History Alumna Keeping the Past Alive in the Present

Although privately owned, Carpenters’ Hall hosts around 400 visitors per day in a highly visible part of Independence Mall, a three-block section of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The area surrounding Carpenters’ Hall is known as America’s most historic square mile, where visitors can take in some of the most significant sites that tell the story of the American Revolution. Nearby is Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America’s founding fathers.

The Georgian-style architectural gem was completed in 1774 and is home to the oldest craft guild still existing in America, the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia. The Carpenters’ Company was modeled on London’s Worshipful Company of Carpenters, a livery company dating back to the 1400s. Members today include professionals representing the architecture, engineering, and building trades. Before its opening as a museum in 1857, Carpenters’ Hall was rented to numerous tenants, including the Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Benjamin Franklin.

From 1794 to 1797, Carpenters’ Hall was home to the Bank of the United States, organized by the then Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. There remains a large fanlight window on the ground floor that Hamilton installed so the sun could flood in. He believed there should be no shadows in banking.