Rhoads-Barclay House

c1750

217 Delancey St., Philadelphia PA

Exterior
Rated 4 out of 5
Interior
Rated 0 out of 5
Site
Rated 0 out of 5
History
Rated 3 out of 5
Overall
Rated 4 out of 5

This early row house shows the transition from vernacular building to a more formal Georgian Style

Private

HABS

This early Georgian house is several notches up on the social scale from the slightly earlier Arbour-Winemore house nearby on Spruce Street, but it shares a pent eave and a plain door with a simple transom with its less affluent cousin. It was built by Samuel Rhoads, master carpenter and a mayor of Philadelphia for Alexander Barclay who was Comptroller of the Port of Philadelphia. 

While only two stories, it has a gambrel roof which makes the attic space more useful. Some touches, like the decorative modillions at the cornice, a water table and a front façade laid in a Flemish bond make it more self-consciously Georgian than the Arbour-Winemore house.