The Carpenters’ Company is the oldest surviving craft guild in the
United States and the original builders of historic Carpenters’
Hall from 1770-1773. Carpenters’ Hall has remained their
headquarters and its preservation their focus through four
centuries; it is also where the battle for American Independence
began as it served as the host site for the First Continental
Congress in 1774. The Founding F
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athers’ involvement with the Hall continued to be significant
throughout the Revolution as it served as a hospital to both
American and British troops, an armory depot, the office of first
Secretary of War Henry Knox, and as the 1775 meeting place for
Benjamin Franklin and French spy Julien Achard de Bonvouloir that
established the Franco-American Alliance so crucial in winning the
war. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was a longtime tenant, housing his
Library Company of Philadelphia and the American Philosophical
Society at the Hall for almost 20 years. Both the First and Second
Banks of the United States briefly occupied the Hall, and the
Company established the first school of architecture within its
walls in 1834. Carpenters’ Hall has affected the history of the
city, the state, and the nation. The Carpenters’ Company chooses to
share this narrative with over 120,000 visitors yearly, free of
admission. As a result of the Hall having earned an honorable
position within the narrative of American history, the Company
voted to restore the Hall as a historic monument in 1857. It
was the first privately owned building in the United States to be
opened free to the public as a historic landmark.
