During the Gilded Age, Rittenhouse Square was home to Philadelphia’s high society, with more millionaires per square foot than any other American neighborhood except New York’s Fifth Avenue. Established by William Penn in 1682 as the South-West Square and renamed after astronomer David Rittenhouse in 1825, Rittenhouse Square and its environs changed from an isolated district of brickyards and workers’ shanties into the city’s most elegant and elite neighborhood between 1845 and 1865. The brownstone and marble mansions on the square itself were inhabited by the city’s wealthiest and most prestigious families, with names like Biddle, Cassatt, Drexel, Stotesbury, and Van Rensselaer. As Philadelphia’s upper classes fled to the suburbs in the early 20th century, their mansions were replaced by skyscrapers or taken over by cultural institutions like the Philadelphia Art Alliance and the Curtis Institute of Music. While only a few original residences remain on Rittenhouse Square, it is still the center of a lively upscale neighborhood.
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Robert Morris Skaler is a forensic architect and historian. He is the author of West Philadelphia: University City to 52nd Street, Philadelphia’s Broad Street: South and North, and Society Hill and Old City for Arcadia. Thomas H. Keels is a Philadelphia writer and historian who coauthored Chestnut Hill with Elizabeth Farmer Jarvis and authored Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries for Arcadia.
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Long Live Rittenhouse Square!,
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This review is from: PHILADELPHIA'S RITTENHOUSE SQUARE (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing)) (Paperback)
New York City has Fifth Avenue and Philadelphia has Rittenhouse Square. They are both icons of the old financial establishments. This book by Robert Morris Skaler and Thomas H. Keels provides a rare look at very rare photos and useful information for those of us who are fascinated by this wonderful section of Philadelphia. If you live in Philadelphia, you should live in Rittenhouse Square which has been the city's premiere address. The square park was once surrounded by beautiful brownstones and marble homes that housed some of America's aristocrats. That is what Rittenhouse Square for years was the central location for the prim, the proper, the wealthy, and blueblood pedigree families of America. Sadly, the area is now housed by condos and apartments. The roots that were once set in stone literally around the neighborhood is no longer there. Instead, I like to think of the ghosts around Rittenhouse Square from the days where it was the center of their world. It is still a beautiful neighborhood even with the condominium skyscrapers. Nothing can really take away the square. We have to remember as it once was in it's prime. The authors do a fantastic job in showing us the rare photos and provided useful information such as famous residents who once called this place home.
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In 1682, when William Penn asked his surveyor Thomas Holme to draw up a city plan, it included five open squares that reflected Penn's desire for a "greene country towne." Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Rittenhouse Square, Free Library of Philadelphia, Walnut Street, Chestnut Street, Locust Street, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Frank Furness, Church of the Holy Trinity, Curtis Institute of Music, Rittenhouse Club, Delancey Place, Temple University Libraries, Broad Street, Urban Archives, United States, Penn Athletic Club, Ten Rittenhouse, Jacob Reed's Sons, Latimer Street, South Eighteenth Street, Horace Trumhauer, Rittenhouse Hotel, Market Street, Bonwit Teller, Mark's Episcopal Church Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In 1682, when William Penn asked his surveyor Thomas Holme to draw up a city plan, it included five open squares that reflected Penn's desire for a "greene country towne." Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Rittenhouse Square, Free Library of Philadelphia, Walnut Street, Chestnut Street, Locust Street, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Frank Furness, Church of the Holy Trinity, Curtis Institute of Music, Rittenhouse Club, Delancey Place, Temple University Libraries, Broad Street, Urban Archives, United States, Penn Athletic Club, Ten Rittenhouse, Jacob Reed's Sons, Latimer Street, South Eighteenth Street, Horace Trumhauer, Rittenhouse Hotel, Market Street, Bonwit Teller, Mark's Episcopal Church Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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