Girard Row

Row Houses

Spruce St. between 3rd and 4th Sts.

These are good examples of what the original "row houses" were. The man most often associated with this type of house is Steven Girard, the nation's first "adventure" capitalist. Originally a French privateer he hunted down pirates until he settled in Philadelphia. Here he built up a sizable amount of wealth, enough so that he became the chief financial contributor toward the War of 1812 effort.

He had a large hand in saving many people from the yellow fever epidemic by cleaning up hospitals and burying the dead, and donated money to help establish the Pennsylvania Hospital. His wife went crazy and had to be committed but he was refused a divorce by the state of Pennsylvania.

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