Belfield Estate
Encyclopedia
Belfield Estate was a 104 acre (0.42087344 km²) area of land in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, much of which is now a part of La Salle University’s
campus. The estate is most notable for being the estate of American
painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale
from 1810 to 1826.
granted to Thomas Bowman 588 acres near Germantown
. Bowman kept the land for two years, and sold it to Samuel Richardson, a Quaker who was active in the early colonial government
of Pennsylvania. The property extended from Old York Road
to the edges of Germantown, with Richardson's home, "Newington", located on Old York Road.
Upon Samuel Richardson's death in 1719, his son Joseph inherited the land, and split it among his children, with the area that would become Belfield going to his second son, John. John Richardson sold a portion of the land to John Eckstein in 1731. The 1731 deed mentions "Buildings & Woods & Underwoods, Timbers, Trees, Meadows, Marshes." This is the first time that "buildings" are recorded on the property. The once free-standing, square structure now attached to the rear of the main house is believed to be the oldest surviving building, but it is not known whether this building existed at the time of the sale to Eckstein.
Eckstein transferred the land that the main house is located on to his daughter Magdalena and son-in-law Conrad Weber in 1755, and after the death of Eckstein in 1763 the land was split among his remaining children. Two of the remaining children of Eckstein became members of the religious Ephrata Cloister
in Lancaster County
, and all had sold their land to Weber by 1786. Though the exact date of construction of the main house at Belfield is not known, Peale later wrote that it was built "by a Dutchman". As Weber was the son of a Dutch immigrant, this would date the house to sometime after 1755.
Weber sold the property to his tenant Richard Neave in 1804, not having lived on the property himself since the 1770s. Neave owned the property until his death in 1809, when it was sold to his tenants, Charles and Mary Grégoire. The Grégoires possessed the property for just three months before putting it up for sale.
to his son, Rubens
, and began to look for a small country estate. He purchased the land in 1810 from Charles Grégoire for $9500. Peale initially named the estate 'Farm Persevere', and wrote to Thomas Jefferson
, telling him that this was because "by labor and perseverance I obtained it." Friends of Peale's thought that this name was far too solemn, and as a result, by 1812 he had changed it to 'Bellefield', which later, became 'Belfield.'
Peale began renovations on the mansion house after purchasing the property, separating partitions in between rooms, and adding a "painting room to the north side of the house. When this room was destroyed in a storm in August 1817, a larger, two-story addition was added.
In October 1821, Peale and his wife Hannah contracted yellow fever
, which led to Hannah's death. A weakened Peale moved in with his son Rubens, and put Belfield up for sale. In January of 1826, William Logan Fisher, who's estate of Wakefield bordered Belfield to the southeast, purchased the property for $11,000.
", built in about 1813 by his son Franklin. It was a hexagonal structure with six columns, and a bust of George Washington
crowning its roof. The Wister family later built a gazebo
on this site that as of 2011 is in a ruined state. Northwest of the summer house was an obelisk
at the end of a garden walk. Peale painted four mottos that governed his life on the base of this obelisk, one on each side. It was Peale's wish to have been buried at the foot of this obelisk, yet it was not to be, as Peale sold Belfield a year before his death. Though Peale was not buried at this location, the Wister family later buried their dog, a white German Spitz
named 'Kaiser', there. A reproduction of this obelisk was created by La Salle alumni in 2000.
To the south of the obelisk, Peale erected another summer house, in "chinease
[sic] taste, dedicated to meditation. This summer house was simpler than the one built by his son, and only had a flat roof to provide shade, and four posts to hold it up, with seats around the inside. On the same hillside as the Chinese summer house was a pedestal onto which Peale inscribed ninety memorable events in American history, starting with the discovery of America, and ending with the American victory
at New Orleans in 1815. Significantly, he left room to inscribe the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean
by an American steamship.
Another contribution Peale made to his garden was the excellent use of one of the estate's natural springs. Peale hollowed out the source of the spring into an artificial cave, which he lined with masonry. This spring fed a greenhouse with a glass ceiling. To the southeast was a pool with a ten-foot fountain that was fed by pipes from the spring. Next to the pool was a garden shed onto which Peale painted a "gate" to disguise it. On the "gate" were symbols and figures representing Congress, America, Truth, Wisdom, Temperance, and Mars
, the god of war. The ruins of Peale's cave and greenhouse still stand. The cave is now underneath the stump of a coffee tree, but deteriorating the masonry is still visible. The greenhouse's walls are to the west, and are mostly overgrown with brush and ivy. The location of Peale's pond has been paved over by a driveway.
