Franklin Court - The Ghost of Ben Franklin's House

Photo: Elisa.rolle, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)

A stop on Philadelphia Independence Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Benjamin Franklin built his house on this spot and spent his last years here. He died in 1790, and the house was torn down in 1812. No one knew exactly what it looked like, so instead of guessing, architects built the white steel outlines you see, often called ghost structures, to show the size and shape of the house and his print shop.

Look down through the viewing ports to see bits of the old foundations and privy pits that archaeologists uncovered.

Franklin was a printer, scientist, inventor, writer and diplomat, and he signed both the Declaration and the Constitution. His life also tells a harder story. For years he owned enslaved people and his newspaper printed ads for selling them. Late in life he changed course and became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society.

On the Market Street side, a working print shop and a post office honor two of his trades.

Getting here: Walk back to Chestnut Street and continue east, then head north through the passage marked Franklin Court between 3rd and 4th Streets.

Did you know?: The post office on the Market Street side is the only one run by the U.S. Postal Service that does not fly an American flag, because there was no national flag in Franklin's time.

Photo op: Stand at the edge of the courtyard and frame the white steel outline of the house against the sky.

More on Wikipedia: Franklin Court · Benjamin Franklin · Pennsylvania Abolition Society

Franklin Court - The Ghost of Ben Franklin's House

Stops on this tour