Margaret Esherick House, 204 Sunrise Lane, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

Significance: Designed and constructed between 1959 and 1962, the Margaret Esherick House in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania is a masterwork of modern architecture and craftsmanship. Internationally renowned Philadelphia architect Louis I. Kahn designed the house at the exact moment his career began climbing to unprecedented heights of success and influence. His robust buildings emphasized structure, spatial organization, context, and the architectural separation of "servant" and "served," and were received by critics as powerful alternatives to the, by then, ubiquitous International Style glass box. The Esherick House is one of only a handful of built residential commissions by an architect known for his, sometimes massive, institutional projects. Its sophistication has clarity of design approaching his most important projects and, because of its modest scale, issues a clear and comprehensible demonstration of Kahn's complex ideas about the interplay of humanity and the built environment.

The Esherick House might appropriately be called a modern suburban villa that has two distinct faces. The severity and closed quality of the street facade is entirely transformed and opened up on the garden front, which overlooks Pastorius Park. Expanses of glass blur the division between exterior and interior and this transparency is heightened in the warmer months by idiosyncratic wood shutters that open up sections of the exterior walls. These shutters are just one example of exquisitely detailed woodwork found throughout the house, rendered in apitong, a type of teak. The artistic quality of the woodwork becomes literal in the kitchen where important American sculptor Wharton Esherick, the uncle of client Margaret Esherick, crafted the cabinetry. Kahn designed a studio for Wharton Esherick in 1955 and he likely provided the introduction for his niece, a mature single woman and business owner at a time when affluent women tended to be neither. A confident woman in her own right, with a famed sculptor for an uncle and a prolific and well-known West Coast architect for a brother, Kahn likely respected her artistic opinion or at least her ability to get a sound second opinion on matters of design. Together, they created a jewel-box of a building that is a testament to Kahn's abilities and Esherick's sensibilities, one that continues to demonstrate the transcendent quality of outstanding design, craftsmanship, and stewardship.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1681
Survey number: HABS PA-6775
Building/structure dates: 1959-1962 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: ca. 1963 Subsequent Work