, Belfield served as a stop on the Underground Railroad
, though there is no contemporary evidence of this claim. During this time, William Wister and William Logan Fisher together founded the Belfield Print Works, located at the edge of the property, at the present-day intersection of Belfield Avenue and Wister Street. Willaim Rotch Wister, the Wister's eldest son, and father of horticulturist John Caspar Wister
, had a house constructed on the estate in 1868 for his family, this house is now La Salle's Mary and Frances Wister Fine Arts Studio. In 1876, he moved his family across the street to another house he had built, the mansion 'Wister', which was deeded to Fairmount Park
and demolished in 1956.
The Wister's second son, John, purchased the remaining property upon Sarah's death in 1891. John Wister made several improvements to the property, installing a furnace in the main house, and building a greenhouse next to the ruins of Peale's. The foundations of this greenhouse survive as of 2010. In July 1907, the carriage house caught fire, causing the panicked Wister family to flee Belfield, though there was no actual damage to the main house. After John died in 1900, his wife Sallie Wister continued to live at Belfield until her death in 1922. Upon her death, it was discovered that John Wister's will gave Belfield to his second daughter Sarah Logan Wister Starr
, who had lived in another house on the property, later dubbed 'The Mansion', since her marriage in 1901. Wister's eldest daughter, Bessie, felt slighted, leading to a feud between the sisters lasting several decades.
During the ownership of Sarah and her husband James Starr, the property had bathrooms installed and underground electric and telephone lines run to it. They had the colonial kitchen restored, and planted citrus
trees, and a garden of one hundred Tea Roses. James, who had an interest in China added several rock gardens and in the rear of the main house, a "Chinese Garden" that still survives. The date of the garden's construction was recorded in Chinese characters on the garden's wall. Also during the Starr's ownership, 20th Street was constructed and a deep trench was cut in the hillside, requiring a 14 foot retaining wall be built along what is now the eastern edge of the estate. In 1926, La Salle College purchased a portion of land on the east side of 20th Street from the Starrs for $27,500. The remaining portion of the campus was purchased from other descendants of William Logan Fisher.
In 1956, S. Logan Wister Starr and her husband Daniel Blain inherited the mansion from Logan's parents, they kept the property a fully functioning and self-sufficient farm, despite spending most of their time in Nova Scotia
. Under the Blains, in 1966, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Having rented 'The Mansion' and another house, 'Shaw Manor', from the Blains since the early 1960s for dormitory space, La Salle purchased both houses in 1968, and demolished them for parking space. In 1979, Logan Blain died, and her son, Daniel Blain, Jr. sold the remainder of the estate to La Salle University, in 1984.
La Salle began a renovation of the estate after purchasing it, converting it from a farm into a park-like area. Several structures were demolished, including Peale's stable and hen house, which were leveled to construct tennis courts. The main house of Belfield, now called 'Peale House', was also converted to its present role as the office for the President of La Salle, while the former tenant house on the south end of the property was used for Japanese tea ceremonies
from the 1980s until 2007.
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, much of which is now a part of La Salle University’s
La Salle University
La Salle University is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Named for St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the school was founded in 1863 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. As of 2008 the school has approximately 7,554...
campus. The estate is most notable for being the estate of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter and naturalist Charles Willson Peale
Charles Willson Peale
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter, soldier and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolution, as well as establishing one of the first museums....
from 1810 to 1826.
Early History
In 1684, William PennWilliam Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
granted to Thomas Bowman 588 acres near Germantown
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
. Bowman kept the land for two years, and sold it to Samuel Richardson, a Quaker who was active in the early colonial government
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as Pennsylvania Colony, was founded in British America by William Penn on March 4, 1681 as dictated in a royal charter granted by King Charles II...
of Pennsylvania. The property extended from Old York Road
Old York Road
Old York Road or King's Highway is a roadway that was built in the 18th century to connect Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with New York City, New York. Through New Jersey it was built along the Raritan "Naraticong Trail"...
to the edges of Germantown, with Richardson's home, "Newington", located on Old York Road.
Upon Samuel Richardson's death in 1719, his son Joseph inherited the land, and split it among his children, with the area that would become Belfield going to his second son, John. John Richardson sold a portion of the land to John Eckstein in 1731. The 1731 deed mentions "Buildings & Woods & Underwoods, Timbers, Trees, Meadows, Marshes." This is the first time that "buildings" are recorded on the property. The once free-standing, square structure now attached to the rear of the main house is believed to be the oldest surviving building, but it is not known whether this building existed at the time of the sale to Eckstein.
