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Hidden City Philadelphia
Ghost Signs of Philadelphia: Odds and Ends in Old City
Old City is a mecca for those looking to find unique ghost signs. The 300 block of Vine Street features half a dozen signs–from the extremely faded to the faithfully repainted–transporting observant history buffs back to the heyday of hand-painted advertisements. Charles E. Brown & Co. at 313-315...
Unlisted Philadelphia: Market Street Bridge
Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Fall 2022 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Unlisted Philadelphia highlights interesting and significant Philadelphia buildings not yet listed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. To learn more about the local designation process and how you can participate in nominating a building to the Philadelphia Register, visit the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia’s website for more information.
A Neighborhood Revival in the Northeast
Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Fall 2022 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. When Alex Balloon, former executive director of the Tacony Community Development Corporation, talks about Tacony’s transformation over the past decade, he throws around terms like “unsexy preservation,” “preservation light,” “street preservation” and “soft preservation.” His reflexive dilution of the term is telling: By focusing on making practical improvements to older, non-designated buildings, Tacony CDC has helped residents skillfully leverage a wide range of existing city programs–allowing for flexibility when it comes to making improvements affordable and feasible–and helped the community coalesce around a shared vision for the future.
Restoration Role Model: The PATH Center
Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Fall 2022 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Architect Peter Bloomfield talks to Extant magazine about transforming a landmark modernist bank in Northeast Philadelphia into a welcoming campus for a mental health services center, honored with a 2022 Grand Jury Award in preservation achievement.
South Philly Church Protected, While Saloon Hangs in the Balance
At the September meeting of the Philadelphia Historical Commission, an Italian American church was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places, two new construction projects were approved in historic districts, and a comment period was held on behalf of nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. First...
A Dearth of Delis: In Remembrance of Philly’s Jewish Eateries
At one time, there was no shortage of Jewish restaurants in Philadelphia. Legendary Kosher steakhouses, dairy restaurants, and delis did brisk business, serving up Eastern European staples that connected American Jews with their culinary heritage. You could live in Wynnewood, work in Center City, and have lunch in Minsk. But by the 1970s, these bastions of ethnic comfort food began to vanish. Where did they go and why?
Lost Buildings of 2021
Editor’s Note: “You can’t save everything” is a shallow catchphrase repeated often these days. The glib retort, parroted by pro-development personalities on social media, usually succeeds in derailing any meaningful civil discourse surrounding the preservation of our existing built environment and the city’s hunger, and need, for new construction. “NIMBY” (Not In My Backyard) is also thrown around aggressively and with excessive zealotry similar to MAGA supporters attacking anything that doesn’t align with their ideological convictions as “fake news.” Similar disruptive fervor can be found in the actions of some preservationists. If it wasn’t for a certain neighborhood group in Fishtown, that fought against a zoning variance (see: parking) and a solid adaptive reuse plan, St. Laurentius Church may have already been converted into a lively 23-unit apartment building instead of hanging in the early stages of demolition. Fanatical faith in the real estate market and community-based bully tactics will get us nowhere. The manufactured division between those in the development and preservation communities has created a dead zone for productive public discussion over our present urban needs and the future of Philadelphia. For the health and sanity of our beloved city, it really needs to stop.
Network to Preserve African American Burial Grounds in the Works
There are more than 100 historic African American cemeteries in Pennsylvania. Two nonprofit organizations have begun a project to aid the groups who maintain them. Preservation Pennsylvania and PA Hallowed Grounds recently announced grants from the 1772 Foundation and the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, to establish the Pennsylvania African American Cemetery Stewards Network.
A New Life for a Towering Figure in Germantown
By Germantown standards, the eight-story building at 5627-33 Germantown Avenue is a high rise. “The views from the upper floors are uncommon for the neighborhood,” acknowledged Scott Woodruff, director of architecture at Designblendz. It was constructed in 1898 as a two-story building for the Germantown Trust Company, which expanded the building with a vertical addition in 1929. The architect was Arthur Brockie, a Germantown native whose projects included homes, a banks, and the Sedgeley Club Boathouse on Kelly Drive. 20 years later the building became the home of the C. A. Rowell Department Store. Architect Herbert Beidler gave it the Georgian Revival facade it still has today, with a chiseled “C. A. Rowell” over the entrance.
English Village Gets Medieval in the Suburbs
Unless someone gave you an architectural treasure map, you could drive around Wynnewood all day long and never find its historic English Village, an almost one hundred year-old pocket neighborhood that was inspired by Stratford-upon-Avon. Located adjacent to Lower Merion High School, just off Montgomery Avenue between Cherry Lane and...
114 Housing Units in Northwest Philly Unlocked for Redevelopment
A swath of 25 properties that for years have plagued sections of Germantown and Mount Airy as a nuisance to neighbors and substandard housing for residents appear to be on the way to redevelopment. Scattered over several different blocks, the parcels include apartment buildings, row houses, twins, and townhouse-style developments. They total 114 housing units, of which 21 are currently occupied.
