Stop One: Horticultural Hall, 225 North High Street
The last West Chester commission of Thomas U. Walter — who went on to design the dome of the U.S. Capitol — Horticultural Hall is built of locally quarried serpentine stone in a Romanesque style. At completion, only one other building in the country was dedicated to horticultural exhibitions. A curbside marker commemorates Pennsylvania’s first women’s rights convention, held here in 1852. The building has been home to the Chester County Historical Society since 1938.
Stop Two: West Chester Armory, 226 North High Street
Tracing its roots to Benjamin Franklin’s militia, the Pennsylvania National Guard called this armory home for nearly a century, housing up to 170 troops with a basement rifle range, until relocating to Coatesville in 2013. It has since been reimagined as the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center.
Stop Three: Site of the First Mass-Produced Penicillin, South Chestnut Street just west of Walnut
In a converted auto repair shop on this site, West Chester chemist G. Raymond Rettew partnered with Wyeth Laboratories during World War II to produce more penicillin than any other lab in the world. The site is now the Chestnut Street Garage, marked by a historical plaque.
Stop Four: Warner Block, 100 block of North High Street
Two Art Deco landmarks face each other on this block. The Hotel Warner retains the ornate facade of the original 1930 Warner Bros. Theater, with massive buttresses and carved bas-reliefs; the original theater lobby is now the hotel lobby, with the staircase preserved. Across the street, the Greentree Building offers a second Deco gem.
Stop Five: American Revolution War Site, NW Corner of Gay & High Streets
Two historical markers stand where a schoolhouse once served as a field hospital following the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. General Howe’s decisive victory sent Washington retreating toward Valley Forge, while a wounded 20-year-old Marquis de Lafayette distinguished himself organizing a successful retreat. The remains of soldiers are said to be buried on the site, now home to Iron Hill Brewery.
Stop Six: The Insurance Building, 15 East Gay Street
Long known as the Chester County Trust Company, this compact Beaux-Arts building is characterized by arches and rusticated stonework. Next door, a Brutalist-style building now occupied by Stifel stands where the Gay Street Train Station once did.
Stop Seven: Historic Post Office, 101 East Gay Street
Built in two phases thirty years apart, the West Chester Post Office is faced with Cockeysville Marble — the same white crystalline stone used on the first 152 feet of the Washington Monument. The seam between the 1907 original and its 1935 addition is still visible. Look closely at the upper stones for a bluish tint — a material called Brandywine Blue, used purely for visual interest.
Stop Eight: First Bank of Chester County, 17 North High Street
Designed by Thomas U. Walter, this Greek Revival landmark is the oldest commercial structure in West Chester still operating for its original purpose — now as Wells Fargo. Its Doric portico helped earn West Chester the nickname “Athens of Pennsylvania.” Step under it and look up: Walter’s name is engraved in the stone ceiling. Inside, a restored Tiffany-style chandelier anchors the original lobby.
Stop Nine: William Darlington Building, 13 North High Street
Built in 1789 and enlarged in 1792, this is the oldest surviving structure from West Chester’s original civic grid, dedicated to William Darlington — educator, botanist, banker, and politician — who kept both his office and home here throughout his career. For the best view, step across to the fountain, where the building is framed by the Historic Courthouse and 10 North High.
Stop Ten: Stone Relief Sculpture, 10 North High Street
Commissioned for the county’s North Wing in 1966, this monumental work by Bucks County artist Harry Rosin comprises four stone panels — each ten feet tall — weighing 18 tons in total. The sculpture depicts Chester County historical figures alongside George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, and remains the most significant work of public art in downtown West Chester.
Stop Eleven: Historic Courthouse, 2 North High Street
Thomas U. Walter’s crowning West Chester achievement, the Chester County Courthouse opened February 22, 1848, though its Pictou stone facade wasn’t completed until a decade later. The Clock Tower, also by Walter, predates the building — moved here from the original 1786 courthouse — and its bell has rung every hour since 1838, the oldest sound in West Chester. The 1891 Italian Renaissance Annex connects at West Market Street, and Harry Lewis Raul’s cast bronze Old Glory has stood at the corner of High and Market since 1915.
Stop Twelve: Buckwalter Building / Old Municipal Building, 11–15 South High Street
The 1893 Buckwalter Building combines English redstone and iron-spotted Pompeian brick in a distinctive asymmetrical design with a two-story oriel window. The 1912 Old Municipal Building next door — once the borough’s administrative offices and police department — complements its neighbor’s architecture. The two are now joined as Barnaby’s Restaurant.
Stop Thirteen: Farmers & Mechanics Building, 2 West Market Street
West Chester’s only authentic skyscraper, the six-story, 90-foot F&M Building is a Beaux-Arts landmark faced with Indiana limestone, yellow brick, and decorative terra cotta. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983, it served as Chester County’s Boy Scout headquarters in 1918 and as a civilian aircraft watch post during World War II.
Stop Twelve: Lincoln Building, 28 West Market Street
Designed by William Strickland for developer William Everhart, this Federalist structure was West Chester’s first true office building. It was rededicated as the Lincoln Building in 1947 in recognition of a notable distinction: Abraham Lincoln’s first biography was written and published here on February 11, 1860. Open to visitors during weekday business hours.
Stop Thirteen: Peter & Mary Rush’s Grocery Store, 1 North Church Street
One of West Chester’s most evocative 19th-century survivals, this 1825 market building still wears its original canopy. By the mid-1830s the corner had become the social hub of West Chester, anchored by the Mansion House Hotel across the street. Frank and Richard Darlington made it the premier stop for visitors from 1871 to 1904. Today it serves as a local legislative office.
Stop Twelve: First West Chester Fire Company, 30 North Church Street
Founded in 1799 with 23 volunteers and two water buckets each, West Chester’s first fire company eventually earned a proper home when architect T. Roney Williamson joined two buildings into a striking Queen Anne-style station with patterned brick, carved stone, and an eclectic mix of Romanesque, Gothic, and Colonial Revival detail. The tower served for spotting fires, ringing the alarm bell, and drying the company’s 800-foot hose. The building is now home to Restaurant 51.