Just Listed: High-Floor Condo in The Rittenhouse
Rittenhouse Square at your feet, the sunset outside your windows, stylish appointments inside: If you love city life, it doesn’t get much more elevated than this.
Two units were combined into one fabulous modern condominium in 2011 on the 27th floor of The Rittenhouse, 210 W. Rittenhouse Square #2703-04, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 | Bright MLS images via BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors
When the “French flat” apartment building made its debut in the United States in the mid-19th century, many of the builders referred to them as “apartment hotels,” trading on potential residents’ knowledge of the one type of structure at the time that housed more than one or two families inside.
Technically speaking, the term didn’t fit, for these apartment buildings had none of the facilities or services hotels offered even back then. Now, however, many buildings exist that combine permanent (or long-term) housing and hotel amenities and services.
The Rittenhouse
Many of these combine hotel rooms below with condominiums above. One of the first of these to open in Philadelphia is The Rittenhouse, located right on Rittenhouse Square. Set where the mansion of Pennsylvania Railroad president (and brother of famed painter Mary) A. J. Cassatt stood, this project had one of the longest gestation periods in the city’s history.
Developer Jack Wolgin started work on the building in 1972, demolishing the Cassatt mansion and erecting the Donald Rieff-designed building you see at the left. Work stopped midway, however, when Wolgin’s lender quit funding the project, fearing it would never be completed. For more than a decade, the unfinished tower loomed over the square until Wolgin sold it to another developer. That developer finished the job, and The Rittenhouse Hotel opened in 1989.
Above the hotel are more than 20 floors of condominiums. Depending on what side of the building it’s on, each condominium has excellent views of either Rittenhouse Square or University City and the territories to its west.
This high-floor Rittenhouse condo for sale faces west on the 27th floor. That means you will enjoy beautiful sunsets over West Philadelphia as well as a very stylish condominium unit and all the facilities and services The Rittenhouse has to offer.
This unit got brought into the present in 2011. The makeover gave it loads of high modern style and a spacious main living area.
Kitchen
At one end, the kitchen features maple cabinets, glass-fronted china cabinets and high-end Bosch and KitchenAid appliances. Next to it is the dining area, with custom lighting and a built-in maple banquette. The glass-topped table and chairs come with the deal too.
Living room, view from foyer
The foyer leads past a custom temperature-controlled wine closet and hallway into the main living area. The living room became extra-spacious when the third bedroom got tacked onto it in the makeover.
Media lounge (third bedroom)
If you wish, you can turn the den-like space at the other end of the main living area back to that third bedroom.
Master bathroom
Wine closet
Two other bedrooms lie off the hallway past the kitchen. The master bedroom features a large walk-in closet and a bathroom lined with Jerusalem limestone and Carrara marble in the steam shower.
And because this high-floor Rittenhouse condo for sale shares its building with The Rittenhouse, you get to use the hotel’s stellar guest facilities whenever you feel like it. For now, those are limited to garage parking, use of the building’s town car and ordering takeout from a limited menu at Lacroix, the hotel’s acclaimed restaurant. After the stay-at-home restrictions are lifted, however, you will also be able to dine at Lacroix or Scarpetts, take afternoon tea or enjoy lighter fare in the Mary Cassatt Tea Room, and use the hotel’s fitness center and other facilities.
And even now, you can still take a stroll around Rittenhouse Square as long as you keep your social distance.
THE FINE PRINT
BEDS: 3 (one currently serving as a den)
BATHS: 2 full, 1 half
SQUARE FEET: 2,023
SALE PRICE: $1,750,000
OTHER STUFF: A $2,162 per month condo fee covers maintenance of common areas and access to shared amenities.
210 W. Rittenhouse Square #2703-04, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103 [Ellen Steiner | BHHS Fox & Roach Realtors]
