RACE THROUGH

PHILADELPHIA !!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an image of the Second Bank of the United States, built by William Strickland and finished in 1824. It is located on Chestnut Street between 4th and 5th, just to the east of Independence Hall, which you've already visited. This is a picture of the bank made by John Caspar Wild. In 1838, Wild and J. B. Chevalier published Views of Philadelphia, and its Vicinity, a volume of pictures by Wild of buildings and landscapes in and around Philadelphia.

Each view came with a description and Wild said this of the bank building: "The design is constructed after the Parthenon, at Athens, the colonnades on the sides, and certain other merely decorative parts..." The Parthenon was built by the ancient Greeks about 25 centuries ago. A colonnade is a row of columns like the one you see at the front of this building. Another thing taken from the Parthenon is the triangular shape you see at the top of the colonnade. This is called a pediment. A lot of buildings from this time in Philadelphia and Washington used this style of Greek architecture. To see more pictures from Wild's book, which is at the Bryn Mawr College Library, Special Collections, click here. To return to your tour through Philadelphia, click here.