The Chads Springhouse

The Chads' Springhouse predates John Chads's house across the street and was built as both a springhouse and a residence, with a corner fireplace in the living area and a sleeping loft above. It was probably built by stonemason John Wyeth Jr., who built the John Chads House, as his living quarters during the several seasons it took to build that house, and he had no relationship to the Wyeth family of artists. The springhouse was later used as a tenant house and also served as Birmingham School No. 1 in the first half of the 19th century, where children sat on long benches behind narrow tables and might have studied geography, mathematics, penmanship, land surveying, and reading. Of particular architectural interest are the brick-faced corner fireplace, which originally would have had wooden breastwork with a mantelpiece and recessed niches like the two corner fireplaces in the John Chads House, and the loft floor, whose supporting rafters are all original except one. The corner of the springhouse is believed to have been damaged by General Knyphausen's artillery fire during the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and the spring room served as a refrigerator for the Chads family, with storage niches in the north and east walls.

Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania · United States