The Monastery (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

Monastery, The
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places
Show map of Philadelphia Show map of Pennsylvania Show map of the US
Location	Fairmount Park, Kitchen's Lane at Wissahickon Creek, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°2′10″N 75°12′13″W / 40.03611°N 75.20361°W / 40.03611; -75.20361Coordinates: 40°2′10″N 75°12′13″W / 40.03611°N 75.20361°W / 40.03611; -75.20361
Area	less than one acre
Built	1747
NRHP Reference #	72001164[1]
Added to NRHP	March 16, 1972

The Monastery is a historic stone house in Philadelphia, located on the Wissahickon Creek at Kitchens Lane.

It was built in 1747 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The house's connection to monastic life is uncertain or simply legendary, but German mystic and hermit Johannes Kelpius lived nearby in the Wissahickon Valley from 1694 until his death in 1708, and connections with monks from Ephrata have been reported.^[2] According to the History of Philadelphia (1884):

...there is a recital in the deed that Joseph [Gorgas] had since (1747) erected at his own cost and charges "a three-story stone house or messuage on a certain piece or spot of land." Joseph Gorgas was a member of the society of Seventh Day Baptists. It is conjectured that he erected this house for purposes of seclusion and meditation. It is said, "Hither were gathered congenial spirits like himself, and there they held sweet communion." A small strip of land below the county bridge is pointed out as the place where the monks were accustomed to administer the rite of baptism in the Wissahickon, and on the early township map the spot is designated as the Baptisterion. Joseph Gorgas sold the lot with the house, now called the "Monastery," to Edward Milner in 1761, and it has since gone through various hands. The house in which the unknown author of the "Chronicon" lived for seventeen months could not have been the stone mansion to which tradition affixes the title. There is no proof that Gorgas allowed his house to be used for monastic purposes, but novelists have made much of the legends and tales of hermits and monks that cluster thickly about the vicinity.^[2]

• 
  Front view as drawn by HABS
• 
  Side view as drawn by HABS
• 
  First floor plan by HABS
• 
  Stable on the grounds

References

Media related to The Monastery (Philadelphia) at Wikimedia Commons

External links

• "The Monastery on the Wissahickon, 1874" at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
• 1898 photograph at the Free Library of Philadelphia

City of Philadelphia
Nickname(s): City of Brotherly Love
Topics	History Timeline Architecture Bibliography Companies Cuisine Culture Demographics Economy Education Media Music Notable people Sites of interest Historic Landmarks Skyscrapers Transit
Government	City Hall Mayors City Council Airport Fire Department Free Library Mint Police Department School district Sister cities
Neighborhoods	Center City North Philadelphia Lower North Upper North Northwest Northeast Philadelphia South Philadelphia Southwest Philadelphia West Philadelphia
Museums	Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University African American Museum in Philadelphia American Philosophical Society American Swedish Historical Museum Athenaeum of Philadelphia Barnes Foundation Bartram's Garden Belmont Mansion Betsy Ross House Chemical Heritage Foundation Civil War Museum Cliveden Eastern State Penitentiary Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site Elfreth's Alley Fabric Workshop and Museum Fairmount Water Works Fort Mifflin Franklin Institute Germantown White House Glen Foerd on the Delaware Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library Grumblethorpe Hill-Physick-Keith House Historic Strawberry Mansion Historical Society of Frankford Historical Society of Pennsylvania Independence National Historical Park Independence Seaport Museum Insectarium Institute of Contemporary Art John Johnson House John Ruan House La Salle University Art Museum Lemon Hill Marian Anderson Residence Museum Masonic Temple, Library, and Museum Museum of the American Revolution Mütter Museum National Constitution Center National Liberty Museum National Museum of American Jewish History Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Philadelphia History Museum Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia's Magic Gardens Please Touch Museum Powel House RittenhouseTown Rodin Museum Rosenbach Museum & Library Ryerss Museum and Library Shofuso Japanese House and Garden Stenton Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Wagner Free Institute of Science Woodmere Art Museum Wyck House
Sports	76ers Eagles Flyers Phillies Soul Union
Squares	Centre Franklin Logan Rittenhouse Washington
Wards	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66
Related articles	Delaware Valley Independence Hall Liberty Bell Philadelphia English
Category Commons Portal

US National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Topics	Contributing property Keeper of the Register Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Property types
Lists by county	Adams Allegheny Armstrong Beaver Bedford Berks Blair Bradford Bucks Butler Cambria Cameron Carbon Centre Chester East North South Clarion Clearfield Clinton Columbia Crawford Cumberland Dauphin Delaware Elk Erie Fayette Forest Franklin Fulton Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Juniata Lackawanna Lancaster Lawrence Lebanon Lehigh Luzerne Lycoming McKean Mercer Mifflin Monroe Montgomery Montour Northampton Northumberland Perry Philadelphia Pike Potter Schuylkill Snyder Somerset Sullivan Susquehanna Tioga Union Venango Warren Washington Wayne Westmoreland Wyoming York
Lists by city	Pittsburgh Lancaster Philadelphia Center City North Northeast Northwest South Southwest West
Other lists	European archaeological sites Native American archaeological sites Bridges (covered) National Historic Landmarks (Philadelphia)
Category NRHP portal