The last built of Fairmount Park's surviving great houses, Lemon Hill, was commissioned by merchant Henry Pratt in 1800 in the then up-to-date neoclassical style. Hallmarks of the new mode are the smooth surfaces of the exterior that contrast with the sculptural and physical character of the detail of “Mount Pleasant” (
PH133). Elegant oval rooms overlooking the river ornament each story and recall the oval bay included in the house built for the U.S. president on Market Street by William Williams in 1794, and the contemporary oval office of the White House. Lemon Hill was the first property added to the Water Works grounds in 1844 that marked the beginning of Fairmount Park.