The Public Ledger Building
The Georgian Revival-style building was designed by renowned Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer for noted local publisher Cyrus Curtis.
Trumbauer also designed the nearby Curtis Center at 6th and Walnut streets for Curtis. That building is also Georgian Revival architecture. Both buildings complement each other, being about the same height, constructed with marble and arched openings, among other details.
Public Ledger building is named for Philadelphia’s first penny journal, which was also the city’s most popular newspaper until the mid-1930s. Curtis acquired the Philadelphia Inquirer through its newspaper, the Public Ledger, for $11 million and Curtis became president of the paper.
The building is listed on the National Register as a historic property.
HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN DIPLOMATIC DELEGATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE PRESENCE OF CONSULAR DELEGATIONS IN PHILADELPHIA
Even before the end of the unification of Italy , various Italian States including the Republic of Genoa , the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia , the Papal State , the Duchy of Parma, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany entertained diplomatic or consular relations with the United States. In Philadelphia, Count Joseph Ravara was first appointed Consul in 1791 and later credited as General Consul of Genoa in the United States (see article in the newspaper in Philadelphia in 1791 which cites that Consul General Ravara was presented to President Washington and Secretary of State Jefferson).
(Photo: Italian Reservists at the Consulate – Last Call for WWI )