6401 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA, USA

Cliveden (House Histree)

Completed in 1767, for Chief Justice Benjamin Chew (1722-1810) and his second wife Elizabeth Oswald (1734-1819). Cliveden is an outstanding example of Colonial Philadelphia architecture with a particularly fine interior. The Battle of Germantown was fought here in 1777 and except for a brief period between 1779 and 1797 the house was occupied for over 200-years by seven successive generations of the Chew family. Today, The National Trust for Historic Preservation operates Cliveden as a historic house museum and events venue, offering tours from April through December.

Benjamin Chew was a lawyer who for 60-years represented the Penn family on all legal matters concerning their proprietorship. At the time of building his summer home, Cliveden, he occupied several important posts but is best remembered as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. A Loyalist, he was removed from office during the Revolution but his legal career resumed from 1791 when he held his last post as Judge and President of the High Court of Errors & Appeals until his retirement in 1808.

Building a Summer Home

The Chew family spent the summer of 1763 as the guests of Chief Justice William Allen at Mount Airy. By July, Chew had endeavored to build himself a summer retreat in the same vicinity, as much for leisure as to keep his family safe from the outbreak of Yellow Fever that had swept through Philadelphia the previous year. To that end, he paid from Edward Penington (1726-1796) £650 for 11-acres of land to the east of Germantown.

Cliveden took four years to build at a total cost of £4,718. In collaboration with the master builder, Chew designed the house himself emphasising his desire for a plain, typically Georgian house. However, he made room for two embellishments (his favorite features) that made the house unique in Pennsylvania: urns imported from England were placed on the roof and in the gardens; and, a colonnade connected the kitchen to the main house.

When Chew purchased the property, he made use of the two existing stone buildings. He enlarged one that he made into the kitchen, and kept the other as the laundry. This set-up created a courtyard at the back, rather than front as at Mount Pleasant. Other outbuildings included a stable and coach house, a smoke house, hen house, and summer house. The hall with its spectacular screen of four Doric columns and elaborate woodwork mirrored Chew's chambers in the Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall.

Revolution & the Battle of Germantown

In 1777, the British army was advancing on Philadelphia and all Crown officials and the proprietors of Pennsylvania were placed under arrest. Included among them was of course Chief Justice Chew and he was detained with the John Penn etc. in New Jersey. In his absence, Cliveden was occupied by the British and it was at the center of the action when they defeated the Americans at the Battle of Germantown. Chew returned to find his home "an absolute wreck". The house had withstood a barrage of infantry and artillery fire, and though the walls were in tact, the house bore the heavy scars of battle. The original bullet-riddled front-door - though not in use for obvious reasons - can still be seen today.

In 1779, unsure of his future position in the colony and unable to afford the repairs, Chew took the decision to sell Cliveden to Blair McClenachan (1751-1812). That he was able to do this when every other Loyalist had had their property confiscated was due to the great respect in which he was held by both George Washington and John Adams. In 1791, he was appointed Judge and President of the High Court of Errors and Appeals in the new country, and six years later in 1797 he was able to buy back his old summer home.

The Next Generation

When Chew died in 1810, Cliveden was passed to his son, Benjamin Chew Jr. (1758-1844). He lived there with his family and among other distinguished guests to Cliveden and in 1825 entertained the Marquis de Lafayette. He increased the estate to 66-acres and made various improvements to the grounds, but his lifestyle led him into financial difficulties.

"Bad Ben"

After Benjamin Jr. died in 1844, a bitter family feud erupted over the settlement of his reduced estate that he had intended to divide equally among his children. The only exception was that he specifically left Cliveden to his widow with an annuity of $2,250. Their son, Benjamin Chew III - or "Bad Ben" - was hot-tempered and aggressive and as an executor of the will decided to take matters into his own hands, forcefully taking possession of Cliveden and then doing his best to disinherit his siblings altogether. His mother was so scared of him, that when her other children took him to court to have him removed as an executor, she took his side and vehemently defended him. From then on, he made a point of contesting every decision made as concerned their father's will and in the process purposefully squandered what was left of the family fortune on legal fees.

