Daily evening bulletin., November 24, 1866, Image 1

GEM PEACOCK. Editor.
VOL,U
7HE OLD "SLATE-ROOF HOUSE."
ITS lig ILIC C.E ®E;.
History of the Ancient Structure
:Description of the New Corn Ex
change Building.
SKETCH OF THE ASSOCIATION.
The Changes of Two Centuries
The last few architectural relics of the
days of William Penn, in Philadelphia, are
gradually disappearing. We know of but
three that still remain: The "Swedes'
Church, in Southwark," a relic of the days
'hen the Swedes pushed their settlement
tip the Delaware from Christiana, in Dela•
ware, and being contemporary with the
English "Friends" who came hither unde r
cover of the authority of the Duke of York'
afterwards James 11., of kicked-out.memo
ry. Then, there is the old Letitia House, on
Letitia street,between Chestnut and Market,
and Front and Second streets. The latter
was built, as our chroniclers tell us, for the
daughter of the Quaker Founder of the State
and city, was occupied by Penn himself; and
was located upon a court that was named
in honor of the lady for whose use the house
was built. Tradition tells of how the cottage
of the heiress of the Penn honors and estates
was built with a view to a lookout upon the
Delaware, and to the convenience of certain
green lanes reaching to the "great meeting
house," the Court House, dr,c., at Second and
Market streets; but time has changed all
that, and if Letitia Penn could reassume the
- Mesh and revisit the neighborhood of her
old home, in the year of grace 1866, she
Would find the lingering odors of defunct
Market houses, with the present realities of
big and little stores, lager beer saloOns,_
crowded wharves, and stir and excitement
.generally, sufficient to scatter to the winds
all ideas of the fulfilment of her illustrious
father's pet plan of a "greens countrye
towns" .with a sylvan, retreat for his'
daughter.
The "old Slate Hoof House."
Ihird in our list of architectural relics of
the -days of the FotTamsta, comes the
'!Old Slate Roof House," at the corner
of Second and Gothic streets, formerly
libiris alley. The name of the thorough
fare List named -was changed a few
:years since, under our reformed street
nomenclature; but we protest against the
name of "Gomm," which has been applied
cto, it, just as we discard and repudiate the
Prenchified, red-headed, tight-girdled and
light•heeled Sir John Falstaff, as an opera
troupe presented him other night. What
fitness there is in the name.of "Gothic" in
such a locality, piases oar understanding.
The old house, one of the only two stiff
standing in which William Penn ever set
foot, in Philadelphia, "is tottering to its
fall.", It has long since outlived its useful
ness;and it has stood in the way of the pro
,greaefofth—e locality in which it stands, and
- *tether rightfully or wrongfully, reverently
-or irreverently, its doom is sealed, and it
must, within a few weeks, come down, to
anake - *ay for the nineteenth century and
for the Corn Exchange Association,
History of the Old Mansion.
Few buildings in Philadelphia have more
interesting historical associations clustering
- around them than the primitive structure,
the past condition.of which we illustrate in
• aur.columns to-day. The State House and
Carpenter's Hall commend themselves to
ruffles, from the fact that the Continental
Congress first assembled within their walls,
and that events of great historical impor
tance, and of vast interest to the cause of
. liberty and humanity, occurred within their
precincts. But the- Slate Roof House is a
iypia, of a much earlier period of the history of
the, city, and was a prominentleature of an
exceedingly_ interesting era nearly a century
prior to the events which gave importance
'to the - sacred spots reverently preserved as
the places where the patriots of the revolu
lion first:met to deliberate upon the great
-events which marked that period. -
The house was built before the close of the
Seventeenth century, by Samuel Carpenter,
.2 wealthy Friend; who was conspicuous .
ampng the first citizens of Philadelphia 'for
his enterprise and public spirit. We have
no means of knowing whether Mx. Carpen
ter resided in the building after its comple
- lion, but judging from the fact that it would
l ave b ! ?,en difficult at that early day to rent
=so splendid a mansion to advantage,it is
probablejt was intended for his own rest
deuce. Oxithe second visit of Wm. Penn to
Ids infant city, in 1699, the slate roof house
- Was taken possession of by him, for his
-quarters, and he remained there during his
<stay upon this side of the Atlantic. The
.liowre was noted at that time as the finest in
- the timn, and as the residence of the Gov
.ernor it was an object of no little interest,
and the scene of many important events.
