Wall House

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The Richard Wall house, built 1682, is "the oldest house in Pennsylvania which has had continuous family residency".^[1] It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as "Wall House" also known as "The Ivy". Having hosted religious meetings and weddings, the house is also among the earliest places of Quaker worship still standing in the United States. It is now a museum located at Church Road and Wall Park Drive, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

Richard Wall was a founder of Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania. He arrived with William Penn's group of Quakers in 1682. He and fourteen others pooled their land purchases to create the township. They named the township for the main town in Gloucestershire, England, where they apparently originated.

The Wall family was joined in marriage by the Shoemaker family. The families owned a corn grist mill at Tacony Creek. Descendants of the Walls lived in the house until 1847^[2], followed by the Bosler family. In 1932 the township acquired the house as its manager's residence. Since 1980 the house has been managed by the Cheltenham Township Historical Commission, which opened the museum and orientation center in 1993.

An original section of wall can be seen in the current basement. The house was redesigned in 1730, 1760, and 1805. Later renovations added running water and electricity.

The permanent exhibits display elements of life during more than two hundred years of residence. Highlights include a fully furnished and electrified, five foot tall doll house created before 1920^[3]; and a collection of over 100 antique tools.

1 Source used
2 Footnotes
3 For further reading
4 External links

[edit] Source used

"The Richard Wall House Museum", an information sheet provided to visitors of the museum. Collected July 3, 2006. Contact: Cheltenham Township Assistant Manager's Office, 8230 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027. Telephone: 1-215-887-1000 extension 112.

[edit] Footnotes

^ "The Richard Wall House Museum", op cit.
^ Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. "Wall House (The Ivy)" (historical marker), Church Road and Wall Park Drive, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. 1982.
^ Hirsch, Lois. "The Doll House Lady and Her Doll House", an information sheet provided to visitors of the museum. Collected July 3, 2006. Contact: Cheltenham Township Assistant Manager's Office, 8230 Old York Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027. Telephone: 1-215-887-1000 extension 114.