from the plates of The Antiquities of Athens . Strickland and Latrobe competed to design the Second Bank of the United States in Philadelphia (1819–1824), a competition that called for "chaste" Greek style. Strickland, who was still copying classical prototypes at this point, won with an ambitious design modeled on
399-580: Was a noted architect and civil engineer in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and Nashville, Tennessee . A student of Benjamin Latrobe and mentor to Thomas Ustick Walter , Strickland helped establish the Greek Revival movement in the United States. A pioneering engineer, he wrote a seminal book on railroad construction, helped build several early American railroads , and designed the first ocean breakwater in
420-511: Was commonly called " Old Blockley " for decades after. Operated by a city committee known as the Guardians of the Poor , Blockley's early reputation for care was dismal. In 1864, the "Female Lunatic Asylum" building was accidentally destroyed by workers installing heaters, killing 18 women and injuring another 20. Blockley's geographical isolation from city medical institutions limited clinical care until
441-550: Was erected on Curie Boulevard commemorating the significance of the site. Today the site is occupied by parts of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia , University of Pennsylvania Health System , and the Veterans Health Administration and represents a major center of medical research and care in Philadelphia. The Penn Museum also stands on former Almshouse grounds. A long brick wall topped by an ornately decorated iron fence that dates back to PGH still forms part of
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