Last Light

Truly Divine

Truly Divine

February 14, 2012  |  Last Light

The Divine Lorraine is gutted now, but not so long ago its garish color combinations and haunting atmosphere were a magnet for photographers. We've put together a group show from that time--four photographers, four visions of the grand old hotel > more

Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times

February 9, 2012  |  Last Light

The signs of Germantown Avenue in the Fairhill neighborhood in all their funny, faded, hand painted glory > more

Lunar New Year Starts With a Bang

Lunar New Year Starts With a Bang

February 1, 2012  |  Last Light

The Mummers Parade isn't the only loud, colorful New Year's celebration on the streets of Philadelphia. Photographer Dominic Mercier captured the action in Chinatown on Sunday > more

When Banks Looked Like Cathedrals

When Banks Looked Like Cathedrals

January 30, 2012  |  Last Light

A glimpse inside the other--and perhaps even more spectacular--abandoned bank building under the El in Kensington > more

Gone to Seed

Gone to Seed

January 27, 2012  |  Last Light

Nature has returned to an abandoned bank in Kensington that's slated to be demolished to build affordable housing > more

“The Burg”

January 24, 2012  |  Last Light

Introducing another potential site for the 2013 Hidden City Festival, historic Holmesburg Prison > more

Into the Light

Into the Light

January 20, 2012  |  Last Light

The faded beauty of the former Fourth Reformed Church in Roxborough, through the lens of Laura Kicey > more

Paint It Black

Paint It Black

January 3, 2012  |  Last Light

A peek inside the former Gilbert Spruance paint factory in Port Richmond, a survivor through Philadelphia's long industrial decline that was derailed by the Environmental Protection Agency > more

Happy Holidays From Hidden City

Happy Holidays From Hidden City

December 23, 2011  |  Last Light

Warm holiday wishes from all of us at Hidden City Philadelphia and the Hidden City Daily--we're thrilled to be part of the vital conversation about Philadelphia past-present-future and we hope you'll join us as a member. Each membership donation is matched by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Philadelphia Arts Challenge > more

Naval Gazing

Naval Gazing

December 21, 2011  |  Last Light

Laura Kicey's unsettling photos of the old barracks housing at the Navy Yard, scheduled to be demolished December 27th to make way for South Port, a new multi-modal marine terminal. The suburban-style houses were used for training exercises by SWAT and demolition teams > more

Demolished Buildings of 2011, Part Two

Demolished Buildings of 2011, Part Two

December 17, 2011  |  Last Light

Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta, Sidney Hillman Medical Center, The Spectrum, Poplar St. A.M.E. Zion, and dozens of buildings at the Frankford Arsenal: RIP > more

Demolished Buildings of 2011, Part One

Demolished Buildings of 2011, Part One

December 15, 2011  |  Last Light

Monastery of St. Clare, Shawmont Pumping Station, Crompton and Knowles Loom Works, Orinoka Mills, and Cramp Turret and Machine Shop: RIP > more

Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here

December 14, 2011  |  Last Light

As 2011 comes to a close, we're taking a look at some of the buildings that got demolished this year. First up, the Cramp Turret and Machine Shop in Fishtown, a majestic industrial building that was the historic Cramp Shipyard's last surviving structure > more

They Never Sing in Public

They Never Sing in Public

December 8, 2011  |  Last Light

Hidden City's 2011 holiday party is being held at the memento-filled home of the Orpheus Club--a strange and wonderful holdover from the 19th century life of "Old Philadelphians" > more

Playhouse of Democracy

Playhouse of Democracy

December 4, 2011  |  Last Light

Introducing another potential site for the 2013 Hidden City Festival, the Uptown Theater, an Art Deco movie palace that went on to fame as Philadelphia's answer to Harlem's Apollo Theater > more

Not Long For This World

Not Long For This World

November 29, 2011  |  Last Light

We always try to give you a peek behind locked doors and boarded up windows, in this case the soon-to-be demolished St. Boniface in Norris Square > more

American Versailles

American Versailles

November 23, 2011  |  Last Light

Whitemarsh Hall was a Jazz Age palace of gargantuan proportions that stood for only six decades. Today, some of its remnants decorate a suburban subdivision built on the grounds of the estate. > more

Family Affair

Family Affair

November 18, 2011  |  Last Light

We are pleased to present Stortz & Son as a potential site for the 2013 Hidden City festival. The fifth-generation company has occupied the same building in Old City since it was founded in 1853 > more

Faded Beauty

Faded Beauty

November 15, 2011  |  Last Light

The 2013 Hidden City Festival will showcase a dozen abandoned or obscure heritage sites around Philadelphia. Germantown Town Hall might be one them > more

A Wrinkle In Time

A Wrinkle In Time

November 11, 2011  |  Last Light

Furness Week, final day: A look inside the Undine Barge Club and Castle Ringstetten, two Furness-designed buildings dripping with 19th century atmosphere. If you didn't attend our Furness birthday party, here's a chance to see what you missed > more

Cream of the Crop

Cream of the Crop

November 8, 2011  |  Last Light

A second helping of choice shots from Philly Photo Day. 24 hours + 900 photographers + our gritty city = some amazing images > more

