Philadelphia didn't just happen, it was planned. Two main streets, Broad and Market, bisecting each other at the center of town. Four squares in each quadrant, of which the only one we need pause to consider, is Rittenhouse Square. To own a house on Rittenhouse Square was to be the creme de la creme of Philadelphia society, and so by extension, of the world. The Peabody house has been there since the square was built, and the family has never lived anywhere else. Why should they?