December 16-22, 2004

cityspace

Rescue Mission

TONIGHT'S SPECIAL? LADYFINGERS: Rescue's manicure table (above) looks like it seats eight for dinner, but can accomodate four talkative spa-goers. At left, the pedicure station. By: Michael T. Regan

Save your skin (and maybe your sanity) with a visit to Rescue Rittenhouse Spa Lounge.

by A.D. Amorosi

Tranquility has never been my friend. Relaxation is an ill fit, inside and outside. Any attempt to find peace or solace within a physical space has only met with a frenzy that drives me to greater distraction. So, to kick off First Look on the Cityspace page, I thought I'd look for something that held sway over emotional and aesthetic values without having to glow or blink.

Maybe I didn't have to go the Medical Towers on 17th Street to find it. But with a name like Rescue Rittenhouse Spa Lounge, it seemed like a good start.

A second-floor loft mezzanine holds the two-level multitude of rooms and its 4,000 square feet of solitary space. Designed by its Polish-born owner Danuta Mieloch and Swedish-born consultant Mina Gough—think The Simple Life with statuesquely attractive hosts—Rescue is a symmetrically appointed, bright-white lounge that doubles as an inner and outer beauty and relaxation bar. Or is it vice versa?

"We thought about street level and retail spaces," says Mieloch, who totes along her Yorkshire terrier, Aga, wherever she goes. "But we wanted something intimate, something that blended with the European feel of the Rittenhouse area."

Rescue's main room has a quiet stately vibe. Stare to your left upon exiting the elevator and there's a remedy tea bar with e•lix•r, drinks and silver trays of slivered nuts next to a deco mirror and nightstand lined with beauty boutique items from Martin & Barnett and Diane Brill. Mahogany slat blinds, brushed aluminum tables and a crystal chandelier center the hardwood-floored room. To your right, a long mahogany table acts as a communal respite for chattier types looking to get manicured in a group setting. Behind this, in glazed almond tiles and black muslin cushioned backdrops, are pedicure stations and marble sinks. There are great candles everywhere: in front of downy billowy couches, beside twig-and-branch floral arrangements. Roam throughout the loft setting (you're downright encouraged to waft) and you'll find an endless maze of motel-like spaces. "We love watching people on Sundays padding around in their robes and slippers," says Gough.

Based on Rescue's motto—"result, restore and prevent"—each room and its inner elements are geared toward high performance treatments that permeate slowly rather than slap you into gear. High, wide rooms lit with tea candles and little else have linen-lined tables with fleece underlays. Some rooms offer standard black leather massage chairs. Some offer healing stones and reflexology. There's one room toward the back where the cellulite/detoxification machine resides. It generates high circulation in targeted areas to wack out your water retention. But even this quietly humming microdermabrasion unit, offering topical peels and high-frequency, noninvasive current, is peaceful.

Rather than something Brazil-like (think Michael Palin stretching Katherine Helmond's face), there is instead a peaceful, stoic look to the machinery. Even the tinkling ambient music, something that would drive me to knife-gashing and teeth gnashing, has its purpose—to steady the rhythm of the massage therapists.

"I think Rescue's atmosphere goes along with the sophisticated level of our skin care, the nurturing we have at our command and the ladies who utilize us," says Gough of everything from their gentle, soft-handed touch "High Performance Facials" and massages to their "Zoom Groom" multispa experience. "This isn't just for spa junkies."

255 South 17th Street, 215-772-2766.