Exploring Center City

Today I decided to explore the city a bit by walking east through Center City (I live at the west edge of the neighborhood). As an end point for my walk, I planned to go to the Curtis Center to see a mosaic recreation of a Maxfield Parrish design that I'd been wanting to see for years. Parrish, trained here in Philadelphia in the early twentieth century, has been one of my favorite artists for years. But more about Parrish later.

I began my walk in Rittenhouse Square, which was designated as a park in William Penn's plan for the city in 1682. The square was full of people and dogs, as were all of the cafes surrounding it. I crossed the city on Sansom and Walnut streets, which run parallel to each other, to try to get a sense of things. At first, I was passing fancy boutiques and cafes, but as I got closer to Broad Street, it became a little run down with a smattering of cool places starting to open.

The neighborhood went through two quick shifts before I got to the Curtis Center--first through the glbt neighborhood (which I really only realized because the street signs had a rainbow border on the bottom), and then through the campus of a medical school. When I reached the Curtis Center, I was surprised to find that it was an office building. I had some trouble finding even a sign for the mosaic, but finally I saw an arrow pointing towards the "Tiffany mosaic." I hadn't realized that this had been a collaboration between Parrish and Louis Comfort Tiffany.Titled "Dream Garden," Parrish and Tiffany's work is a dreamy landscape spanning nearly 50 feet in one of Center's lobbies. All of the usual elements of Parrish's landscapes are here--grand, orange and mauve mountains, a vivid blue sky, spindly trees, and overflowing flowers (painted from those in his own garden). Tiffany used different textures of glass for the flowers, as you can see in this photo (click on it to zoom in).I realized as I left the building that I was right across from Independence Hall, so I'd walked most of the way across the city in not much time. I took a different route back so that I could get water ice on the way home (I'd looked up the location online, I can't help the ice cream obsession). There were blocks that were charming, and others so surrounded in tall buildings and dinginess that I felt as if I were in New York City. At one corner, I passed a mural called Philadelphia Muses--I discovered the title through the Mural Arts Program's online database, which lets you search the city's many murals by location.This is a city where the mood seems to change every few blocks, some streets are as narrow as sidewalks, and early 19th century buildings abound. Nothing like DC--which means I have a lot more to learn and explore.