Girard Estate

Girard Estate is a South Philadelphia neighborhood bound by Passyunk Avenue, Oregon Avenue and 17th and 25th Streets. Like much of South Philadelphia, this area is predominantly Italian American. While most of Philadelphia is recognized for its brick row homes, Girard Estate is marked by varied architecture, including prairie homes and bungalows. These unique home fronts allow for suburban curb appeal, without leaving Philadelphia’s boundaries.

Homeowners are required to preserve the aesthetics of their homes as dictated by the Historical Association. Additionally, neighborhood associations are extremely prominent, and all fall under GENA (Girard Estate Neighborhood Associations). Community bonds are strong, and residents are dedicated to beautification and safety. The School District of Philadelphia operates numerous schools, and the Free Library of Philadelphia operates a branch in Girard Estate.

Residents have access to a variety of green space, since Marconi Plaza and FDR Park both border the area. There are also a variety of chain and grocery stores, such as Home Depot and ShopRite. While the subway is accessible with a stop at Oregon Avenue, many residents have cars, and driveways to park them in. Buses also run through the area.

Overall, the dedicated residents of Girard Estate make for an aesthetically pleasing and safe environment. This makes the area ideal for families who want access to Center City, but enough distance from the “city action” to raise children, with parks, good schools and peace and quiet. It is best suited for families, older professionals and retirees.

Named after entrepreneur Stephen Girard, Girard Estate is what became of his 6 million dollar will left to the City of Philadelphia. He made the city promise to not only create a college for poor white boys, but to also not knock down his home. Somewhere around 480 houses were built around his estate and stayed in the city's possession for quite some time. Once the city released the sale of homes to private owners the neighborhood became what it is today.

The neighborhood features historical and non-historical areas. The architecture outside the historical portion of Girard Estate is held to two-story brick homes. Inside the historical realm, are semi-detached homes of many styles such as Bungalow, Prairie and Mission. Homeowners must follow strict guidelines set by the city to preserve the aesthetics of these homes.

There are three schools within the neighborhood - G.A.M.P. (Girard Academic Music Program), St. Monica's and Senior School. These include a diverse amount of students even though the neighborhood is a little less diverse.

There are SEPTA routes that run in and around the neighborhood but they are all on a very tight schedule. Girard Estate is not as accessible as other neighborhoods in the city. Traffic is always steady through the area and parking is somewhat unusual with some blocks allowing cars to park diagonally instead of parallel.

There are many restaurants and bars around the area to enjoy a night out. The plus is the authentic Italian food in this predominantly Italian-American community. There are, however, many other styles of food and drink in the neighborhood.

Girard Estate is a suburb within a city. The residents are very close knit and anyone who doesn't live there already can be viewed as an outsider. However, the neighborhood is worth the possible curious eyes you may get at first. Once you're there, it's easy to find a way to fit in. Just make sure you brush up on your Italian.

Girard Estate is a close-knit neighborhood so close that if you don’t already live there, you probably won’t feel too invited to move in. The predominantly Italian-American area of South Philadelphia is seen as being isolated from the rest of the part of the city, a neighborhood only concerned with their section.

The predominantly middle-class Girard Estate was named after entrepreneur Stephen Girard. Once the considered the richest man in the United States, Girard donated $6 million to the City of Philadelphia when he died. He also requested that the city develop, in his name, a school for poor, orphaned white boys in addition to maintaining his plot of land, which was called Gentilhommiere. In order to appease that wish the city built 481 homes on the property and it became known as Girard Estates.

Today most of the homes in this area own by their residences and new homes are being constructed. These homes are quite different from the usual South Philadelphia row homes as most of them are semi-detached.

Another strong influence of this neighborhood is religion. Many of the residents are Catholic and many of the children of Girard Estates attend the nearby schools.

Basically, Girard Estates is kind of like a suburb in the city. It’s an area where everyone wants to know your name and you business. They will also probably tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing whether you ask them or not.

Girard Estate is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia. It is bound by Mifflin Street to the north, Pollock Street on the south, Broad Street on the east and 22nd Street on the West. The neighborhood is named after Stephen Girard who owned the property during the 1920’s.
Girard Estate is home to mainly Italian Americans and Irish Americans and features classic Philadelphia row homes as well as a few apartment complexes. It is a desirable location and many college students and young professionals live here due to the neighborhood’s close proximity to Center City as well as having more affordable prices than Bella Vista or Queens Village.
Girard Estate is one of the safer neighborhoods in the city to live in and also offers many dining and nightlife hotspots including the South Philly Taproom which features many high quality and locally brewed beers on tap. It also has many quaint Italian restaurants and corner stores.
Girdard Estate was a location for the movie Rocky II. The crew filmed scenes on the 2300 block of South Lambert Street for a week.
The residents of Girard Estate are a tight-knit group and look out for one another. This makes the neighborhood have a family oriented atmosphere to it.

I lived in Girard Estate for 5 years. It is a really nice neighborhood if you stay within the neighborhood. All my neighbors were very friendly and made us feel at home no matter the situation. The parks have been recently redone so they are very nice. The schools were great, I went to a catholic school and it was very discipline but it was a good experience. There is a very good hospital that is within 10 minutes of the area. Out of all the area in Philadelphia I can tell you that this is probably one of the safer ones in the city.