The Rittenhouse Club is a private institution in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

. It was founded in 1875 to allow "businessmen, intellectuals and artists to socialize in a congenial, friendly atmosphere."

History

The Gentlemen's club was founded in 1874 as the Social Arts Club of Philadelphia by Dr.

William Pepper William Pepper Jr. (August 21, 1843July 28, 1898), was an American physician, leader in medical education in the nineteenth century, and a longtime Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1891, he founded the Free Library of Philadelphia. ...

and Silas Weir Mitchell. The club was renamed in late 1875 when it moved to a new building on

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. The neighbo ...

that had been the home of James Harper. James E. Carpenter, Esquire was later the governor of the Rittenhouse Club. He was instrumental at securing the former home of Congressman James Harper] in 1875.''Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters 2009'' (DVD format), Subject is RIN 4293; work contains updates to the 1912 book on "Samuel Carpenter and his Descendants." By 1880, the northern side of Rittenhouse Square was the defacto "most fashionable address in Philadelphia." In 1900, the club expanded by adding an adjoining townhouse. This created not only a larger structure but also more prestige fronting the square."The Rittenhouse Club: Henry James’ Favorite Perch" By Steven Ujifusa - January 26, 2015
/ref> The Rittenhouse Club had many of the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania along with gentlemen architects such as from the T-Square Club. Members of the Northern Pennsylvania business elite intermingled with architects, professors and clergymen. These included during the fashionable Gilded Age, steamship magnate

Clement Griscom Clement Acton Griscom (March 15, 1841 – November 10, 1912) was an American shipping magnate and financier. Griscom was "without question, the key figure in American transatlantic shipping" by 1900. Biography Griscom was born in 1841 to a long ...

, architect Frank Furness, along with his Shakespeare scholar sibling Horace Furness. The University of Pennsylvania provost Dr. William Pepper, his nephew Senator George Wharton Pepper, and financier E.T. Stotesbury held prominent positions in the Club. After the end of World War II, due to tax loopholes being removed, general business changes and economics caused many members to move to the suburbs. The Rittenhouse Club suffered a slow decline of members and the "building slid from elegance into genteel decay." In the early 1990s the Rittenhouse Club building was finally closed and sold. Today, "Only the discreet letters “RC” on the brass doorplates identify 1811 Walnut Street as the former home of one of Philadelphia's most prestigious clubs. The Beaux-Arts facade remains, but the building behind it is gone."

Early Members

James Edward Carpenter James Edward Carpenter (March 6, 1841 – August 16, 1901) served in the Union Army in 1861 as a private in the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry. In 1862 he became a second lieutenant and progressed in rank to first lieutenant, captain, then a brevet ...

(1841-1901). * Louis H. Carpenter (1839-1916). *

Edward Walter Clark, Jr. Edward Walter Clark (May 17, 1857 – April 4, 1946) was a Philadelphia businessman and banker who was also noted as a first-class cricketer, yachtsman, and a breeder of cocker spaniels. A third-generation member of the Clark banking family, C ...

(1857-1946). *

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled ...

(1839-1912). *

George Fort Gibbs George Fort Gibbs (March 8, 1870 – October 10, 1942) was an American author, illustrator, artist, and screenwriter. As an author, he wrote more than 50 popular books, primarily adventure stories revolving around espionage in exotic location ...

(1870-1942). * George Byron Gordon (1870-1927). *

Robert Sturgis Ingersoll Robert Sturgis Ingersoll, Sr. (December 16, 1891September 12, 1973) was president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1948 to 1964. Early life and family Robert Sturgis Ingersoll was born December 16, 1891, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a son ...

. *

George W. Pepper George Wharton Pepper (March 16, 1867May 24, 1961) was an American lawyer, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Christian activist, and Republican politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in ...

(1867-1961). *

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer and historian, considered the "father" of western fiction. He is best remembered for writing '' The Virginian'' and a biography of Ulysses S. Grant. Biography Early lif ...

(1860-1938).

Selected publications

* Nathaniel Burt, The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999),, p.264. * Nancy Heinzen, Perfect Square: A History of Rittenhouse Square (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2009), p.95. * Liz Spikol, “Comcast CEO Brian Roberts Buys at 10 Rittenhouse,” CurbedPhilly, October 19, 2012. http://philly.curbed.com/archives/2012/10/19/comcast-ceo-brian-roberts-buys-part-of-10-rittenhouse.php

References

External links

* {{coord, 39.948738, -75.167070, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Organizations established in 1875 Buildings and structures in Philadelphia Clubs and societies in Philadelphia 1875 establishments in Pennsylvania