This is the Laurel Hill Mansion. It was built between 1764 and 1767 by Rebecca Rawle, a recently widowed mother of three. Shortly afterword, she married Samuel Shoemaker who had served as mayor of Philadelphia before the Revolutionary War. William Rawle, her son, inherited it in 1819. He sold the property in 1828. In 1869 it was purchased by the city of Philadelphia. The building was closed when I visited it.
