125 Elfreth's Alley

Built in 1836 by turner Harman Baugh, who had also purchased House 127 that year, its age is visually apparent by its height (at four stories, it is the tallest house on the block), its lack of a dormer window, and its arched fanlight above the door.  Before Baugh built the house, there was a wood-frame carpentry shop on the lot, first used by cabinetmaker Daniel Trotter and later by turner Barney Schumo.

Even in 1900, House 125 was the home to a carpenter – Russian immigrant Samuel Freeman, who lived with his wife and five children in the house.  Samuel’s sons were tinsmiths, and his 17-year old daughter Annie was a hat trimmer in a local factory.  The Freemans did not live in the house alone, though; another Russian couple, Issac and Yetta Surkin, shared the house with the Freemans.  They too had five children, but their children were younger and still in school.
 
Today, House 125 has been divided into two apartments.  While almost all the houses on the Alley are lived in by their owners, there are several houses that remain rental properties - as they had been for so many years.