Historic Quaker Houses of Philadelphia

The Wharton House
Home of Quaker Minister Deborah Wharton
Birthplace of her son Joseph Wharton
Founder of the Wharton School
336 Spruce Street
Built: ca. 1790

This stately Federal rowhouse was built ca. 1790 by builder Samuel Pancoast. The house has been known as the Wharton House since the early 1800s, when the prominent Wharton family began living in this home. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus

 Quaker Minister Deborah Fisher Wharton
Began Living Here as a Young Bride in 1817.
She was a Co-Founder of Swarthmore College.

  Deborah Fisher Wharton’s father purchased this house for her wedding gift in 1817, when she married William Wharton. Deborah Wharton was a devout Quaker minister, and a tireless advocate for human rights. She lived in this house for 70 years, including 30 years as a wife and mother, and 40 years as a widow.
Nine of her 10 children were born in this home. Her son Joseph Wharton founded the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He later purchased this house from his mother’s estate in 1888, and he owned it until his death in 1913. The house then became a rectory for Christ Church.

 Deborah Fisher Wharton
A Co-Founder of Swarthmore College:

Hicksite Quakers founded Haverford College near Philadelphia in 1864. Founders of this college include Deborah Fisher Wharton and her son Joseph Wharton. Swarthmore was among the first co-ed colleges in the U. S. Deborah Wharton served on the school’s first board of directors. In 1960 Swarthmore formally moved away from its official ties to the Religious Society of Friends, becoming a nonsectarian institution.

  Wharton Hall at Swarthmore College
Named for Board President Joseph Wharton
Who also Founded the Wharton School at Penn:

Above: Wharton Hall was built as a men’s dormitory at Swarthmore in 1903. The building was named in honor of its donor Joseph Wharton, who served on the school’s board of managers for more than 35 years. He was president of that board for 24 years, from 1883 to 1907. His mother, Deborah Fisher Wharton, served on the school’s board for eight years.
Joseph Wharton also had provided funds to build the school’s Quaker meetinghouse, built in 1880. Students attended daily worship services in the meetinghouse during the school’s first decades. Image source: Swarthmore.edu

 Joseph Wharton: Founder of Wharton School of Business
University of Pennsylvania

Industrialist Joseph Wharton founded the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, in addition to his leadership at Swarthmore College. He was born in the Wharton townhouse in 1826. After his mother’s death in 1888 he purchased the house, and he owned it until his death in 1913.
Joseph Wharton’s mines and factories were the largest producer of nickel and pig iron in the U. S. He was a director of the Bethlehem Iron Company, a predecessor of Bethlehem Steel. Joseph Wharton remained a lifelong Quaker.

 Joseph Wharton’s Grandfather, Samuel Rowland Fisher
was Exiled by Patriots during the Revolutionary War
For being an Anti-War Quaker:

 Where Joseph Wharton’s Grandfather Was Jailed
for Opposing the Revolutionary War:

  Above: Wealthy Quaker merchant, Samuel Rowland Fisher, was the grandfather of Joseph Wharton, who founded the Wharton School. During the Revolutionary War Fisher was exiled by the Patriots because of his anti-war Quaker beliefs. Fisher also opposed violence against American Indians. He refused to sell hatchets to a customer who would have used them as weapons against natives.
Samuel Fisher was also involved in social reform for African Americans. He helped fund schools for blacks in Delaware, the state of his birth.

 The Wharton House Description
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places:

Measured Drawings of the Wharton House in 1932
By the Historic American Buildings Survey
The House is Named the “Deborah Wharton House”:

1961: A Remarkable Report of the House
For the National Park Service:

  Above: In 1961 Architect Robert E. Cooper prepared a remarkably detailed history and description of the Wharton House for the Historic American Buildings Survey. Included with the report is a chain of deed for the house prepared in 1962 by Robert A. Corrigan of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. (excerpt shown above).
This report also includes information from historic insurance surveys. This report is an exceptional example of the analysis of a historic house in Philadelphia. The document is available from the Library of Congress as a PDF. Photographs and measured drawings of the house by HABS are at the Library of Congress, here.

 Before the Whartons Lived in this House
It was the Home of PA Senator Anthony Morris:

Above: Two Morris portraits by Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin.
Left: 1798 engraving of Samuel Morris (the father). Image source: Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Right: Mezzotint of Anthony Morris (the father) after Saint-Memin. Image source: The Philadelphia Print Shop.

  Before the Whartons lived here, this house briefly was home to another prominent Quaker family, the Morris family. Pennsylvania senator Anthony Morris and wife Mary (Pemberton) Morris lived here for four years, from 1800 to 1804.
Anthony Morris and his father, Samuel Morris, were both read out of Friends’ meeting (disowned) because they turned away from their Quaker anti-war testimony. The senior Morris became a captain in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The son Morris was disowned by Quaker meeting because in 1793 he signed a bill providing troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion while he was a Pennsylvania senator.
Deborah Wharton and her son Joseph Wharton, however, maintained membership among Friends throughout their lives.

Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
Historic American Buildings Survey
Philadelphia Architects and Buildings
PhillyHistory