In September, 1701, Wm. Penn, in obedi;
-ant* to the wish of his home-sick wife, and
-despite the conviction that lila interests
Would be promoted by remaining in the
.colony, left his slate-roof house and started
in' the good ship Messenger for Rtig
iand, taking with him his infant son John;
' , who was the first and only scion of the
lionse ever born in, America. John Penn
:was born soon after the arrival of his pa
-tents in Philadelphia,and first saw the light
In the Slate-R-01'11cm%
After ,Penn's ..departure, James Logan
bontinned the mansion as the government
iouae until 1704, when the public) eonoerna
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O. 198
were cared for at Clark's Hall, at Third and
Chestnut streets. The tide of business and
fashion was then beginning to move west
ward, and the latter had already ventured
out as far as Third street and Chestnut
street. It was many years after that time,
however, before dwellings were numerous
as far out as Third street.
Before the removal of James Logan from
the Slate Roof House, the property had been
sold to William Trent, the foander of Tren
ton, N. J., for theituna of .£B5O, Pennsylva
nia currency, less than $2,300. In addition
to the present building there was then a fine
garden, extending nearly to Front street on
the east, and down Second street nearly to
Walnut. It was filled with fine pines and
shrubbery. This beautiful garden, through
which the leading men men of the early
days of the colony wandered so often, Is
now covered with shops and lumber.
In 1702 Lord Cornbury, then Governor of
New York and New Jersey, was invited to
Philadelphia by James Logan, and enter
tained in splendid style at the Slate-Roof
House. The distingulahed guest was ac
companied
by a retinue of nearly thirty
persons.
In 1709 the house was sold by William
Trent to Isaac Norris, thegreat grandfather
of Miss Sally Norris Dickinson, the late
owner. This circumstance was a source of
great annoyance to the Governor's friend,
Logan, who wrote to Penn, saying, in re
ference to the house, "I wish it could be
made thine, as nothing in this town is so
well fitting a Governor."
For a leng period preceding the 'Revolu
tion the Slate-Roof House was occupied as
first-class boaiding-house, and many per
sons of high distinction made their homes
within its walls.
In 1764 the property was leased to the
widow Graydon, and a humorous descrip
tion of many of the persons who lodged
there, as well as some account of the house
itself, is furnished by Captain Graydon, the
son of the proprietress, in his entertaining
"Memoirs." The Captain describes the
house as "a singular, old-fashioned struc
ture, laid out in the style of a fortification,
with abundance of angles, both salient and
re-entering. Its two wings projected to the
street in the manner of bastions, to which,
the main building retreating from sixteen
to eighteen feet, served for a curtain."
This description will be found to compare
accurately with our picture of the original
condition of the building. Graydon gives
a moat entertaining account of the persons
who lodged at the old house during the
time It was occupied by his mother.
Among other guests the names of Wash
ington, Hancock and the elder Adams are
mentioned.
Soon after the period of the Re - Volution
the Slate-Roof House lost its prestige. The
march of improvement left the ancient man
sion in the back ground, it speedily fell
from its high estate and become insignifi
cant in contrast with many of the mansions
of the rising city. Its various apartments
were rented out to different tenants, and
these were not at all times of the most re
spectable class of society. The court yard
in front was filled up with the miserable
wooden structures which still disfigure it,
and the northern wing was converted into a
shop long since. The slate-roof which was
its distinguishing mark, disappeared many
years ago, and wooden shingles have taken
its place upon the ancient rafters. The old
building has in fact been tottering to its
final fall for halls century or more.
