Source: Press Release
Date: July 31, 2009
Byline: Independence National Historical Park and City of Philadelphia

President's House Prepares for Site Excavation

Michael A. Nutter, Mayor, City of Philadelphia
Cynthia MacLeod Superintendent, Independence National Historical Park

CONTACT: Jane Cowley (INHP), 215-597-0060, Rosalyn McPherson, 856-261-4023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Philadelphia — July 31, 2009) Kelly/Maiello Management and the Daniel J. Keating Company, the project team for the President’s House at 6th and Market Streets in Independence National Historical Park, today announced that the site will soon be prepared for its next phase of construction.

An announcement with details on groundbreaking at the site is expected in the next two weeks. The site will be fenced off during construction and the viewing platform that has been at the site since 2007 will be removed. Visitors will still be able to view the site from 6th Street or Independence Mall.

Site preparation for construction will commence the week of August 3rd and includes set up of logistics trailers, removal of the current observation stand, erection of temporary fencing and minor excavation. Information about the site (including information about the archeological dig and the history of the house) will be available at the Independence Visitor Center and online at www.nps.gov/inde.

President’s House — Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation is an important historic project designed to commemorate the executive mansion of the first two United States presidents, George Washington and John Adams, and tell the long-obscured story of at least nine enslaved Africans who toiled at the house during Washington’s presidency through architecture, landscaping, imagery and interpretive text.

Upon its completion, the President’s House project, a joint initiative of Independence National Historical Park and the City of Philadelphia, will result in a new permanent outdoor installation on the doorstep of the Liberty Bell Center at 6th & Market Streets. Officials from the city and Independence National Historical Park are targeting the fall of 2010 for project completion.

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