Woodford (mansion)


Woodford is a historic mansion at Ford Road and Greenland Drive in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built about 1756, it is the first of Philadelphia's great colonial Georgian mansion houses to be built, and exemplifies the opulence of such houses. A National Historic Landmark, it now a historic house museum open to the public.

History

Built from 1756-1758, Woodford is the first of the great, opulent, late-Georgian mansions to be erected in the Philadelphia area. Woodford was built on of land as a 1½-story summer residence by William Coleman, a wealthy merchant and justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Upon Coleman's death in 1769, the house was sold to Alexander Barclay, a Quaker who served as His Majesty's Customs Comptroller for the port of Philadelphia.
Upon Barclay's death in 1771, the house was bought by his brother-in-law, David Franks, who in 1772 added a second story and a kitchen wing, enlarging the house to almost its present size.
In 1778, Franks, a staunch loyalist, was arrested and ordered to leave. He took his family to New York City, and transferred the property to Thomas Paschall in settlement of a debt. Paschall is believed never to have lived at the house, but rented it out. He sold it to Isaac Wharton in 1793.
In 1869, the city bought Woodford from Wharton's heirs to add to Fairmount Park. The house served as the home of the Park's Chief Engineer and Supervisor, and later, in 1912, as the Park Guard headquarters and traffic court.
The building was restored, commencing in 1927, and in 1930, it was opened to the public as a house museum, which it remains today. It houses, under the direction of the Naomi Wood Trust, the Naomi Wood collection of antique household goods, including Colonial furniture, unusual clocks, and English delftware.
Woodford was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967. It is a contributing property of the Fairmount Park Historic District.