Source: Press Release
Date: August 14, 2009
Byline: Rosalyn McPherson

Press Conference

Contact: Rosalyn McPherson (856) 261-4023
Jane Cowley 215-597-0060 (INHP)
Lindsay Tucker (215) 564-6151

The President's House — Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation Press Conference

MEDIA ALERT:

DATE	Friday, August 21, 2009
TIME	11:30am
PLACE	People's Plaza 5th & Market Streets, Philadelphia, PA
WHO	Mayor Michael A. Nutter, City of Philadelphia Emanuel Kelly, FAIA, Principal, Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The short program will announce the firms selected as sub-contractors for the construction of the President's House Commemorative Site at 6th and Market Streets.

BACKGROUND:

The President's House — Freedom and Slavery in Making a New Nation is an important historic project that is designed to commemorate the house where Presidents George Washington and John Adams lived from 1790 to 1800, and tell the long-obscured story of at least nine enslaved Africans who toiled there during Washington's presidency.

In February 2007, the team headed by Kelly/Maiello Architects and Planners was selected to design a new permanent outdoor installation on the doorstep of the Liberty Bell Center. As a result of structural findings uncovered during an archeological dig at the site from March — July 2007, the design team enhanced the plan by incorporating these findings into the design. The new structure commemorating the President's House will allow for 24-hour access to the site. State-of-the-art studio and interactive visual technology will tell a series of compelling stories of life in the President's House. There will also be a place of solemn reflection in the area that is thought to be where enslaved persons slept, right at the entrance to the Liberty Bell Center. These interpretive features are intertwined with the bricks and mortar construction of the commemoration.

For more information, visit: www.ushistory.org/presidentshouse/index.htm

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