A 1971 portrait of Ima Hogg presides over the wide central hall that leads to a gracious terrace and to the lush gardens. The Philadelphia Hall borrows its name from the city where its Rococo-style furniture was made.

The hall’s curving staircase may have been inspired by a similar one in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, where she lived as a child when her father, James Stephen Hogg, served as governor from 1891 to 1895. She and her brothers would sometimes slide down the banister for fun, and when her youngest brother, Tom, broke his arm doing so, Governor Hogg hammered nails down the banister to discourage their games!