Thomas Hockley House
| Thomas Hockley House | |
|---|---|
 Thomas Hockley House, in 1973, HABS. | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Victorian, Modern Gothic |
| Address | 235 S. 21st Street (NE corner 21st & St. James Streets) |
| Town or city | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Country | United States |
| Completed | 1875 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Frank Furness |
The Thomas Hockley House (1875) is a Philadelphia city house designed by architect Frank Furness, located west of Rittenhouse Square, in the Walnut–Chancellor Historic District.[1] Thomas Hockley had been a childhood friend, and was an early supporter of Furness.[1][2]: 193–94 The house is ostensibly Victorian in style, albeit with patterned brick and other features that are innovations by Furness.[1] The exterior is polychromatic, in a dark palette of brownstone, brick red, gray granite, dark gray slate, and black accents in the belt courses and cornice. The entrance porch is carved out of the house's southeast corner—its twin Moorish arches (at right angles) rest upon compressed columns, with a brownstone bas-relief of an abstracted sunflower above each portal. The main chimney is brick and cantilevers out from the south wall, then flares out at its top.
The unique entrance to the house of Thomas Hockley, ... never fails to attract attention. The building is of pressed brick, superimposed upon a seven foot basement of red Hummlestown sandstone. The lines are defined with black encaustic brick. The roof is compound mansard with Gothic windows and a large overhanging bay-window is sprung from the front at the second story. Furness and Evans [sic] were the architects. — "Some Novel Houses," The Philadelphia Press, July 5, 1875, p. 12.[2]: 193
The house influenced the design of others, including the Hervey Bates mansion in Indianapolis, Indiana (1876, demolished 1963),[3] designed by William Le Baron Jenney a year after the Hockley House's completion.[4]
After Hockley's death in 1892, the house was converted into apartments.[5] Furness & Evans altered the interior and added a rear addition in 1894.[2]: 318
Hockley Row
Allen Evans, an architect in Furness & Hewitt's office when the Hockley House was built in 1875, designed a row of three houses adjacent to it in 1883.[2]: 242–43 By then, he was a full partner in the firm, and Evans designed a city house for himself at 237 S. 21st Street.[2]: 242–43 The houses at 239 and 241 S. 21st Street were speculative properties that he sold off.[2]: 242–43
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St. James Street at 21st Street. Hockley House is at left. -
Allen Evans House, 237 S. 21st Street -
241 S. 21st Street (NE corner 21st & Locust Streets)
References
- ^ a b c Gallery, John Andrew (2016). Philadelphia Architecture. Paul Dry Books.
- ^ a b c d e f Cohen, Jeffrey A.; Lewis, Michael J.; Thomas, George E. (1996). Frank Furness: The Complete Works. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1568980942.
- ^ 1305 North Delaware Street, from Historic Indianapolis.
- ^ Turak, Theodore (1986). William Le Baron Jenney: A Pioneer of Modern Architecture. Umi Research Press.
- ^ "Friends In High Places". Hidden City Philadelphia. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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