A court order eventually evicted "Bad Ben" from Cliveden in 1857, but on leaving he took all the family furniture, silver etc. bequeathed to him by his mother and in turn left all those heirlooms to his housekeeper who died a month after him in 1864.

"Centennial Sam" & Good Anne

Chew family tradition has it that Bad Ben's nephew, "Centennial" Samuel Chew (1832-1887) succeeded in buying back some of this furniture at auction, and those pieces are said to make up part of the collection in the house today. In the meantime Bad Ben's spinster sister, Anne Sophia Penn Chew (1805-1892), retook possession of Cliveden and despite it having fallen into bad repair, she bought out her surviving siblings at a cost of $13,200 and undertook sole responsibility for restoring Cliveden through her own pocket.

In 1868, at a cost of $5,000 that she could barely afford, Anne added the two-story wing to the rear that was designed in such a way as to not interfere with the front aspect of the house. This was built primarily for her nephew, "Centennial Sam," who spent the summers at Cliveden with his wife, Mary Johnson Brown and their young family. Sam
worked hard to have the house recognized as an historic landmark and his nickname was given to him for his support of America's Centennial celebration, held in Philadelphia.

More-than-Capable Mary

Anne intended to leave the house to "Centennial" Sam but he predeceased his aunt and on her death she left Cliveden to his second son, Samuel Chew II (1871-1919). Being still a student at Harvard, it fell to Sam II's widowed mother, Mary, to look after Cliveden. For many years Anne had considered her incapable of running the house, but towards the end of her life her views changed when it fell to Mary to stop the house being taken by an over-zealous Congressman who wished to claim it for the country.

To mark the 135th anniversary of the Battle of Germantown, a fancy-dress ball was held at the house and the guests included President William Howard Taft. But, Samuel II felt the house was too much for the family to maintain and suggested gifting it to an organization. This didn't happen, but the 60-acres of grounds known today as "Cliveden Park" were gifted by him to the City of Philadelphia in 1912.

Samuel II predeceased his mother in 1919 and willed the house to his nephew, Samuel Chew III (1915-1989). Being only a child, the management of Cliveden yet again fell back into the capable hands of Samuel II's mother, Mary. Following her death in 1927, she passed management of the estate to her daughter, Elizabeth Brown Chew (1863-1958).

Bessie and Samuel III

"Bessie", as she was known, took the house into the new century: she opened it for periods to the public for tours and hosted the first re-enactment of the Battle of Germantown the year she moved in. She also updated the decor while not losing its original concept - any adjustments, no matter how small, were made in the Colonial-Revival style. On her death in 1958, her nephew Samuel III moved in and continued where she had left off, striving to maintain it both as a family home and an important piece of American history.

Cliveden as a House Museum Today

In 1966, Cliveden was designated a National Historic Landmark, part of the Colonial Germantown Historic District. But, Samuel III and and his relatives soon came to the realization that it could no longer serve two purposes and in 1972 the Chew family donated Cliveden, its remaining 6-acres of parkland, and its collection of artefacts to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, Cliveden is a house museum offering tours from April through December. It is also available to hire as a venue and the Chew Family Papers are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Cliveden (Benjamin Chew House)

Cliveden ( or KLIV-dən), also known as the Chew House, is a historic site owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, located in the Germantown neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia. Built as a country house for attorney Benjamin Chew, Cliveden was completed in 1767 and was home to seven generations of the Chew family. Cliveden has long been famous as the site of the American Revolutionary War's Battle of Germantown in 1777 as well as for its Georgian architecture.

