Samuel Sloan

Samuel Sloan (b. 1815, d. 1884 in Raleigh NC) was a leading Philadelphia-based architect and writer of architecture books in the mid-19th century.

Born on March 7, 1815, in Honeybrook Township, [familysearch.org] Chester County, Pennsylvania, the son of William Sloan and Mary Kirkwood, Sloan trained as a carpenter and came to Philadelphia in the mid-1830s. He is said to have worked with John Haviland on Eastern State Penitentiary and with Isaac Holden on the former Pennsylvania Hospital for the Insane.

Samuel Sloan married Mary Pennell in 1843. Their children were Ellwood Pennell, Howard L., Laura W., Ada, Maruice, Helen and Samuel A. Sloan. [U. S. Census, 1880]

By 1851, Sloan had won a commission for the Delaware County, PA, courthouse and jail and designed Andrew Eastwick's villa near the site of Bartram's Garden in Philadelphia. These sucesses prompeted him to begin to list his vocation as "architect".

Sloan became a prolific author on architecture most notably for "The Model Architect" as well as "City and Suburban Architecture" and "Sloan's Constructive Architecture" (1859). In 1861, he wrote "Sloan's Homestead Architecture and American Houses", and "A Variety of Designs for Rural Buildings". Sloan also reached thousands of potential customers through the pages of "Godey's Lady's Book", which began publishing his designs in 1852.

"The man who has a home," wrote architect Samuel Sloan in 1871, "feels a love for it a thankfulness for its possession and a proportionate determination to uphold and defend it against all invading influences. Such a man is, of necessity . . . a good citizen; for he has a stake in society." ["Home Values are Down and Not Just at the Bank" an article by Alexander B. Hoffman, "The Washington Post", July 2008.]

Economic downturns in the late 1850s as well as the American Civil War put a halt to his professional success and Sloan briefly left Philadelphia for New York in 1867. Important examples of his later work are found outside Pennsylvania, notably in Morganton, North Carolina's [http://www.rootsweb.com/~asylums/morganton_nc/index.html Western State Asylum for the Insane.] Sloan ended up building over 30 Hospitals for the Insane based on the "Kirkbride Plan System."

Sloan enjoyed some later success in North Carolina, opening an office in Raleigh, where he died on July 19, 1884. His body was buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery, Philadelphia, Lot 11 Sec 20. [familysearch.org]

Architects associated with Sloan include: Charles M. Autenrieth (1828-1906), Edward Collins (1821-1902), Addison Hutton (1834 - 1916), John S. Stewart and Thomas Webb Richards (1836 – 1911).

Sloan designed three buildings that have since been designated U.S. National Historic Landmarks:
*The Asa Packer Mansion in Pennsylvania, was built in 1852;
*Longwood, a large octagon house mansion in Natchez, Mississippi, that he designed in 1859, was never finished after the Civil War interrupted its construction; and
*He also designed additions to Mills Building, South Carolina State Hospital.

Architectural Work (Partial Listing)

