Philadelphia, perhaps more than any other American city, is famous for the profusion and beauty of its ironwork, wrought and cast. For the most part it took the form of stair rails or balustrades, fences and foot scrapers, and many are the doorways of little or no architectural merit which are rendered beautiful by the accompanying ironwork. On the other hand, accompanying illustrations already discussed show the rare beauty of architecturally notable doorways enriched by the addition of good ironwork.
Fences were the exception rather than the rule in Colonial times, although rarely employed along the front of a house to prevent passers from accidentally stepping into areaways in the sidewalk in front of basement windows. The danger of such a catastrophe was remote, however, for Philadelphia sidewalks were very broad in order to make room for the customary stoop before the doorway and the frequent rolling way or basement entrance. These sidewalk obstructions being the rule, people formed the habit of walking near the curb, and accidents were thus avoided. It was not until late in the nineteenth century, when basement entrances with an open stairway along the front of the house began to be provided, that fences came into vogue, except in the suburbs, where a small front yard was sometimes surrounded by an iron fence.
[Illustration: PLATE LVI.--Hall and Staircase, Mount Pleasant; Second Floor Hall Archway and Palladian Window, Mount Pleasant.]
[Illustration: PLATE LVII.--Hall and Staircase, Cliveden; Staircase Detail, Cliveden.]
Stoops divide themselves into four principal classes, of which the first, consisting only of a single broad stone step before the doorway, perhaps hardly warrants the term. As at Grumblethorpe and the Morris house, these broad stone steps often had no ironwork other than a foot scraper set in one end or in the sidewalk near by. Again, as at the entrance to the Wistar house, there were iron handrails or balustrades at both sides. Less common, though by no means infrequent, were the stoops of this sort with a single handrail at one side.
These handrails or balustrades, replacing the stone parapets so common in other American cities, are patterned after the cathedral grilles and screens of the Middle Ages and consist of both Gothic and Classic detail utilized with ingenuity and good taste. Most of the earlier designs are hand wrought. Later, cast iron came into use, and much of the most interesting ironwork combines the two. The balustrade at the Wistar house just referred to is a typical example of excellent cast-iron work, the design consisting of a diaper pattern of Gothic tracery with harmonious decorative bands above and below.