Race Street Meetinghouse | |
 (2013) | |
    | |
| Location | 1515 Cherry Street Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°57′20″N75°9′55″W / 39.95556°N 75.16528°W /39.95556; -75.16528 |
| Built | 1856 |
| NRHP reference No. | 93001610[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 4, 1993 |
TheRace Street Meetinghouse is an historic and still activeQuakermeetinghouse at 1515 Cherry Street in theCenter City area ofPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania.[2] The meetinghouse served as the site of theYearly Meeting of the Hicksite sect of theReligious Society of Friends, known as theQuakers, from 1857 to 1955.
Built in 1856 by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and what is now known as Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, a building 131 feet long by 80 feet wide was set fairly close to its Cherry Street frontage but sufficiently far back from Race Street to provide a pleasant open yard. The structure built was not just one meeting house, but two, so arranged and divided that either party could dispose of its property without affecting the property of the other. Construction brought two meeting rooms 36 feet high, the northern chamber being 60 feet by 80; the southern, 46 by 80. Each had "youth's galleries" on three sides. Between the two meetinghouses, and exceeding them by 16 feet in total width, was a 25-by-96-foot three-story structure containing large rooms for committee meetings and other purposes.[3]
The Race Street Meetinghouse was at the forefront of women's involvement both in Quaker religion and in Americanpolitical activism.[2] Many leaders in theWomen's Movement were associated with this meetinghouse; these includedabolitionist and women's rights activistLucretia Mott, peace activistHannah Clothier Hull, and suffrage leader andEqual Rights Amendment authorAlice Paul.[4]
The meetinghouse was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1993 for its role in the abolition of slavery, the advancement of women's suffrage, and thecivil rights movement.[2]
The Meetinghouse is part of the Friends Center campus, which includes the National Office of theAmerican Friends Service Committee,Friends World Committee for Consultation,Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of theUnited Nations Association. It is the site of a copy ofSylvia Shaw Judson's statue ofMary Dyer, the 17th-century Quaker martyr.[5][6][7] The Friends Meeting Center, built in 1974, was designed by Cope & Lippincott.[8]
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