New research is unearthing a more complicated history at Cliveden, which involves layers of significance, including the lives of those who were enslaved and in service to the Chew family. That information broadens the meaning of Cliveden as a preserved historic place, exploring themes and stories of American identity and freedom. Traces of the history of the Cliveden property and its occupants can be found throughout the five acre woody landscape.

The Cliveden grounds are open for the community to enjoy as a public park Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, weather permitting. The property includes four buildings, the Main House, Kitchen Dependency, Wash House and Carriage House. Tours of Cliveden are available May through August, Thursday-Sunday, from 12-4pm and September through November, Friday-Sunday 12-4pm.

Architectural history
Cliveden was built 1763–1767 by local German craftsmen as a summer home for prominent lawyer Benjamin Chew, Sr. (1722–1810) and his family as a respite from heat and yellow fever epidemics. During the American Revolutionary War, the property was at the center of the Battle of Germantown in 1777. The house was inhabited by seven generations of the Chew family and their household until 1972, with one exception; when it was sold to Blair McClenachan (1734–1812) after the battle, but repurchased by the Chew family in 1797. It is important to note that though the Chew family and their households occupied Cliveden until 1970, architectural changes to the house always took into account the original Georgian facade and plan, which remain intact despite significant changes and adaptations seen from the rear.

Born in Tidewater, Maryland, Benjamin Chew migrated to the Delaware Valley with the promise of land investments and an advantageous connection with the Penn family. Chew trained as a lawyer and became part of a Governor's Council that advised and protected the interests of the Pennsylvania Colony, and was later made Chief Justice of the colony. This position came with all the privilege expected, including status, wealth and opportunity. The elite Chew family also owned a town house in the Dock Ward of Philadelphia, a large house in Dover, Delaware and several plantations in Maryland and Delaware, as well as many developed and undeveloped properties, rural and urban. The Chews’ diverse business interests included import/export shipping, agriculture, iron mining and refining and more. All of these pursuits were sustained and complicated by the use of enslaved and indentured labor. During the tumultuous time surrounding the Revolution and nation building, Chew reserved his political position, but regained prominence after the new government was established.

With a design largely derived from architectural patterns brought from the United Kingdom, Cliveden epitomizes the ideals of elite design in the American colonies while simultaneously incorporating regional building materials and practices of the Delaware Valley. The prospect of Cliveden from the south facade follows the symmetry of Georgian architecture with emphasis on the forms, patterns and ratios of the Classical world. There is no named architect of Cliveden, but the Chew Family Papers, held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, include nine original drawings associated with the design process, which are attributed to lawyer and draftsman William Peters (1702–1786), and reference Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) and British architect Abraham Swan (active 1745–68). Built during a second wave of population growth and construction in Germantown in the 1760s, when Anglicized styles were imposed onto the provincial German vernacular settlement, Cliveden is a Georgian country house made aware of its context by the craftsmanship of its German builders. The Chew Family Papers also document through detailed account books which identify master carpenter Jacob Knorr and master mason John Hesser, among others, as the Germantown builders responsible for its construction.

Although not built as a plantation house, the scale of Cliveden was new to Germantown in the 1760s and is larger than most colonial houses in Philadelphia. The house is composed of two full stories with a half-story garret. Five bays organize the symmetry and rhythm of the facade, with the center bay projecting and ornamented by a pedimented Doric frontispiece with full entablature. The pediment motif is repeated at the cornice line. Cliveden has a gabled roof, unusual for a Georgian house, again reflecting the Germantown context. The roof is pierced by two broad brick chimney stacks positioned at the roof ridge line. The roof is further adorned with five massive urns raised on brick plinths.

The walls are composed of Wissahickon schist, a less expensive option than brick and a choice that reflected the traditional building materials used in Germantown. The exterior of the house follows a hierarchy of design that includes a range of construction techniques finishes and from high style to vernacular. The stonework at the facade is laid in regular courses of ashlar blocks accentuated by a cut stone string course and quoins with tooled mortar joints. The public-facing west elevation is finished with scored stucco; the north and east elevation were exposed random rubble construction, though the east was later finished with stucco. This hierarchy of finishes follows in the interior, where rooms on the east are finished with more elaborate millwork and paneling than those on the west.

