Architecture in Philadelphia: 41 Can't-Miss Landmarks, Historic Homes & More

German immigrants’ craftsmanship is showcased in Germantown at the 5.5-acre Cliveden property, made up of a main house, kitchen, colonnade, wash house, barn and carriage house. German architectural design principles of forms, patterns and ratios, exterior classical façades, and traditional building materials like Wissahickon schist make this property distinct. Inside, Colonial Revival columns separate rooms decorated with marble fireplaces and antique furnishings. Explore Cliveden’s intricate construction and design on a ticketed tour.

One of Fairmount Park’s can’t-miss things to do is to explore six former 18th- and 19th-century summer-homes-turned-museums: Cedar Grove, Laurel Hill, Lemon Hill, Historic Strawberry Mansion, Mount Pleasant and Woodford. The “Park Charms” exemplify William Penn’s vision for wealthy suburban living with areas for gardening, sporting and entertaining in Federal- and Georgian-style estates. Their shared history overlaps with early Pennsylvania furniture, open hearths, family heirloom objects, oval rooms and extensive grounds, all on view during guided tours.

Built in 1922, this former First Pennsylvania Bank is now a steakhouse inside the two-story Packard Grande Building. The entry boasts intricate iron and metalwork; inside are large marble columns, a floor-to-ceiling wine tower, sculpted ceilings and stone lion sculptures. Some of the best-kept secrets include a bank vault turned private dining room with a vast glass-encased wine cellar; the original bank clock above the main dining room’s bar; and an oak-paneled chamber, rumored to be a former ”mistress room” for the bank’s employees, complete with a marble-lined shower.

At the corner of Mermaid Lane and Germantown Avenue sits a local watering hole for local musicians that was once a 1700s stagecoach stop and inn. The two-and-a-half-story German structure was designed (and later rebuilt) in the Colonial Revival style with Wissahickon-area stones, a white porch entrance and an interior that made it a 2023 Chestnut Hill Architectural Hall of Fame finalist. The inn has original leaded glass windows with etched and hand-painted mermaid designs, a cherry wood bar, an ornate chandelier above the bar and an arch capped with sculptured relief of a lady’s head on either end.

Royal Theater — Philadelphia’s first and largest Black-run of over 100 years — was nearly demolished in 2017. Luckily, the South Street façade was protected by the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, and Sojourn Hospitality restored much of the 7,000-square-foot structural and cultural history with updated designs to make Rex at the Royal, a cafe, bottle shop and Southern coastal-inspired restaurant and bar. Highlights include the theater’s blue-and-green color scheme, a sprawling dining room with cushy booths, the long turquoise top bar, an upper mezzanine, and a raised stage for live jazz performances.

Built in the early 1890s by architect Willis G. Hale, The Divine Lorraine Hotel was one of the city’s first skyscrapers at 10 stories tall, as well as one of the first to have electricity and an elevator. The building has seen many lives as a wealthy residential building, a hotel and, most recently, hotel apartments under Mint House. The red marquee sign and north-facing façade are a fixture on North Broad Street, while inside, preserved and restored Victorian details include terra cotta tile floors, a formal lobby with a marble grand staircase and large chandelier, and sculptural gold crests on ceilings and columns.

At 60 floors, the Comcast Technology Center skyscraper built by Fosters + Partners is the city’s tallest building. The glass-and-stainless-steel structure houses a 12-story Four Seasons Hotel, with amenities that include an infinity edge pool on the 57th floor heated year-round and a 60th-floor sky lobby where guests pass through to the sophisticated cocktail lounge JG SkyHigh. Reflective pyramid ceiling panels, marble stairs and a cascading waterfall open to 360-degree views of Philadelphia, where elevated dining takes on a whole new meaning at the Jean-Georges restaurant atop the 1,121-foot-tall tower.

This National Historic Landmark turned luxury boutique hotel was founded in 1882 by the women-led New Century Guild as a hub for education, entertainment and activism in the early 20th century. The Victorian-era rowhouse was recently redesigned and restored by local teams ROHE Creative and architecture firm Moto Designshop to become the Guild House Hotel. There are 12 suites — each inspired by its female founders — blending modern romantic amenities with historic architectural elements like leaded glass windows, ornate fireplaces, wood paneling and antique writing desks. Private tours are available by appointment only.

