Snow on Christmas Day

A gentle and light snow coated the ground on Christmas Day, adding to the day.

Christmas on the Square

It's a few days until Xams on Rittenhouse Square and here are a few photos of the decor.

The lobby of the building.

A light coating of the first snow of the season.

Window Cleaning Day

Due to some long overdue rehab work on the building rooftop anchors, Rittenhouse Plaza had not had an exterior window cleaning in about three years. In our own unit, we were able to open the windows from the interior for cleaning. It is quite striking to watch the window cleaners at work, dangling from the roof. It can be even more daunting to open the blinds and find and window cleaner facing you from thirteen floors up.

Because of high winds, the cleaners had to stop and pospone their work for a few weeks.

Where's Waldo?

Can you find Avalee? 

Carriage Houses of the Square

As Rittenhouse Square has long been a fashionable place to reside, the carriage houses to maintain the carriages and horses were located just outside the perimeter of the square on small side streets like Rittenhouse Square Place, Manning Street and Latimer Street. A few are still used to garage automobiles, but most were converted to residences with unique details.



Here are two typical converted carriage houses adjacent to an older car park.



The most telltale sign of a previous carriage house is a beam extending high up from the facade that was once used in conjunction with a rope and pulley to hoist up hay for the horses. Most beams are gone, but the former hatch, usually converted to a window and the entrance gate, have either been converted to a large window or transformed to an entrance are noticeable. These types of structures usually don't have steps either.

This fantastic building now houses autos.





This is one of the few carriage houses attached to a single residence.



Lighting of the Christmas Tree in the Square

The lighting of Christmas Tree is a formal annual affair in Rittenhouse Square attended by political dignitaries, the media and of course, the citizens. Aside from being chilly, it was a fine evening as the predicted rains were held at bay.

A Summer Evening

Cityscape looking northwest.

Looking northwest again featuring the PECO building

and the Cira Center to the right.

Looking due north up 19th Street.

Summer Rain

It's been a summer of record heat this year. June 2010 was the hottest in 137 years of recorded history. This late June day was punctuated by a massive thunder storm, one of the most intense ever seen. It could be seen from the 13th floor approaching from the north. Then all of a sudden, visability was severely cut and everyone below was getting soaked. For the most part the rain was horizontal with winds of about 70 mph. Fortunately, it only lasted about 10 minutes. 

These photos were taken at 3:00 pm.

Twenty minutes earlier it was sunny and about

twenty minutes after the storm, the sun returned.

Springtime at Rittenhouse Square

This fence faces Walnut St and across from

Rittenhouse Plaza

'Lion Crushing a Serpent' statue circa 1890 by French sculptor,

 Antoine-Louis Barye, in the Square.

A shot of Holy Trinty church, circa 1859, kittycorner

to Rittenhouse Plaza 

Shrub and flower beds within the Square.

A veiw of 19th Street from the living room.

Our Record Snow

This February stormfront brought a record amount of snow for Philadelphia this season with perhaps more to come. While I didn’t dare to venture outside, my view from above indicated that footing was treacherous even though the walks were being cleared.

A veiw of 19th and Sansom from the living room.

In Rittehouse Square

Across the street, Rittenhouse Square has been transformed from a once serene city square to an active playground for kids and adults, a welcome, though sometimes noisy sign of urban vitality.

Not a good day for bike riding, to say the least.