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Hidden City Philadelphia
On the Lam: Recent Prison Breaks Echo Past Escapes
After four prison breaks last year and two escapes from custody so far this year, Philadelphia holds its collective breath every time a convict or suspect is at large. Looking back, the city has a long history of jailbreaks, with Eastern State Penitentiary holding the unofficial record. During its 142 years of operation, the facility saw more than 100 attempts and a total of 59 escapes, including the infamous 12-man break in 1945 through a 99-foot long tunnel that took more than a year to dig and just minutes for six of the inmates to be caught after they popped out of a hole on Fairmount Avenue. All 12 eventually were caught.
Demolition Permits Issued for Revolution-era Stortz Buildings in Old City
As George Washington and Benjamin Franklin walked the streets of what is now Old City Philadelphia in the 1780s, they presumably could have found a reason to travel north from Market Street along 2nd or 3rd Streets. After about a 10-minute stroll, had they turned onto Vine Street, they would have encountered a pair of three-story workshops. Within, tradesmen toiled away in what was then the largest city in a fledgling United States of America.
One New Historic Designation and Jewelers’ Row Hole to be Filled by 35-story Condo Tower
The Philadelphia Historical Commission added one new property to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places at its meeting on April 12. It also weighed in on requested alterations to designated properties and nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. The meeting was bookended by a property that had come...
New Dwellings By a River Swelling: Residential Development at Navy Yard Faces Uncertain Future
For nearly two centuries, humans and mother nature have tangoed on League Island, the most southeasterly expanse of land in Philadelphia that is known today as the Navy Yard. For the most part, humans have gotten the better of it. Engineers, sailors, and industrialists turned what was once a low-lying island at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers into a 1,500-acre piece of modern urbanity, replete with giant shipyards and commerce of all types. But as the Navy Yard moves into its next chapter of human habitation–residential living–does it risk the tides turning in favor of mother nature?
Jumpstart Philly Cultivates Grassroots Developers
Laureal Robinson loved the historic architecture of her Germantown neighborhood, but lacked the finances and expertise to fix up properties that had fallen into disrepair. That changed when she read an article about Jumpstart Germantown. “Since taking the program in 2017 I have developed five properties in Germantown, West Oak Lane, and Ogontz,” said the educator of 27 years. “I now have a circle of contractors, developers, and real estate agents.”
The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Philadelphia Brick
Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Fall 2023 issue of Context Magazine, a publication of AIA Philadelphia. To say Philadelphia is a city of brick is almost as obvious as saying the sea is made of water. Philadelphians do not typically reflect on the character of brick because it is so pervasive, but it is worth examining the city’s building blocks more closely. Not only do they originate from the very soil on which the city stands, Philadelphia was a hub of brick fabrication for over 200 years and exported vast quantities across the country. In the closing decades of the 19th century, Philadelphia brick was nationally respected, as was the city’s architecture. And then, suddenly, they were not.
Way Gay on Display: Art Exhibition Features Staff Picks and New Acquisitions
The current art exhibition at William Way LBGT Community Center is a veritable time capsule. Here you will find not just compelling drawings, paintings, and prints, but a visual history of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community. William Way at 1315 Spruce Street is housed in a Colonial Revival building that dates back to 1890s and previously served as the Engineer’s Club. The organization has been actively collecting artworks since at 2005. WayGay on Display: Staff Picks and New Acquisitions from the Permanent Art Collection was selected from the almost 700 works in William Way’s permanent art collection.
Dinah Memorial at Stenton to be Unveiled
Monuments can be tricky. Although their purpose is to commemorate a historical figure or event for posterity, our view of history is not static. The past stays the same, but our present interpretation of the past is ever changing. New information and, more significantly, new social mores render historical narratives that reflect the time in which they are created rather than the period in which events transpired.
Elizabeth Willing Powel: Philadelphia’s 18th Century Influencer
The year was 1792, and the survival of the nascent republic felt tenuous. George Washington, weary after the long war and three years as president, longed to retire to Mount Vernon. He turned to one of his most trusted advisors, who was against the idea, saying it would encourage the Anti-Federalist faction that had opposed ratification of the Constitution, to argue for dissolving the union. That advisor was not his vice president nor a high-ranking politician or military figure. She was a woman, who, like all females in the country at that time, could not vote, hold office, and often couldn’t control their finances, education, or other assets. Despite these limitations, Elizabeth Willing Powel proved to be one of the most influential figures in late 18th century Philadelphia and even the rest of America.
Philly Architecture Firm Embraces Affordable Housing
Most architecture firms have their particular niche: luxury condominiums, market-rate residential, commercial, or industrial. CBP Architects is an exception. The firm are committed to designing affordable housing with the same attention to detail as its work on a penthouse overlooking Rittenhouse Square or a trendy factory conversion in Kensington. This is why Saint Rita Place & Cascia Center can easily be mistaken for the upscale condos eating up South Broad Street, when, in fact, they are the opposite.
