The Bergdoll Mansion, located in Philadelphia’s Spring Garden neighborhood, is a historic house designed by architect James H. Windrim and built in 1886. It is in a Beaux Arts / Italianate-style and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The building was constructed as the home of the Louis Bergdoll family, owners of the City Park Brewery. Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, scion of the well-known brewing family, was a playboy, aviator, and World War I draft dodger. The 14,000 square foot mansion has eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, two kitchens, mahogany woodwork, multiple fireplaces, frescoes, and mosaics. It was listed for sale in 2012 with an asking price of $6.9 million.
Spring Garden is a neighborhood in central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, bordering Center City on the north. The residential areas on the north side of the neighborhood (North of Spring Garden Street) are composed mostly of brick and brownstone three-story townhouses built during the mid-to-late 19th century. The houses include townhouses in the Italianate style, Second Empire, Queen Anne, and Venetian Gothic. The residential areas to the south are dominated by taller, multi-family buildings built during the 20th century. The museum area, also to the south of Spring Garden Street, includes the Rodin Museum, the Central Library of Philadelphia, and the Barnes Museum.
Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation’s founding fathers. Philadelphia hosted the First Continental Congress in 1774 following the Boston Tea Party, preserved the Liberty Bell, and hosted the Second Continental Congress during which the founders signed the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia remained the nation’s largest city until 1790 when it was surpassed by New York City.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Philadelphia emerged as a major national industrial center and railroad hub. The city attracted European immigrants, predominantly from Germany and Ireland, the two largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015. In the 20th century, immigrant waves from Italy and elsewhere in Southern Europe arrived. Following the end of the Civil War in 1865, Philadelphia became a leading destination for African Americans in the Great Migration. In the 20th century, Puerto Rican Americans moved to the city in large numbers. Philadelphia has since attracted immigrants from East and South Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
Philadelphia is home to five Fortune 500 corporate headquarters as of 2022. The city and the Delaware Valley are a biotechnology and venture capital hub, and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, owned by NASDAQ, is the nation’s oldest stock exchange and a global leader in options trading. The city’s multimodal transport and logistics infrastructure, including Philadelphia International Airport, the PhilaPort seaport, freight rail infrastructure, roadway traffic capacity, and warehouse storage space, are all expanding.
Philadelphia is a national cultural hub, hosting more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. The city is known for its arts, culture, cuisine, and colonial and Revolution-era history. With five professional sports teams and a hugely loyal fan base, the city is often ranked as the nation’s best city for professional sports fans.
The Bergdoll Mansion, with its rich history and stunning architecture, is just one of the many treasures that await visitors to Philadelphia. Visit the city to explore its many neighborhoods, museums, cultural attractions, and sports teams, and experience first-hand the vitality and diversity that make this city so special.
Posted by Billy Wilson Photography on 2023-01-24 20:50:45