116 Elfreth's Alley

Where House 116 now stands was originally a “framed dwelling and smith’s shop,” where blacksmiths, nailsmiths and locksmiths lived and worked.  These wood structures were most likely torn down during the British occupation of 1777-8.

House 116 as we know it today was built in 1785 by two brothers, Benjamin and Enoch Taylor, both bricklayers.  They had come to Philadelphia from New Jersey as apprentices in 1768.  They built the house as a double dwelling, situated perpendicular to the Alley – Enoch lived in the rear building and Benjamin lived in the front.  Architectural historians have speculated that the house is wider than its neighbors to advertise the brothers’ masonry skills.  After Enoch died of the yellow fever in 1794, his widow Ann supported herself by running a boarding house out of her half of the house.

The early nineteenth century saw craftspeople – bricklayers, chairmakers, carpenters and tailors – living in both halves of House 116.  By the end of the century, the house was home to immigrants from all over Europe.  In 1880, the Bowen and Greer families, both from Ireland, shared the house; in 1900, the back building was home to the Italian Rossi family.  Russian Jewish widow Annie Bick had moved into House 116 by 1910.  A dressmaker who spoke only Yiddish, she lived with her seven children, two step-children, and a boarder