Eckstein transferred the land that the main house is located on to his daughter Magdalena and son-in-law Conrad Weber in 1755, and after the death of Eckstein in 1763 the land was split among his remaining children. Two of the remaining children of Eckstein became members of the religious Ephrata Cloister
Ephrata Cloister
The Ephrata Cloister or Ephrata Community was a religious community, established in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel at Ephrata, in what is now Lancaster County, Pennsylvania...
in Lancaster County
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County, known as the Garden Spot of America or Pennsylvania Dutch Country, is a county located in the southeastern part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of 2010 the population was 519,445. Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the...
, and all had sold their land to Weber by 1786. Though the exact date of construction of the main house at Belfield is not known, Peale later wrote that it was built "by a Dutchman". As Weber was the son of a Dutch immigrant, this would date the house to sometime after 1755.
Weber sold the property to his tenant Richard Neave in 1804, not having lived on the property himself since the 1770s. Neave owned the property until his death in 1809, when it was sold to his tenants, Charles and Mary Grégoire. The Grégoires possessed the property for just three months before putting it up for sale.
Charles Willson Peale
Seeking to retire, Charles Willson Peale turned over the administration of his natural history museumPeale Museum
The Peale Museum, also known as the Municipal Museum of Baltimore, was a museum of paintings and natural history, located in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It occupied the first building in the Western Hemisphere to be designed and built as a museum. The Peale Museum was created by Charles Willson Peale...
to his son, Rubens
Rubens Peale
Rubens Peale was an American artist and museum director. Born in Philadelphia, he was a son of artist-naturalist, Charles Willson Peale.-Life:...
, and began to look for a small country estate. He purchased the land in 1810 from Charles Grégoire for $9500. Peale initially named the estate 'Farm Persevere', and wrote to Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, telling him that this was because "by labor and perseverance I obtained it." Friends of Peale's thought that this name was far too solemn, and as a result, by 1812 he had changed it to 'Bellefield', which later, became 'Belfield.'
Peale began renovations on the mansion house after purchasing the property, separating partitions in between rooms, and adding a "painting room to the north side of the house. When this room was destroyed in a storm in August 1817, a larger, two-story addition was added.
In October 1821, Peale and his wife Hannah contracted yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
, which led to Hannah's death. A weakened Peale moved in with his son Rubens, and put Belfield up for sale. In January of 1826, William Logan Fisher, who's estate of Wakefield bordered Belfield to the southeast, purchased the property for $11,000.
Peale's Gardens
Peale cultivated, and frequently used as inspiration, extensive gardens on the estate grounds. One of the first structures Peale added to his garden was a "summer houseSummer house
A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
", built in about 1813 by his son Franklin. It was a hexagonal structure with six columns, and a bust of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
crowning its roof. The Wister family later built a gazebo
Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
on this site that as of 2011 is in a ruined state. Northwest of the summer house was an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
at the end of a garden walk. Peale painted four mottos that governed his life on the base of this obelisk, one on each side. It was Peale's wish to have been buried at the foot of this obelisk, yet it was not to be, as Peale sold Belfield a year before his death. Though Peale was not buried at this location, the Wister family later buried their dog, a white German Spitz
German Spitz
German Spitz is used to refer to both a breed of dog and category or type of dog. Several modern breeds have been developed from the German Spitz, and are either registered as separate breeds or as varieties of German Spitz. All the German Spitz type dogs are dogs of the Spitz type of German origin...
named 'Kaiser', there. A reproduction of this obelisk was created by La Salle alumni in 2000.
To the south of the obelisk, Peale erected another summer house, in "chinease
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
[sic] taste, dedicated to meditation. This summer house was simpler than the one built by his son, and only had a flat roof to provide shade, and four posts to hold it up, with seats around the inside. On the same hillside as the Chinese summer house was a pedestal onto which Peale inscribed ninety memorable events in American history, starting with the discovery of America, and ending with the American victory
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...
at New Orleans in 1815. Significantly, he left room to inscribe the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
by an American steamship.
