Wyck House is known as one of Philadelphia's oldest houses, dating to 1690, although the original log structure no longer stands. It is an assemblage of structures that evolved over time and has not changed since renowned Philadelphia architect William Strickland (1788-1854) renovated the first-floor interiors in 1824.
Wyck House grew in parts over the course of the 18th century. The first house on the site was a one-room log structure at the present-day back of the house, built by Swiss-German immigrant Hans Milan in the 1690s. The oldest extant part of the house is the three-bay (3 windows wide) stuccoed stone section that abuts Germantown Avenue. Built in 1736, this was originally the extent of the house. Today this section houses the front parlor. A larger, four-bay stuccoed stone section was built at the rear in 1771-73, replacing the original log structure. This section houses the library and dining room; before the 1860s it was also sometimes used as a kitchen.
The section in between, featuring sliding-glass pocket doors, arose in 1775. This area had served as a driveway and linen weaving shop in the early 18th century (the front and back sections were two separate structures), but was enclosed in order create one large house. It functioned as a summer living hall, where the family could enjoy views of the garden, and today is known as the Conservatory. Around this time, the entrance to the house was moved from Germantown Avenue to face the south lawn. Entry from the side of a building, rather than off the street, was a typical way to enter an 18th century Germantown home.
In the 19th century, Wyck House was renovated. In 1824, Reuben Haines III and his wife, Jane Bowne Haines, commissioned William Strickland, architect of the Second Bank of the United States and the Merchants' Exchange, to update the house. Strickland removed all of the windows in the gable end facing Germantown Avenue -- a change in the road's direction caused it to encroach upon the house -- and erected a fireplace in the center of the gable (part of the front hall). Strickland also removed the original fireplace on the house's northside and installed windows in the first and second stories of the north wall, which opened to the new parterre garden. Perhaps most notably, Strickland dramatically rearranged the interior spaces to create an open plan, allowing light to flood each room and bringing the pleasures of the garden inside. It was he who installed the sliding-glass pocket doors in the Conservatory.
Additional buildings on site accommodated practical needs, including a coach house (1794), smoke house (circa 1797), ice house (1836), and greenhouse (1914). All of these buildings remain standing. The house itself has hardly been altered since William Strickland's 1824 interior renovation.
Twentieth-century architectural efforts focused not on consolidation and growth but rather preservation. Jane Bowne Haines, II, was particularly devoted to preserving her Aunt Jane's beloved rose garden, considered a living treasure today. One of the nation's oldest rose gardens, it features over 30 varieties of roses in their original plan.
The National Park Service's 1933 documentation of Wyck House for the Historic American Buildings Survey states:
"An atmosphere of quiet, peace and contentment pervades this charming memorial of our past, and inside and out, Wyck is a delight to all who have a fondness for the old days."
Wyck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was further recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1991.
Wyck's earliest owner was Hans Milan, a Quaker who came from Germany and was a descendant of a Swiss Mennonite family. His daughter, Margaret, married a Dutch Quaker named Dirk Jansen, a linen weaver who prospered in the first half of the 18th century. By his death, he was listed as a gentleman and had Anglicized his name to Dirk Johnson. Their daughter, Catherine, married Caspar Wistar, a German who became a Quaker and amassed a sizeable fortune as a button maker, glassmaker, and investor in land.
In the next generation, Margaret Wistar married Reuben Haines I, a brewer and merchant of English descent. Their son, Caspar Wistar Haines, continued the family business and married Hannah Marshall, a member of another prominent Quaker family. Wyck passed to Reuben and Jane Bowne Haines, and then to their youngest daughter, Jane Reuben Haines, who lived here until 1911, carefully preserving the house, furnishings, and gardens. In the eighth generation, Jane Bowne Haines II founded the first school of horticulture for women in this country, the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture of Amber (today Temple University's Ambler campus). One brother, Caspar, helped to design the Mexican railway system, while another, Robert, invested a gauge for measuring steel in rolling mills. The last owners, Mary and Robert Haines, were fruit growers; Robert patented a device to press apples for a more natural tasting juice.
Wyck's family descendants remain very involved in the life of their home and community.