The ancient structure has a world of in
teresting reminiscenc©s clustering about it
As the city residence of the first Governor
and proprietor of the State, it would com
mand attention and excite an interest which
would strengthen as its age grew greater
and its contrast with surrounding structure ) ;
became more marked could it remain in
tact; but the necessities of the times demand
its removal, and the doom of any thing that
stands in the way of progress is sooner or
later fixed in this utilitarian age.
About twelve or thirteen years ago Mr:
Elliot Cresson, an earnest Philadelphian,
died. He loved the old ls(nd-marks of the
city, and having made his Will about the
time of the era of Consolidation, he provided
as follows -
"I give and bequeath , to the Pennsylvania
Hiitorical Society the 131101 of. 510,000, pro
vided they shall apply the same to the pur
chase of Penn's Mansion, on Second street,
and preserve the same as a memento of love
and regard for the memory and services of
the illustrious founder of Pennsylvania.".
We axe under the impression that, Mr.
Cresson's estate was not entirely equal to
the drain that he imposed upon it; but at
all events, Miss Dickinson died,her success
ors sold the estate, the Corn Exchange
bought it,and the shops still lingering in the
old strncture,and which now look as forlorn
as that of the apothecary described by .
Shakespeare in Romeo and. Juliet, will soon
be among the things that were.
The Corn Exchange Association, with
characteristic jiberality, proposed to give
the building to the city, with a view to
its translation as a whole,to FairmountPark,
or to some other spot where it could be pre
served as a relic of the Infant Philadelphia;
The Mayor and the City Councils have
duly considered the matter, and consulted
skillful architects, and the decision arrived
at is that the shaky old structure can neith
er be removed bodily, nor taken to pieces
and transferred piecemeal, with a view to
its reconstruction. So the Old Sjate Roof
Rouse is doomed to disintegration and an
nihilation,
. The Corn Exchange Building.
We were about to say; as the full-grown
creature ta4es the place of the grub, and as
the chrysalis is developed into the Mature
auimal,so the Slate Roof Rouse is to be trans
figured frombrick into stone, and from an
uncouth old structure into a stylish new
one. But it means something more. It
means the asoendancy of the nineteenth
over the seventeenth century, the triumph
of modern skill, eapital and cnterprio over
LADELPHIA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24 1866.-TRIPLE SHEET
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e slowness °four great-great-grandfathers;
t means, in short, the PROGRESS OF Petthi
nemenre.
The size of the building which is to super
sede the old slate-roof house, will beninety
six feet front on Second street, by one hun
dred and fifty feet deep on Gothic street, in
cluding the tower. The height from the
pavement to the top of the cornice or eave of
the roof will be sixty feet—to the top of the
tower eighty feet. It is designed for a two
story building, with its entrance from
Second street, by a grand ball eighteen feet
wide, floored with marble, and running
through the building to the back street,
From this hall are entrances to twenty-two
offices, each of which is provided with fire
proof, wash basins, water closet, and urinal.
They will be warmed by steam or hot water,
besides having a low down grate in the fire
place. Each room has ample ventilation
and is well lighted.
The two principal offices will have their
main entrance from Second street; they are
in size thirty-five feet wide by thirty-eight
feet long, communicating to rooms back for
tzreater depthif desired. The height of the
try will be twenty-four feet.
From the first story we ascend by a grand
staircase, formed of solid black walnut of
massive and imposing design, built in a ro
tunda or circular hall in the centre of the
building. This rotunda is thirty-two feet
in diameter, and will be lighted by a
deme sky-light in the ceiling at the roof,
sixty feet above the first floor, as well as
from main
.entrance hall on the first story.
This staircase brings us into the f•ehamber
of Cemmerce" (as the new building associa
tion will be . called), Which, carried out as
designed by Mr. John Cramp, the, architect
and builder of the new structure, will be
one of the finest rooms in the country, being
one hundred and thirty-three feet long by
ninety-one feet wide and thirty-five feet
high, without any columns or obstructions
in it; the walls will be handsomely fin
ished, with pilasters and caps supporting
the enriched stucco cornices and ornate
ceiling; the room, walls and ceiling are to
be handsomely painted in fresco.
