Cliveden's Living Kitchens

Cliveden of the National Trust

Audiences take in Liberty To Go To See, 2015, at Cliveden’s Main House, an interactive dramatic event based on the Chew Family Papers, produced by the New Freedom Theatre and featuring a script created through a year-long partnership between Cliveden and the Philadelphia Young Playwrights. — Audiences take in *Liberty To Go To See*, 2015, at Cliveden’s Main House, an interactive dramatic event based on the Chew Family Papers, produced by the New Freedom Theatre and featuring a script created through a year-long partnership between Cliveden and the Philadelphia Young Playwrights.

The main building at Cliveden, constructed 1763–67. Courtesy of Cliveden.

Architectural archaeology of Cliveden’s historic 1767 kitchen. Photo courtesy of Cliveden of the National Trust.

Recipient

Grant Year 2015

Grant Amount $269,000

Status Completed

Updated May 30, 2023

Cliveden of the National Trust will undertake a historical interpretation project that will compare domestic life in two centuries through the exploration of the 1767 and 1959 kitchens inside Cliveden's historic Germantown mansion, revealing how architecture, design, and the technology of the times defined the experiences of those enslaved and in service and their relationships with the household's family. Living Kitchens aims to reorient how audiences understand Cliveden's history by shifting the focus of the house museum from the high-style Georgian country estate of the Chew family to the service buildings. Interpretive material will allow audiences to compare and contrast the evolving design of the spaces, while learning about the stories of those who worked inside the kitchens during two centuries. The project will be complemented by a series of public programs, including a community-curated exhibition of household items, and "Kitchen Conversations" led by expert scholars who will share ongoing research and invite community input during the planning process.

*Additional unrestricted funds are added to each grant for general operating support.*

Primary EventsEvents & Exhibitions

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: They Lived Where They Worked

Oct 30, 2015
Cliveden of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: Cookin' for the Big House: Slavery, Race, Gender, and the Kitchen Axis

Nov 20, 2015
Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: The Cup That Cheers

Dec 4, 2015
Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Interior of the Cliveden Main House’s 1959 kitchen space, built from a kit made by the Quaker Maid Company. Hailed in the 1950s as the “Kitchen of tomorrow,” it is located in what was once a Colonnade (circa 1776) that connected the Main House with the Kitchen Dependency outbuilding.

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: The Food Axis: Cooking, Eating, and 1950s Domestic Architecture

Mar 11, 2016
Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: Plantation Kitchens: Urban and Rural

Apr 15, 2016
Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

Cliveden's Living Kitchens: Mid-Century Modern

Oct 22, 2016
Cliveden, 6401 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia

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uestions of ractice

Interview

Inside Cliveden of the National Trust: Q&A with Executive Director David Young

Interview

Questions of Practice: Cliveden's Libbie Hawes on Historical Interpretation for Contemporary Audiences

Recipient

Cliveden of the National Trust

Cliveden of the National Trust is an eighteenth-century historic house and the site of the 1777 Battle of Germantown. A National Historic Landmark, the site includes two historic properties on over five acres of green space in Philadelphia's Historic Germantown. Cliveden preserves and interprets over 200 years of American history through the lives of the Chew Family and their staff, both enslaved and in service, and it offers programming for children and adults to connect the past and the present.

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