A bunch of old illustrations

[CHIOSSO]

[CHIOSSO]

[CHIOSSO]

[CHIOSSO]

[Titus]

Looks like Storrow Drive in Beantown.

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

Odd Fellows Cemetery (Philadelphia) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Decatur Button - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[nanyika]

The London Coffee House was at Front and Market, southwest corner. (Drawing was mislabeled.)

[Phillyxpat]

The London Coffee House was at Front and Market, southwest corner. (Drawing was mislabeled.)

I labeled it that way because as I understand it, the first London Coffee House was at Front and High (Market) and built around 1702. There was a second London Coffee House, the famous one of the Revolutionary War period, that started in 1754 at second and market and was bought out or out of business by the 1780s. That the image is of that second building torn down in I believe 1883. That a lot of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century written sources merged references of the two London Coffee Houses into one place at the original Front Street location, that including the labeling on photos etc. I could be wrong but I put the second and market label on the image rather than front and market tag?

[nanyika]

I labeled it that way because as I understand it, the first London Coffee House was at Front and High (Market) and built around 1702. There was a second London Coffee House, the famous one of the Revolutionary War period, that started in 1754 at second and market and was bought out or out of business by the 1780s. That the image is of that second building torn down in I believe 1883. That a lot of late nineteenth century and early twentieth century written sources merged references of the two London Coffee Houses into one place at the original Front Street location, that including the labeling on photos etc. I could be wrong but I put the second and market label on the image rather than front and market tag?

The building that you picture is the London Coffee House at Front and Market. It was built about 1702, and converted into a coffee house cc. 1724. In the 19th century, the building housed a cigar store for many years. It was demolished in 1883, and the present building (restored, and due to re-open soon as a restaurant) built in its place. I have been in the cellar, and it seems to me that foundations of the 1702 building (and maybe a side wall) still remain. Perhaps you are confusing the building with the City Tavern on 2nd, above Walnut. In the 1780s, the City Tavern, under new management, became known as the Coffee House.

[Phillyxpat]

If there is a dispute in whose source is quoted over and over again correctly or incorrectly as by the coffee industry below and the address and title label is wrong, as you well know, can’t edit a post after a certain amount of time. Forum Moderator would have to edit post label I would guess.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of All About Coffee, by William H. Ukers. - Chapter XIV – Page 126

Philadelphia's First Coffee House...
"The first public house designated as a coffee house was built in Penn's time [1682–1701] by Samuel Carpenter, on the east side of Front Street, probably above Walnut Street. That it was the first of its kind—the only one in fact for some years—seems to be established beyond doubt. It was always referred to in old times as 'Ye Coffee House.'"

Carpenter owned also the Globe inn, which was separated from Ye coffee house by a public stairway running down from Front Street to Water Street, and, it is supposed, to Carpenter's Wharf. The exact location of the old house was recently established from the title to the original patentee, Samuel Carpenter, by a Philadelphia real-estate title-guarantee company, as being between Walnut and Chestnut Streets, and occupying six and a half feet of what is now No. 137 South Front Street and the whole of No. 139.

Page 127:

The First London Coffee House
Philadelphia's second coffee house bore the name of the London coffee house, which title was later used for the resort William Bradford opened in 1754. The first house of this name was built in 1702, but there seems to be some doubt about its location.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of All About Coffee, by William H. Ukers. Chapter XIV, Page 128

The Second London Coffee House
Probably the most celebrated coffee house in Penn's city was the one established by William Bradford, printer of the Pennsylvania Journal. It was on the southwest corner of Second and Market Streets, and was named the London coffee house, the second house in Philadelphia to bear that title.

July 2012 - The London Coffeehouse, Philadelphia

[nanyika]

Thank you, Phillyxpat for publishing the source that you used. It is incorrect, of course, in regard to the location of the (second) London Coffee House. Probably just a misprint. But I see that I too, in haste, sloppily stated that the London Coffee House was established in 1724, when Bradford clearly opened it in 1754.
In looking at on-line sources, I notice that there is an incredible amount of confusion on the issue. For example, Harry Kyriakodis, writing in Hidden City (Oct. 25, 2011), says that the Coffee House was operated at Front and Market by the Widow Roberts for many years before Bradford took it over after she retired in 1754. Well, I have just spent a couple of hours researching the old newspaper files at genealogybank, and finally determined that Widow Roberts's coffee house was located further down Front Street between Chestnut and Black Horse Alley. (Also, she appears to have closed the coffee house in 1751, though she rented the building to other merchants.) And I might have saved myself the trouble in deducing the location, because I now see that Watson's Annals said the same thing. The first references I could find to "The Coffee House" was in an ad from 1720; later ads (1735) say "The Old Coffee House." But I am still unsure what establishment the notices refer to.

[Phillyxpat]

If I had not labeled my illustration as such, we would have not had this further conversation and or further research on the matter.

I used the second street label on that the print because it lacked an obstruction in the street which I believe was the Market itself, a shed, kiosk like structure in the middle of the street that got extended in various periods of time all the way up to fourth street before it was demolished. The print maker may have eliminated the obstruction to the view by removing the market shed for use of artistic and or poetic license.

Also, since over time, and from my own experience of the way people give directions around the world, I know that the earliest or the oldest street signs were carved stones in the sides of corner buildings. When did that start? I think that a lot of history comes from a lot of oral stories and personal memories. That early Philadelphia may not have had a modern sense of first, front or second street etc. That something was "just past the market" or "to the left of the next big oak tree" etc. was probably the norm in communication and confusing later to historical chroniclers.

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

[Phillyxpat]

[CHIOSSO]

Illus. in: Harper's weekly, v. 41, no. 2118 (1897 July 24), p. 732.
5 images of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, including colonial arch and vestibule on second floor, banquet hall after restoration, view from 5th Street, the old belfry, and the front elevation after restoration.