Edgar Allan Poe House in Philadelphia (photo by the National Park Service)

Visitors to Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site are welcome to tour the Poe House, the only surviving house in Philadelphia in which Poe once lived (he lived in five different houses). The exact dates of his residence at the house are unknown, but he moved in some time between the fall of 1842 and June 1843 and left in April 1844. With him were is wife, Virginia Clemm, and her mother, Maria Clemm, who was Poe’s aunt. It is thought that he wrote The Gold Bug and The Black Cat while living in this house. Both of these were published during this time.

The building layout today is different from what existed during Poe’s time. In the early 1840s there was only a single house. Two additional houses were built onto the original building in 1848. The National Park Service now owns all three and uses the two newer houses as the park’s Visitor Center. It is the Visitor Center that you see from 7th Street. The Poe House is around back situated alongside a courtyard.

Model of the original Edgar Allan Poe House in Philadelphia and the two houses that were added in 1848

The Poe House and Visitor Center are open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 9 AM to 12 PM and 1 PM to 5 PM. Both are closed from noon to 1 PM for an employee lunch break. You cannot physically enter the buildings during this time and must wait outside for them to reopen. Visiting hours can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site.

You are welcome to drive to the Poe House, but there is no parking lot specifically for the house—you must park on the street. If you do not have a problem walking, the house is only a mile from Independence Hall, which is in the downtown historic district of Philadelphia. There are a number of ways to get there, and by simply following a map and taking the most direct route you will likely end up on 6^th or 7^th street, but these lead past busy I-676 entrance ramps and cross other wide streets. A safer alternative is to take 4^th Street north to Spring Garden Street, then take a left and continue until you reach 7^th Street. The Poe House is to the right and within sight of the street corner.

A block farther north from the Poe House is a low income housing project, the Spring Garden Apartments, though the walk to the house is mainly through a business district. The neighborhood surrounding the house looked fine to me, and I never had any safety concerns, especially during daytime. You’ll find people walking everywhere.

Intersection of 7th and Spring Garden streets in Philadelphia

Visitors to the park are welcome to tour the Poe House on their own or request a guided tour. The house is not furnished because not only is there no existing original furniture, but also because the National Park Service has absolutely no idea what sort of furniture Poe would have owned. Therefore, be sure to request a tour and get the full story of Poe and his time at the house, otherwise you might as well just walk around in a random empty building and pretend you are in Poe’s house. Also, this is an old house with stairs, so it is inaccessible to those in wheelchairs and to those who cannot climb stairs. The Visitor Center, however, is accessible to disabled visitors.

Even if you are the only one at the park, a Ranger or knowledgeable volunteer will be happy to give you a tour whenever you are ready. If you have a group of ten or more, be sure to call ahead and schedule a tour specifically for your group. If you call when the Visitor Center is open, use (215) 597-8780. From Mondays through Thursdays call Independence National Historical Park at (215) 965-2305. Rangers there also handle the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site.

I showed up at the house during lunch break and waited outside with a few other people. When we entered at 1 PM, we watched an 8-minute film about Poe and then took a tour. If you arrive after a tour has begun, you can either catch up with the group, walk through the house on your own, or hang around the Visitor Center until the guide finishes with the ongoing tour and can start a new one. Unless a tour just began, I recommend waiting. You can browse the exhibits, watch the park film, or spend time reading Poe’s stories in the Edgar Allan Poe Reading Room.

Edgar Allan Poe Reading Room (photo by National Park Service)

If you are not a Poe fan, you are very likely to be the only non-fan at the house. Like everyone who attended an American high school, I have read a few of his stories, but that’s about it. Everyone else on the tour, including a couple from Scotland, could quote from his writings. A visit to the house was like a pilgrimage for them.

As mentioned, the Poe House has no furniture. Years before the National Park Service took over the property, Richard Gimbel, one of the two brothers who owned the now defunct Gimbels Department Store, purchased the house and turned it into a museum. However, he had it decked out with high-end Victorian furniture of such that Poe never could have afforded. When the house became the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site in 1978, all furniture was removed. In fact, most rooms now look like they are in the middle of a home renovation. The National Park Service has stripped away the layers of wall paper, plaster, and molding that were applied after 1844, the year Poe and his family moved out of the house. In lieu of completely empty rooms, there are large murals that depict what the house might have looked like inside.

Mural depicts what the interior of the Poe House might have looked like in the early 1840s, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site

Mural of Edgar Allan Poe writing a story inside one of the rooms of his 7th Street house in Philadelphia, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site

When entering a room, the guide talks about the person who is believed to have lived there. The educated guesses stem from items that were found when the newer plaster and molding were removed. For example, a woman’s hair pin was found when a baseboard in an upstairs bedroom was removed, leading researcher’s to believe the room was used by either Virginia or Maria Clemm. In truth, you could just as well be attending on a lecture on Poe and his family on any given street corner and still learn the same stuff, but being in the house does add a little atmosphere to the lecture.

Guide at Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site talks about Virginia Clemm in what is thought to be her bedroom

There is, however, a visit to one room that brings more to the lecture than you can get on the street-corner, and that is a visit to the cellar. It was during his time in this house that Poe is believed to have written The Black Cat, a story in which a man murders his wife and buries her behind the cellar wall. He accidentally bricks in his hated cat as well, and when the police arrive the cat’s howl prompts them to tear down the wall, at which time they discover the body. Perhaps the cellar in this house gave Poe the idea.

Cellar of the Poe House on 7th Street in Philadelphia, complete with a black cat, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site

Since the tours are unscheduled, lengths of the tours are also arbitrary—all depends on the interest of the person or group attending the tour. The tour I was on lasted a little over an hour. Had I been on my own, I suspect 45 minutes would have done the trick. Thus, be prepared to spend up to two hours at the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site for the house tour and to browse through the museum and watch the film.

There are two works of art at or near the Poe House. A sculpture of The Raven, the title of another popular Poe story, is on the left side of the Visitor Center.

Raven sculpture with the Poe House in the background (photo by My Alpha Life)

If you continue down the street from the Visitor Center to the next corner, you can see a large Poe mural on the side of one of the Spring Garden apartment buildings. This is not part of the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, but certainly warrants a visit for Poe fans. The mural was commissioned by the Mural Arts Program in the late 1990s and was painted by Peter Pagast.

Edgar Allan Poe mural at the corner of North 7th and Green streets

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