Once a Radical Notion: Behind the Curtain of the Theatre Of Living Arts
The Theatre of Living Arts has been known by Philadelphians as the place to go to have a rich, and sometimes wild, arts experience for decades. In 1971, the venue began screening American classic, foreign, independent, and avant-garde films. The theatre helped launch The Rocky Horror Picture Show in its rise to becoming a cult classic. It also aided legendary filmmaker John Waters’ career by showing his controversial and gleefully trashy Pink Flamingos. A showing of Jean Luc Godard’s Hail Mary, a modern retelling of the story of Mary’s virgin birth, ignited an outcry from the local Catholic community. Today, the Theatre of Living Arts is a popular, nationally-known music venue. In 2014 it was named one of the 50 top small concert venues in the country by Complex Magazine. The Theatre of Living Arts has gone through several incarnations in its history, but the celebrated arts institution was originally founded in 1959 by a company that produced live theatrical performances and was modeled on the off-Broadway theatre movement in New York City.
Old Movie Palace Seeks the Spotlight Once Again
Much of my teenage years were spent at the intersection of Broad and Wyoming. That time was never a full day of any specific activity, but it did add up. 10 to 20 minutes here and there or longer if I engaged in a conversation or simply took a minute to sit and look around.
Urban Renewal Redux? City Goes After More Tax Dollars for Demolition
Philadelphia’s realty transfer tax, already one of the highest in the nation, will soon include a new fee. Last month City Council unanimously passed a bill that would add an additional $15 fee onto each transfer of real estate or recording of a deed or mortgage in support of a new fund for the City. Mayor Jim Kenney signed the bill into law on June 26. The fund will cover the City’s costs of demolition of what it considers blighted properties. The bill states that the Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) will continue to raze buildings “for the purpose of increasing economic development.”
On the Waterfront: Chronicling the Lives of Philly’s Black Seamen
Reconnecting Philadelphians to the waterfront is in full swing. Throughout the warmer months you can see children roller skating at Penn’s Landing, couples walking along Race Street Pier, crowds of folks enjoying meals at Keating’s Rope + Anchor Bar and La Peg brasserie, and runners and cyclists cruising along the newest segment of the Delaware River Trail. These scenes of 21st century leisure provide a dramatically different perspective of the city’s historical relationship with the Delaware River, once home to one of the biggest port in North America.
Arch Street Project Examines Life and Death in Colonial Philadelphia
In 2016, when Kimberlee Moran read a Philadelphia Inquirer article about a construction project in Old City that had unearthed some human remains, she decided to contact the real estate developer. “I thought, ‘One box of bones, I can deal with that,’” the forensic archaeologist recalled, thinking they could be useful for teaching students at Rutgers University-Camden.
Black Doctors Row and Sister Rosetta Tharpe House Added to the Historic Register
Philadelphia’s first African American historic district was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places at the July 8 meeting of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. The nominations of four other buildings, two steeped in local Black history, were also approved for designation. Christian Street Historic District (aka Black Doctors...
Ghost Signs of Philadelphia: Steinmetz Marble Works in Callowhill
In the mid-to-late 19th century there were several businesses in Northern Liberties and Callowhill that imported, cut, and sold stone for monuments, gravestones, mantles, and furniture. Large marble yards and manufacturers occupied land near Ridge Avenue. Remnants of these businesses can still be found today. A ghost sign for one of the yards, the A. Steinmetz & Co. Marble Works at 1029 Ridge Avenue, can be partially seen from the street below. A modern brick facade and two windows hide most of the building’s history, but a ghost sign on the north-facing wall reveal some clues about the former occupant. The words “STONES, MONUMENTS AND HEADSTONES” are visible when standing on Ridge Avenue.
Artist Explores Urban Renewal at Park Towne Place
I can’t stop thinking about Jennifer Johnson’s Linger 1 and Linger 2. The pair of sculptural art installations that explore Philadelphia’s mid-century high-rise apartment buildings, are currently on display at Park Towne Place Apartment Homes. If you look at the Hidden City masthead, you will see the following themes in bold: Preservation, Architecture, Urbanism, Art & Design, Development, City Life, History. Johnson’s new work delves into each of these themes and is, essentially, a series of Hidden City articles realized in three dimensions.
Preservation Group Mobilizes to Save Lynnewood Hall
The superlatives begin to feel overused, but they are the only ways to describe Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park and its founder. At 110 rooms, it is currently the largest surviving Gilded Age mansion in the Philadelphia area. Its 268-foot enfilade–a suite of rooms aligned to create an unobstructed view from one end of its east wing to the other end of the west wing–is the longest in any residential building in the United States. The estate was built between 1897 and 1899 for Peter A. B. Widener, who owned the most Rembrandts of any private collector except Buckingham Palace.
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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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