On July 26, a blistering hot Sunday, my husband and I decided we wanted a wandery kind of walk, and we wanted to look at houses and streets, not trees and trails. Maybe asphalt and concrete were not the best choice for such a day, but we enjoyed just poking around the south Ardmore, PA, area. I’m going to do a few posts on what we saw.
I lived about 2 miles away from where we were walking, almost 40 years ago. My husband and I were married in a church in the nieghborhood and more recently his office was located in this town. I don’t know the neighborhood that well, though – I didn’t walk around much back then, being very busy with work and everyday life.
So let’s look around. We parked the car at his office’s parking lot just off Lancaster Avenue, the main road through town. We headed off down this small street, Rittenhouse Place. Lots to see here.
For some reason there are several lighting supply stores in the area. Here is one of them. But what interested me was the building. Wow!
They had a very clear policy on where to wait before being admitted to the store.
My shadow obediantly got in line. Oops, no one told her the store was closed?
Looking through the window of this establishment (remember, it was a Sunday morning and the store was closed) I can tell you this looks like a nice toy shop.
As you could tell from the above photo, it was housed in a classy building. I took a picture of this urn guarding one end of the storefront – its twin held sway at the other end.
Down the row we saw this community library box, very decorated, in front of this establishment, Common Space.
At home I looked it up. Their website says:
Common Space provides a shared space where people of all ages, races, abilities, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds make connections and cross boundaries.
I like the idea of such a place.
More architecture along the row of stores. I love the practicality of this arrangement: the recess provides a little shelter from the elements for shoppers coming in and out, plus it is elegant-looking, I think.
I saw this sign. And I said to myself, if I see any ANTS, I will be calling for Harris. Whoever Harris is and however to get into touch, well, I will do it. I found this sign compelling and hilarious.
We walked past a very plain apartment building, built up to the street, with no retail space except this tiny barbershop below street level. I wished I could go inside and watch the pedestrians from this angle.
We’ve walked only a short distance and seen a lot. I will pick up from here another day.
Sometimes You Get So Confused 
I have never had cause to pootle about in that area so appreciate being able to wander vicariously through your blog post. I like the staggered shapes of that building housing the electrical store and I can well imagine that making its way into one of your architectural artworks.
I think we’ll walk here again. As I said, I lived nearby for some years, but it was not a time in my life I did any exploring like this. Plus I know a lot more about how the area developed and so on, so I have more fun looking.
Looks like a lovely wander! I love the architecture!
It’s a nice place to walk since I am somewhat familiar with it, so I can revisit some memories, but also, there is a lot to see in a small area, and I like this period of architecture and town/urban planning and layout.
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