If you love Victorian architecture, no part of Philly has as many beautifully preserved examples of that era as Powelton Village. Since 2022, Powelton, as it is called by locals, has been on the Philadelphia Historic Register, the City’s largest historic district, protecting 817 authentic Victorian homes. It has also been on the National Historic Register since 1979.

Powelton Village is bordered on the north by Spring Garden Street, on the southwest by Lancaster Avenue, and to the east by the Schuylkill River. Centuries before it was part of what we now know as University City, this charming neighborhood was farmland, outside the City limits. The first investors to purchase large tracts of land in the 17th century were wealthy, politically influential  Quakers named Powel. They included Samuel Powel, one of the first mayors of Philadelphia.

But it wasn’t until the advent of the trolley car in the late 19th century that Powelton became an exclusive enclave of “Blue Book” industrialists and Quakers. These titans, who belonged to the Union League and the prestigious Powelton Club, didn’t just build homes. They built castles!

In the 1930s the Depression caused homeowners to flee and turn their mansions into rental properties. This, in turn, brought the middle class into Powelton, many of whom were recent immigrants from Eastern Europe. At that time, one may have heard Yiddish, Russian, Polish, and German spoken there. At the same time, Powelton and much of West Philly had a growing Black population following the Great Migration.

By the 1960s the former mansions were being rented to students. That is when this neighborhood became a center for counterculture and anti-war activism. More recently, Penn and Drexel professors have purchased many of the properties in the area. They restored homes, demanded better schools, and formed a progressive Powelton Civic Association which, ultimately, was successful in attaining the City Historic Register designation which preserves and protects their Victorian homes.

If you go, start with the towering Victorian mansion on the southeast corner of 34th & Powelton Ave. which resembles Fantasyland. Built for a Pennsylvania Railroad magnate by architect T.P Lonsdale, this limestone castle with medieval towers has been occupied continuously since 1888. 

When the owner and his heirs died, the massive estate became the property of Drexel University in 1928. It was used first as the University’s Domestic Science Center, back in the day when being a homemaker was the only occupation open to women. In 2001, Drexel did a top-to-bottom renovation of the building, re-opening it as Ross Commons, a student center. During the reconstruction, the former wrap-around porch was enclosed and rented to Sabrina’s, a popular brunch spot. 

Across the street at 3401 Powelton Ave., is another Victorian example of ostentatious wealth. It was built in 1886 for the founder of Baldwin Locomotives, the largest manufacturer of steam locomotives in the world by architect Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr., the founder of the Dept. of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Constructed of massive stones, this Victorian castle takes its cues from the Late Medieval style. 

The mansion stayed in the family until the 1930s when the Stock Market Crashed and impacted even the uber-wealthy, causing the mansion to become a rental property. In 1966, Drexel’s Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity moved into the historic estate, spending millions to retain its original grandeur.

If you want to see a German Gothic 16-bedroom mansion done in high Victorian style, check out  216 N. 33rd St. Called “the castle on the corner,” it was built in 1887 for a German-born industrialist who owned the largest brewery in the nation. In the 1920s, it became a rental property and, in 1939, it became the home of Drexel’s Alpha Pi Lamda fraternity. When the property became unsafe, the fraternity launched a multi-million dollar campaign that restored it in 2008. 

Another repurposed Victorian mansion built in 1886 can be found at 3300 Baring St. The most stunning feature of the house is its elaborately milled porch latticework, turned posts, and balustrades. The original owner was a Quaker widow, the grandmother of Maxfield Parrish, one of the 19th century’s most famous artists. Parrish lived in this house when he studied at Drexel.

The house still retains its original stained-glass windows, decorative woodwork, large rooms, and high ceilings. Like many other Powelton properties, in the 1930s it was bought by a Russian immigrant and became a rental property in the 1960s. Since 2009, it has been The Cornerstone Bed & Breakfast, a delightful historic guest house.

Powelton’s other B&B,  Akwaaba Philadelphia, 3709 Baring, dates back to 1879. The original owners were Blue Bood Quakers. By 1910, it was a rental property. In 1950 it became the Friendship Coop House, a Quaker cooperative housing residence. Later in 1999, it became Spruce Hill Manor Inn, a B&B. In 2018, it became Philadelphia’s first Black-owned bed and breakfast, part of a chain of six upscale B&Bs with locations from Brooklyn to New Orleans.

These are just a few of the hundreds of lovely Victorian homes on the tree-lined streets of Powelton. While the area closest to Drexel University is predominantly student residences, make sure you also investigate the owner-occupied homes along Hamilton, Baring, and Pearl Street, from 32nd to 37th St. Only 14% of Powelton homes are owner-occupied and they alone fought for their neighborhood’s historic preservation.