It will be lighted by windows around the
room in all four walls, and by three dome
skylights placed in the ceiling and roof—
thus an equal and fall light will be obtained
in every part of the room. The chamber
will be warmed by means of large flues,
giving warmth at every twenty feet around
the room, as well as by registers in the
floor, over flues built up in the entrance
hall brick walls. By this means the heat
will be given at every twenty feet square of
the floor surface.
The ventilation is amply provided for,
there being no less than twenty-two shafts
provided for in the side or outer walls, be
sides the - ceiling ventilation.
Under the entire structure will be deep
and extensive cellars, with access to them
all around the building, for storage pur
poses. These,with the twenty-two offices be
fore named,will create an income, and thus
provide for the Association a handsonae ea
commodation at a reasonable rate. Exter
nally the building will have a granite base
`with brown stone elevation. The front on
Second Street • will have a line of columns,
ten in zruu2ber l supporting the eutablittire
OTTE WIELOT , V, COUNTRY
THE OLD SLATE-FLOOF .
E. NEW CORN nx.c - ii CiIEC TJ 1 lAD IN (31--.
30ove ; between these columns are large
circular-headed windows and doorways,
surrounded with brownstone dressings, all
designed in the Roman Doric order of archi
tecture, which is peculiarly appropriate for
the location of the structure and the use to
which it is to be applied.
The Corn Exchange Association.
The spirited Association under whose
auspices this fine improvement is about
being made, :is peculiarly a Philadelphia
i institution. Before its organization the flour
and grain trade of this city was in a dis
turbed condition. Innovations of various
kinds bad unsettled charges. Rules and
every other essential form for the transac
tion of business in a satisfactory and remu
nerative manner had fallen into confusion,
and instances were not wanting where un
kind feeling and dishonorable competition
characterized members of the trade.
To remedy this state of affairs a pre
limlnary meeting was convened in January,
1854, at the house of Henry Budd, Esq., one
of the present members of the Association,
at which the following merchants were pre
sent—Messrs. B. M. Bunker, James Steel,
William JAmes, John Wright, Samuel L.
Witmer, George L. Bazby, Samuel L.
Ward, and Henry Budd.
The primary object of the Association has
been more than accomplished. it was in
tended that the compensation of the bread
stuffs merchant should be rendered more
adequate for the labor, time and capital de
voted to his business, and this was effected
by a judicious arrangement of charges,with
out unreasonable exactions.
The additional advantages Rowing from
the organization of the trade are those
which invariably attend the union of indi
viduals for the promotion of the general
welfare. Prominent among these was the
gradual extinction of petty jealousies; fol
lowed by a generous and growing confi
dence, and the interests of all were treated
as identical. The trade 'was benefitted so
cially, morally and pecuniarily, and now
possesses a strength and character univer
sally acknowledged, which can only be re
tained by a wise combination of interests.
The influence of the Corn Exchange has
extended beyond the barriers of the special
trade it was designed to aid. When armed
treason raised its head, and this happy and
once peaceful land was ravaged by civil
war; when forces were required to
put down the insurrection, the Corn Ex
change, nobly coming forward, raised the
regiment known as the 118th Pennsylvania ,
which, under the command of Colonels Pre.
vost and Herring, did eredit to the mu-
nificent association which sent it to the field.
Nor while they dispatched men to the front
as evidences of their patriotism, did the
members suffer their reputation for hu
manity to be: tarnished by neglecting their
wives and families, for they distributed
among their; about $30,000. A;committee
was appointed, which gave much time
to this Work, and heard petitions,
examined into cases of distress, and applied
relief. They co-operated with the great
Sanitary Commission in its good work, and
with the assistance of the ladies of the "Corn
Exchange Table," made a very handsome
donation to that organization. *
lii the short period of twelve years the
Corn Exchange Association has grownfroza
its original small beginning to a large,
wealthy and influential organization, in
which are affiliated four hundred and
fifty-four firms. At its daily meetings about
three hundred merchants assemble for the
transaction of business. The hall at present
occupied by the Association has been ren
dered, by its increasing numbers, too limi
ted for its purposes, and it has been deter
mined by the members of the Corn Ex
change to occupy the principal hall and ne
cessary rooms of the building to be erected,
on the model of the engraving given in the
Burz.nrrs of today. With so magnificent
a Hall the Corn Exchange Association will
take a fresh start in its career of prosperity,
and more than ever contribute• to the in
terests of its individual members, and to
the advantage of the community at large.
