Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is bounded on the north by the county line (and city limit) at Northwestern Avenue; on the west by the Wissahickon Gorge; on the east by Stenton Avenue; and on the south by the Cresheim Valley.
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[edit] History
The village of Chestnut Hill was part of the German Township laid out by Francis Daniel Pastorius and came to include the settlements originally known as Sommerhausen and Crefeld, as well as part of Cresheim. It served as a gateway between Philadelphia and the nearby farmlands. During the U.S. Revolutionary War era (late 18th century), the area was one of many summer vacation spots due to its higher elevation (400-500 feet above sea level) and cooler temperatures than the historic Center City. (Chestnut Hill is still known as one of the more affluent sections of Philadelphia.)
Chestnut Hill (along with many other towns and farmlands of Philadelphia County) became part of the City of Philadelphia in 1854 as part of the Act of Consolidation, when the County and the City became completely coterminous. In the same year, the Chestnut Hill Railroad opened, marking the beginning of the area's development as a railroad suburb.
During the American Civil War, Chestnut Hill was home to Mower U.S. Army General Hospital, constructed to serve Union army soldiers.
The area is also an early "streetcar suburb" of Philadelphia, and contains a wide variety of 19th- and early-20th-century residential buildings by many of the most prominent Philadelphia architects.
[edit] Notable Institutions
Chestnut Hill is home to a number of educational institutions, including Chestnut Hill College, Chestnut Hill Academy, Springside School, The Crefeld School, Norwood-Fontbonne Academy, Our Mother of Consolation and John Story Jenks School. Also in Chestnut Hill are Woodmere Art Museum, Morris Arboretum, the Philadelphia Cricket Club and Pastorius Park.
[edit] Architecture and housing stock
Among the historic and notable properties located in this neighborhood are:
- Esherick House, designed by Louis Kahn [1]
- Vanna Venturi House, designed by Robert Venturi
- The former site of Boxly, the estate of Frederick Winslow Taylor, where Taylor often received the business-management pilgrims who came to meet the "Father of Scientific Management".
Housing in Chestnut Hill is very expensive for this region. In 2005, it had a median home sale price of $397,500—the highest of any Philadelphia neighborhood outside of Center City. This price was a decline of 2% from its 2004 median price.
[edit] On the National Register of Historic Places
- Anglecot (designed by Wilson Eyre)
- Chestnut Hill Historic District
- Druim Moir Historic District (includes romanesque revival mansion built in 1883)
- Graver's Lane Station (designed by Frank Furness)
- John Story Jenks School
- Thomas Mill Bridge (across the Wissahickon Creek, the only traditional covered bridge in Philadelphia)
- Wissahickon Creek
- Wissahickon Inn (now Chestnut Hill Academy)
[edit] Public transportation
Two commuter rail lines, the R7 and R8, and several bus lines serve the neighborhood.
Trolley service to Chestnut Hill began in 1894 and streetcar tracks still run down the Belgian-block-paved main street of the neighborhood, Germantown Avenue. SEPTA, the local transit authority, "temporarily suspended" regular trolley service in 1992. Trolleys still ran on special occasions until late 2005 or early 2006, when the tracks further south in Mt Airy were paved over with asphalt due to the extremely rough condition of the Avenue's stone pavement there. Various factors that make it unlikely that trolley service will ever be restored are:
- today's tremendous costs for properly maintaining and repairing the stone pavement
- redundancy with bus routes
- ridership projections that can't match those of the golden era of trolleys (hence insufficient fare revenue projections).
[edit] External links
- Chestnut Hill College
- Chestnut Hill Business Association
- Chestnut Hill Historical Society
- The Chestnut Hill Local
- Maps and aerial photos
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth
| Neighborhoods of the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
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Andorra - Chestnut Hill - East Falls - Germantown - Manayunk - Morton - Mount Airy - Roxborough - Upper Roxborough - Wissahickon - Wister |
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Center City - North Philadelphia - Northwest Philadelphia - The Northeast - South Philadelphia - Southwest Philadelphia - West Philadelphia |
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