Originally built in 1932, what’s now the Society Hill Hotel & Restaurant had a colorful past before it was fire-damaged and abandoned. Now its Old-World hotel charm returns as a boutique hotel and all-day restaurant by the founders of United By Blue. Walk through the black and white awning to view exposed original ceiling beams, refurbished wood floors, a bright gold-colored gas sign in its original frame, a restored long oak bar, large street-facing windows and a recreation of the original floral wallpaper on the ceiling.

One of the world’s most prestigious music conservatories, The Curtis Institute of Music is also an architectural and engineering marvel. A recent example is the Locust Street campus expansion (Lenfest Fall) led by Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. The original former mansion has grown into two connected buildings with intimate multi-use music spaces and studios adorned by ornate wooden carvings seen throughout staircases and walls, antique oil paintings of prominent composers and musicians, gold-finished light sconces, bust sculptures, and decorative exterior ironwork. Private campus tours, free recital concerts and orchestra events bring these details to life.

North Broad Street’s Metropolitan Opera House is now the restored Met Philadelphia. First built by opera impresario Oscar Hammerstein I and opened in 1908, it’s since been a movie theater, a sports venue and now an impressive concert hall. The venue features classic opera house elements including a neoclassical façade, terrazzo flooring, chandeliers, columns with gilded lighting fixtures and accents, and tiered seating that make it one of the most spectacular live show experiences in the region.

Philadelphia’s most famous bridge — with appearances in movies like Rocky, Philadelphia and National Treasure — is the 57th-longest suspension bridge in the world, standing more than 100 feet above the Delaware River and best seen from either Race Street Pier or Cherry Street Pier. The blue bridge — designed in the 1920s art deco style by French architect Paul Philippe Cret (also of Benjamin Franklin Parkway) and Leon Moissieff— has two tall towers and tapering cables. Today, it connects Old City to New Jersey with cars, a pedestrian walkway and PATCO.

One of Chestnut Hill’s most treasured sights is the “red covered bridge” on Forbidden Drive over Wissahickon Creek. Originally built in 1731, Thomas Mill Covered Bridge was once one of the busiest locations along the Wissahickon, connecting travelers around Philadelphia from Norristown to Germantown. Now it’s the only remaining covered bridge in Philadelphia — and the only covered bridge in any major U.S. city. The large red structure with a tin roof is 96 feet long and 17 feet wide and was restored by the Works Progress Administration in 1938. The quickest way to access the bridge is by parking in the Forbidden Drive Upper Parking Lot, then walking Forbidden Drive (which, as its name suggests, is closed to cars) to the bridge.

FDR Park (known as “The Lakes” to locals) is more than just a 348-acre urban park; it’s a legacy of the Olmsted Brothers, the landscape architect family best known for Central Park in New York City. Visitors seeking architecture splendor alongside their outdoor recreation should seek out the Edgewood Lake boathouse. It has an open-air pavilion, a vaulted ceiling, structural brick arches and a grand floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace, plus a picturesque gazebo located nearby. There’s also a newly built two-acre all-ages playground with a 20-swing structure (the largest swing set in North America) and “birdhouse” structures with slides and climbing areas inspired by local bird habitats.

Another Paul Philippe Cret masterpiece, Rittenhouse Square is one of five original squares planned by city founder William Penn in the late 17th century. The family-friendly park is impressive from every view, but some of the most popular attractions include five bronze cast sculptures, a fountain pool and 145 wooden benches. Luxury mansions and townhouses on picturesque streets surround the park, like the four-story brick red house of Edward Wood on South 17th Street built in 1890.

Philadelphia’s City Hall is the world’s largest free-standing masonry building and the largest city hall in the U.S. at over 500 feet tall. It was built in Second Empire style using 88 million bricks, white marble and limestone. Around the exterior are 250 sculptures designed by Alexander Milne Calder, none more iconic than the 53,000-pound, 37-foot-tall bronze statue of city founder William (Billy) Penn on the top. Inside is over 1 million square feet of space that includes a 100-year-old elevator and a 19th-century clock tower best viewed during group tours that conclude on the 360-degree glass-enclosed observation deck.

Alexander Hamilton set the foundation for the country’s financial system, which came to life at the First Bank of the United States, a South Third Street landmark since the late 1790s. The First Bank, a creation of architect Samuel Blodgett Jr., boasts a three-story brick structure with a blue marble exterior. The building is adorned with symbols of American wealth, such as a sculpture of Mercury, the ancient Roman god of commerce, leaning against a globe to symbolize the global economy. Though it’s currently closed to the public, it’s well worth admiring from outside.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Independence Hall is the birthplace of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The building — which originally housed all three branches of Pennsylvania’s colonial government — features an 1820s steeple tower restored by architect William Strickland, who also added a clock and additional ornamentation. Independence Hall follows the German design principles of proportion, balance and symmetry, but looks more like a country house in an urban setting. Ticketed tours are available.

