Rittenhouse Square (OP)
Bounded by Walnut,
Locust, S. 18th and S. 19th
Sts.

1683, Southwest Square;
1913, remodeled, Paul
Cret

One of five public squares mapped in Thomas Holme’s 1683 plan of Philadelphia for William Penn, this was originally known as Southwest Square. In 1825, it was renamed in honor of David Rittenhouse (d. 1796), a renowned astronomer, clockmaker and supporter of the American Revolution. Paul Philippe Cret designed the current scheme of diagonal walkways, interspersed with flowerbeds, grass and trees. Trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Cret was a practitioner of the formal French Classical manner. In 1903, he was recruited to join the architecture faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he inculcated generations of students with French principles of design.

NEXT - Leave the Square at the corner of Walnut and 18th Sts.