Winter Shelters in Rittenhouse

Outdoor Dining Dons a Winter Cloak

The restaurants of Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square are getting ready for winter. The big question seems to be: Tents or carpentry? Both are popular. Above is a view of 18th Street, looking south from Sansom.

And below we have a shot of Moravian from the before days. It's worth remembering: Not too long ago, this was the summit of our ambition for outdoor dining.

The design pioneered by Parc is basically a frame of two-by-fours clad in plywood and plastic. Here's the original Parc winter shelter, on Locust just across 18th from the park.

To give you a better idea of how these structures are put together, here's a shot of the Tria winter shelter, up on Sansom, with the framing almost complete.

And here's Tria almost ready for customers.

Parc's first winter shelter, the one on Locust, soon gained a sibling around the corner, on 18th. You'll notice that it takes up the parking lane and one of the two traffic lanes, confining motor vehicles to a single lane. This single lane for moving cars is getting to be a bit of a theme in the neighborhood. 

On Locust, as neighboring restaurants have joined Parc in the street, drivers find themselves in a single-lane cattle chute, surrounded by winter shelters on both sides. A replay of the layout I showed you at the top of the story.

Meanwhile, over on the 1500 block of Sansom, the dining structures occupy the whole cartway. Don't worry, though - you can still get into and out of the architecturally undistinguished garage on the corner of 15th. 

(No picture of the garage - my camera said that such a photograph was beneath its dignity.)

See also Philly Plein Air.