The J. Peter Lesley House is located in Philadelphia's Washington Square West neighborhood, on the south side of Clinton Street between South 10th and 11th Streets. It is a 3+1⁄2-story brick building, with a gabled roof pierced in front by a gabled dormer, and flanked on the side walls by chimneys. It is three bays wide, with the entrance in the rightmost bay, topped by a Federal style half-round transom window. The interior of the house largely retains features of the later 19th century, despite conversion to multiunit residences and back to single-family use.[3]
J. Peter Lesley rented this building from 1869 to 1897, using it as his home and office. Lesley served for many years as the State Geologist of Pennsylvania, and was a leading authority on geology related to coal and iron ore, especially in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. His pioneering work A Manual of Coal, published in 1856, demonstrated the relationship between topography and geological structure. He supervised the publication of more than 120 state reports produced by its Geological Survey department, which he also directed for many years.[3]
The Lesleys made this address their year-round home until 1885, when Mrs. Lesley was given a house in Milton, Massachusetts. He continued to spend most of his days here until ill health compelled his retirement in 1896, after which he also moved permanently to Massachusetts.[3]
