Samuel Harding (cabinetmaker)

Samuel Harding (died 1758) was an American cabinetmaker, remembered for his Queen Anne style furniture and for the interior architectural ornament of Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Builder-architect Edmund Woolley (c. 1695-1771) began construction of the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in 1732, and completed the building by 1748.

Between 1753 and 1756, Harding executed (and probably designed) the interior architectural ornament for the tower stair hall and a remodeled vestibule.

His bill listed all of the fixtures for the mahogany staircase, along with moldings, pediments, column capitals, tabernacle frames, and two keystones with carved "faces" – for which he charged £195.13.11.

Furniture expert Luke Beckerdite calls Harding "one of the most important carvers active in Philadelphia during the first half of the eighteenth century."

Congress Voting Independence ( c. 1784 -1788) by Robert Edge Pine . Harding carved the ionic capitals atop the pilasters in the Assembly Room of Independence Hall , and may have carved the shell frieze.