Walking Tours

Philadelphia is the most walkable major city in the United States. As you stroll its streets, you'll be fascinated by the physical illustration of the progress of the centuries, the juxtapositions of past and present. Many neighborhoods are still made up of tree-lined, intimate streets flanked by lovely Federal town houses, especially in Society Hill, along Pine Street's Antique Row, and the residential streets west of Rittenhouse Square, such as Spruce, Locust, and Delancey. You'll notice the nearer you are to the Delaware, the older (and smaller) the buildings are likely to be. The walking tours mapped out here are specifically designed to cover the most worthwhile attractions.

Note:  It is important that you get individual (free) tickets for Independence Hall at the Independence Visitor Center (some are available in advance at www.independencevisitorcenter.com for $1.50), as you will not be able to get tickets at the hall itself. Before you enter the Liberty Bell Center, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and Old City Hall, you must pass through a security screening facility across from Independence Visitor Center; be sure to allow time to get through security when you are choosing timed tickets to Independence Hall during busy afternoon hours.

Architectural ABCs

You'll enjoy your stroll around Society Hill and Queen Village even more if you know something about Colonial and Federal architecture, especially since many homes aren't open for individual tours. Brick is the constant, clay being abundant by the Delaware's banks -- but construction methods have varied over the past 150 years.

Generally, houses built before the 1750s, such as the Trump House at 214 Delancey St., are two-and-a-half stories, with two rooms per floor and a dormer window jutting out of a steep gambrel roof (a gambrel roof consists of a roof with two slopes on each of the two sides, with the lower slope steeper than the upper). An eave usually separates the simple door and its transom windows from the second level. Careful bricklayers liked to alternate the long and short sides of bricks (called "stretchers" and "headers," respectively), a style known as Flemish Bond. The headers were often glazed to create a checkerboard pattern. Wrought-iron boot scrapers flank the doorsteps.

Houses built in Philadelphia's Colonial heyday soared to three or four stories -- taller after the Revolution -- and adopted heavy Georgian cornices (the underside of a roof overhang) and elaborate doorways. The homes of the truly wealthy, such as the Powel House at 244 S. 3rd St. and the Morris House at 235 S. 8th St., have fanlights above their arched brick doorways; the Davis-Lenox House at 217 Spruce St. has a simple raised pediment. Since the Georgian style demanded symmetry, the parlors were often given imaginary doors and windows to even things out. The less wealthy lived in "trinity" houses -- one room on each of three floors, named for faith, hope, and charity. Few town houses were free-standing (most were row houses) -- the Physick House at 321 S. 4th St. is an exception.

Federal architecture, which arrived from England and New England in the 1790s, is less heavy (no more Flemish Bond for bricks) and generally more graceful (more glass, with delicate molding instead of wainscoting). Any house like the Meredith House at 700 S. Washington Sq., with a half story of marble stairs leading to a raised mahogany door, was surely constructed after 1800. Greek Revival elements such as rounded dormer windows and oval staircases became the fashion from the 1810s on. Three Victorian brownstones at 260 S. 3rd St. once belonged to Michel Bouvier, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's great-great-grandfather.

If you're here in April through June, don't pass up the Philadelphia Open House to view the interiors of dozens of homes (volunteered by proud owners). Call tel. 215/861-4971 or visit www.friendsofindependence.org for information.

What's in a Name: Society Hill

You may be surprised to learn that Society Hill wasn't named after the upper crust who lived here in Colonial times. Rather, the name refers to the Free Society of Traders, a group of businessmen and investors persuaded by William Penn to settle here with their families in 1683. The name applies to the area east of Washington Square between Walnut and Lombard streets. Many of Philadelphia's white-collar workers, clerics, teachers, importers, and politicos have lived and worked here over the years.

Looking at Society Hill's handsome Colonial facades, it's hard to imagine that a few decades ago, this part of town was considered blighted. The rescuing came about in the 1950s, when City Planner Edmund Bacon (father of actor Kevin) and Mayor Richardson Dilworth went about rescuing by blending new housing developments in with original Georgian neighbors.

Among these residences are Georgian and Federal public buildings and churches, from Headhouse Square and Pennsylvania Hospital to St. Peter's and St. Paul's, which may make you feel as if you've stumbled onto a movie set. But all of the buildings are used -- and the area works as a living community today.