After Thomas Doughty. Fair Mount Water Works. Phila: Carey & Lea, ca. 1826. $9,500.00

Thomas Hill after Thomas Doughty.
"Fair Mount Water Works”
Philadelphia: “H. Carey & I. Lea Phila. & H.L. Megarey Broadway, N.York”, c. 1826.

Between 1818 and 1822 a new waterworks was built in Philadelphia to satisfy the growing city's demand for water. It was located on the Schuylkill River at the base of Fair Mount, Frederick Graff was the genius responsible for the engineering and building design. The new waterworks was totally self-contained. Using water power, Schuylkill water was pumped into a large reservoir atop the hill and from there the water was gravity fed to homes and hydrants throughout Philadelphia. The Waterworks was an engineering marvel and so beautiful that tourists came to see it.  In fact, the Water Works and its environs became one of Philadelphia's best known tourist attractions. The area was lushly landscaped and maintained and formed the nucleus for Fairmount Park.  The text below the image notes that the engraving was dedicated to the Select and Common Councils of the City of Philadelphia by their much obliged servants T. Doughty & T. Hill. It is also noted in the lower right “F. Graff Esq. Architect & Engineer.”
A lovely view of the waterworks from across the Schuylkill based upon a famous painting by Thomas Doughty, one of the first American artists to devote himself to landscape painting and engraved by Thomas Hill a skilled engraver and a talented painter particularly well-known for his Hudson River scenes.

Hand colored aquatinted engraving.

Clean and sharp impression in excellent original condition with original coloring.
Framed to museum specifications to 26 ½ x 30 1/2 inches.

Snyder, Mirror of America, #291.