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Twelfth Street Meeting House
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Twelfth Street Meeting House
Twelfth Street Meeting House was a Quaker meeting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built on the west side of 12th Street, south of Market Street, 1812–1813, incorporating architectural elements from Philadelphia's Greater Meeting House (1755).
The building was dismantled and relocated to Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1972, and reconstructed, 1973–1974. Since then it has served as the meeting house for George School.
The Philadelphia Greater Meeting House was built in 1755 at the southwest corner of 2nd and Market Streets. Constructed by carpenter Abraham Carlisle and his apprentice, Isaac Coates, the square brick building – 57-ft (17.4-m) per side – was unusually large for the American Colonies. Its six triangular roof trusses – 58-by-20-foot (17.7 m × 6.1 m) – were made of pine and held together with wooden pegs rather than nails.
As Philadelphia grew as a commercial city, the area near the waterfront became too noisy for the quiet contemplation of Quaker worship and inconvenient for many members of the meeting. The land on which the Greater Meeting House stood was sold in 1809, with the proceeds to go toward building a meeting house further west.
A plot of land on South 12th Street – 142 by 134 ft (43 by 41 m) – was purchased in 1810 for $11,000. Carpenter John D. Smith dismantled the old building. Its roof trusses, which dictated the width of the new building, were unpegged and transported in pieces. Other architectural elements such as windows, doors and columns were salvaged and reused. The new building was longer than the old – 91 ft (28 m), rather than 57 ft (17 m). Smith built two additional roof trusses of tulip poplar, and increased the spacing between all of them. The two-story main meeting room replicated the dimensions of the Greater Meeting House's square interior, and at least some of its old benches were reused. The new building's extension featured a one-story women's meeting room, separated from the main meeting room by a movable partition, and a second floor room. Construction of the Twelfth Street Meeting House was completed in April 1813, at a cost of $21,410.46.
In 1827 a schism occurred in American Quakerism, which divided into Orthodox and Hicksite factions. Twelfth Street Meeting remained a stronghold for Orthodox Friends.
From 1874 to 1925, the meeting house was used for daily meeting by the adjacent William Penn Charter School, a Quaker private school for boys at the southwest corner of 12th and Market Streets. The school moved to a suburban campus in 1925, and its school building was demolished to build the PSFS Building (1930).
The schism in American Quakerism was formally healed in 1955. The following year, the formerly-Orthodox Twelfth Street Meeting and the formerly-Hicksite Race Street Meeting merged to form the Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. The two bodies consolidated at the Race Street Meeting House, making the 12th Street building superfluous. In September 1969, CPMM announced an agreement to sell the property to PSFS for $810,000.
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Twelfth Street Meeting House
Twelfth Street Meeting House was a Quaker meeting house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built on the west side of 12th Street, south of Market Street, 1812–1813, incorporating architectural elements from Philadelphia's Greater Meeting House (1755).
The building was dismantled and relocated to Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1972, and reconstructed, 1973–1974. Since then it has served as the meeting house for George School.
The Philadelphia Greater Meeting House was built in 1755 at the southwest corner of 2nd and Market Streets. Constructed by carpenter Abraham Carlisle and his apprentice, Isaac Coates, the square brick building – 57-ft (17.4-m) per side – was unusually large for the American Colonies. Its six triangular roof trusses – 58-by-20-foot (17.7 m × 6.1 m) – were made of pine and held together with wooden pegs rather than nails.
As Philadelphia grew as a commercial city, the area near the waterfront became too noisy for the quiet contemplation of Quaker worship and inconvenient for many members of the meeting. The land on which the Greater Meeting House stood was sold in 1809, with the proceeds to go toward building a meeting house further west.
A plot of land on South 12th Street – 142 by 134 ft (43 by 41 m) – was purchased in 1810 for $11,000. Carpenter John D. Smith dismantled the old building. Its roof trusses, which dictated the width of the new building, were unpegged and transported in pieces. Other architectural elements such as windows, doors and columns were salvaged and reused. The new building was longer than the old – 91 ft (28 m), rather than 57 ft (17 m). Smith built two additional roof trusses of tulip poplar, and increased the spacing between all of them. The two-story main meeting room replicated the dimensions of the Greater Meeting House's square interior, and at least some of its old benches were reused. The new building's extension featured a one-story women's meeting room, separated from the main meeting room by a movable partition, and a second floor room. Construction of the Twelfth Street Meeting House was completed in April 1813, at a cost of $21,410.46.
In 1827 a schism occurred in American Quakerism, which divided into Orthodox and Hicksite factions. Twelfth Street Meeting remained a stronghold for Orthodox Friends.
From 1874 to 1925, the meeting house was used for daily meeting by the adjacent William Penn Charter School, a Quaker private school for boys at the southwest corner of 12th and Market Streets. The school moved to a suburban campus in 1925, and its school building was demolished to build the PSFS Building (1930).
The schism in American Quakerism was formally healed in 1955. The following year, the formerly-Orthodox Twelfth Street Meeting and the formerly-Hicksite Race Street Meeting merged to form the Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. The two bodies consolidated at the Race Street Meeting House, making the 12th Street building superfluous. In September 1969, CPMM announced an agreement to sell the property to PSFS for $810,000.
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