{"nrhp_refnum":"81000557","name":"Rittenhouse Square","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Rittenhouse Sq. and 18th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.949374110000065,"lon":-75.17182030099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-09-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Landscape Architecture","Art","Conservation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public square in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, laid out with diagonal walkways, flower beds, trees, a balustrade and sculpture. Its current design was executed in 1913 by Paul Philippe Cret, and the square was first given public attention in 1816.","why_significant":"The square's design and embellishments are argued to be significant through their association with several distinguished artists and designers, including Cret, Antoine-Louis Barye, Paul Manship and Albert Laessle. The central plaza is presented as a good example of Cret's Beaux Arts/Renaissance Revival planning style. The square is also described as the only one of the city's four public squares never used as a cemetery.","narrative":"A public square in central Philadelphia whose current layout was designed by Paul Philippe Cret and executed in 1913. He arranged diagonal walkways among grass, trees and flower beds, and surrounded the plaza with a balustrade broken where the walkways pass through. Urns and pedestals with a raised Greek motif mark the entries, and Cret designed the gateways at the 18th, 19th and Rittenhouse Street entrances in 1940. Early attention began in 1816, when City Councils used a neighbours' loan to enclose and seed the area; fountains installed in the 1850s were later removed by Council order because they produced too much mud. It was used for pasturage but never as a cemetery. Its sculptures include Albert Laessle's bronze 'Billy' (1914), Paul Manship's 'Duck Girl' and Antoine-Louis Barye's 'Lion Crushing a Serpent'. The Rittenhouse Square Improvement Society has groomed the square since 1913, and its design and sculpture are significant through these artists' work.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Paul Philippe Cret (designer of the 1913 scheme)","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts/Renaissance Revival planning style","criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.268736-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/81000557.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000557/bc1c81c652-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000557/bc1c81c652-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Daderot","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rittenhouse_Square_-_autumn_-_IMG_6571.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rittenhouse_Square_-_autumn_-_IMG_6571.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"87002203","name":"Center City West Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/center-city-west-commercial-historic-district-87002203/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993759","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rittenhouse_Square","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7336808"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/rittenhouse-square-81000557/"}