Belfield, National Historic Landmark mansion in Philadelphia, United States.
Belfield is a stone house in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, listed as a National Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places. The property includes a two-story studio addition built for painting and sits within the La Salle University campus.
The house was built in the late 1700s and purchased in 1810 by Charles Willson Peale, a well-known American painter. Peale adapted the building to suit his needs as an artist, adding the studio wing that still stands today.
The house shows how an artist of the early 1800s arranged his daily life and creative work under one roof. The surviving rooms and studio addition give a clear sense of how living and painting once overlapped in the same space.
The property sits on the La Salle University campus and is open to visitors through guided tours that require booking in advance. Allow time for both the interior rooms and the outdoor grounds around the building.
The grounds still hold an original obelisk that Peale had inscribed with personal mottos reflecting his beliefs as a painter and thinker. He placed it where he could see it often, treating it as a daily prompt for the values he wanted to live by.
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