Hill-Physick House

The Hill-Physick House stands out with its bright yellow facade and the high, arched windows that face South Fourth Street. Built in seventeen eighty-six, this residence belonged to Philip Syng Physick, a man frequently called the father of American surgery. Physick treated famous patients like Chief Justice John Marshall, but he also experimented with tonic water and ice cream, earning a strange reputation for his medical inventions. The house retains its federal style while the garden remains an unusually quiet pocket of Society Hill.