Carpenters' Hall

History

The land for Carpenters' Hall was purchased in 1768 by Benjamin Loxley, Robert Smith, and Thomas Nevell on behalf of the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia. Robert Smith designed the building in the Georgian style, drawing inspiration from both the town halls of Scotland, where he was born, and the villas of Palladio in Italy. The carpenters' guild held its first meeting there on January 21, 1771, and continued meeting until the British Army captured Philadelphia in 1777.

On Saint George's Day, April 23, 1773, the hall hosted the founding meeting of the St. George Society of Philadelphia. The First Continental Congress met at Carpenters' Hall from September 5 to October 26, 1774, resolving to ban further imports of slaves and discontinue the slave trade within the colonies, and passing the Continental Association. In June 1776, the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference declared the Province of Pennsylvania's independence from the British Empire, established the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, mobilized the Pennsylvania militia, and set up the machinery for the Pennsylvania Provincial Convention, which framed the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776.

The hall was occupied by the British Army from September 1777 to June 1778 and served as a hospital for both British and American troops. Other institutions that met there include Benjamin Franklin's Library Company of Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, and the First and Second Banks of the United States. The 1798 Bank of Pennsylvania heist occurred at Carpenters' Hall. The federal Custom House in Philadelphia was located there from 1802 to 1819, except for a brief interruption between January and April 1811.

Did You Know?

• On November 30, 1982, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission passed Pennsylvania General Assembly 166(R) HR180 to recognize Carpenters' Hall as the official birthplace of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
• The building was briefly occupied by the British Army from September 1777 to June 1778 during the Revolutionary War.
• In 2022, a fire in the basement was suspected to be arson while the building was closed for renovations.