Carpenters' Hall

Condition assessment and structural strengthening ensured Robert Smith’s historic building remains an integral part of Independence National Historical Park. Constructed from 1770-1773 by the Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia, the historic 18th century building was central to the founding activities of the new nation. It hosted the First Continental Congress, housed Benjamin Franklin’s Library Company, and been home since 1770 to the nation’s oldest trade guild. Carpenters’ Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

While designed and constructed to the highest standards of the period by early company member Robert Smith, Carpenters’ Hall required supplemental structural intervention in the mid 1980s to accommodate modern occupancy loads and physical changes imposed on the building over time. The primary structural focus of the work was re-supporting the second floor structure through a series of hanger rod assemblies and steel trusses intricately inserted into the attic space. These interventions allowed for the first floor to remain a column-free space as originally designed.