The land was bought by a Philadelphia
merchant named George Thomson in 1809. The mansion was completed circa 1810 using
rubble stone for the
masonry work which was then finished with
stucco scored to resemble cut stone. Thomson used the house as a summer residence for about five years and then sold it to another merchant named Isaac Jones in 1815 whose son sold it to the city in 1870. The house and original plot of of land are situated adjacent to the
Mount Pleasant Mansion along Mount Pleasant Drive. Beginning in 2002, the
Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia (PCoP) entered into a long-term lease arrangement with the city, via the Fairmount Park Conservancy's Historic Preservation Trust. Between 2002 and 2005, PCoP restored the house with help from the trust. PCoP relocated its administrative offices to the mansion, and schedules educational and community-related activities there. The city's leasing agreements for Fairmount Park properties require lessees to commit financial resources to help with restoration and ongoing maintenance work. The lessees are not permitted to alter the historic architectural features of the structures, and must allow for public access. Rockland Mansion is registered on the
Philadelphia Register of Historic Places and is an inventoried structure within the Fairmount Park Historic District entry on the
National Register of Historic Places. ==See also==