Thursday, August 20, 2020
Today's walking tour takes place in Ardmore, PA, an unincorporated community on the Main Line (1834) of the Pennsylvania Railroad west out of Philadelphia. The wealthiest Philadelphia families established country estates along the Main Line. Now some of the more prestigious Philadelphia suburbs have grown around and taken the names of the railroad way stations. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority/SEPTA runs commuter trains along the Main Line and Ardmore is at Milepost 8.5.
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Suburban Square (1927-1928) was one of the first planned
suburban shopping centers in the United States, and the
first to include a department store: Strawbridge & Clothier |
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Times-Medical Building (c 1930, by Fred Dreher, Sr
in Art Deco style) sits in the middle of Suburban Square |
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6 W Lancaster Avenue/former Ardmore National Bank (1925)
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8-10 W Lancaster Avenue/former Palace Theater (1913-1919)
was originally one-story until a movie house was added above |
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14, 16, 18 W Lancaster Avenue/Colonial Row (1900-1908)
symbolizes the Ardmore downtown district |
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30-38 W Lancaster Avenue/former Ardmore Theatre (1925-1926)
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42 W Lancaster Avenue/former Bell Telephone Exchange (1908)
is an example of an early 20C commercial building |
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44 Holland Avenue (c 1900); both two-story porches
belong to one apartment building |
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Philadelphia Skating Club & Humane Society (established 1861,
building 1937-1938) claims Dick Button and Scott Hamilton
as two of their most famous competitors |
The Humane Society of Philadelphia was initially a separate organization established in 1770 to rescue people from drowning. Perhaps the connection is that the early skating club members skated on the frozen Schuylkill River before having indoor rinks.
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219 W Spring Street/Zion Baptist Church (established 1894, church
1899, after a fire destroyed a building they had moved to this location) |
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107 Ardmore Ave (c 1900) is a Second Empire residence converted
to apartments and 109 Ardmore Ave: purpose-built apartments |
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108 Ardmore Avenue/Ardmore Free Library (1899 as the
Ardmore Women's Club, 1917 addition for the library) |
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Clevenger Memorial Fountain (1924)
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36 Ardmore Avenue/St Mary's Episcopal Church (1887,
by Furness & Evans) was locked so that we could not
admire the three stained-glass windows by Tiffany Studios |
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| 35 Ardmore Avenue/Cassia Mt Horeb Lodge of Masons (c 1916) |
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W Athens Avenue at Ardmore Avenue/
Craftsman-style apartments (1925-1926) |
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| 16 Ardmore Avenue/Tired Hands Brew Café, and a mural... |
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| Fountain at Ardmore Avenue & W Lancaster Avenue |
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49-63 W Lancaster Avenue/1928 Art Deco building
with pillars and roof trim with floral and leaf motifs |
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49-63 W Lancaster Avenue Art Deco details (KSS)
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21-27 W Lancaster Avenue/Henry Harrison Block (1908)
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17-19 W Lancaster Avenue/Philip Harrison Building (1922)
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9-13 W Lancaster Avenue/former residence (c 1860,
in Dutch Colonial style) of a Dr Cloud
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1-3 W Lancaster Avenue/c 1920 brick commercial building
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31-37 Cricket Avenue/1920s commercial buildings
with original bay windows featuring decorative wood trim
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2 W Lancaster Avenue/2 Cricket Avenue (1910, with an Italian
Renaissance flavor) as seen from Cricket Avenue
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7 E Lancaster Avenue/former Merion Title &
Trust Company (1923-1925 in Classical Revival
style) was supposed to have a sundial on the
right side, but maybe they meant the clock |
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13 E Lancaster Avenue/9-11 Station Avenue/former
Lincoln Apartments (1913-1919) featured "recessed" windows |
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Courtyard of 16 E Lancaster Avenue (1910)
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47 E Lancaster Avenue/former Lower Merion
Federal Savings & Loan (1915-1925)
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52-56 E Lancaster Avenue/5 Rittenhouse Place (1910,
in Spanish Eclecticism style) |
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10-18 Rittenhouse Place (1910, in Spanish Eclecticism style)
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49-51 Rittenhouse Place (c 1910) was the
first building erected on Rittenhouse Place |
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112 E Athens Avenue/First Baptist Church (1924) is now condos
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101 Linwood Avenue (1890, in Princess Anne style, not
Queen Anne style due to the smaller circumference turret) |
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105 Linwood Avenue (c 1900, by Horace Trumbauer)
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44 Linwood Avenue fence
overgrown by tree |
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| 44 Linwood Avenue (1910, in Tudor Revival style) has a carriage house |
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St Colman's Roman Catholic Church (1926, inspired
by French and English Gothic style) |
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75 E Lancaster Avenue/Lower Merion Township Administration
Building (1926); Lower Merion became a township in 1900 |
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49 E Lancaster Avenue/Mosaic mural (2012,
by Jessica Gorlin Liddell) |
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