Classic. Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Interior classic; brick; built, 1850; architects, LeBrun & Runge; the audience room is very large, modeled after celebrated opera houses in Europe; plan of the balconies is now considered obsolete, but the general effect is undeniably fine, and has a flavor of the Second Empire. Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Logan Square; brownstone, built about 1860; architects, Napoleon LeBrun for the building, John Notman for the façade; it is impressive and dignified. United States Custom House, Chestnut Street below Fifth; architect, John Haviland. Girard College, Corinthian and Girard Avenues; architect, Thomas U. Walters; modeled after the Parthenon. Girard National Bank, 116 South Third Street; portico of the Third Street front is Corinthian, studied from the Parthenon and Temple of Saturnus; it stands on a stylobate, elevated above the pavement by steps on three sides, which gives it emphasis and dignity, and marks it as the feature of approach to the building; this portico is flanked on either side by a pavilion of pilasters, of the same character as the columns of the portico, the space between the pilasters being pierced with windows which are adorned with architraves and cornices supported by carved brackets; the pilasters and columns are surmounted by a cornice pediment and balustrade of great elegance of detail and proportion, studied from the best class of Roman antique work; the tympanum of the pediment is enriched by the date of the erection, 1795, and the American eagle in bas-relief carving, of excellent modeling; from the pavement to the apex of the portico is fifty-six feet; entire front is of Pennsylvania blue marble; the building was erected for the Bank of the United States in 1797, and followed closely the lines of the Dublin Exchange; architect, Samuel Blodgett; marble work was done by Claudius LeGrand in his yard at Tenth and Market Streets; this was the first building in Philadelphia to be erected with portico and pillars; in 1901, it was carefully renovated by James H. Windrim. Girard Trust Company, northwest corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets, built in 1908; architects, McKim, Mead & White, New York; Furness & Evans, Philadelphia; has steel frame and Gustavino dome faced with white marble; while the form of this building was probably suggested by the Pantheon at Rome, details of the order are rather Greek, and the colonetts, forming the mullions of the windows, suggest the Certosa di Pavia. Ridgway Library, South Broad and Christian Streets, Doric; built, 1880; granite; architect, Addison Hutton. Old Stock Exchange, Second, Walnut and Dock Streets, white marble; has semicircular Corinthian colonnade, and lantern modeled after the Temple of Lysicrates; architect, William Strickland. St. Patrick’s Church, Twenty-first and Locust Streets, Roman; classic; brick and granite; built, 1913; architects, LaFarge & Morris, New York; façade of this church is big in conception, full of dignity and repose, and forms a most successful termination to the vista when viewed from Rittenhouse Street. United States Mint, Seventeenth and Spring Garden Streets, built, 1898; light gray granite; architect, James Knox Taylor.
Moorish. Horticultural Hall, Fairmount Park; built, 1876; architect, Herman J. Schwarzmann. Rodeph Shalom Synagogue, Mt. Vernon and North Broad Streets.
Byzantine. First Baptist Church, Seventeenth Street above Chestnut, stone; Edgar V. Seeler, architect. Jacob Reed’s Sons, store, 1424 Chestnut Street, brick, marble, and tile; built, 1904; Price & McLanahan, architects; façade is one of the most interesting in the city; the column caps are symbolic of the business conducted therein, as is also the tile work on the intrados of the arch, which depicts the shearing and manufacturing of wool and has the richness of an Oriental rug.
Gothic. Academy of the Fine Arts, Broad and Cherry Streets, Venetian polychrome Gothic, brick, limestone, and tile; architects, Furness & Hewitt; façade is interesting, as the most prominent example of the Venetian Gothic style, used in Philadelphia in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Broad and Arch Streets Methodist Episcopal Church, white marble. St. Clement’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Twentieth and Cherry Streets, Norman; built, 1857; brownstone; architect, John Notman; later improvements; new roof; apse; Lady chapel and parish buildings by Horace Wells Sellers. St. James’ Protestant Episcopal Church, Twenty-second and Walnut Streets, English decorated Gothic, with sculptured band around the tower; Ohio green sandstone and granite; architect, G. W. Hewitt. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Germantown Avenue and Coulter Street, granite and limestone; architect, Richard Upjohn of New York, who first used the principles of Gothic architecture in America; rectory, St. Margaret’s Home, parish house, and the rood screen in the church are by Cope & Stewardson; organ screen is by Pierson. St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Locust Street below Seventeenth, early decorated Gothic; brownstone; architect, John Notman; later improvements include the Lady chapel, architects, Cope & Stewardson. Second Presbyterian Church, Twenty-first and Walnut Streets, French, with early English details; resembles the Parish Church in Norfolk, England; architect, Henry Sims. St. Stephen’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Tenth Street above Chestnut, early Gothic, with two octagonal towers; stone; interior decorated by Frank Furness; rich and unusual color. South Memorial Church of the Advocate, Eighteenth and Diamond Streets, French; architect, C. M. Burns; built, 1897; interior profusely adorned with carving; windows by Clayton & Bell.
Romanesque. Church of St. Francis de Sales, Roman Catholic, Forty-seventh Street and Springfield Avenue, brick and terra cotta; Gustavino dome and mosaic, a very beautiful example of the style; built, 1912; architect, Henry D. Daggit. Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, Nineteenth and Walnut Streets, Norman, brownstone; architect, John Notman. Masonic Temple, Broad and Filbert Streets, Norman with elaborately carved porch; gray granite; built about 1870; architect, James H. Windrim. Church of the Saviour, Protestant Episcopal, Thirty-eighth Street, north of Chestnut Street, Norman; architect, Charles M. Burns; the half dome and apse are decorated by Edwin H. Blashfield; said to be one of the finest examples of mosaic work in this country; alms boxes and reredos, designed by the late James Warner, are also of considerable interest.
Renaissance. Art Club, southwest corner of Broad and Chancellor Streets, Italian and French influences; brick and Indiana limestone; architect, Frank Miles Day. City Hall, open daily, 9.00 A.M. to 3.00 P.M., Broad and Market Streets, on site of Penn Square, formerly Centre Square, on which was a Friends’ meeting-house in 1685; Rochambeau’s Encampment, 1781; Wayne’s Encampment, 1794; and the first city waterworks in 1801; this is the largest single building in America; covers four and a half acres, French, begun in 1871, white marble with granite base; built in the form of a hollow square, with passageways connecting both Market and Broad Streets; contains 662 rooms; the tower, on the north center, about 550 feet high, is surmounted by a colossal bronze statue of William Penn; center and corner pavilions have attic stories, and hanging stairs of polished granite; architect, John McArthur, Jr.; chief points of interest are the council chambers; mayor’s reception room, with portraits of Philadelphia mayors; and state court rooms; from the roof is an excellent view of the city. To Alexander Milne Calder, Philadelphia is indebted for the applied sculpture, the artistic feature of the building, many scores of figures, symbolic of the history of this nation
CAPTAIN NICHOLAS BIDDLE
In the Tower Gallery of City Hall
Alexander Milne Calder, Sculptor