1850s

 

[Swaim’s Building, S. E. Corner of Chestnut and Seventh Streets (Philadelphia, ca. 1850)]. Crayon lithograph, hand-colored. Gift of Charles A. Poulson.

 

The atypical perspective of this lithograph is reminiscent of angles used in photography and is possibly based on a photograph. The view, included in a scrapbook compiled by local antiquarian Charles A. Poulson (1789-1866), was composed from a terrace below Sixth and Chestnut streets and shows Swaim’s Building at 628-632 Chestnut Street while it was the home of Barnum’s Museum. Patent medicine purveyor William Swaim acquired the property in 1826 and constructed the building in which the museum opened in 1849. As noted by Poulson, the Philadelphians milling near the flag-covered edifice had only two years to be enticed into Barnum’s world of curiosities in their own city before fire consumed the structure.

 

Click image for larger view.