Between Tenth and Ninth Streets, to the left, are the Mortgage Trust Co., the Penn Mutual Life Building, with an elaborate facade, and the office of the Philadelphia Record. At the corner of Ninth Street, extending on the north to Market Street, is the Post Office, a large granite building in the Renaissance style, erected at a cost of five million dollars. It also contains the United States Courts and the offices of various Federal officials. In front of the Post Office is a colossal seated figure of Benjamin Franklin. Between Eighth and Seventh Streets is the ornamented [614] front of the Union Trust Co. This neighborhood contains several newspaper offices. At the corner of Sixth Street, on the Public Ledger Building, is another statue of Franklin.
In Seventh Street, a little to the north of Chestnut Street, is the Franklin Institute with a library, museum and lecture-hall.
Between Fifth and Sixth Streets is Independence Hall, or the old State House, a modest brick edifice (1732-1735), which is in some respects the most interesting building in the United States. Here the Continental Congress met during the American Revolution (1775-1781), and here, on July 4th, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. In 1897-1898 the whole building was restored as far as possible to its original condition.
The Custom House, with a Doric portico, was originally erected in 1819-1824 for the United States Bank. It is copied from the Parthenon, and considered one of the best examples of Doric architecture in the world.
A lane diverging to the right between Fourth and Third Streets, opposite the Fidelity Trust Co., leads to Carpenters’ Hall, where the First Colonial Congress assembled in 1774. It contains the chairs used at the Congress, various historical relics, and the inscription: “Within these walls Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired the delegates of the colonies with nerve and sinew for the toils of war.” Chestnut Street ends at the Delaware River.
Walnut Street runs parallel to Chestnut Street, one block to the south. In this street, at the intersection of Dock Street and Third Street, is the Stock Exchange, formerly the Merchants Exchange, with a semi-circular portico facing the river. Near it, in Third Street, is the Girard Bank, built for the first United States Bank and long owned by Stephen Girard. At Fourth Street is the building of the Manhattan Insurance Co.
Walnut Street now crosses Broad Street, to the west of which it consists mainly of private residences. Between Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets we pass Rittenhouse Square, a fashionable residence quarter.
At the corner of Broad and Chestnut Streets are the white marble building of the Girard Trust Co., with a rotunda, and the tall Land Title Building.
North Broad Street, beginning on the north side of the City Hall Square, a handsome street one hundred and thirteen feet wide, contains in its upper portion many of the finest private residences in Philadelphia. To the right, at the corner of Filbert Street, is the Masonic Temple, which is adjoined by the Arch Street Methodist Episcopal Church. On the opposite side of the street are the tall buildings of the United Gas Improvement Co. and the Fidelity Mutual Life Association. To the right is the Odd Fellows’ Temple.
To the left, at the corner of Cherry Street, is the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a building in the Venetian style of architecture. The Academy was founded in 1805. Besides its collections it supports an important art-school, the lecture hall of which is adorned with effective decorations by the pupils. Its collections include five hundred paintings, numerous sculptures, several hundred casts, and fifty thousand engravings. The early American school is especially well represented.