Photo, Print, Drawing The State Penitentiary, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The state penitentiary, for the eastern district of Pennsylvania
About this Item
Title
- The State Penitentiary, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Other Title
- The state penitentiary, for the eastern district of Pennsylvania
Summary
- This print is a bird's eye view of the prison built in 1823--36 at 2101--99 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, after the designs of John Haviland. It shows the prison designed with radial corridors, courtyards, and a Gothic-style entranceway and outer wall. It was also known as Cherry Hill State Prison and was one of the largest and most expensive structures of its day. It was most unusual in having flush toilets and heating in the cells. A horse-drawn wagon is visible within, and another, probably a paddy wagon, arrives in front of the prison complex. Men on horseback, possibly guards, accompany the arriving wagon and a few pedestrians walk nearby in the street and on the sidewalk. A cityscape, including Girard College, is visible in the background. The print was copyrighted by Richard Vaux, president of the prison's Board of Inspectors and the author of a brief sketch of the origin and history of the state penitentiary written for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1872. Samuel Cowperthwaite, a prison convict, created this lithograph in about 1855.
Names
- Cowperthwaite, Samuel Artist.
- Vaux, Richard, 1816-1895 Copyright Holder.
Created / Published
- Philadelphia : P.S. Duval & Company Lithography, 1855.
Headings
- - United States of America--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
- - 1836 to 1855
- - Eastern State Penitentiary of Pennsylvania
- - Lithographs
- - Prisons
- - Wagons
Notes
- - Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
- - "Digital catalog number: POS 750"--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
- - Original resource extent: 1 print : lithograph ; 17 x 25 centimeters.
- - Original resource at: The Library Company of Philadelphia.
- - Content in English.
- - Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.
Medium
- 1 online resource.
Source Collection
- Philadelphia on Stone
Digital Id
Library of Congress Control Number
- 2021670376
Online Format
- compressed data
- image