With over 200 years of history, Rittenhouse Square remains the epitome of luxury living in downtown Philadelphia. Centered around its historic urban park and surrounded by luxury hotels, high rise condominium buildings, high end retail shops, and fine dining; Rittenhouse Square is a true reflection of the elegance and culture of Philadelphia. The Rittenhouse area is located in the heart of Center City between Broad and 22nd Streets to the East and West and Market to Pine to the North and South. Just a 15 minute walk in either direction to surrounding neighborhoods such as Fairmount / Art Museum, Logan Square, Fitler Square, Graduate Hospital, and Center City Midtown. Residents of this area have access to all that Philadelphia has to offer right outside their front door. This includes all the shops along Chestnut and Walnut Streets such as Barneys and Boyds, fine dining restaurants including Alma De Cuba, Parc Rittenhouse, Barclay Prime, and Rouge to name a few. Just minutes from City Hall and the Avenue of the Arts which features the Kimmel Center, Miriam Theater, and the Academy of Music. Rittenhouse Square is also a convenient location for students at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
The huge structure at 2400 Market St. was built around the time of the First World War according to Philaphilia, and was originally used by the Gomery-Schwartz car company for a variety of car company type uses. As time passed, it became known as the Loft Building and as of thirty years ago it became home to the Marketplace Design Center, a major local resource for interior design professionals. As you've probably noticed though, the building is […]
We grabbed a cup of joe from River Bros. at 24th & Lombard over the weekend, and then decided to take a leisurely walk through the neighborhood while sipping our tasty beverage. We found ourselves on the 2300 block of Waverly Street and noticed a row of three homes on the south side of the block which had recieved third floor additions at some point in the past. Across the street, we spied another home […]
Omega Pizza operated at the northeast corner of 22nd & South for many years, offering lousy pizza but an extensive selection of slightly overpriced beer. It closed its doors a few weeks ago and now its old home is being demolished, to be replaced by a five-story mixed-use building with a Wawa on the first floor. We last updated you on this project when it came before CCRA over the summer, and we can tell […]
Just a few weeks ago, we checked in on 1911 Walnut St. and informed you that the property was still sitting vacant, as it has since the mid-1990s. This was at least somewhat surprising, as we provided some detailed plans for a project from Southern Land Company at this address about a year ago and we were hopeful that SLC would succeed where others had tried and failed. For those that don't remember the details, […]
There's a cool looking building on the northwest corner of Broad & South that has been home to the World Communications Charter School since it opened almost twenty years ago. This corner was originally home to a row of amazing mansions which were sadly demolished by the 1950s, with the building we see today rising in their place, perhaps as a parking garage. You can see, the original window openings were once ten times the […]
It's been a whole year since we last checked in on 1911 Walnut St., the embarrassingly vacant lot across the street from Rittenhouse Square. For those that don't remember the history of this parcel, it was previously home to some historic brownstones and a movie theater which were all lost after a fire in the mid-1990s. And so the property has sat vacant ever since, with various plans coming along and falling through over the […]
The four story brownstone mansion at 2010 Walnut St. was built in 1860 and was originally owned by the Wilkinson Sword Blade family. In recent decades, Eberhardt's Antiques operated out of the first floor, and images from Google indicate that many of the home's original interior details remain intact. At least on the 1st floor, that is. The antique store is now closed, as developers bought the building earlier this year for over $3M. Awesome historic mansion From […]
Thanks to our unquenchable thirst for Rival Bros. coffee, we often find ourselves walking on the 2300 block of Naudain Street on our way over to the cafe. This walk has featured non-stop construction on the south side of this block for nearly two years which in a vacuum is quite unexpected given the settled nature of the surrounding neighborhood. But if you recall, a gas explosion in the spring of 2014 resulted in the demolition […]
Almost three years ago, we told you that the Philadelphia Housing Authority was looking for a partner to develop their former headquarters on Chestnut Street. PHA moved out of the building at 2012 Chestnut St. a little less than a decade ago and it has been sitting empty ever since, an increasingly inconsistent vacancy as significant projects have flourished nearby. But that inconsistency should soon resolve, as Philly.com reported today that PHA has selected Alterra […]
A mixed-use building at the corner of 16th & Lombard probably isn't long for this world, as there's a proposal on the table to tear it down and replace it with something much taller. 1601-03 Lombard St. is a double-wide building that has been used most recently as a day care, but according to some old listings it held a medical office once upon a time. The building also has a couple of apartments in […]