Rittenhouse Square and its Neighborhood

Rittenhouse Square and its Neighborhood

The Rittenhouse Square neighborhood is as rich and worthy of close inspection as Society Hill with numerous blocks of large houses interspersed with churches and other institutions. Houses are often four stories in height and clad in brownstone. The nearly continuous architectural fabric makes Locust, Spruce, and Pine streets a superb pedestrian experience. Important works by significant architects typically are located on the major streets, but it is the network of little streets that makes Philadelphia so pleasurable to walk. These begin in Society Hill and continue across the city in an almost unbroken east–west line with various north–south offshoots as well. At 1614 Latimer Street is the Print Club (1927, Edmund Gilchrist), and just to the west is the women's Cosmopolitan Club by the same architect in 1929. Contrasting with their Arts and Crafts and modern modes is Ritter and Shay's Colonial Revival clubhouse for the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America at 1630 Latimer (1921). West from S. 17th Street, Delancey, Cypress, and Latimer streets are all worthy settings for a quiet stroll.

George E. Thomas, "Rittenhouse Square and its Neighborhood", Pennsylvania, SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, https://sah-archipedia.org/node/5674.

Last accessed: September 17, 2026.

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