3331 Powelton Avenue

The History of the Building

3321-31: “Circa 1885, red brick Victorian double houses with wood porches; 'segmental windows at first and second floors; pressed brick rosettes in facade between third floor windows; each house has two gabled wood dormers, except for 3329-31, where each half has one dormer. Probably designed by G.W. and W.D. Hewitt.”

(Inventory of Buildings in Powelton from the application submitted to the National Register of Historic Places, 1985)

Previous Residents

1890 Directory: William Anderson, (Anderson & Barry) & (S. C. Wilson & Co.)

S. C. Wilson & Co. manufactured woolen yarns.

Anderson William, Jr., manager

1898 Blue Book: William Anderson was a member of the Powelton Club. (For a brief history of the club, see the Powelton History Blog.)

1900:

William Anderson 52 Woolen manufacturer; born in Canada; born Feb. 1848

Hannah Anderson 62 Married 33 years, four children, 3 surviving; born in N.Y., born Mar. 1838

William Anderson 31 Woolen manufacturer; born Dec. 1868

George Anderson 25 Woolen manufacturer; born July, 1874

Burnett Anderson 25 Daughter; born July 1874

(ED 539, 133)

1910:

William Anderson 65 Wholesale drugs[?]

Hanna L. Anderson 65 married 40 years

Burnett Anderson 34

(ED 488, 3B)

1919: “Lewis, Frederic Hastings [c 88-91. Mfg.'] 3331 Powelton Ave., Philadelphia, Pa.”

(Harvard Alumni Directory. Harvard Alumni Association. 1919.)

1920:

Frederick Lewis 49 President of peanut oil co.; born in Mass.; owns house, free of mortgage

Burneth A. Lewis 46 Wife; father born in Canada, mother in N.Y.

(ED 682, 5B)

Frederick H. Lewis was president of the class of 1878 at the Univ. of Pennsylvania.

“PITTSBURGH TESTING LABORATORY JOHN T. LEWIS, BROS. & CO.

“The engineering specialty which the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory represents, as "Metallurgical and Inspecting Engineers," and in which, for ten years past, it has been pre-eminent, is entirely based upon the great supremacy of Pennsylvania in the manufacture of iron....

“These two facts : Pennsylvania's supremacy in iron, and the civil engineer's conscientous care in his bridge work, constituted the major and the minor premises on which the proprietors of the Pittsburgh Testing Laboratory concluded to start business, ten years ago. They considered that it was clearly impossible for engineers, all over this broad land, to give up home duties and come to Pennsylvania's workshops whenever there was a bridge to build. Hence it was likely that many engineers would be glad to do this by deputy, if they could only find reliable and competent deputies for their purpose....

“The home of the Laboratory and of its proprietors, Messrs. Hunt & Clapp, is of course in Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia office, under the management of Mr. Frederick H. Lewis, C. E., does a business which rivals that of the parent establishment.

“The Laboratory is a well known feature of the eastern iron business, and its many inspectors are known at all the great mills and bridge shops….

“The works [at the corner of Duke and Huntington Sts.] were much enlarged and in addition to the manufacture of white lead, linseed oil and arctic acid, they began the manufacture of red seal, orange mineral, acetate of lead, and at a later day many other paints.”

(Philadelphia and Popular Philadelphians. 1891, p 122)

“MR. FREDERICK H. LEWIS, M. Am. Soc., C. E. has visited the principal cement factories of England and the Continent, and makes a most interesting report.”

(Architect's Hand-book on Cements. Addison H. Clarke.1899.)

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Revised 9/14/2011