LEMON HILL receives challenge grant!

The Friends of Lemon Hill has received a $1/$1 challenge grant of up to $20,000 to match funds raised through our annual appeal, to go out in September. All funds raised will be used for vital repairs to the 209-year-old structure.  We are more than halfway to our goal! If you would like to help us raise funds to maintain our small piece of American history, please go to the JOIN page of this Web site to donate. Contributions made through Pay Pal on this site will qualify for the match.  Thank you! NEWS FLASH! Lemon Hill is CLOSED for the winter and will reopen on or around April 1, 2010. For rental information, please call House Director Joyce Jones at 215-232-4337 and leave a message. Be sure to leave your name and contact information.  Your message will be returned in a reasonable amount of time, but during the winter it may take a week or so for a response. From April to December, Lemon Hill is open for visits, school tours and rentals. Whenever you plan to visit Lemon Hill, please be sure to check this space or call before you come--215-232-4337. We look forward to seeing you!

Welcome to Lemon Hill

Visit Lemon Hill, located in the heart of East Fairmount Park, and escape from the modern concrete and glass city into the idyllic “villa life” enjoyed by Philadelphia’s early nineteenth century gentry. Lemon Hill mansion was built in 1800 as a summer retreat by Henry Pratt, a prosperous Philadelphia merchant. Surrounded by extensive gardens, the mansion was one of more than a dozen similar summer homes in the Philadelphia area.

Experience Lemon Hill’s classical elegance in the Federal style, with its unusual stack of three oval rooms, richly detailed woodwork, Chinese Chippendale railings, and grand curving staircase.

In 1855, Lemon Hill became part of the new Fairmount Park and, over time, served as a beer garden, a restaurant, and the home of Fiske Kimball, the first director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Today, Lemon Hill is owned by the City of Philadelphia, managed by the Fairmount Park Commission and operated as an historic house museum by the Colonial Dames of America (CDA) and the Friends of Lemon Hill.

Conservation of Lemon Hill is of the utmost importance with a building of its age. The CDA undertakes projects that restore the home’s original look and feel and enhance the visitor’s experience. Donations to the Friends of Lemon Hill for conservation and support of Lemon Hill are tax deductible and always welcome.