Citadel - 1796

A brick citadel built in the center of Fort Mifflin’s parade ground was completed by 1796 as part of Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s redesign of the fort, at a time when defending the port of Philadelphia was especially important because the city served as the capital of the new nation. Intended in military terms as a place of last retreat, it was a one-story structure measuring 70 by 34 feet with multiple rooms, a kitchen, a porch, a garret, a roof gallery, a brick parapet, a central flagpole used to signal the city, and walls originally built with forty-five gun portals through which soldiers could fire muskets from a platform. Although it had defensive features, Major J. J. Ulrich Rivardi reported in 1802 that the building had settled considerably, its chimney walls had opened in places, and an enemy could stand close around it without suffering injury, suggesting its defenses were not very effective. The building’s symmetry, fine detailing, and room arrangement also indicate it probably served as a residence for an officer, and by 1815 it was called the Commandant’s House, with most of its gun portals already bricked closed. Continued structural problems led to major rehabilitation in 1835, when the roof, gallery, flagpole arrangement, and chimneys were altered, the parapet was incorporated into a raised roof that created a second floor, the porch was enclosed into two vestibules, the foundation and interior were rebuilt, and the exterior was stuccoed, converting the former citadel into headquarters and living quarters for commanding officers and their staff. No record has been found that two officers ever shared it, and after the Civil War it became a family residence, gaining a coal-burning stove and later minimal electricity, though plumbing was never installed and privies stood in the backyard area.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States