American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Note

The elm tree that stood at the Northeast corner of Broad St. and Walnut St., believed to date to 1659, stood on the site of Vauxhall Gardens, a pleasure garden created circa 1814. This plot later served as the building site for the Dundas-Lippincott Mansion (built 1837/1838), also referred to as the Yellow Mansion for the use of a yellowish-white stone. A colored photolithograph, in the collection of The Library Company of Philadelphia and dated 1908, shows the house standing next to the elm tree (see accession no. 027-a11-d).

James Dundas Lippincott (1840-1905) commissioned the house, where he lived with both his first wife, Alice Potter (died in 1894) and his second wife, Isabelle Armstrong, until his untimely death of pneumonia in 1905. James, a graduate of Princeton University, was also a member of several notable clubs including the Rittenhouse, Union League, and Radnor Hunt and Country Club, and his home served as the venue for many social functions, including the May debutante dance and other charitable events. The house and the elm tree were torn down following his death, making way for modern developments. The Fidelity-Philadelphia Trust Company Building (built 1928), now housing Wells Fargo, currently stands on this site.