Wall House

Infobox_nrhp | name =Wall House
nrhp_type =


caption =
nearest_city= Elkins Park, Pennsylvania
lat_degrees = 40
lat_minutes = 4
lat_seconds = 42
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 75
long_minutes = 7
long_seconds = 44
long_direction = W
locmapin = Pennsylvania
area =
built =1683
architect= Unknown
architecture= No Style Listed
added = June 28, 1979
governing_body = Local
refnum=79002302cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] The Richard Wall house, built 1682, is "the oldest house in Pennsylvania which has had continuous family residency". ["The Richard Wall House Museum", "op cit".] It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as "Wall House" also known as "The Ivy". Having hosted religious meetings and weddings, the house is also among the earliest places of Quaker worship still standing in the United States. It is now a museum located at Church Road and Wall Park Drive, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

Richard Wall was a founder of Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania. He arrived with William Penn's group of Quakers in 1682. He and fourteen others pooled their land purchases to create the township. They named the township for the main town in Gloucestershire, England, where they apparently originated.

The Wall family was joined in marriage by the Shoemaker family. The families owned a corn grist mill at Tacony Creek. Descendants of the Walls lived in the house until 1847 [Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "Wall House (The Ivy)" (historical marker), Church Road and Wall Park Drive, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 1982.] , followed by the Bosler family. In 1932 the township acquired the house as its manager's residence. Since 1980 the house has been managed by the Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, which opened the museum and orientation center in 1993.

An original section of wall can be seen in the current basement. The house was redesigned in 1730, 1760, and 1805. Later renovations added running water and electricity.

The permanent exhibits display elements of life during more than two hundred years of residence. Highlights include a fully furnished and electrified, five foot tall doll house created before 1920 [Hirsch, Lois. "The Doll House Lady and Her Doll House", an information sheet provided to visitors of the museum. Collected July 3, 2006. Contact: Cheltenham Township Assistant Manager's Office, 8230 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027. Telephone: [phone] extension 114.] ; and a collection of over 100 antique tools.

mile marker on the Wall House grounds
beehive oven and a water pump on the side porch of the Wall House

Sources

* "The Richard Wall House Museum", an information sheet provided to visitors of the museum. Collected July 3, 2006. Contact: Cheltenham Township Assistant Manager's Office, 8230 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027. Telephone: [phone] extension 112.

References

Further reading

* Rothschild, Elaine W., "A History of Cheltenham Township". Cheltenham Township, Pa.: Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, 1976.

External links

* [http://cheltenhamtownship.org/wallhouse/index.htm Richard Wall House Museum] at CheltenhamTownship.org
* [http://www.russellheimlich.com/photocast/episodes/Episode06-Wall_House.mp4 Slideshow of The Richard Wall House] by Russell Heimlich