Architects, architectural historians, and those living in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia as well as in similar communities throughout the country will want to acquire this multifaceted treatise about The Philadelphia House. Dozens of illustrations of these houses and their landscaping will add both insight and enjoyment for readers.

David Contosta, author of Suburb in the City: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia; The Houstons and Woodwards of Chestnut Hill; and coauthor, with Carol Franklin, of Philadelphia's Wissahickon Valley

“The Philadelphia House: Organic Architecture and Placemaking in Chestnut Hill” addresses to the characteristics of the iconic Chestnut Hills residences that emerged in the early twentieth century industrial society shaped by Philadelphia’s Quaker culture and artistic aspirations. They possess lasting effects still evident today.

As an architect who lived in a Chestnut Hill house straddling the edge of the Wissahickon Park and was designed by Willing, Sims and Talbutt, I found that the book portrays and echoes, with rigor and clarity, all the features particular to the Chestnut Hill house architectural paradigm. It captures the architects’ extraordinary collaboration with local craftsmen creating enduring architecture embedded and woven into the outstanding social community created by the Woodward and Houston families in the beginning years of the last century.

The book captures the sensitivity of the unique Chestnut Hill house designs that seamlessly unite the needs of family life, privacy, community engagement, utilization of local materials, craftsmanship, and Quaker societal values in early twentieth century Philadelphia. Remarkably appealing and cohesive residences resulted. Using the example of the courtyard as an essential element organizing the house and garden into a unified entity, the book defines the much- admired qualities that signify the “Chestnut Hill house”. Further, the book masterfully explores the various design influences of the Beaux Arts and the formative days of the American schools of Architecture that are evidenced in the featured houses.

Richard J. Farley, FAIA, PE, Adjunct Professor of Architecture, Weitzman School of Design