Mr. Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle.
To have our old, and affectionately cher
ished theories scattered to the winds, to
have our established ideas of art confuted
and disproved all within the space of a few
hours,is an experience unflattering and dis
agreeable. Yet this was what befel us on wit
nessing the performance of Mr. Joseph Jef
ferson in the play of "RiPVart Winkle," at
the Chestnut St. Theatre. We have thougiit,
talked and written a great deal in our time
of the 'necessity under which Art labors in
its efforts to portray nature,of enlarging and
coloring its effects, in order to render them
apparently real to the senses of the beholder;
and in this direction we have even gone so
far as to consider a sunset of - Turner's or
Hamilton's an improvement upon one of
Nature's attempts in the same line. There
foie,when we visited the theatre we devoutly
believed in those actors who,by heightening
the semblance of nature made it real to their
auditors through the medium of their genius,
It never seemed quite possible to us that if
the actor spoke the speeches of Hamlet in
the ordinary tones of passion, he could
largely impress our minds with the weird
solemnity of Hamlet's character. Bat the
experience of a night has taught us' that if
the actor who enacts Hamlet should possess
the genius of Mr. Jefferson, he could do it,
but one with less power must still represent
nature through the magnifying glass of en
larged gesture, tone and stride.
Taking the story of Rip Van Winkle as
hying left it, it does not seem to be the best
material for either piay-wright or actor; but
let us do the dramatist simple justice, and
say that we prefer his portion of the work to
that done by Mr. Irving, always remember
ing that Irving borrowed the germ of the
legend entire from the German.
Whatever Joseph Jefferson 'does is well
and artistically done, and his entrance upon
the stage in the first scene of the play gives
assurance to the auditor that he is in the
presence of a master of art. His dress, step
and exquisitely modulated voice—the un
paralleled grace of every movement, all
unite in showing this. In costume and
"make up!" he has 'elaborately studied
the fine, etnhings of Darley, bat in every
other requirement of the Part he has studied
only the grand simplicity of, nature. Each
gesture, word and look are drawn from the
same original souree,without one particle of
exaggeration or color being added thereto
F. L FETEERSTON. Fabliskr
With the dress and accoutrements of Rip
Van Winkle, he assumes the- very essence
of the man, and so faithfully and entirely
does he do this, that all the vulgar, cheap
and common accessories of the theatre fade
into thin air before the touch of his wonder
flit power; his fellow actors of the hour,
• catching the contagion of his genius, gain
in dignity and strength while he hi among
them; his presence fills the scene and the
quaint old legend transferred to the stages
becomes real and true,and Rip Van Winkle
the realest. truest feature in it.
What will most elicit the admiraticn of --
the auditor is the consistency of conception
and execution maintained throughout the
whole performance. From Rip's first en
trance upon the scene until the fall of the
curtain, he is the same good-tempered,
drinking, lazy, German villager, always
tumorous, but often displaying rare depth
of feeling and tenderness. But where' the
whole perfoimance is alike beautiful and
faithful, it is difficult for the critic to point
out particular excellencies of situation or
reading. Yet it is impossible to pass over
without remark the last scene of the first
act. We have seen all the great actors of
our day, from Macready to Booth the
younger, including Rachel, but we have
never seen acting of a kind so impressive
and real as that of Mr. Jefferson in this
scene. In the earlier passages, when
he returns home drunk and un
steady tin every muscle, his game
bag empty, and thus meets the
anger of his vixenish dame with good na..
