Metadata
Title
Conard, Charles
Description
Charles Conard was a master builder of Philadelphia elected to the Carpenters' Company of Philadelphia in 1837. He served on the Company's Managing Committee and its Book Prices Committee as well as Company Secretary (1863-65), Vice President (1866-68) and President (1869-71). Conard's father, Jonathon, was a lumber merchant in Philadelphia partnering with house carpenter Moses Lancaster. Charles Conard was apprentice to Lancaster and continued to work for him as a journeyman. Charles had a hand in the construction of the Philadelphia Academy of Music (1857) as a building superintendent. Conard resided at 88 Dillwyn street. Conard was a Quaker and was buried at Fairhill Friends Burial Ground.
Biography from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings site, a project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Written by Tom Stokes.
Biography from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings site, a project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia. Written by Tom Stokes.
Member Number
335
Last Name
Conard
First Name
Charles
Birth Date
1801
Deceased Date
3/22/1876
Married
1826
Spouse Name
Margaret Knight
Children
nine children
Father
Jonathan conard
Mother
Hannah Nixon
Descendant
Robert A. Conard
Erik P. Conard, Ph.D.
Date Elected
1/1/1837
Office Held
President, 1869-71
Secretary, 1863-65
Vice President, 1866-68
Committee Membership
Book Prices Committee, 1871-76
Managing Committee, 1857-59
Business Address
88 Dilwyn (CD) (1835)
Project
S. side Brown halfway between Front and Second Sts
East side of certain Court on N. side Olive St. East of Broad
District of Spring Garden -- see "comments"
Reference
See Lancaster ---------------------- City Directory - 1820 - Conard & Lancaster, lumber merchants, Noble below 4th Jonathan, lumber merchant, 184 N. 4th; yard Noble below 4th. 1824 - Conard & Lancaster, lumber merchants, below Tammany City Directory - 1835 - Charles Connard (sic.), carpenter, 88 Dilwyn. 1840 - Charles Conard, carpenter, 88 Dillwyn. 1845, 50 - Charles, hardware, SE corner 2nd & Coates; house 226 Green (same man?) ---------------------- e-mail from Eric Conard 8/23/2003 Conard, Charles, born 1801, Philadelphia, of Quaker ancestry, son of Jonathan & Hannah (Nixon) Conard. Direct descendant of Thones Kunders (1652-1729), a founder of Germantown, PA, 1683. Charles married Margaret Knight 1826 and had nine children. A grandson, Admiral Charles Conard, was paymaster of the US Navy and a great grandson, Robert Allen Conard, Jr., a rocket scientist. Charles Conard, "carpenter," died March 2, 1876 in Philadelphia. --------------------- e-mail from alyce kollmer gives some information on family relationships. --------------------- City Records D.S.B. book #342; claim filed April 12, 1827; satisfied January 11, 1828 (with his signature) Claim for $356 against two, two story brick houses 24 feet 10 inches front by28 feet depth situate on the south side of Brown street about half way between Front and Budd streets. Being for work done and materials furnished in and about the said houses at the time of erecting the same. ------------------- City Records D.C.Liens book #402; filed October 20, 1846; satisfied November 20, 1847 William Abbott & Charles Conard trading under the name of Abbott & Conard vs. William R. Dickerson. Claim for $103.39 against 6 contiguous3-story brick dwelling houses situate on the east side of a certain court which lies on the north side of Olive street at the distance of 152 feet 7 inches east from the east side of Broad street in the District of Spring Garden. from Steven Moe at descendent in 2009 The only thing I know he helped build was I think a famous building in Philadelphia, called the Academy of Music where he was superintendent of construction. I have a history of that building from 1855 or so where he is listed twice. The following is from an extract about architects and builders in Philadelphia and gives some clues about his early life - It comes from: Donna J. Rilling, "Making Houses, Crafting Capitalism: Builders in Philadelphia, 1790 to 1850 (index shows also mentioned on pages 23 and 74 but do not have book.) "A number of builders attained true proficiency at drawing. At the master's expense, carpenter Moses Lancaster sent his apprentice Charles Noble to drafting school in 1820. His apprentice Charles Conard may have also attended, affording Conard conversance with architectural drawing useful to him later as superintendent of construction for Philadelphia's Academy of Music. The young men would have learned a range of "linear" and mechanical drawing, perspective and "practical architecture". In 1820, however, drafting school did not so much signify a formal instructional institution as occasional classes offered by maser craftsmen or by men who promoted themselves as design professionals."
File Number
i