About the Meeting House / A Master Builder / Arch Street Meeting House

Quakers made up a substantial part of early Philadelphia's population, and as their community grew they needed a larger place of worship. Discussion of building a meeting house on the Arch Street burial grounds began in the early 1700s, but construction plans did not start until 1801. Built in stages between 1803 and 1811, the meeting house included East and West Rooms designed to hold about 1,200 people for worship. Its Georgian architecture reflected Quaker values of simplicity and equality. Owen Biddle, Jr. (1774-1806), a Quaker drafter and carpenter elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia at age 26, designed and built the structure and also wrote one of the first architecture books in American history, The Young Carpenter's Assistant (1805). He died before the building was finished, and it is his only surviving structure; he is buried on the grounds. The Women's Business Meeting played an important role in financing construction, the Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia still worships there, and the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2011.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States