J. Peter Lesley House

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

J. Peter Lesley, one of the foremost American geologists of the late nineteenth century, lived at this brick Greek Revival row house from 1869 to 1896. Lesley served concurrently as Pennsylvania's State Geologist and directed the Second Geological Survey of the state, overseeing a huge volume of work and publications from this house. Additionally, Lesley was a pastor and abolitionist. Although Lesley's residence has lent prominence to the house, he was a renter who never actually owned it. The house has remained a private residence under facade easement, and is listed as a contributing structure to two historical districts. The house became a National Historic Landmark in 1994.

Images

J. Peter Lesley House, 1008 Clinton Street, by Smallbones via Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Though he never owned the house, American geologist J. Peter Lesley (1819-1903) is the most prominent person associated with it and the reason it is famous. Constructed circa 1835-1836, this three-and-a-half-story Flemish bond brick row house served as Lesley's home and office from 1869 to 1896. It was the site of Lesley's work and writing as he served concurrent roles as the Geologist for the State of Pennsylvania and Director of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, positions he filled from 1874 to 1896. He was also a prolific writer as well as editor of his assistants' reports while maintaining this residence as his headquarters. Lesley was an innovator in the field of topography.

Lesley spent the years 1866 to 1868 working in Europe, but returned to Philadelphia after suffering a breakdown due to exhaustion and overwork. The Lesley family began to live in this house around January 1869, when Lesley began working again. Lesley advocated for a Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania to better study and document the mineral resources of the commonwealth, which the State Legislature approved in 1874.

This house was the primary residence of Lesley and his wife, Susan Inches Lyman Lesley, until 1885, when they moved to Milton, Massachusetts. They continued to spend winters at the Philadelphia house until 1896, when Lesley's declining health necessitated a permanent retirement to Massachusetts.

In addition to Lesley's scientific work, the Lesleys were abolitionists, part of a network of anti-slavery friends and activists. They were close friends with formerly-enslaved woman Mary Walker, and worked to try to free her children from the Duncan Cameron plantation in North Carolina. Their daughter Mary Lesley (later Mary Lesley Ames) was her namesake. In the 1840s, while also studying geology, Lesley studied at the Princeton Theological Seminary and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. He served as a Congregationalist pastor in Milton from 1847 to 1850. Lesley was one of the fifty original members of the National Academy of Sciences.

A facade easement was placed on the house in 1982, and the Philadelphia Historical Preservation Corporation inspects in annually to ensure the fulfillment of that easement. The house is privately owned and inhabited.

Sources

Bond, John W. Lesley, J. Peter House, National Historic Landmark Nomination, National Archives. March 23rd 1994. Accessed January 17th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994371.

Lutz, Valerie-Anne. Letter from Mary Walker to Susan Lesley, undated, American Philosophical Society Blog. August 18th 2020. Accessed January 19th 2021. https://www.amphilsoc.org/blog/letter-mary-walker-susan-lesley-undated-0.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1008_Clinton_Philly.JPG