Read an Excerpt
Rittenhouse Square
The Heart of the City
- Boundaries: S. 17th St., S. 20th St., Delancey Pl., Walnut St.
- Distance: 1.1 miles
- Difficulty: Easy
- Parking: Street parking is a challenge near Rittenhouse, and the few paid lots are overpriced. Public transportation may be the best option.
- Public Transit: SEPTA buses 9, 12, 21, and 42 stopping on Walnut St. The SEPTA subway stop is at 19th and Market Sts., two blocks north of the square.
Rittenhouse Square is one of the city’s five original squares, part of William Penn’s plan for a “greene country town.” The park was once lined with single-family mansions designed by the city’s most illustrious architects. In 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn Monroe sang, “A house on Rittenhouse Square wouldn’t be so hard to take.”
Today, only four of these mansions remain, most replaced by high-end, high-rise residences and hotels. A popular meeting place for locals, the square is constantly bustling and offers great people-watching. It hosts an annual art fair, weekly farmers markets, and occasional concerts. In 2010, the American Planning Association included Rittenhouse on its list of the country’s top 10 Great Public Spaces. That’s ironic, as in the 1700s the square was a pasture for livestock and for dumping “night soils.” It was cleaned and renamed for astronomer David Rittenhouse in 1825.
Walk Description
Begin at South 18th and Manning Streets. The nonprofit Philadelphia Art Alliance (251 S. 18th St.) was founded in 1915 to present a variety of art forms in one venue. It features up to 12 exhibitions a year. It is housed in the former Wetherill mansion, one of only four residential properties still standing.
Walk north on South 18th Street. Cross Stowkowski Place, named for conductor Leopold Stowkowski, who proposed Fantasia to Walt Disney and then led the Philadelphia Orchestra through seven of the film’s eight musical segments.
At left is Rittenhouse Square. At right, the former Barclay Hotel (237 S. 18th St.) was the finest hotel in the city when it opened in 1929. It became condominiums in 2005. Unit 6B—a 4,000-square-foot space with 3 bedrooms and 4 baths—was for sale in 2022 for $2.9 million. The monthly $3,000 dues include access to a chauffeur-driven 2019 Mercedes S-450.
Continue to the Curtis Institute of Music, which boasts that 30% of its graduates play with one of the country’s “big five” orchestras. Notable alums include Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber. Curtis provides full-tuition, merit-based scholarships to all students. Its building was the home of George Drexel, whose grandfather founded Drexel University. Drexel was the owner and editor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, which high society considered “the only newspaper any lady or gentleman should read.”
Turn right on Locust Street to appreciate the Curtis’s architecture. A marker remembers Philadelphia-born Vincent Persichetti, a 1939 Curtis graduate who wrote nine symphonies.
Cross tiny Mozart Place, looking right to see Schubert Lane, then continuing on Locust. The commercial building at 1704 Locust Street is the headquarters of the Vidocq Society, a members-only organization that helps US law enforcement agencies investigate cold case homicides.
At South 17th Street, turn left. Pass the 20-story Warwick Hotel (1701 Locust St.), which was built in 1925 and has hosted four NFL drafts. Continue to Walnut Street. Before turning left, look at the architecture of 1701 Walnut Street, built in 1910 for the Estey Piano & Organ Company.
Continue west on Walnut Street. Two other buildings worth a second look are 1707 and 1709, originally private residences.
At South 18th Street, cross the road and enter Rittenhouse Square. Straight ahead is the Evelyn Taylor Price Memorial Sundial, installed in 1947, honoring a past president of the park-improvement association. One art historian called the statue—which features two children holding a sunflower—a “poetical reminder of the fleeting joys of sunshine.”
Take the right path, passing Giant Frog, which is... a giant frog. Continue to the guardhouse, then turn right to the cluster of greenery holding a statue of a lion crushing a serpent. This is... Lion Crushing Serpent, a bronze cast of the original displayed in the Louvre. It’s an allegory for the French Revolution, the lion symbolizing good and the serpent representing evil.
Turn around, passing the guardhouse, to reach Rittenhouse Fountain, designed by Benjamin Franklin Parkway architect Paul Phillipe Cret. Emerging from the water is Paul Manship’s Duck Girl, a local favorite.
Continue straight. Descend four stairs and then turn right, following the curving, bench-lined walkway to Billy, another local landmark. The goat’s horns have been rubbed to a shine because doing so is said to bring good luck. It’s unclear why the tail has the same luster.
Follow Billy’s right horn to exit onto Rittenhouse Square West. Turn left. Stop at the corner entrance, where Rittenhouse Square Dogs once stood (only one dog remains). The art was donated in 1988 by friends of late art collector Henry McIlhenny, whom Andy Warhol once called “the only person in Philadelphia with glamour.”
Look right at 1914–16 Rittenhouse Square West. McIlhenny purchased six lots in 1950 and combined them to create the existing 8,600-square-foot structure. McIlhenny, a Philadelphia Museum of Art curator and one-time chairman of its board, bequeathed his art collection— which included works by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Renoir—to the museum.
Ahead is the Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square. The Ethical Culture movement is a non-theist alternative to traditional religion, established here in 1885.
Turn left on Rittenhouse Square South, then turn right on South 19th Street. Pass Metropolitan Bakery, a local favorite. At Spruce Street, turn left.
At the corner of South 18th Street sits the Gothic Revival Temple Beth Zion–Beth Israel Synagogue, built for a Methodist congregation but repurposed in 1954. Renovations included installing stained glass windows depicting important scenes from Jewish history and worship.
Cross South 18th Street. Most of the mansions on this block have been converted to condominiums or rental units. Continue to 1710 Spruce Street, the former home of the eccentric Harry K. Thaw, an heir to a Pittsburgh mine and railroad fortune who lit cigars with $5 bills. In 1906, Thaw shot and killed architect Stanford White in New York. Thaw’s wife, actress Evelyn Nesbit, had previously dated White, which Thaw believed tainted her. His murder trial was the original trial of the century. Thaw was found not guilty by reason of insanity. E. L. Doctorow included the case in Ragtime.
At South 17th Street, turn right. At Delancey Place (also called Delancey Street), turn right again. Plays and Players is one of the oldest professional theater companies in the country. Actor Kevin Bacon appeared onstage here as a child in 1974....