* Delaware County Courthouse, Media, PA (considered his first commission) - 1849
* Chester County Buildings – 1849
* Residence for Andrew M. Eastwick, "Bartram Hall" (demolished), 54th and Lindburgh Blvd., Philadephia PA – 1850 [www.bartramsgarden.org]
* Town Plan, Riverton, NJ - 1851
* Lancaster County Court House, Lancaster, PA - 1852 [http://www.fandm.edu/x7220.xml]
* The Southern Ohio Lunatic Asylum; Dayton, Ohio - 1852 [http://www.members.aol.com/_ht_a/garyleitzell/lunaticasylum.html]
* Fulton Opera House, (Originally named Fulton Hall), Lancaster, PA - 1852 [http://www.thefulton.org/pages/index.php?pID=24]
* St Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church, Odessa, DE - 1852
* Camden County Court House, NJ – 1852
* Workman’s Housing Rows (2) in association with Joseph Harrison, Jr., Philadelphia, PA - 1853
* 129 Bethlehem Pike, Residence, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA - 1854
* Residence, northeast corner of Church and Miner Streets, West Chester, PA – 1854
* “Winter Place” residence of Col. Joseph Samuel Winter, Birmingham, AL - 1855
* "Dunleith," Residence of Robert P. Dick, 677 Chestnut St., Greensboro, NC - 1856
* Episcopal Church of the Savior, 38th and Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA - 1856
* Polite Temple Baptist Church (Germantown), Philadelphia – date not known
* The Sheriff's House and Jail, Second Street, New Castle, DE - 1857
* First Baptist Church, 101 W. McBee Ave., Greenville, SC - 1858
* First Baptist Church, Market and Fifth Streets, Wilmington, NC – 1859-1870
* Bank of New Hanover (demolished), northwest corner of Front and Princess Streets, Wilmington NC – circa 1860
* "Faunbrook", residence for William Baldwin, 699 Rosedale Avenue, West Chester, PA – 1860
* Dr. Peter Campbell House, Shrewsbury, New Jersey, c.1860
* “Longwood”, Natchez, MS – 1860-1861 [http://www.natchezpilgrimage.com/dailytour.htm]
* Asa Packer Mansion, Jim Thorpe, PA - 1861
* (Old) Lycoming County Courthouse (destroyed), Williamsport, PA - 1861
* First Presbyterian Church, 125 S. Third Street, Wilmington, NC – 1861 (destroyed by fire in 1925, the present building is by architect Hobart Upjohn) [http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/uptodate/ill9.html]
* Slifer House, 1 River Road, Lewisburg, PA – 1861 [http://www.albrightcare.org/slifer-house/]
* ”McNeal Place” Bolivar, TN – 1862 [http://www.thepillars.info/2008%20Home%20Tour.htm]
* "Woodland Terrace", 501-519, 500-520 Woodland Terrace, Philadelphia, PA; built for Charles M. S. Leslie - 1861
* Bryce State Hospital, (a Kirkbride Plan building), Tuscaloosa, AL - 1861
* George Allen Residence, 720 Washington St. Cape May, NJ – 1863
* East Hall (The Academy Building), Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster PA – 1872 [http://www.fandm.edu/x6949.xml]
* Sylvan Building (Central National Bank), 1500 Main St., Columbia, SC – circa 1868
* Venango County Courthouse, Franklin, PA (with Addison Hutton) - 1868
* West Presbyterian Church, N.E. Corner W. Commerce & Giles Streets, Bridgeton, NJ - 1868-1877
* Town Hall, Middletown DE – 1869
* Clinton County Courthouse, Lock Haven, PA (with Addison Hutton) - 1869
* Additions to New Jersey State Capitol (new wings), Trenton, NJ - 1871
* Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital, (a Kirkbride Plan building), Morristown, NJ – 1871 [http://www.kirkbridebuildings.com/buildings/greystonepark/]
* Westmoreland County Courthouse - 1883
* Broughton State Hospital, (aka Western North Carolina Insane Asylum; a Kirkbride Plan building), Morganton, North Carolina – 1883
* North Carolina Executive Mansion, 201 N. Blount St , Raleigh, NC; (completed by his associate Adolphus Bauer) - 1883 [http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/raleigh/exe.htm]
* Bell Building (New Bern Graded School), 517 Hancock St., New Bern, NC - c. 1884-85
* (Old) Memorial Hall (demolished), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – completed 1885 [http://docsouth.unc.edu/unc/display_images/memorialhall.html] [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

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* Walker Hall, SC School for the Deaf and Blind, SC Hwy. 56, Spartanburg County, SC - 1884-1885
* New South Carolina State Asylum, The Babcock Building at the South Carolina State Hospital Richland County, Bull St., Columbia, SC - 1885 [websites for these buildings]

Books

* "The Model Architect", Volume One: A Series of Original Designs for Cottages, Villas, Suburban Residences, Etc. ISBN 0-923891-85-4
* "The Model Architect", Vol. 2 ISBN 0-923891-86-2
* "Samuel Sloan: Architect of Philadelphia", 1815-1884 ISBN 0812280032