St. Peter's Church and Graveyard Fourth and Pine Sts. Ricoh Digital Camera 10/5/99 7:00pm     Historical Tidbits:

St. Peter's Church 1758-61 By 1750, Christ Church could no longer accommodate the number of people who wanted to have seats there. It also was inconvenient for parishioners living south of Walnut Street. The Penn family donated money for a second Anglican church, the "chapel of ease," as St. Peters was first called. Robert Smith [builder of Carpenters' Hall and] designed and built the church. Dr. John Kearsley, who had directed work on Christ Church, was the supervisor. St. Peters is a subdued version of a Palladian Church. It contains a grand Palladian window on the chancel wall, and the sides of the church are pierced by round arch windows, but there is an absence of elaborate detail. St Peter's still retains it's original high-backed pews, raised off the floor to keep out drafts. In an unusual arrangement, the alter and pulpit are at opposite ends of the main aisle. The steeple was added in 1852 by William Strictland [designer of the steeple of Independence Hall]. The simple tower, six stories high, is in keeping with church's restrained exterior.* Whitechaple Foundry in London, where the Liberty Bell was made, supplied the bells for the tower which are still in use today. Among those buried in the Graveyard: Patriot John Nixon, Justice Benjamin Chew, Dr. John Morgan, founder of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Naval Hero Stephen Decatur, U.S. Vice President George M. Dallas and Artist Charles Wilson Peale.       * Philadelphia Architecture: A guide to the city    ©1994 by the Foundation for Architecture