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Holiday Inn Express Midtown
1305 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19107 US

The Holiday Inn Express Philadelphia Midtown hotel is walking distance to many historic sites including: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross House. Our hotel is also convenient to many other attractions including shopping, theater...more

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ABOUT RITTENHOUSE SQUARE
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Rittenhouse Square, one of William Penn's original five, was known as the southwest square until 1825 when it was named for the astronomer-clockmaker, David Rittenhouse (1732-96). This amazing man of universal talents -- one of many in 18th century Philadelphia -- was a descendant of William Rittenhouse, who built the first paper mill in America in Germantown. He was at various times a member of the General Assembly and the State Constitutional Convention, and president of the Council of Safety. His survey of the Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary in 1763-64, to settle a dispute between the Penns and Lord Baltimore, was so accurate it was accepted and followed by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon when they surveyed the "line" for which they are still remembered. Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania and inventor of the collimating telescope, he was also president of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint.

Rittenhouse Square has always denoted quality. The first house facing the Square was erected in 1840. During its next century the Square kept its residential quality. In 1913, the architect Paul Cret, who was one of the men responsible for Benjamin Franklin Parkway and many of its buildings, designed the Square's entrances, central plaza with the stone railings, pool and fountain. To have lived near or on the Square was a mark of prestige. Today, private homes are gone, but it still counts for something to live on the Square. There are several houses still standing, but they have been converted into apartments. With cooperative apartments and condominiums displacing private dwellings in the last three decades, some of the Old Guard still live on here -- in these homes in the sky rather than family mansions.

Around the Square itself, there are few old buildings left, but the Church of the Holy Trinity on the northwest corner is another of John Notman's, this one dating from 1857-59. One of the city's most fashionable congregations, it had for rector the Reverend Phillips Brooks (1835-93), best remembered today for writing the words to "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

Facing the Square on the northeast corner is the former home of Alexander Van Rensselaer, a financier and supporter of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. One of the few splendid old mansions to survive, it once housed the Pennsylvania Athletic Club.

The Alison Building next door contains the offices of the Presbyterian Ministers' Fund, the oldest life insurance company in the world (1717). Adjacent to it, at 1811 Walnut Street and also facing the Square, is the Rittenhouse Club, another of the city's old and exclusive clubs. The author Henry James used to sit at a window and view this Square, too, with his worldly eye.

Rittenhouse Square itself is enduring. Children still climb on the Albert Laessle goat as well as sculptures of a lion and a frog. Young lovers sit along the edge of the pool, with the statue of the girl and the duck watching them. No one tells time by the handsome sundial, but everyone admires it, especially the older bench-sitters basking in the sun.

On the southeast side of the Square is the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Founded by Christine Wetherill Stevenson in 1915, it is housed in the former Samuel Price Wetherill mansion -- he was a descendant of Samuel Wetherill, who along with Betsy Ross was a member of the Free Quaker Meeting House. One of the most active organizations of its kind, the Art Alliance sponsors art exhibits, dramatic and poetry readings, dance and musical events (the Alliance hosts a party for new principals in the Philadelphia Orchestra), architectural displays and lectures of all kinds. To wander through the galleries or attend one of the musicals or lectures, which are open to the public and usually free, is a delight.

Across the street is the Barclay Hotel, one of the most fashionable and elegantly run hostelries in America. It was owned by John McShain, the millionaire Philadelphia builder who also owned the Lakes of Killarney in Ireland. The scene of some of society's most glittering private parties, it has also housed almost every distinguished celebrity who has traveled to Philadelphia.

At the corner of 18th and Locust Street is The Curtis Institute of Music. Founded in 1924 by Mrs. Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, it is a unique conservatory of music for it is entirely a scholarship school. Some of the noted musicians who have attended Curtis are Samuel Barber, Leonard Bernstein, Anna Moffo, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. The building was the home of George Childs Drexel, the banker, and in addition to the lecture rooms, practice studios and administration offices, it has a charming small music hall for concerts over which is a fully equipped operatic rehearsal hall.

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