Georgian Architecture

Georgian Architecture. . , Cliveden was built 1763 - 1767 as a summer home for prominent lawyer Benjamin Chew (1722-1810) and his household. There is no named architect of Cliveden, but nine original design drawings are attributed to lawyer and draftsman William Peters (1702-1786). The high style Georgian design is derived from architectural pattern books imported from England and influenced by the Classical styles of Greece and Rome. Cliveden was constructed by master mason John Hesser and master carpenter Jacob Knorr, among others. These Germantown builders incorporated regional building materials like local Wissahickon schist fieldstone and locally sourced lime for mortar and stucco., The scale and massing of Cliveden was new to Germantown in the 1760s and is larger than most colonial homes of Philadelphia. The house is two stories with a full story cellar below ground and a half-story garret. Five bays organize the symmetry and rhythm of the façade, with the center bay projecting. The house is double pile, or two rooms deep, with later additions. The front door is surounded by a Doric frontispiece with full entablature and pediment. The pediment is repeated at the cornice line. Cliveden has a gable roof, unusual for a Georgian house, reflecting the Germantown context. There are two gabled dormers on the front elevation of the garret. Two broad brick chimneys are positioned at the roof ridgeline. Five massive urns raised on brick plinths decorate the roof. The Main House is flanked by two dependencies: a Kitchen and Wash House, later the Estate Office and Smokehouse.