tired raillery and kindly attempts to stem
the torrent of ill temper, he displays an ex
uberance of humor irresistible. In the
same spirited vein the scene progresses to
its cnlminatioß where he is driven.from his
home. When in words of bitterest anger
his wife tells him to begone, he is sitting by
his hearth, his back toward the audience;
his face hidden. What follows shows the
auditor how finely Mr. Jefferson has con
ceived the force of the situation. No face
could express the doubt, pain and anguish
of his heart at that moment—the agony is
even too intense for words—so he wisely
turns his face away from his audience and
is silent, leaving to their imaginations to
conceive how his heart is torn by conflict
ing passion and torture: There is a
long pause following his wife's
bitter tirade, during which she
stands holding open the door. He breaks
the silence with the question, " Would yon
drive me out like a dog?" The tones in.
which he has spoken thrill and startle es •
with their grave passion. Than he rises up -
from his chair; all traces of his debauchery
are gone; he stands erect in his manhood,
sublime in his grief and pain, deeply ,
stricken, but a man in the manliest sense ,
for all that. He gropes his way to the table,
sits upon the edge, and pointing to the open
door, again says, " Would you drive me out
like a dog?" He does not raise his voice,
uses no violent gesture, but is calm as the
granite, while the rending engine is in its
heart. Again the angry woman bids him
go, and with loving eyes fixed upon every
object of his home, he goer to the open
door. Dear as his wife is to him be
ow the drinking, dissipated surface
of the man, there is another in his home yet
dearer to his heart—his daughter Meenie.
His foot is on the threshhold, outside the
lightnings flash, the rains pour down, the
thunders roll, and with a passionate cry he
turns, not to his wife, but to his child. •
Then his wife relenting be g s him to stay.
But it is too late, and, with his hand upon
the lintel, he says to her: "Go awayc from
me. Do not touch me. You,have opened
your door for me to go out, you will never •
open it for me to come in." There seems
little in these words out of which the highest
art could produce a very decided effect; but
the actor's tones were modulated to the
saddest rythm, the voice was so low, sweet
and tender, the dignity was so simple and
profound, the grace so infinite, the pathos so -
deep and true, that it all yet lingers in our
memory like the words of some heroic
poem set to: the heroic measure of song.
After a scene in which the feelings of the
spectator are wrought up to the intensest
pitch the task of maintaining the in
terest of the story to the end is one of the
greatest difficulty that the actor can en- -
counter. But here Mr. Jefferson showed
himself entirely equal to all the difficulties
of his position. The interest no where
flagged; one scene was enacted well as an.. ,
other and triumph succeeded triumph. In
each new scene he gave his audience start
ling proofs of his power; everywhere he dis
played the mind of a master; in everything
he was always equal unto himself.
A wonderful display of excellence was
made by him in the apparent change of his
whole physical life from the moment he
wakes from his sleep in the Katskill, the
voice was subdued to:a childish treble, his
form was shrunken and attenuated, and his
efforts to reconcile the present with the past
his dream with the reality—cast a cloud
over his mind that curiously affected all he
said or did.
The scene in which he returns to his na
tive village is very pitiful in its rendition;
his home is a ruin, his old cronies of the
tavern are long ago dead, his wife is mar- _
'fled to his ancient enemy, and he is re.,
garded as an imbecile pauper—even his
dog Schneider is dead. He ie quite alone, and '
Mr. Forrest, as Lear, "every inch a king,”
is never so pathetic a figure as poor old Rip
awakened from his twenty years' sleep,and
driven from his old home by those who
once bad loved him and been beloved of
him 'when they were children. By , what
exquisite touches of his art, delicate strokes
of- genius, and with what rare beauties he
eliminates all these salient points of the
character, must be seen ; their sense can
not be clearly conveyed by words.
Perhaps the finest scene of all, and that
which best conveys a notion of the actor's
power,is the last of all,where old Rip reeog
.nizea and is reoegnixed by daughter
THEE E CENTS