George Washington, by Ellen Sharples, courtesy of INHP
Portrait presumed to be of Washington's cook, Hercules, attributed to Gilbert Stuart, Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, Spain.
John Adams, by Charles Willson Peale, courtesy of INHP

Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation

A Joint Project of the City of Philadelphia and National Park Service to be Located Adjacent to the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Welcome to the City of Philadelphia's website for the President's House project. As this project moves forward, this website will be designed to allow you to keep track of our progress and, most importantly, to express your opinion.

President's House Commemorative Site
Information Meeting for Construction Opportunities
May 7, 2009

The City of Philadelphia will host a public information session for minority, women and disabled firms and minority and female building tradespeople interested in work on the historic President's House site. The President's House project is a permanent, outdoor commemorative installation, to be placed on the footprint of the President's House, immediately adjacent to the Liberty Bell Center. Through architecture, landscaping, imagery and interpretive text, this installation will tell the story of the birth of a free nation and indefensible slavery existing side-by-side.

The historic significance of this project is great. While enslaved persons of African descent toiled in the construction of our nation's capitol as envisioned and planned by George Washington, free Blacks in Philadelphia were actively engaged in the traditional building trades of carpentry, masonry and plastering. In acknowledgement of this history and in furtherance of City policies of fairness and equity, the City of Philadelphia, as project owner, is committed to ensuring that businesses owned and controlled by minority persons, women and the disabled and minority and women tradespeople are given fair opportunity to participate in this project.

The original President's House will not be rebuilt; construction encompasses excavation of the 12,000 square foot area, concrete paving, specialty metal fabrication, electrification and erection of video screens, and landscaping. Design and construction of the project has been awarded to Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners and D. J. Keating Co. The Project Team will solicit bids for the following:

  • Concrete
  • Excavation and Site Utilities
  • Metal Fabrication
  • Masonry Waterproofing
  • Glass and Glazing
  • Painting
  • Mechanical
  • Landscaping
  • Electrical

Construction work is scheduled to begin on or about May 25, 2009. The projected end date for construction work is March 2010. The project's construction budget is $3.5 million. Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners along with D. J. Keating Co. will be present to provide project details.

Date: May 7, 2009
Time: 6pm to 8pm
Location: Community College of Philadelphia
Bonnell Building (17th Street at Spring Garden) Small Auditorium BG.11

Please confirm your attendance or request more information as follows:

Phone: 215.564.6151
E-mail: presidentshouse@therozgroup.com
Fax: 215.564.6154

Click here for bid meeting notice.

Philadelphia, PA -- March 21, 2007 -- Mayor John F. Street and Independence National Historical Park Superintendent Dennis Reidenbach today officially launched an archeological dig at the site of the former President's House. The dig’s purpose is to find out whether any artifacts relating to the President’s House era - 1790-1800 - may still be in the ground. The archeology team, headed by the renowned URS Group, includes a coalition of nationally recognized experts with extensive experience working on key African American history sites. Click here to read the complete press release.

Philadelphia, PA -- February 27, 2007 -- The team headed by Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners has been selected to design and build the President’s House project at Independence National Historical Park. Click here to read the complete press release. Click here to see the Kelly/Maiello Team preliminary design.

From 1790 to 1800, Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived and worked in a mansion - the President's House - that stood a block north of Independence Hall. In that house (which was long ago torn down), our first two presidents literally invented what it meant to be the Chief Executive of the United States. The profoundly disturbing documented truth is that in this house, there also lived and worked at least nine enslaved Africans - kept by George Washington, not Adams - in the same era when the founders of our country were declaring that "all men are created equal." The story of the President's House is thus one of achievement and infamy - of the birth of a free nation and indefensible slavery existing side-by-side.

Click here for larger version of groundplan

We have a compelling obligation to tell the history of this house and its inhabitants in all its fullness. With that obligation in mind, the City of Philadelphia, in full partnership with the National Park Service and Independence National Historical Park (INHP), issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) in the fall of 2005 seeking teams interested in designing and fabricating a permanent, outdoor commemorative installation to be placed where the President's House once stood, immediately adjacent to the Liberty Bell Center.

We recommend that you read the RFQ. It contains a brief history of the President's House, the events leading up to this project, maps of the site, the scope of what we are asking teams to design and build, and links to additional resources. (The most complete source of information about the President's House on the web is on the Independence Hall Association's website at http://www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/index.htm .)

Full funding for the project has been identified: Mayor John F. Street initially pledged $1.5 million in City funds to jumpstart the project, and Congressman Chaka Fattah, joined by Congressman Robert Brady, recently announced a multi-year federal grant of $3.6 million.

On March 28, 2006, Mayor Street and INHP Superintendent Dennis Reidenbach announced the “short-list” of semi-finalists from among the 21 teams that responded to the RFQ. These semi-finalists were selected by the Mayor and Superintendent with the advice of the President’s House Oversight Committee, which includes representatives from the advocacy groups who fought hardest for this commemoration. Mayor Street and Superintendent Reidenbach also announced that before the commemoration is installed, there will be an archeological research “dig” to determine whether any artifacts or information relating to the President’s House era may still be in the ground. Click here to read the full press release.

In June, 2006, the semi-finalist teams received a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) inviting them to submit preliminary designs, for which they will receive a modest stipend to help offset the cost. As required, the teams submitted their designs along with three-dimensional models that were placed on public display from August 16 through October 1, 2006, first at the National Constitution Center, and then at the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Nearly 1,000 visitors filled out Evaluation Cards provided at the exhibit. Click here to view electronic images of the models, a brief description provided by each team, and public comments submitted by visitors to the exhibit.

Since the beginning of this project, the City, INHP, and Oversight Committee have been committed to providing meaningful opportunities for public input and comment before the final team is chosen and during the design process that follows. The display of the three-dimensional models and the opportunity for public comment before the selection of the finalist reflect that commitment.

Please note that some of the dates on the project timeline that appear in the original RFQ have been changed to take into account the regulatory approval process that is required for the project to be eligible for federal funding, to give the semi-finalists enough time to prepare their submissions, and to give the Oversight and Selection Committees enough time to make an informed decision.

On February 27, 2007, Mayor Street and Superintendent Reidenbach announced that the team headed by Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners had been selected to design and build the President’s House project. At the time of the announcement, this selection was pending final approval from PennDOT. Click here to see the Kelly/Maiello Team preliminary design.

Kelly/Maiello is an award-winning minority-owned business that has provided architecture and planning services in Philadelphia and the region for more than 30 years. Principal and co-founder Emanuel Kelly will serve as Project Director. Click here to read complete press release.

We hope you will check back for updates. In the meantime, if you want to send a message or join our mailing list, please click here.

 
This photograph shows the south side of the 500 block of Market Street in 1949. The surviving eastern wall of the President's House is at center. The "ghost" of the President's House is outlined in red. From the Evening Bulletin Newspaper Collection, Urban Archives, Temple University. Overlay: Edward Lawler Jr. Mantelpiece from the President's House. In the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum. Photo by Jack E. Boucher, ca. 1965. Historic American Buildings Survey, no. PA-1942. "Washington's Residence, High Street." Lithograph by William L. Breton. From John Fanning Watson's Annals of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, 1830)