[3][4] It encompasses the former summer homes and farms of the extended Cope family, who moved to the area starting in 1849 and the entire Awbury Arboretum, which occupies most of the district's area, as well as adjacent properties developed and occupied by Henry Cope (1793-1865), son and successor to prominent Philadelphia Orthodox Quaker merchant Thomas Pym Cope (1768-1854), his close relatives, and his descendants.

The district, which has been described by Philadelphia area historians as "visually distinct from the densely-built urban blocks that surround it on three sides, and from the level, open landscape of the city park to the northwest," features buildings which were designed in the Gothic Revival, Italian Villa, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, Shingle, and Colonial Revival styles of architecture between 1849 and 1922.

[2] The Awbury Historic District in Philadelphia's East Germantown neighborhood encompasses the former summer homes and farms of the extended Cope family, who moved to the area starting in 1849, as well as the entire Awbury Arboretum, which occupies most of the district's area.

[6] In August 2000, Philadelphia area newspapers reported that representatives of the Awbury Arboretum had submitted the necessary paperwork to initiate the creation of the Awbury Historic District and secure its placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

[7] That paperwork was then reviewed for its suitability for the NRHP by Pennsylvania's Historic Preservation Board at its March 13, 2001 meeting at 9:45 a.m. at the State Museum in Harrisburg.