On the Market: Full-Floor Condo Just Off Rittenhouse Square

The incredible lightness of being in this full-floor condo at 1706 Rittenhouse Square, Unit 1001, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, should become apparent the moment you step off the elevator and into your unit. | Bright MLS photos via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors

Philadelphia now has a slew of modern towers filled with ultra-luxe, super-spacious condos whose buyers can, and have, outfitted them to suit their tastes.

1706 Rittenhouse exterior, front elevation

The granddaddy of these structures is 1706 Rittenhouse Square, the slender tower that made suburban luxury developer Tom Scannapieco a force to be reckoned with in the city as well.

This 1706 Rittenhouse Square full-floor condo for sale has had only two owners since the building was completed in 2010. The current owner gave the unit a total refresh last year that turned it into a modernist showpiece with a neutral color palette and open layout.

What this means for you is that you can decorate and configure it to suit your needs and tastes.

For instance, take the open main living area, which you enter directly from the elevators through French doors.

Living room

It’s an L-shaped space that combines a living room and dining room, but with enough space that you can rearrange the functions. The living room area features a tray ceiling, custom adjustable lighting and a long balcony looking out over South Philadelphia.

Dining room

You could put the dining room closer to the kitchen, which would also allow you to host dinner party guests at both your dining table and the table in your breakfast nook, which lies between the main living area and the kitchen.

Bar and lounge

Or you could, as here, put the dining table next to the living room and use the dining-room space for some other purpose. Here, it’s a lounge and bar with huge windows looking out over South Philadelphia and west across Rittenhouse Square. A 16-foot-long balcony  at the west end of this space lets you take in the sunsets over Rittenhouse Square and University City.

Breakfast nook

Kitchen

The Joanne Hudson-designed kitchen and breakfast nook have a midcentury modern aesthetic, with plenty of blond wood and beige tile. If you love sunsets as I do, you will no doubt want to have dinner in the breakfast nook whenever you can. (And you will probably want to put the dining table at this end of the main living area as well.)

Home office

Off the kitchen, between it and the guest bedroom, you will find a home office space. Again, you could use this as a den instead, or if you would rather exercise in private instead of using this building’s very-well-equipped fitness center, you could put your Peloton bike here. Or if needs be, you could make this a fourth bedroom.

The west guest bedroom (off to the right in the photo above) is currently being used as a den, but the owner has added a California Closets desk area and closet with media credenza to this space.

Primary bedroom

The other two bedrooms are on the other side of the living room, on the east-facing end of the condo. Like the main living area, they have huge floor-to-ceiling windows with great city views. In the primary bedroom, pictured above, the views are to the south and east.

Primary bathroom

The primary bedroom suite includes a corridor filled with storage closets, a walk-in closet and a sumptuous marble bathroom with dual vanities, a separate toilet closet, a soaking tub and a glass-enclosed shower.

Residents’ garden

And it comes with access to all the great amenities 1706 Rittenhouse Square has to offer. These include a 24-hour door guard, concierge, fitness center, lap pool, sauna, conference room, lobby lounge and a peaceful residents’ garden with a waterfall and pond. You also have access to a chauffeured limousine along with a parking space big enough to hold an SUV in the building’s automated garage.

And all of this sits just off Rittenhouse Square itself. That means you have a world of fine dining and great shopping just steps away from your building door. By the way, your security is assured because elevator access to your unit is controlled by a key fob.

Tom Scannapieco may have gone on to build even more impressive condominium buildings than this one, but this 1706 Rittenhouse Square full-floor condo for sale should demonstrate that it’s still hard to top the original.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 4

BATHS: 2 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 4,166

SALE PRICE: $4,459,000

OTHER STUFF: The half bath on the west side of this unit can be converted to a full bath. A $4,579 monthly condo fee covers building maintenance and insurance as well as maintenance and use of the common spaces and amenities.

1706 Rittenhouse Square, Unit 1001, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 [Reid Rosenthal | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]