ListWise

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Rittenhouse Square

I just loved walking around Rittenhouse Square. Classic Row houses from the mid to late 19th century. I'm pretty sure many of these were built around the same time as my own house, but I get the feeling many are much earlier. This was City Living for middle class Victorians, where as my house was more small town living for the same group. These homes are mostly brick, but some are granite, while others even have marble facades.

If I could afford it, I would move there tomorrow. Sadly, the smallest apartment in this neighborhood is way out of my price range. I found one of these homes on a realtor's web site. It was 5,000 sq ft and listed for 5.2 million. Many have been cut up in to condos and apartments. The one I saw on the realtor site had the charm of the era on the outside, but was gutted and butchered on the inside. Other than the staircase, there was nothing left.



























































3 comments:

St. Blogwen said...

This is killing me, seeing all these pictures of the old neighborhood. I had a 3rd floor studio apartment in the 2000 block of Locust in the late '70s. $195 a month. Really. I stripped the paint off the leaded glass window, so the DIY thing goes way back.

Thanks for the photos.

Kate H.
The Sow's Ear

Greg said...

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but man, just think if you had bought back then instead of renting?

anj said...

We live south of Rittenhouse, south of South in an area called Graduate Hospital, or Southwest Center City. It is in the process of gentrification. Phillyliving.com has a good city wide real estate search function. I walk my two Bedlington terriers to Rittenhouse Square every lunch. Been doing it since August 20th when we moved here and I'm still waiting for it to get old. I walk around like a tourist, the architecture is that amazing, and the nooks and crannies of the city are that cool. Thanks for posting all of these photos, it is fun to share my love of this city with another.