8891 Germantown Avenue

 

click on image to see larger version
(photograph from Chestnut Hill Historical Society-John Naylor Collection: 1970.48)

MAP NUMBER: 44
DATE: 1849
ORIGINAL OWNER: Charles Taylor
ARCHITECT: Sidney &  Neff
CONTRACTOR: Unknown

According to Macfarlane, "History of Early Chestnut Hill," 1927 on
page 126, "In 1849, grain merchant and developer, Charles Taylor,
purchased a few acres above the Schlatter house and built a stone
house which he called 'Norwood.'  For a long time, it was the summer
residence of Miss Harriet S. Benson, who enlarged it very much." 
Harriet Benson commissioned some major renovations to the building
in the late 19th century, which gives it the Second Empire appearance. 
The house became the Norwood Academy in 1972.   A print of the
original house was published in James C. Sidney's book, "American
Cottage and Villa Architecture," 1850.

See Jarvis, "Chestnut Hill Revisited," p. 44.

CHHS Home