Woolley was born in
England around 1695, and emigrated to the
Thirteen Colonies as a child, around 1705. It is not known with whom he apprenticed or where he learned his trade. He was one of the first members of the
Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia.
Independence Hall, 1732–1748 and 1750–1753 In 1732, he began construction of the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed
Independence Hall. Credit for the building's design has often been given to
Andrew Hamilton, but modern scholarship argues that he contributed little to the project. A surviving 1735 receipt lists a £5 payment to Woolley for "drawing drafts," "fronts" (elevations) and "Plans of the first and Second floors of the State House." The second floor featured meeting rooms and a banquet hall the width of the building. The original stairway proved inadequate for so large a building. In 1750, Woolley laid the foundations for a brick tower to house a grand staircase and support a wooden steeple. The tower's exterior was completed in 1753, but Hardings's interior woodwork was not completed until 1756. The bell ordered for the tower in 1751, is now known as the
Liberty Bell.
Whitefield Meeting House, 1740 Woolley designed and built the Whitefield Meeting House (1740, demolished), a
Methodist church and
charity school named for preacher
George Whitefield. Its 70-by-100 foot (21 x 30.5 m), -story building at 4th & Arch Streets was the largest building in the American Colonies – larger than the then-under-construction Pennsylvania State House. The charity school struggled financially. On the recommendation of
Benjamin Franklin, the building was purchased in 1749 for use by what became the
Academy of Philadelphia (1751). Several years later, the academy was granted a
Royal charter to establish a college, the
College of Philadelphia (1755). The academy and college are predecessors of the
University of Pennsylvania. The Whitefield Meeting House was demolished by 1845.
Hope Lodge, 1743–1748 Woolley was responsible for design and construction of the Whitemarsh Estate (today known as
Hope Lodge). The
Georgian country mansion was built by
Quaker businessman Samuel Morris in what is now
Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. ==Selected works==