The Historic District of Awbury Arboretum celebrates the existence and survival of a unique group of buildings whose history began over a century and a half ago. Their story is an important part of the history of the growth of Philadelphia's early suburbs.

Awbury began in 1852 when Henry Cope, a Philadelphia ship owner, bought a piece of farm land in Germantown to build a summer house for his family.His daughter and son-in-law, Mary Cope and John Smith Haines, had already built a house on adjacent property. At that time, Germantown which was not yet part of the the City of Philadelphia, was largely undeveloped and an ideal place for country living.

Henry Cope's house and the Haines' house were just the first of  a whole community of houses that were built by various members of the Cope Family over several

generations. The estate was named after the village, Avebury, England, from which

his family originally emigrated and soon became a year-round home for members of the extended Cope family. For example, when the Henry Cope house became too crowded with children and grandchildren, Henry's son Francis built a new house nearby in 1861. After that, three of Francis' children built houses in Awbury for their growing families. Other cousins in the family of Francis Cope's brother Thomas did the same. And so it continued, until by the 1920's 24 houses were scattered around what is present day Awbury.

The farmland of Germantown, meanwhile, was rapidly being developed. By World War I, Awbury was becoming an island of green space surrounded by blocks of houses. In 1916, fifty-five acres were preserved through the establishment of Awbury Arboretum as a public park. In 1984, the Awbury Arboretum Association was established as a non-profit organization.

Twenty-four of the Awbury houses are listed on the National Register of Historic places as part of the  Awbury Historic District, established in 2001. The District recognizes the architectural and historic importance of these buildings. Its approval by the U.S. Department of the Interior is significantbecause it draws attention to Awbury's role in the development of Germantown, and Philadelphia.In addition, Awbury's nomination as a Historic District has been submitted to the Philadelphia Historical Commission.

Each of the buildings in the Historic District has been associated with the extended Cope family in some way and, together, they illustrate aspects of this Quaker family's way of life. The Awbury houses themselves (which include two former carriage house/stables) are particularly significant because they illustrate a range of architectural styles - Gothic Revival, Queen Anne, and Tudor Revival, for example - that were popular from 1850 to the 1920's. Individually, they reflect almost a century's worth of designs by a series of prominent architects including Thomas Ustick Walter, Addison Hutton, Brockie & Hastings, Carl Ziegler, Cope & Stewardson, and Edmund Gilchrist. Except for the Francis Cope House (1860) which is now the Arboretum headquarters, all of the houses are now privately owned.

The houses are clustered in a landscape of lawns, gardens, shrubs, and woodlands. Several areas were designed by prominent landscape architects, such as William Saunders, designer of the National Cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield and of the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C.  Awbury's grounds were laid out in the 19^th century   English landscape garden tradition. In the 20th century additional landscape architecture was provided by the firm of Harrison, Mertz & Emlen. The landscapes, including former farmlands, are important features of the Awbury Historic District. Long Vistas are framed by clusters of trees and shrubs which are interwoven with open space creating stunning visual contrasts.

Click Here For a map of the Historic District of Awbury Arboretum

Reference: The Historic Houses of Awbury, by Gay Johnson & Mark Sellers