The Founders Court Room, the Philadelphia forum of the Pennsylvania Superior Court, is situated in the most historic setting of any state court room in America.
Atop the Penn Mutual Building at Sixth and Walnut Streets, the Founders Court Room directly overlooks to the north, Independence Hall, a building which originally served as the Pennsylvania State House. The building which was to become The Birthplace of Our Nation was under construction during the 24-year period of 1732-1756, having been designed by Philadelphia lawyer Andrew Hamilton, whose exemplary 1735 defense of Peter Zenger established the principle of Freedom of the Press and the paradigm term The Philadelphia Lawyer.
Astride Independence Hall are two other uniquely historic structures, Old City Hall on the east, and Congress Hall on the west. The former was the first home of the United States Supreme Court, where the sessions of that Court were conducted from 1791 to 1800, when it was restored to its original function as the seat of city government of Philadelphia. Congress Hall is so named because the United States Congress there sat from 1790 through 1800, when Philadelphia was the Capital of the United States. It was in this building that the Bill of Rights was enacted and Presidents George Washington and John Adams proclaimed their Oath of Office.
Thus, the Founders Court Room overlooks the edifice where the Declaration of Independence was debated and adopted in 1776, where the Articles of Confederation were drafted in 1776 and ratified in 1781, and where George Washington in 1787 chaired the Convention which drafted the Constitution.
The Liberty Bell, originally housed in Independence Hall, is now but a few yards away in a pavilion, still inspiring the millions of visitors from throughout the world who annually visit, and view, and even touch this eternal symbol of personal freedom.
The Founders Court Room directly overlooks to the west Washington Square, one of the five original squares laid out by William Penn in his 1682 plan of Colonial Philadelphia. This square served as a cemetery from 1704 to 1794, initially as a potters’ field, but, commencing in 1776, as the honored resting place for many of the mortally wounded soldiers of Washington’s Continental Army. This historic square was made sacred when, in 1954 it was designated as the site of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War, bearing the inscription: Beneath this stone rests a soldier of Washington’s Army who died to give you liberty.
The Founders Court Room overlooks to the east the American Philosophical Society Library and Museum, an organization of international distinction which is still active in the present time and was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as a nest for the leading thinkers of his era. Its members have included Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Madame Curie, John J. Audubon, and, of course, Benjamin Franklin himself. The two buildings of the Society were built in 1789, and although Library Hall was razed and rebuilt in the 1950s, Philosophy Hall, while restored and refurbished, remains an imprint of that age. The Museum serves as the altar for such revered materials as a draft of the Declaration of Independence in the handwriting of Thomas Jefferson, the original draft of opinions by Chief Justice John Marshall, and the original journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
The actual site of the Court Room at Sixth and Walnut Streets served as the Walnut Street Jail during Colonial times, from 1775 to 1835, first as a military prison and munitions storehouse during the Revolutionary War for whichever of the warring parties held the City of Philadelphia, and thereafter as a debtors’ prison. It was in this jail that Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence and financier of the Revolution, was confined when his fortune diminished, and from the prison yard that Jean Pierre Blanchard propelled his hot air balloon aloft for a 15-mile flight and the first air voyage in American history.
The Founders Court Room began its existence in 1932 as the Board Room for the Board of Directors of the Penn Mutual Insurance Company, and so served until 1996. The architectural features of the room were inspired by those of Independence Hall. The Pennsylvania Superior Court retained those original dramatic features of the room during renovations, and on May 13, 1998, dedicated the Founders Court Room.
The counsel’s podium was originally installed as the Clerk’s Desk in a Woonsocket, Rhode Island, court room - in 1895 - the year the Pennsylvania Superior Court was established by the Legislature and Governor of Pennsylvania.
The administrative offices for the Eastern District of the Superior Court are housed on the third floor of the building.
