K E E WAY D I N E DWA R D W. C L A R K J R . H O U S E
S t . M a r t i n ’s ( 1 8 8 9 )
T
H E I M P O S I N G S TO N E M A N S I O N
of Edward W. Clark Jr. occupies the entire block front on
Cherokee Street between Mermaid Lane and Moreland Avenue, and its vast rooms almost rival
those of the Wissahickon Inn a few blocks away. An early essay in the Colonial Revival style by architect George Pearson, Keewaydin serves as one of the anchors of the St. Martin’s neighborhood, which was the core of the new Chestnut Hill envisioned by Henry Houston. Edward Clark Jr. (1857–1946) was from a distinguished family that made its fortune in investment banking, beginning in Providence, Rhode Island, then moving to Philadelphia, where the family founder, Enoch W. Clark, became a major financier of President James K. Polk’s war with Mexico. Edward W. Clark Sr. married into old Philadelphia bloodlines, and his children did the same, establishing the family in the social hierarchy of the city. Edward Jr.’s generation of the family was successful in business, politics, and academia. Keewaydin and Kate’s Hall, the Joseph S. Clark residence, were two of several notable houses commissioned by members of this generation, both in Chestnut Hill and across the Schuylkill in the Main Line communities of Bala and Strafford.
Early 20th-century view from the corner of Cherokee Street and Moreland Avenue
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