Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Center City, Rittenhouse Square & Around
Philadelphia's center of creativity, commerce, culture and just about everything else, this
region is the engine that drives the city. It contains the city's tallest buildings, the financial
district, big hotels, museums, concert halls, shops and restaurants.
The leafy
Rittenhouse Square
, with its wading pool and fine statues, is the best known
of William Penn's city squares. Surrounded by upscale cafes, restaurants, condominiums
and hotels, it feels like a little slice of European elegance.
City Hall
BUILDING
MAP
GOOGLE MAP
( 215-686-2840;
www.phila.gov
;
cnr Broad & Market Sts; 9:30am-4:30pm Tue-Fri)
The
majestic City Hall, completed in 1901, stands 548ft tall in Penn Sq. It's the world's tallest
masonry construction (and larger than the US Capitol) without a steel frame, and it's
topped by a 27-ton bronze statue of William Penn. A gentleman's agreement to keep City
Hall the tallest building in the city lasted until 1987. Access to the tower observation deck
and guided tours available.
Rosenbach Museum & Library
MUSEUM
( 215-732-1600;
www.rosenbach.org
;
2008 Delancey Pl; adult/child $10/5; noon-5pm Tue &
Fri, Wed & Thu to 8pm, to 6pm Sat & Sun)
This place is for bibliophiles, as it features rare
topics and manuscripts, including James Joyce's
Ulysses,
and incunabula, basically the
earliest printed topics from 1450 to 1500. Docent-led tours of the elegant home highlight
period-furnished rooms, Thomas Sully portraits and the Marianne Moore room - essen-
tially the modernist poet's Greenwich Village apartment lock, stock and barrel.
Mutter Museum
MUSEUM
( 215-563-3737;
www.collphyphil.org
;
19 S 22nd St; adult/child $14/10; 10am-5pm)
Skip med
school and visit this seriously twisted museum to learn all about the history of medicine in
the US.
