A Greek Revival anachronism in the High Victorian era, the former Ridgway Library resembles other idiosyncratic local institutions created by strong-willed donors, including Girard College (
PH127) and the Wagner Free Institute of Science (
PH128). Like them, it too was to serve as a mausoleum. Dr. James Rush, son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, bequeathed his fortune to the Library Company on condition they build a library on this unfashionable South Philadelphia site, interring him and his wife within. Hutton's building was appropriately funerary, although its tough, hard-edged granite distinguishes it from the soft marble of the genuine Greek Revival. Abandoned for thirty years it has been adapted as Philadelphia's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts as an anchor of the Broad Street Arts District.