Folks who have seen Greece’s Parthenon might notice the resemblance in this early 19th-century Chestnut Street building in Old City. William Strickland designed the Second Bank of the United States in Greek Revival style — and subsequently set the tone for many American bank buildings. While the exterior remains intact, the interior has transformed into a permanent collection of 18th- and 19th-century portraits depicting more than 150 political leaders, military officers, explorers and scientists. Not to be missed are the building’s original barrel-vaulted ceiling, marble columns in the main banking room and fireplaces.

When on South Broad Street, look for signs of the past: vintage lamp posts, decorative subway entrances, and lit-up signs for the Academy of Music, the Suzanne Roberts Theatre, the Tony Award-winning Wilma Theater and the Clef Club (hence the name Avenue of the Arts). Prior to it becoming a hub for performing arts and culture in the ’90s, South Broad Street was the location for the city’s top banks and offices in the ’50s, and shortly after, skyscrapers were added by architects like Daniel Burnham (Land Title building at 1400 Chestnut Street). These days, modern construction comes together with the Avenue’s historical character.

Philly’s “Museum Mile” is lauded by urban planning followers the world over. The Parkway was originally conceived by French architects Paul Philippe Cret and Jacques Greber to connect downtown Philadelphia to Fairmount Park with a wide boulevard lined with statues, trees and museums, just like Paris’s Champs-Élysées. Today, it’s a cultural destination that commands a pause in front of the 93,000-square-foot Barnes Foundation, the Rodin Museum (seek respite in the lush outdoor garden) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, recently renovated by Frank Gehry.

One of the nation’s oldest continuously inhabited residential streets is lined with 32 homes where working-class artisans once lived. The narrow cobblestone pathway from Second Street to Front Street dates back to the 1700s and is named after Jeremiah Elfreth, a blacksmith and land developer. The alley is frequented by visitors admiring Colonial architectural relics like flower boxes, shutters, bond brickwork and the spinning second-story porch on Bladen’s Court. Houses No. 124 and No. 126 are the Elfreth’s Alley Museum, run by the Elfreth’s Alley Association, which offers paid tours.

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is a National Historic Landmark in Washington Square West built in the Italianate Revival style and designed by architect John Notman (who also designed Laurel Hill Cemetery). The three-story brownstone houses an extensive collection of local historic architecture reading materials and boasts a grand staircase, a first-floor exhibition gallery, elaborate lighting fixtures and dark Victorian wallpaper. The second-floor members’ library and reading room shines with two-dozen ornate columns holding up a 24-foot ceiling, antique glass bookcases, a sofa designed by Paul Cret and even a 200-year-old-plus chess table. Guided tours are open to the public.

The 15 boathouses on the eastern bank of the Schuylkill River incorporate design elements from the Late Victorian, Gothic and Revival styles of the 19th and 20th centuries, merging aesthetic beauty with timeless utilitarianism. The Undine Barge Club (13 Boathouse Row) is made of stone and wood with a red and green tower, while the University of Pennsylvania’s boathouse (11 Kelly Drive) is a narrow, two-story brownstone with a single boat bay, an east and west wing (added later), Venetian windows and river-facing upper balcony. The boathouses’ architectural exterior features shine (literally) thanks to LED lights.

This Freemason members space has been at One North Broad for more than 150 years, completed even before City Hall. It was first a Gothic-style building, then expanded to a larger Masonic Hall before being constructed as the Masonic Temple by James H. Windrim in the 1870s. It features an Egyptian Hall covered in shades of gold and green, a 105-foot-long rug gifted by the Grand Lodge of Puerto Rico installed in the Corinthian Hall’s Roman-inspired room, statues of Founding Fathers and a grand ballroom. Their guided tour was awarded Best Tour of 2024 by Philadelphia magazine.

Architects at James Corner Field Operations are combining principles of sustainability, environmentalism and nature with social, active and urban environments at The Navy Yard in South Philly. Central Green is five acres of open fields featuring flowering meadows, a hammock grove, an outdoor amphitheater, bocce courts and fitness stations, including a 20-foot-wide circular track. Throughout The Navy Yard, visitors can find public art and interactive sculptures, as well as the Courtyard Philadelphia South at The Navy Yard, a modern LEED-certified hotel with a façade that alternates colors and shadows based on sunlight and time of day.