The first floor plan of Cliveden is an unusual T-shaped center hall with small rooms on either side of a wide entrance hall and large chambers on either side of the perpendicular stair hall. The front and rear halls are divided by an impressive screen of Doric columns topped with entablature. On the second floor, a “gallery” is centered between to two large chambers on either side. The garret was finished with chambers for servants and children, and the cellar contains a cooking hearth and more evidence of kitchen-related service spaces. A service stair, accessing cellar to garret, is tucked into an enclosed area west of the rear hall.

Cliveden is flanked by two dependencies with temple-front facades that echo the classical features of the main house. The interior of the dependencies have more vernacular designs, with simple floor plans that reflect a typical small house of the Delaware Valley. During the period of construction, the original 18’ square plan of the west dependency was altered to extend the building by 9’ with a large chimney to accommodate a cooking hearth and bake oven and adjacent well shaft. Opposite the Kitchen, the west dependency was a Wash House, later served as the estate office. Both Dependencies can be considered quarters, with second floors and garrets containing sleeping chambers for service staff, enslaved and free. In 1776, Chew hired Hesser to construct a “Colonnade” or “piazza;” a covered walkway that connected the second parlor to the kitchen. Together, the Main House, Kitchen, Colonnade and Wash House surround a work yard behind the house, an important outdoor service space. The Direct Tax of 1798, one year after the Chews repurchased Cliveden, itemized the one story stone pantry attached to the Kitchen, a smoke house adjacent to the Wash House, and frame milk house and poultry house. In 1814, the Wash House & office was doubled with a masonry addition to the north. In this period, there is also a record of filling an ice house which is no longer extant.

During the first half of the 19th century, Benjamin Chew, Jr. (1758–1844) inherited Cliveden and developed it as a gentleman's farm. There is a record of wheat fields, fencing and corn crib on the site. After a long family conflict to settle his estate, Cliveden was inherited by Anne Sophia Penn Chew (1805–1892). In 1868, she had the rubble-constructed Italianate North Addition built, containing two new chambers, along with technological upgrades including gas and indoor plumbing. A coal-fired central furnace and a kitchen range were also installed at this time. The North Addition enclosed the Colonnade and added a second service stair in the rear, adapting the space into a butler's pantry. Niece-in-Law and early preservationist Mary Johnson Brown Chew (1839–1927) next inherited Cliveden. In 1921, two bathrooms were added with modern fixtures, the one seen at the rear of the north east chamber is raised to the second floor on Colonial Revival columns. The last generation of the Chew family and their household moved to Cliveden in 1959. Notable among repairs and changes is the beveling of floorboards throughout and the installation of a semi-custom Mid-Century Modern kitchen inside the Colonnade.

Further research
The Chew Family Papers, containing an extensive collection of correspondence, documents, financial records and other materials, are available for research use at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

Architecture
Cliveden, southwest view from driveway


Cliveden, south elevation


Cliveden, southwest view

National Register of Historic Places - Cliveden (Benjamin Chew House)

Statement of Significance:

Cliveden, built from 1763-64 as the country estate of Benjamin Chew, stands as both an excellent example of Late Georgian architecture, and as the most important surviving landmark of the hard fought battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777. In that action, Washington's army narrowly missed winning a significant victory over a large contingent of the British army guarding the northwestern approaches to a newly occupied Philadelphia. Although undecisive in its immediate military results, the battle of Germantown had vast political implications in that, combined with the victory at Saratoga that same month, it proved to be a major influence in the consummation of the alliance with France that spelled final victory for the new American nation.

The two-and-a-half story Chew mansion is constructed of Germantown stone, with a detailed facade and an imposing entrance hall. It is located on six acres of grounds at 6401 Germantown Avenue.