The Seasonal House

Winter comes with boots and card trays; summer leaves with an echo and a caretaker's lamp. I felt the city turn on a hinge of weather—December parlors bright with callers, July shutters drawn against heat and dust. The century changed, but that rhythm hardly did.

Winters in Town (c. 1850-1915)

The Philadelphia social season ran from October through April, when Rittenhouse Square families returned from country estates and shore houses. 1822 Pine came alive with the cold: 'At Homes,' musicales, lectures—the double parlors designed to take coats, serve callers, and host ceremony. The side-hall is the timer that keeps everything moving.

Work behind the welcome: a cook and housemaid at minimum; by the 1890s often a parlor maid and laundress. The rear service axis kept all of it offstage. The 1899 modernization under Duhring, Okie & Ziegler readied the house for the new century's winter calendar.

Proof moments at this address: January 1901, Mrs. Graham Spencer returns to 1822 Pine Street from her Chester County estate for winter. December 1904, Mrs. Davis's 'At Home' days in full swing. January 1915, Miss Martha Davis selling Equal Franchise Society tickets from the house—activism woven into the winter social calendar.

Summers Away (c. 1850-1915)

When June arrived, Pine Street emptied. Families of this block typically left the heat for shore or hill—house shuttered, light staff retained, deliveries and repairs through Waverly. Dust sheets, summer china, windows on the shade. A caretaker's schedule would include mail, plants, and the occasional tradesman.

Society columns tracked departures and returns religiously. Mrs. Spencer's 1901 winter return from Chester County exemplifies the pattern—country summers, city winters. The house stayed alive but quieter, breathing the slow breath of July while its owners breathed sea air.

The Seasonal Arc Through Later Decades

1918: The influenza year muted winter rituals citywide; the obituary line for Naomi L. Davis marks a private end at the house itself, May 21—just as summer departures would have begun. 1930s-1950s: Seasonal social life gives way to apartment and professional rhythms—quieter summers, steady winters—still using the same plan. Year-round occupancy by multiple tenants replaced the seasonal migration.

1995 to present: District listing, careful restorations, and the return of whole-house hospitality—winter dinners and holiday stays again feel right in these rooms. Modern climate control has erased the necessity of summer flight, but the house still shows its seasonal DNA.

The House's Seasonal Personality Today

Winter advantages: The 1905 fireplace creates perfect ambiance for holiday parties; high ceilings trap warm air; southern exposure brightens short days. Summer assets: Cross-ventilation from Pine to garden; shutters that still work; the garden as evening refuge. Unlike its historical pattern, the house now operates continuously—weddings in spring and fall, corporate retreats in winter, film shoots anytime.