The iconic 1928 Beaux-Arts Philadelphia Museum of Art building was built as three linked Greek temples and designed in part by Penn architecture school grad Julian Abele, who was inspired by the temples he saw while traveling in Greece. Visitors might notice the museum’s recent renovations and expansions designed by Frank Gehry. Lenfest Hall and the Great Stair Hall are must-see spots, but now there’s also a sky-lit walkway with a Catalan tile vaulted ceiling, an espresso bar and a curved Piranesian staircase at the north entrance; a new central atrium in the east lobby; and larger windows for more natural light in the main lobby.

The University of Pennsylvania is one of America’s oldest universities with picturesque West Philly campus buildings of various architectural styles, some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Fisher Fine Arts Library is a red sandstone, brick-and-terra-cotta Venetian Gothic building designed by Frank Furness. The 39 dorms of the “Quad” are architecture firm Cope and Stewardson’s fancier Neo-Jacobean version of the Collegiate Gothic style. Some of Penn’s campus and facilities are open to the public, and virtual tours are available via YouTube.

On South Second Street between Walnut Street and Spruce Street is a condo community consisting of 614 units in three 30-story buildings. The rental units, aka the “towers,” were built in the 1960s by I.M. Pei as part of the area’s urban renewal project and later were added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. These residential skyscrapers — surrounded by acres of landscaped grounds — overlook Penn’s Landing and the Delaware River and are just steps away from the critically acclaimed restaurant Zahav. Self-guided walking tours are available in person or virtually.

This isn’t just a regular department store. The Wanamaker Building of 1911 (now Macy’s Center City) is one of the most architecturally significant retail spaces in the U.S. and a designated National Historic Landmark. Its Beaux-Arts architectural style from architect Daniel H. Burnham helped influence American department store design. Do as locals do on your visit: Listen to the 28,500-pipe Wanamaker Grand Organ, touch the 2,500-pound bronze eagle or watch the seasonal Christmas display and light show. The Macy’s History Tour gives visitors an overview of the building’s grand features, merchandising and fashion legacy.

William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, deemed one of Architectural Digest’s 37 most beautiful train stations in the world for its opulent Neoclassical design, is a five-story Amtrak concourse completed in 1934 by a Chicago architecture firm. It was originally intended to serve as the headquarters of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and features a limestone façade, cast-iron and steel-framed windows, bronze doors, wood benches, marble finishes, prism glass windows and even a chapel at one time (now a conference room). In 1978, the station was added to the National Register of Historic Places and in 2014, it was renamed to honor a former U.S. Congressman from the Philadelphia area.

This blue, white and gold-colored three-story mosque has operated as a Kensington community center for nearly 40 years. Middle Eastern colors, decorative patterns and intricate tilework cover the entire building, as well as the metal posts on the street around it. Not to be missed is “Doorways to Peace,” a mosaic-and-mural collaboration between interfaith community members as a response to anti-Islamic acts. Al-Asqa is only open to members of the mosque, but is beautiful to admire from the outside.

This Elkins Park synagogue opened in 1951 and was the only synagogue Frank Lloyd Wright ever designed. Wright incorporated faith-based symbolism throughout his design of the Mayan Revival-style building. The 160-ton steel base evokes cupped hands atop an angular triangle frame alluding to Mount Sinai; inside is a 110-foot ceiling, forty-foot concrete slabs representing Moses’ tablets and over 1,000 seats bathed in natural light that shines down from the pyramid-shaped roof. Explore this National Historic Landmark on a ticketed tour.

The largest Catholic church in Pennsylvania, the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul was modeled after the Lombard Church of St. Charles in Rome and is the only cathedral in the United States built in the Roman-Corinthian architectural style. The design is characterized by a cruciform floor plan, barrel arches, Corinthian columns, a copper dome (now shining in a green patina), and marble and walnut finishes. The building was designed by Philadelphia architect Napoleon LeBrun (see also Academy of Music) and John Notman (of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church). It is free to visit, with limited tours available.

A hidden gem in North Philly, the Church of the Advocate is a stunning Gothic Revival church designed by notable 19th- and 20th-century church architect Charles Burns. It’s a complex of buildings, including a chapel, parish house, curacy and rectory, with stained-glass windows, flying buttresses, tall spires and quadripartite vaults. There are also a series of religious and large civil-rights-themed murals honoring the Church’s Black history, including its role as the first Episcopal church in the world to ordain women. Today it stands as a National Historic Landmark by the National Parks Service. Book a tour (by appointment only) by calling (215) 978-8000.