Home of George W. Childs

George W. Childs held a dinner for Oscar Wilde at his home on Walnut Street the evening of Wilde’s first Philadelphia lecture, January 17, 1882. The dinner ended an eventful day, which had included breakfast at the home of Dr. Samuel Gross (of The Gross Clinic fame) and visits to the Women’s School of Design (see stop #9) and with Walt Whitman in Camden before a reception prior to dinner at the home of L. Clarke and Rebecca Harding Davis (see stop #2). Wilde’s first Philadelphia lecture (see stop #8), delivered the night before disappointed most who attended. But despite the disappointment of the previous evening’s performance, Wilde was still a welcome guest among Philadelphia’s elite.