Philadelphia Firehouses and Fire Stations:
A Watercolor Collection by
Granville Perkins (1830-1895)
55 watercolor images of Philadelphia fire houses probably painted around the 1860's.
American artist and illustrator Granville Perkins honed his artistic skills studying in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of Art under American landscape painter and etcher, James Hamilton (1819-1898). It is suspected that Perkins painted the city firehouses while studying.
As for the collection, locations, if not complete addresses are given for all 55 of the stations and houses, as well as the kind of house, specifically engine, hose, or trunk in most cases.
We can only speculate what his intentions were in painting the firehouses of Philadelphia, though perhaps he wished to express the individualization of a common cause by neighbourhood, ethnicity and location across the city. Truly, each house is different from all the others, and the interiors and more importantly, the exteriors display this.
The Granville Perkins Collection is housed at the Free Library of Philadelphia Print and Picture Department.
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