Taylor Watercolors
Taylor Watercolors
These watercolors are three of a collection of 57 held at Winterthur Library in Delaware. The artist who painted these unknown buildings in 1861 is known only as Taylor. This website seeks to identify these structures and provide a historical context for why they might have been chosen as subjects. Some hypothesize that Taylor wanted to document these examples of a type of building which was disappearing as Philadelphia changed in character during the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Accompanying captions are the original text that appeared with the watercolors
Information about each of these houses may be found on clicking either on the picture or on the text beneath. Information includes:
- 1860 Hexamer & Lochner maps of the site on which the house is situated
- 1874 G.H. Jones map of the same site, showing additional more development
- Philadelphia City Plots showing present-day lot numbers associated with this sites. Obtained from Philadelphia City Archives
- Tables showing the chain of title of the lots on the site, showing ownership of the land at the time the watercolor was painted, to the time it was demolished
- A number of lots contain links to images of the historic transfer sheets, links to biographies of landowners, or examples of other properties that landowners were developing at the time - these will be underlined.
Compiled by Frances Ford & Julie Donofrio
Graduate Program in Historic Preservation
University of Pennsylvania
Fall 2004