Our Philadelphia

by Elizabeth Robins Pennell

 

OUR PHILADELPHIA
BY E. ROBINS PENNELL
AND JOSEPH PENNELL

OUR PHILADELPHIA

LOOKING UP BROAD STREET FROM SPRUCE STREET

OUR PHILADELPHIA

DESCRIBED BY ELIZABETH ROBINS
PENNELL ILLUSTRATED WITH
ONE HUNDRED & FIVE LITHO-
GRAPHS BY JOSEPH PENNELL

PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

MCMXIV

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1914

PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
AT THE WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS
PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.

PREFACE

To-day, when it is the American born in the Ghetto, or Syria, or some other remote part of the earth, whose recollections are prized, it may seem as if the following pages called for an apology. I have none to make. They were written simply for the pleasure of gathering together my old memories of a town that, as my native place, is dear to me and my new impressions of it after an absence of a quarter of a century. But now I have finished I add to this pleasure in my book the pleasant belief that it will have its value for others, if only for two reasons. In the first place, J.'s drawings which illustrate it are his record of the old Philadelphia that has passed and the new Philadelphia that is passing—a record that in a few years it will be impossible for anybody to make, so continually is Philadelphia changing. In the second, my story of Philadelphia, perfect or imperfect, may in as short a time be equally impossible for anybody to repeat, since I am one of those old-fashioned Americans, American by birth with many generations of American forefathers, who are rapidly becoming rare creatures among the hordes of new-fashioned Americans who were anything and everything else no longer than a year or a week or an hour ago.

Elizabeth Robins Pennell

3 Adelphi Terrace House, London
May, 1914

CONTENTS

CHAPTER		PAGE
I.	An Explanation	1
II.	A Child in Philadelphia	24
III.	A Child in Philadelphia (Continued)	48
IV.	At the Convent	72
V.	Transitional	104
VI.	The Social Adventure	130
VII.	The Social Adventure: The Assembly	154
VIII.	A Question of Creed	175
IX.	The First Awakening	205
X.	The Miracle of Work	233
XI.	The Romance of Work	268
XII.	Philadelphia and Literature	304
XIII.	Philadelphia and Literature (Continued)	332
XIV.	Philadelphia and Art	368
XV.	Philadelphia and Art (Continued)	390
XVI.	Philadelphia at Table	413
XVII.	Philadelphia at Table (Continued)	433
XVIII.	Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century	451
XIX.	Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century (Continued)	477
XX.	Philadelphia after a Quarter of a Century (Continued)	509
	Index	543

ILLUSTRATIONS

	PAGE
Looking up Broad Street from Spruce Street	Frontispiece
Delancey Place		3
"Portico Row," Spruce Street		7
Arch Street Meeting House		13
The Schuylkill South from Callowhill Street		17
Friends' Graveyard, Germantown		21
In Rittenhouse Square		25
The Pennsylvania Hospital from the Grounds		29
"Eleventh and Spruce"		33
Drawing Room at Cliveden		37
Back-yards, St. Peter's Spire in the Distance		45
Independence Square and the State House		51
Christ Church Interior		57
Classic Fairmount		65
Down Pine Street		69
Loudoun, Main Street, Germantown		75
Entrance to Fairmount and the Washington Statue		83
Main Street, Germantown		89
Arch Street Meeting		95
The Train Shed, Broad Street Station		99
St. Peter's, Interior		105
The Pennsylvania Hospital from Pine Street		109
Second Street Market		115
Fourth and Arch Streets Meeting House		121
Johnson House, Germantown		127
The Customs House		131
Under Broad Street Station at Fifteenth Street		135
The Philadelphia Club, Thirteenth and Walnut Streets		141
The New Ritz-Carlton; The Finishing Touches; The Walnut Street Addition Has Since Been Made		149
The Hall, Stenton		155
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof"		159
Bed Room, Stenton, the Home of James Logan		163
The Tunnel in the Park		167
The Boat Houses on the Schuylkill		171
The Pulpit, St. Peter's		179
The Cathedral, Logan Square		185
Christ Church, from Second Street		189
First Presbyterian Church, Seventh Street and Washington Square		195
Old Swedes' Church		201
Independence Hall: The Original Desk on Which the Declaration of Independence was Signed and the Chair Used by the President of Congress, John Hancock, in 1776		207
Philadelphia from Belmont		211
The Dining Room, Stenton		217
Down the Aisle at Christ Church		223
The Bridge Across Market Street from Broad Street Station		229
State House Yard		235
The Penitentiary		247
On the Reading, at Sixteenth Street		251
Locust Street East from Broad Street		255
Broad Street, Looking South from above Arch Street		261
Clinton Street, with the Pennsylvania Hospital at its End		265
The Cherry Street Stairs Near the River		269
The Morris House on Eighth Street		273
The Old Coaching-Inn Yard		279
Franklin's Grave		285
Arch Street Meeting		291
Cliveden, the Chew House		295
Bartram's		295
Carpenter's Hall, Interior		305
Main Street, Germantown		311
Arch Street Meeting—Interior		317
Front and Callowhill		321
The Elevated at Market Street Wharf		327
Dr. Furness's House, West Washington Square, Just Before it was Pulled Down		333
The Germantown Academy		339
The State House from Independence Square		345
"The Little Street of Clubs," Camac Street Above Spruce Street		349
Down Sansom Street from Eighth Street. The Low Houses at Seventh Street Have Since Been Torn Down and the Western End of the Curtis Building Now Occupies Their Place		353
The Double Stairway in the Pennsylvania Hospital		359
Carpenter's Hall, Built 1771		365
Independence Hall—Lengthwise View		369
Girard College		377
Upsala, Germantown		383
The Hall at Cliveden, the Chew House		387
The Old Water-Works, Fairmount Park		391
The Stairway, State House		397
Upper Room, Stenton		403
Wyck—The Doorway from Within		409
The Philadelphia Dispensary from Independence Square		415
Morris House, Germantown		419
The State House Colonnade		425
The Smith Memorial, West Fairmount Park		431
The Basin, Old Water-Works		435
Girard Street		441
The Union League, from Broad and Chestnut Streets		445
Broad Street Station		453
Wanamaker's		457
St. Peter's Churchyard		461
City Hall from the Schuylkill		465
Chestnut Street Bridge		469
The Narrow Street		475
The Market Street Elevated at the Delaware End		479
The Railroad Bridges at Falls of Schuylkill		483
The Parkway Pergolas		487
Market Street West of the Schuylkill		491
Manheim Cricket Ground		497
Dock Street and the Exchange		501
The Locomotive Yard, West Philadelphia		507
The Girakd Trust Company		511
Twelfth Street Meeting House		515
Wyck		519
The Massed Sky-scrapers Above the Housetops		523
Sunset. Philadelphia from Across the Delaware		527
The Union League Between the Sky-scrapers		531
Up Broad Street from League Island		535
From Gray's Ferry		539