A Focus on the 6th Generation~
Wyck's family personifies Philadelphia's leadership in business, science, education, social reform, and philanthropy. For example, Reuben Haines, III (1786-1831) had much in common with his colleague from the American Philosophical Society, Thomas Jefferson. Like Jefferson, Reuben was fascinated by the rich possibilities that the new nation offered, from its natural resources to its inventive spirit. When he retired from business at the age of 23, Reuben declared his intent to devote himself to "the pursuit of knowledge and the society of genuine friends." With energy, he conducted experiments in scientific agriculture; led school reforms; and helped found the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Franklin Institute, and the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society. On the homefront, he commissioned his architect friend, William Strickland, to renovate the then-disparate house of many parts into one fashionable Greek Revival country villa. With similar zeal, Reuben's wife, Jane Bowne Haines, I (1790-1843) , joined organizations promoting education for the poor, prison reform, and the abolition of slavery. She also transformed Wyck's garden in the 1820s into the magnificent display of roses still enjoyed today.
Wyck houses over 10,000 artifacts, including domestic and household furniture and furnishings, clothing, toys, scientific, agricultural and industrial instruments, natural history specimens, Native American artifacts, and historical relics of olden times.
The Wistar-Haines family library comprises over 3,000 volumes on subjects representing the family's interests and experiences: science and medicine, teaching theory and education, child-rearing, garden and landscape design, agriculture, horticulture, natural history, engineering and history, and is also housed on-site.
The hall, through which visitors enter today, is the oldest extant part, circa 1700-20. The front parlor, which abuts Germantown Avenue, was built next in 1736. Finally, a kitchen was built around 1771-1773 (replacing the original log structure), which, today, houses the library and dining room. At this time, the hall and front parlor were disconnected from the kitchen -- in other words, there were two distinct buildings.
Wyck is an architecturally innovative house with an old-fashioned skin. From the outside it appears colonial in plan and design with some fashionable accents such as the late 18th-century whitewashed stucco.
Wyck served as the ancestral home of one Germantown family from the 1690s until 1973 and contains authentic family furnishings and possessions from each generation.
The house, its contents, gardens, and outbuildings were lovingly preserved and cared for by nine generations of Milans, Jansens, Wistars, and Haineses. Over 100,000 personal papers, such as diaries, photos, account books, and letters, tell the story of this family. The house, begun in 1690, expanded in 1736 and 1772, and renovated by noted architect William Strickland in 1824, contains more than 10,000 original family belongings from each generation. Ranging from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the collection includes household furniture and furnishings; clothing and toys; scientific, agricultural, and industrial instruments; natural history specimens; and Native American artifacts. The house has not changed since Strickland's renovation. Wyck's 1820s old rose garden is a living treaure, still growing in its original plan and unique in the Philadelphia region as well as the nation. Other features of Wyck's site include perennial gardens, a woodlot, fruit trees, extensive vegetable and herb gardens, and outbuildings from the late-18th through early-20th centuries.
The family members who lived at Wyck balanced tradition and innovation in every aspect of their lives. Quaker values and aesthetics are evidenced throughout the house and garden. The family did not discard the old but chose to save, reuse, and recycle. Choices about what to own and how to spend time were made in the context of a desire to improve oneself, one's situation, and the larger world. These values fueled the family's legacy as philanthropists, innovators, educators, applied horticulturalists, and social reformers.
Wyck was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and was further recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1990.
Today, Wyck connects this family and its rich history in the Germantown community through experiential programs that focus on education, horticulture, history, sustainability, stewardship, and community engagement, using the past as inspiration for the future.
"...all that makes a man's mind more active, and the ideas which enter it nobler and more beautiful is a great addition to his happiness whenever he is alone and add to the pleasure which others derive from his company when he is in society. Therefore it is most useful, to learn to love and understand what is beautiful, whether in the words of God, or in those of man; whether in the flowers and fields, and rocks and woods, and rivers and sun and sky; or in fine buildings or fine pictures, or fine music, and in the noble thought and glorious images of poetry. This is the education which will make a man happy and a people good, and wise and happy...."
- Reuben Haines, III (1786-1831), Undated Manuscript
6026 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19144 Tel. 215-848-1690 Fax 215-848-1612 Facebook
