Builder-architect Edmund Woolley began construction of the Pennsylvania State House in 1732, and completed the building by 1748. The project's carvers were listed as Harding and Bryan Wilkinson. The original staircase in the vestibule proved inadequate for so large a building, and a tower addition with a new staircase was proposed. The tower's foundations were laid in 1750, and its exterior construction was completed by 1753. Between 1753 and 1756, Harding executed the interior architectural ornament for the tower stair hall and a remodeled vestibule. His bill listed all of the fixtures for the mahogany staircase, along with moldings, pediments, column capitals, tabernacle frames, and two keystones with carved "faces" - for which he charged £195.13.11. The bill was paid in part in 1757, and in full in 1758. He carved ionic capitals for what he called the "green room", but it is unclear when the shell frieze within the room's tabernacle frame was carved—by Harding in the 1750s, or by Harding and/or Wilkinson in the 1740s. A 54-foot giant tall clock by Thomas Stretch stood against Independence Hall's exterior from 1753 to 1828. Harding carved the 14-foot wooden bonnet that surrounded its face.
Other works
Queen Anne side chair, sold at Christie's NY, 19 January 2002.
Desk-and-bookcase, sold at Christie's NY, 18 January 2008. The frieze across the top of this piece resembles the frieze in the Supreme Court Room of Independence Hall.
Whitby Hall, 1601 South 58th Street, Kingsessing, Philadelphia. The architectural ornament of the Independence Hall-inspired stair tower and the chimneypiece and paneling of the parlor are attributed to Harding. These interiors were removed from Whitby Hall in the 1920s, and installed in the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Queen Anne transitional highboy, sold for $128,700 at Pook & Pook Inc., 20 June 2009.
Desk-and-bookcase, Naomi Wood Collection, Woodford Mansion, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The carved shell on this desk-and-bookcase resembles Harding's other work, but the estimated date of the piece is well after his death.
Assessment
Furniture expert Luke Beckerdite calls Harding "one of the most important carvers active in Philadelphia during the first half of the eighteenth century." He conjectures that the carver Nicholas Bernard either was trained or influenced by him.