Another contribution Peale made to his garden was the excellent use of one of the estate's natural springs. Peale hollowed out the source of the spring into an artificial cave, which he lined with masonry. This spring fed a greenhouse with a glass ceiling. To the southeast was a pool with a ten-foot fountain that was fed by pipes from the spring. Next to the pool was a garden shed onto which Peale painted a "gate" to disguise it. On the "gate" were symbols and figures representing Congress, America, Truth, Wisdom, Temperance, and Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
, the god of war. The ruins of Peale's cave and greenhouse still stand. The cave is now underneath the stump of a coffee tree, but deteriorating the masonry is still visible. The greenhouse's walls are to the west, and are mostly overgrown with brush and ivy. The location of Peale's pond has been paved over by a driveway.
After Peale
After purchasing the property from Peale, William Logan Fisher gave it to his daughter Sarah upon her marriage to William Wister in 1826. According to the Wister's great-granddaughter, Mary MeigsMary Meigs
Mary Meigs was an American-born painter and writer.-Early life:Meigs was born in Philadelphia and raised in Washington, DC. She studied at Bryn Mawr College, and subsequently taught English literature and creative writing at that school...
, Belfield served as a stop on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
, though there is no contemporary evidence of this claim. During this time, William Wister and William Logan Fisher together founded the Belfield Print Works, located at the edge of the property, at the present-day intersection of Belfield Avenue and Wister Street. Willaim Rotch Wister, the Wister's eldest son, and father of horticulturist John Caspar Wister
John Caspar Wister
John Caspar Wister was considered the preeminent horticulturist in the United States in the 1900s.-Family:...
, had a house constructed on the estate in 1868 for his family, this house is now La Salle's Mary and Frances Wister Fine Arts Studio. In 1876, he moved his family across the street to another house he had built, the mansion 'Wister', which was deeded to Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park
Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...
and demolished in 1956.
The Wister's second son, John, purchased the remaining property upon Sarah's death in 1891. John Wister made several improvements to the property, installing a furnace in the main house, and building a greenhouse next to the ruins of Peale's. The foundations of this greenhouse survive as of 2010. In July 1907, the carriage house caught fire, causing the panicked Wister family to flee Belfield, though there was no actual damage to the main house. After John died in 1900, his wife Sallie Wister continued to live at Belfield until her death in 1922. Upon her death, it was discovered that John Wister's will gave Belfield to his second daughter Sarah Logan Wister Starr
Sarah Logan Wister Starr
Sarah Logan Wister Starr was a prominent member of Philadelphia society in the early 1900s and a dedicated humanitarian.-Family:...
, who had lived in another house on the property, later dubbed 'The Mansion', since her marriage in 1901. Wister's eldest daughter, Bessie, felt slighted, leading to a feud between the sisters lasting several decades.
During the ownership of Sarah and her husband James Starr, the property had bathrooms installed and underground electric and telephone lines run to it. They had the colonial kitchen restored, and planted citrus
Trifoliate orange
Trifoliate Orange, Poncirus trifoliata , is a member of the family Rutaceae, closely related to Citrus, and sometimes included in that genus, being sufficiently closely related to allow it to be used as a rootstock for Citrus...
trees, and a garden of one hundred Tea Roses. James, who had an interest in China added several rock gardens and in the rear of the main house, a "Chinese Garden" that still survives. The date of the garden's construction was recorded in Chinese characters on the garden's wall. Also during the Starr's ownership, 20th Street was constructed and a deep trench was cut in the hillside, requiring a 14 foot retaining wall be built along what is now the eastern edge of the estate. In 1926, La Salle College purchased a portion of land on the east side of 20th Street from the Starrs for $27,500. The remaining portion of the campus was purchased from other descendants of William Logan Fisher.
In 1956, S. Logan Wister Starr and her husband Daniel Blain inherited the mansion from Logan's parents, they kept the property a fully functioning and self-sufficient farm, despite spending most of their time in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Under the Blains, in 1966, the property was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Having rented 'The Mansion' and another house, 'Shaw Manor', from the Blains since the early 1960s for dormitory space, La Salle purchased both houses in 1968, and demolished them for parking space. In 1979, Logan Blain died, and her son, Daniel Blain, Jr. sold the remainder of the estate to La Salle University, in 1984.
La Salle began a renovation of the estate after purchasing it, converting it from a farm into a park-like area. Several structures were demolished, including Peale's stable and hen house, which were leveled to construct tennis courts. The main house of Belfield, now called 'Peale House', was also converted to its present role as the office for the President of La Salle, while the former tenant house on the south end of the property was used for Japanese tea ceremonies
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony, also called the Way of Tea, is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powdered green tea. In Japanese, it is called . The manner in which it is performed, or the art of its performance, is called...
from the 1980s until 2007.