423 N. 32ndStreet
417-441
“Originally a block of thirteen identical three-story, two-register brick
rowhouses, now in various conditions…. Brownstone lintels with brick piers
dividing each house. -- Contributing”
(Inventory of
Buildings in Powelton from the application submitted to the National Register of Historic
Places, 1985)
Previous Residents
1886 Directory: Beck James M., lawyer
1890 Directory: Beck James M., P. O. Bldg,
& lawyer, 608 Chestnut St.
1900:
Carol H. Beck 37 Artist;
mother born in Maine; owner, free of a mortgage
Florence E. Beck 34 Sister;
mother born in Maine
Helen H. Beck 26 Sister;
mother born in Maine
Minnie A. Gross 26 Servant;
black; married, one child; born in Maryland
Jane R. Jones 46 Housekeeper; widowed, no children
“Miss Beck was a student in the
Pennsylvania Academy Schools from 1879 to 1884, afterwards studied in Dresden
and at the Julian Academy in Paris, and returned to the Pennsylvania Academy
schools for post-graduate work in 1899 and 1900, where she studied under
William M. Chase.
Her life was devoted to the painting of
portraits and her work was well known. She executed a portrait of Governor Patterson
for the State of Pennsylvania, and many portraits for colleges, hospitals, and
other public and civic organizations. In all, more than one hundred completed
works left the easel of this talented you woman.
“She was the recipient of the Mary Smith
Prize at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1899, and served the cause of Art in an
educational capacity by editing the catalogue of the Wilstach Collection of
pictures in Fairmount Park, in which her effective and discriminating comments
upon the more notable pictures and the artists represented have been of great
value.”
(Academy Notes, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy,
1909, vol. 4, no. 8, p. 130)
Carol Beck died in 1908 at age 51.
She was living at 4008 Chestnut St.
1910 Directory (Fall 1909): Given Jefferson,
clerk
1910: Apparently
vacant at the time of this census.
1911 Directory: McDermott John J., [railroad] fireman
Revised 10/9/2022