John Bisseger (1868-19??) was one of the many architects associated with the early Arts and Crafts community in Rose Valley. He attended Central High School in Philadelphia until 1885, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art from 1887-1889, and then the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1890. He joined the T-Square Club in ‘89, and over the next decade distinguished himself by winning numerous local competitions for architectural sketches and drawings. In 1893-1894 he was a draftsman in the office of Frank L. and William L. Price, whom presumably he met while at the School of Industrial Art, and in ‘98-’99 worked with Edgar V. Seelor, another contemporary from that institution.

After a brief stint in Washington, D.C., Bissegger returned to Philadelphia and became the head draftsman in the office of Price and McLanahan. By 1905 he had moved to Rose Valley and was active in all areas of community life. He designed and built his house in the style of a chalet, a nod to his Swiss roots, and is known to have designed and built furniture.

J. Bisseger cabinet made in 1907

Source: excerpted from Sandra L. Tatman, the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project
History of Rose Valley, Vol. 1