Rittenhouse’s All-Day Cafe Enswell Is an Art Deco Design Dream
A hospitality project rooted in restoration transformed the space at the Touraine.
Bar and Cafe at Enswell / Photography by Jason Varney
It’s nearly impossible not to look up when you step inside Enswell, Rittenhouse’s swanky new day cafe and cocktail lounge at the Touraine. Lance Saunders, director of design at Stokes Architecture + Design, also in Rittenhouse, was certainly enamored with the historic property’s soaring ceilings and grand neoclassical columns — but he found inspiration under his feet. “The 100-year-old porcelain mosaic tile floor is a primary element of the design,” says Saunders, who collaborated on the ambitious hospitality project with Enswell co-founders and Rival Bros. partners Jonathan Adams and Damien Pileggi and the Touraine’s property management group, Spruce Street Commons.
With an aesthetic in place, the project shifted to restoration efforts, including repairing walls using the building’s original plaster casts and constructing a new kitchen in a limited space. Adams says his travels through Europe offered solutions to some design challenges: “The redesign had to feel luxe while allowing us to operate within the constraints of a small footprint. I saw a lot of that in Italy and Spain — the taverna taking vegetable deliveries through the front door, the chef having an espresso with the fishmonger. Not everything at a restaurant has to happen in the back alley.”
The main bar
A pair of columns bookends Enswell’s main bar, which was built by Philly custom millwright Benjamin Johnson. Plush Arhaus barstools echo the rounded corners of the mirrored built-ins and the serpentine outline of artist Reverend Michael Alan’s hand-painted mural, an allegory steeped in Philly history. The bar is finished with antique brass.
The lighting
Canadian lighting manufacturer Century Industries built four custom Art Deco-inspired chandeliers that float above the space.
The dining room
A low-slung green leather banquette crafted by Johnson is flanked by marble-topped tables and Arhaus chairs. Visual Comfort & Co. wall sconces accent the walls, while Ashn Earth’s botanicals add scale.
The retail display
A handsome cabinet near the main entrance invites guests to shop for Rival Bros. coffee and bottles from spirits partner New Liberty Distilling. The display also establishes two distinct areas for the cafe and dining room. Contemporary art by Saunders’s wife, mixed media artist Natalie Flor Negron, is showcased behind the cabinet.
Published as “Habitat: Well Done!” in the December 2023/January 2024 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