Pick of the Litter

Pick of the Litter

November 4, 2011  |  Last Light

Highlights from the more than 900 submissions to last Friday's Philly Photo Day. 24 hours in the life of our city, the familiar and the strange, the sad and the beautiful. Call it photographic crowd sourcing > more

The Kelly Natatorium

The Kelly Natatorium

November 1, 2011  |  Last Light

Introducing our first feature previewing potential sites for the 2013 Hidden City festival. This week we take a look at the Kelly Natatorium inside the Fairmount Water Works, on the Schuylkill River just downstream from Boathouse Row > more

Halloween, Shmalloween

Halloween, Shmalloween

October 28, 2011  |  Last Light

For our money, there's nothing haunted about Eastern State Penitentiary, but there is something haunting about the decaying prison in these photos from Laura Kicey. Enjoy > more

Look Down!

Look Down!

October 25, 2011  |  Last Light

A former coal dealer's building below the Reading Viaduct holds a trove of coal and railroad company memorabilia > more

Vintage Signs: A Contest

Vintage Signs: A Contest

October 21, 2011  |  Last Light

Step right up! Signs from some of the more obscure corners of the city. Guess the location of the signs, win a prize > more

Artifacts from a Filthier Age

Artifacts from a Filthier Age

October 19, 2011  |  Last Light

Photographing the boot scrapers of Center City, once a decorative and decorous way to remove mud, excrement and other undesirables from one's shoes > more

Cold Storage, Warm Light

Cold Storage, Warm Light

October 17, 2011  |  Last Light

Finding beauty in the Philadelphia Warehousing and Cold Storage Co.'s industrial architecture through the lens of Harry Byrne > more

Progress

Progress

October 13, 2011  |  Last Light

Exploring an alley near Jewelers Row, where the ornate architecture of another era survives amid the flotsam and jetsam of the present > more

The Cliffs

The Cliffs

October 11, 2011  |  Last Light

Photographing the ruins of a mansion built by the merchant who created the first nautical chart of Delaware Bay > more

Typology: Shrinking Windows

Typology: Shrinking Windows

October 7, 2011  |  Last Light

As Philadelphia companies downsized, so did their factory windows--often in the most ad hoc fashion > more

What's in a Name?

What’s in a Name?

October 5, 2011  |  Last Light

Beach Street, along the Delaware River just north of Penn Treaty Park, through the lens of Katrina Ohstrom > more

We Made Steel

We Made Steel

October 3, 2011  |  Last Light

Most sources say that Midvale Steel was demolished in the 80s. But two buildings remain from its original Nicetown plant, tucked away inside a SEPTA maintenance facility > more

Stone Menagerie

Stone Menagerie

September 30, 2011  |  Last Light

Form hasn't always followed function. Decoration was once king, as Rob Lybeck shows us in his photos of the creatures--some real, some fanciful--gracing buildings in Center City > more

Splendor in the Woods

Splendor in the Woods

September 27, 2011  |  Last Light

Six photographers' views of the recently dismantled Shawmont Pumping Station north of Manayunk along the Schuylkill River Trail > more

Up in the Club

Up in the Club

September 26, 2011  |  Last Light

Documenting the early-80s nightclub inside the historic Uptown Theater on North Broad Street > more

Poor Clares: An Inside View

Poor Clares: An Inside View

September 22, 2011  |  Last Light

A photo essay documenting the interior of the Monastery of St. Clare in Francisville before nearly all of it was torn down last week > more

Warnings, Exhortations & Requests

Warnings, Exhortations & Requests

September 22, 2011  |  Last Light

Katrina Ohstrom documents the street signs of Kensington (plus one from Ridge Ave.) in this photo essay > more

Philadelphia Afloat

Philadelphia Afloat

September 16, 2011  |  Last Light

Steven Ujifusa captured a confluence of antique ships docked on the Delaware waterfront yesterday, which makes them part of Philadelphia as far as we're concerned, even though technically they were suspended above riverbed belonging to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania > more

Cramp Shipbuilding Machine and Turret Shop

Cramp Shipbuilding Machine and Turret Shop

September 14, 2011  |  Last Light

Images from the many-windowed Fishtown landmark, demolished in early Spring > more

Lite Brite

Lite Brite

September 13, 2011  |  Last Light

The Cira Centre's LED lighting has always been the building's weakest element (garage aside) until Brad Maule, of the late PhillySkyline, worked a little camera magic > more

Underfoot

Underfoot

September 12, 2011  |  Last Light

Rob Lybeck looked down to find today's photo essay. Fortunately, he found more than chewing gum, cigarette butts and hamburger wrappers > more

Delaware and Shackamaxon

Delaware and Shackamaxon

September 9, 2011  |  Last Light

A rare survivor from our city's maritime past sits empty across from the new(ish) Sugarhouse Casino. > more

Forlorn and Forgotten

Forlorn and Forgotten

September 8, 2011  |  Last Light

Harry Byrne brings us this photo essay on Mt. Moriah cemetery pre-cleanup, when nature still held sway > more

Arsenal Remembered

Arsenal Remembered

September 6, 2011  |  Last Light

Ethan Wallace's photo essay looks at the Frankford Arsenal circa 2010, shortly before demolition on the north side of the property began > more