Robert Morris Marble Hill House

Marble hill house with lord pembroke 1724 29.

Robert morris marble hill house. Prototype of many english villas and colonial mansions roger morris 19 april 1695 31 january 1749 1 was an english architect whose connection with colen campbell 2 brought him to the attention of henry herbert 9th earl of pembroke with whom morris collaborated on a long series of. From 1770 to 1799 it was the country seat of robert morris a signer of the declaration of independence and financier of the revolution. Pratt s large federal style villa was designed to serve as a sylvan retreat and stood upon an idyllic site that had once been part of robert morris estate the hills. In building marble hill it seems probably that roger morris had obtained assistance from his cousin robert morris 1703 1754 who was the leading palladian theoretician and had written a book about an ideal palladian house in his lectures on architecture 1734 in which he acknowledged roger morris help in the introduction.

Pembroke then lord herbert based the design of marble hill to a large degree on andrea palladio s 1553 villa cornaro in piombino dese italy and. Jonathan peel was a peace time soldier and an mp. A design at whitton place. It is a prime example of jacobean architectu.

The house sold in 1824 miss hotham s heirs broke the entail on the estate and sold marble hill to the army agent timothy brent then living in little marble hill. Marble hill house was built in 1724 1729 by henrietta howard the mistress of king george ii to the designs of the architect roger morris 1695 1749 in collaboration with henry herbert 9th earl of pembroke one of the architect earls. Constructed by henry herbert 1693 1750 and roger morris 1695 1749 marble hill house had three stories which were stucco faced with stone dressings. January 20 1734 may 8 1806 was an english born merchant and a founding father of the united states he served as a member of the pennsylvania legislature the second continental congress and the united states senate and he was a signer of the declaration of independence the articles of confederation and the united states constitution.

Colen campbell illustrated the house in a later edition of vitruvius britannicus. The hills house sat on the site of the present day lemon hill mansion. The symmetry and balance of the mansion s façade were paralleled. Built around 1800 by philadelphia merchant henry pratt lemon hill is one of the most historically and architecturally important houses in fairmount park.

In 1816 marble hill was inherited by sir george robert hampden hobart fifth earl of buckinghamshire 1789 1849. Following a series of financial disasters morris was sent to debtor s prison and in 1799 the estate was confiscated and the building razed. In the following year he sold the property to jonathan peel 1799 1879 the younger brother of sir robert peel.