244 S. 3rd St.
Philadelphia, PA
Hours: Thursday - Saturday 12 - 4, Sunday 1 - 4
Cost: General Admission $5, Students $4
The Powel Museum is a preserved house of Samuel Powel, Philadelphia's last mayor before the Revolutionary War and it's first Mayor after the Revolutionary War. He rubbed noses with the great George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and anyone else who might have been important around that time. As the house was about to be demolished in the 1930's, a wealthy woman decided to fight to preserve this historic house, and won. By this point, much of the interior woodwork and moulding had been sold off to other big museums, so not only did they have to restore this house to it's original state, but they also had to reconstruct the interior architecture. Today, the rooms are in a somewhat furnished state, with what remains of the Powel's original pieces and artwork mixed with various other period pieces. The tours for most folk remain only on the first and second floors, but we had special permissions to view the third floor (Powel's bedroom area) and the fourth floor (women servant's living quarters) which are not reconstructed and are either bare, or used for storage at the moment.
As we were guided through the house I began to both compare this house with the historic Edgar Allan Poe House, which I visited this summer, and thought about how each museum chose to display itself and why that might be the case. The most drastic difference between each of the houses are that, while the Powel House retains some original objects of the time period, the Poe house is entirely bare. The second largest difference is in the sites administration. While the Powel House is a non-profit organization, the Poe House is run by the National Park Service and is funded by taxpayer dollars, and is free of charge to visitors. Because the Poe House is not dependent on donations and visitor door admissions, they do not have to sell themselves as hard (though they do have a gift shop!) as a museum like the Powel House that does.
When Dr. Bruggeman asked us, “Do we need another house museum?” I considered an issue that hit closer to home, or rather work.The Dilworth House, located directly next door from where I work at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, has been surrounded by controversy regarding its preservation and future. To begin, the building is currently abandoned, and I get many questions about it from visitors at the Athenaeum. Its appearance fits in with the rest of the “ancient” Society Hill residences, however, it is clearly abandoned and has no back wall. When I tell people that this home is not actually near the same age as the surrounding homes they are very shocked. The Dilworth House, built in the 1950s, belonged to a Philadelphia mayor famous for helping to revitalize the Society Hill area of Center City, today the property is owned by a developer who is trying to build a condo, if not for the resistance of the neighborhood. The Society Hill Civic Association is not trying to preserve Dilworth's residence as a House Museum, rather they do not seem to have any ideas for it's future, only that they do not want it turned into a condo. This is a case where I think that if the neighborhood association is successful in having this structure preserved, they need to do something with it, whether use it as a community education center or a House museum. If they are not able support it, then let the developer do with it what he may.
