Fairmount Park, the nation’s largest urban park with more than 4,400 acres of public space, is the city’s playground, home to the country’s oldest zoo, historic homes, a 14,000-seat Mann Center for Performing Arts venue and hundreds of bike baths and walking trails.

What is now Fairmount Park evolved from the desire to preserve the Schuylkill River, the source of the city’s water supply, and to provide residents with recreational park lands. The city of Philadelphia began acquiring the elegant "country seats" of the city’s rich and famous in 1844 and formed Fairmount Park. By preserving many of the original estates on the park’s lands, the city has collected a significant example of 18^th- and 19^th-century domestic architecture, seven which are open for public viewing. The homes are now maintained by a number of private and civic organizations and governed by the Fairmount Park Commission. They can be visited by trolley, car or on foot.

A tour of Fairmount Park’s historic homes begins on the east side of the park with Lemon Hill, built by merchant Henry Pratt in 1800. The original land was part of an estate owned by Robert Morris called The Hills. It included a working farm and several outbuildings plus an elegant greenhouse surrounded by gardens and fruit trees. Lemon Hill gets its name from the famous lemon trees from Morris’ greenhouse. Built in Neoclassical style, it is furnished with important Philadelphia-made Neoclassical examples from the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After Pratt’s death in 1838 the property was acquired by the city of Philadelphia. In 1844 it became the first estate to be added to the formation of Fairmount Park.

In the early 1760s, John Macpherson, a Scottish sea captain, built a county seat on the east bank of the Schuylkill River. It consisted of 150 acres of hay fields, pastures, orchards and a large kitchen garden. His home, named Mt. Pleasant, was described by John Adams in 1775 as "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania." It is rumored that Mt. Pleasant was once owned by but never lived in by Benedict Arnold. It was built in the Georgian style, emphasizing balance and symmetry. Its interiors are of carved wood and are among the finest surviving examples of Philadelphia architectural carving. It is furnished with Philadelphia Rococo-inspired furniture from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The house was added to Fairmount Park in 1869. In 1926 it was restored by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Laurel Hill, built in the mid-1760s, also draws its name from its surroundings – on a laurel-strewn bluff overlooking the river. The house has many prestigious former owners. It was the home of former Philadelphia mayor, Samuel Shoemaker, who held office just before the Revolutionary War.

During that time, he and his wife, Rebecca, spent their summers at Laurel Hill. Later, Rebecca’s son, William Rawle, founder of the Philadelphia Bar Association, made Laurel Hill his summer home. He sold the house in 1828 and in 1869 it was purchased by the city and became part of Fairmount Park. Its main floor is open to the public and furnished in period style.

In 1756, William Coleman, a Philadelphia merchant and close confidant of Benjamin Franklin, built a summer home he called Woodford. It was originally a one-story brick home with two front rooms. Future owners added to the home, and it is now an excellent example of Philadelphia Georgian architecture with its three-part Venetian window, pediment entrance and dentiled cornice. In 1868, Woodford was purchased by the city and added to Fairmount Park. It is furnished with examples of 18^th- and 19^th-century American, English and Continental decorative art.

The largest home in Fairmount Park is Strawberry Mansion, built in the late 1780s by Judge William Lewis, a prominent Philadelphia lawyer. Originally called Summerville, it was built in the Federal Style and embraced the delicate scale and proportions of Neoclassicism with finely carved woodwork and classical niches in the entry hall. Strawberry Mansion’s second owner, Judge Joseph Hemphill, added to the home and furnished it in the Empire style popular in the early 1800s. In 1871, Strawberry Mansion was sold to the city and added to Fairmount Park. Because of its wonderful view of the river, the house was later used as a restaurant, famous for the strawberries and cream for which it is now named.

Cedar Grove was originally located in the Frankford section of Philadelphia and in the late 1920s it was given to the city of Philadelphia and moved to its present location on the west side of Fairmount Park. Built in the late 1740s, it served as the summer home for several prominent Philadelphia families, including many generations of the Morris family. It began as a small gray stone home and was eventually doubled in size. It is furnished with examples of early Pennsylvania furniture, many of which descended through the Morris family. Its interior rooms are a mixture of Baroque, Rococo and Federal Styles, which reflect the family’s changing tastes through the times.

In 1797, Samuel Beck, a Philadelphia merchant, built his country seat and called it Sweetbriar. It was designed in the Neoclassical style and reflects a fashion based on archaeologically correct designs from ancient Greece and Rome. The classical elements are apparent in the delicate colonnade in the entry hallway, the stairway balcony and large Italianate windows. The furnishings of the house depict classical decorative motifs and include a number of pieces by local craftsmen. Of particular note is one of Sweetbriar’s first floor double parlors, furnished in "Etruscan" style based on classical forms and the black and terra cotta color scheme of ancient Etruscan wall paintings. In 1869, Sweebriar was acquired by the city and added to Fairmount Park.

Pine Breeze Villa, the Park’s Japanese House and Garden (or "Shofuso") is one of the most notable and unusual attractions in Philadelphia. This shoin-zukuri (desk-centered) wooden house was built in the 16^th-century Momoyama style and is located on the grounds of the Horticultural Center in the West Philadelphia section of Fairmount Park. An ornamental garden of azaleas and pines and idyllic pond are adjacent to the main structure and adjoining tea house.

The Japanese House was built as a gift from Japan to the U.S. It was first displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1955 and later moved to a permanent home in Fairmount Park. The House is owned by the city of Philadelphia and administered by a private, non-profit group, the Friends of the Japanese House and Garden.

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation is a non-profit organization dedicated to generating awareness of and visitation to Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties. For more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call the Independence Visitor Center at (800) 537-7676.

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