# My old Philly apartment

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2017-09-17

apartment, cities, design, development, flat, graffiti, grillmaster-deli, hotel, missing-middle, philadelphia, philly, planning, real-estate, rittenhouse, rittenhouse-square, uncategorized, urban, urbanism, walk-up, warwick-hotel, wedding

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I’m in Philly right now for a good friend’s wedding. 

I always feel nostalgic when I come back to this city. Some of my most memorable years were spent here. I grew a lot in those 3 years. I also think that Philly is a highly underrated city – such an intimate urban scale.

I’m staying at the newly renovated [Warwick Hotel](http://www.warwickrittenhouse.com/) in Rittenhouse Square. The [lobby is beautiful](https://www.instagram.com/p/BZJa8oPHMwv/?taken-by=donnelly_b), as are the corridors, but the rooms already feel a bit a dated to me. However the [Barcelona Chair](https://www.knoll.com/product/barcelona-chair) in my room is a welcome addition. That thing will never go out of style.

My hotel happens to be two blocks away from my old apartment at 17th and Spruce. So I decided to do a walk-by while I waited for my room to be ready. My roommate and I had the entire second floor of this building:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c1ce28f54647c1688553bd082d3826d5.jpg)

It was palatial, especially given the bargain price and its location in [Rittenhouse Square](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rittenhouse_Square). 

The graffiti you see above is located on the north wall of the kitchen. I think that’s a recent addition. The fire stair you see provided access to the roof of the building (as well as the street, I hope). I’m not sure we were supposed to go up there, but we _obviously_ used it for parties.

Grillmaster Deli is still next door. They kept me fed when I was studying at home and too busy to cook. That was often. And across the street is the Italian restaurant with its sidewalk patio that I used to look out onto from my bedroom.

This walk-up apartment was by no means fancy. Though it did have ensuite laundry, which was a nice improvement from my previous place. But it was unabashedly urban. My kind of place.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/my-old-philly-apartment)*