Hope is on the Horizon for the John Coltrane House in Strawberry Mansion
A lifetime ago, the music of John Coltrane rang out from Strawberry Mansion, echoing in city’s jazz clubs before ricocheting around the world. It was a blistering energy that revolutionized the genre and changed millions of lives. Then it all burned out much too soon. John Coltrane died in 1967 at the age of just 40, and the community he once called home in Philadelphia fell on hard times as white flight, deindustrialization, and global economic trends hollowed the city from the inside out.
A Demolition, a Continuance, but No New Designations at Historical Commission Meeting
Although no new sites were added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places at the meeting of the Philadelphia Historical Commission on March 8, the Commissioners nevertheless were kept busy with other matters pertaining to the oversight of the City’s historic properties. In particular, modifications of three properties along Walnut Street on and around Rittenhouse Square were reviewed. Two were approved, and a third denied.
Summoning the Ghosts of Film Row Through the Hexter Building
Diners arriving at the The Tasty Toast on Point Breeze Avenue might not notice a small, mysterious sign above their heads: CLARENCE G. HEXTER BUILDING 1937. Hexter is not hard to identify. His headstone, inscribed 1882–1936, can be viewed online. Finding out what he did between those two dates led me back to the world of Jay Emanuel, a notable entrepreneur in the movie theater industry who had turned up during the jump from the fictitious New Yorker imitation in the film Kitty Foyle to the nonfictional Philadelphia imitation, Town Crier. Both the imaginary and the real magazine quickly folded, but the talented staff of Town Crier, including Emanuel, went on to find success elsewhere.
Old + New: An Interview with West Philly Developer German Yakubov
Over the past decade, brothers German and Lev Yakubov have become significant players in West Philadelphia’s bustling development scene. Through their development and property management firm, Haverford Square Properties, the duo now own a litany of buildings across Mantua, Belmont, and Parkside. The company’s real estate proposals have sometimes...
Exhibition Chronicles Women in Public Art
Philadelphia is known as a city blessed with an abundance of public art. A recent exhibition highlights the significant roles women have played in that sphere as artists, leaders, and benefactors. Public Art in Philadelphia: A Legacy Shaped by Women, a collaboration between the Association for Public Art (aPA) and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP), is on display at 1300 Locust Street until March 15.
Adaptive Reuse Project Honors Kensington’s Industrial Heritage
Philly tag artists have nothing on Peter Woll. His name has been atop a South Kensington factory for over 142 years, beating out local graffiti artist Cornbread by a century. Admittedly, Woll didn’t scale the six-story tower of the industrial building with a can of spray paint. Instead, he commissioned construction of a factory in the late 19th century as corporate headquarters for his family enterprise: Peter Woll & Sons Feather Company. Thanks to Urban Conversions, a ghost sign immortalizing Woll on the building’s western side will continue to be a landmark in the Norris Square neighborhood.
A New Book Looks at Philadelphia’s Black History, Century by Century
There have been efforts to make our commemoration of Philadelphia’s history more inclusive. The state’s historical marker program, the Philadelphia Historical Commission, and a wide swath of cultural and educational organizations have been increasingly focused on the city’s Black history throughout the centuries and the neighborhoods. A...
The Amistad Rebellion and its Philadelphia Connection
The story of the Amistad uprising is fairly well known, thanks, in part, to the 1997 historical drama directed by Steven Spielberg. In 1839, 53 West Africans illegally taken from their Mendi homeland were sold at a slave market in Havana, Cuba. While being transported to local plantations on the schooner La Amistad, the Africans freed themselves, killed the captain and cook, and tried to steer the ship back to Africa. Eventually captured by a United States government survey ship, the Africans were put on trial for murder and piracy. In March, 1941, the Supreme Court freed them, but since the ruling did not provide for their return to Africa, supporters arranged a speaking tour to raise the necessary funds.
Preservationists and Developers Say Pennsylvania Needs to Boost its Historic Tax Credits
The financing of a commercial development project is often a patchwork of funding sources: equity partners, bank loans, tax credits, and more. When it comes to the rehabilitation of historic buildings, the federal government and most states offer a special tax credit. While the Federal Historic Preservation Tax Incentives program provides a 20 percent income tax credit, there is a wide range among the states in their programs.
New Germantown Historic District Added to the Philadelphia Register
The Philadelphia Historical Commission approved the creation of the Germantown Urban Village Historic District and designated five individual properties at its monthly meeting on February 9. Dating back to the 18th century, the new historic district in Germantown is centered around Market Square along Germantown Avenue and includes Church Lane,...
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Hidden City Philadelphia of CultureTrust is dedicated to exploring Philadelphia’s urban landscape in all its complexity through journalism and public history.
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