Edmund Woolley
Encyclopedia
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and master carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
. He was responsible for designing and erecting the first building on the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
's first campus, the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) and Hope Lodge. Woolley was born in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
around 1695, and emigrated to America around the year 1705. He was one of the first members of The Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia.
Design and construction of Independence Hall
Beginning in 1732, Woolley was responsible for the design and construction of the Pennsylvania State House (better known today as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, a project that employed Woolley and his apprentices well into the 1750s. Traditionally, credit has been given to Andrew HamiltonAndrew Hamilton (lawyer)
Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in Colonial America, best known for his legal victory on behalf of printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. This 1735 decision helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel...
for the design, but contemporary scholarship has revealed that Hamilton was an amateur architect who contributed very little to the project.
Design and construction of the Whitefield Meeting House
Woolley designed and built the Whitefield Meeting House, also in Philadelphia, which was erected in 1740. This building, which was originally built as a charity school and a pulpit for preacher George WhitefieldGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
, was chosen by Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
in 1749 and purchased as the site for the first classes of the Academy of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is considered by many to have been the first American academy. It was founded in 1749 by Benjamin Franklin....
(1751) and the College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia
The Academy and College of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, is considered by many to have been the first American academy. It was founded in 1749 by Benjamin Franklin....
(1755) (both predecessors of the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
). At the time, the Whitefield Meeting House was the largest building in Philadelphia, being two stories high and having dimensions of 100 feet by 70 feet.
Design and construction of Hope Lodge
Between the years of 1743 and 1748, Woolley was responsible for the design and construction of the Whitemarsh Estate (today known as Hope Lodge), a GeorgianGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
country mansion built by Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
businessman Samuel Morris in present-day Fort Washington, Pennsylvania
Fort Washington, Pennsylvania
Fort Washington is an unincorporated census-designated place and suburb of Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,446 at the 2010 census.-Prior to the Revolutionary War:...
.