Vantage
Last Of The Ragmen
After 50 years wholesaling linens from 3rd and Market, Gene Stein tells us how it's done > more
St. James The Greatest
Shadows Knows returns with the building that put gilded age architect Horace Trumbauer on the highrise map > more
On The Day To Honor Abe (And George), We Present You Log Cabins
Harry K takes us on a tour of the region's log cabins brought here by the pioneers of New Sweden > more
All Steamed Up
We often say an abandoned industrial building is "hulking," but Harry K brings us the "hulking" piece de resistance, the Willow Street Steam Generation Plant > more
Such a Waste
When the Historic American Buildings survey photographed the Divine Lorraine Hotel in 2000 it was in fine shape. Twelve years, three developers, and millions of dollars in profits (and losses) later, the historic building is a graffiti-scarred wreck > more
Kensington is for Lovers
Join Kensington resident Katrina Ohstrom as she finds the holiday spirit alive and well in her neighborhood > more
Son Of A Brickmaker, King Of Merchants
Searching for John Wanamaker's childhood home in Harry K's Philadelphia Encyclopedia > more
City-Within-A-City? New Eastwick At 50
We check in with Guian McKee, historian of post-War Philadelphia, who assesses the nation's largest Urban Renewal project 50 years on with photos by Dominic Mercier > more
A Metalworking Tradition Forges On
At the former Yale & Towne foundry in Frankford, Jason Roberts produces craft metal for the commercial and residential market > more
Getting to the Root of the Problem
Urban agriculture needs to be tied to broader strategies of economic development, says Ariel Diliberto in her review of the film "Urban Roots" > more
The Other–Other–High Line
Not the Reading Viaduct, and still heavily used, the West Philadelphia Elevated Branch flies 50 feet above the street from Grays Ferry to the Zoo > more
Drexel’s New Face
Brutalism made fertile, says Stephen Stofka about Drexel University's new Papdakis Integrated Sciences Center, reviewed here > more
Mad About Dickens
In this the season of SOPA, we dip into Harry K's Philadelphia Encyclopedia on this, the 200 birthday of Charles Dickens, and find the great man here on a mission to protect his copyright from piracy > more
Digging Around “Season City”
The Shadow Knows returns in search of one of the last surviving black schoolhouses in America > more
Suburban, Exurban, New Urban South Philadelphia
Take the Stofka tour through the deepest, farthest reaches of South Philly > more
Something New In America: Serious Opera, 1757
It was a musical winter in Philadelphia, as students of the College of Philadelphia, including Francis Hopkinson, put on the "Mask of Alfred" > more
Always A Philadelphian
John Coltrane came of age, learned from the masters, and became a legend living in Philadelphia--now preservationists are working to save Trane’s Strawberry Mansion home > more
At Holmesburg, Making Difficult Impressions
Ben Leech meets the Spanish artists who turned the walls of Holmeburg cells into architectural prints now on display at Moore College's gallery > more
Today, 1757: City’s First Public Concert
Some 30 years behind Boston, Charleston, and New York, the first concert was successful enough to draw at least one quite prescient concertgoer to the second > more
How To Read Your State
Or half of it, anyway--a review of "Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania" by George Thomas > more
Electric!
In his first "Shadow Knows" feature on the Daily, PhilaPhilia's GroJLart fires up PECO's former Edison Building at 9th and Sansom > more
The Architecture of Wissahickon: Urban, Suburban, Mid-Century, Victorian
Wissahickon--the extreme lowest part of Lower Roxborough--moves from city to suburb and back again, in both Victorian and mid-century variations, in little more than a short trek up or down the hill. Join Steve Stofka as he probes this area with his ever-inquisitive eye > more
Holy Smokes: What Do We Do With All These Churches?
As we face a spate of newly abandoned sacred spaces, ideas and inspiration from the dozens of church reuses in Philadelphia > more
Here Comes Joe
Architect, artist, teacher, writer, rower--Joe Brin brings his curious eye on Philadelphia design to the readers of Metropolis magazine > more
Dye Job: A Massive Factory Makeover Continues in Frankford
We sit-down with Globe Dye partners Charlie Abdo and Peter Kelly on the transition to the second phase of redevelopment of the industrial behemoth > more
Henry Magaziner: An Appreciation
The architect, who died Christmas day, helped to counter the notion that preservation means colonial restoration, and led the campaign to save Germantown's Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion, pictured above > more
Behind Victorians
Take an exhaustive grand tour of Parkside with the careful--and hopeful--eye of Stephen Stofka > more
Remembering MLK In Philadelphia: Complexity and Courage
Out to dinner with a group of friends, King learned early on about Jim Crow in the North; and later his visit to the Girard College protests only hardened lines against the Southern Christian Leadership Conference staking ground in Philly > more
Hippest Street in Town, Circa 1766
South Street was Philadelphia's original performance district, starting with the Southwark, the first permanent theater in America > more
Almost Nude
Ben Leech interviews the architects who will renovate the 1952 Mercantile Library on Chestnut Street, the long-boarded up building that Louis Mumford called one of the best examples of mid-century modern architecture in the nation > more
Embrace and Enliven
A critical review of Drexel University's ambitious master plan--can so many urban mistakes be overcome? > more
Imagine Another Way
In 1928 city engineers completed an almost 50 year sewer engineering project that completely removed the Wingohocking Creek (among dozens of others). Adam Levine visits the sewer outlet in Juniata Park > more
Obliterated
Harry K searches out traces of the old Quaker town, Callowhill, named for William Penn's second wife > more
Always Funny in Philadelphia
From The Tony Randall Show to Angie(!) to Amen and the Fresh Prince, Philly on the tube, as imagined in Hollywood > more
In Front Of Your Nose
Hidden behind the stone wall: the life of George de Benneville, pioneering founder of the Universalist Church, and a doctor who treated patriot and loyalist alike in the War for Independence > more
A Church, A Riot, A Steeple, And The National Shrine of Santo Nino
19 years ago, massive winds blew William Strickland's 1829 steeple off of St. Augustine's in Old City. We uncover the long, adventurous story of what's become the national shrine of the Filipino saint > more
Subdued Christmas in Center City
Our correspondent takes us on a photo tour of the good, the bad, and the ugly in Center City this holiday season. Shouldn't downtown have the best displays? And why doesn't it? > more
Philly As Waffle, Or How The City Was Built
That iconic grid? It was wrought from hill and lowland, wetland and forest, a process that created what was probably the world's largest waffle > more
Subversion in the Rowhouse City
Review of the new book "Hip and Hidden Philadelphia: The Unexpected House in a City of Tradition," by Virginia Restemeyer and E.I. Weiner > more
At Drexel, Knocking Down The Fortress Door
With three new buildings and a Master Plan, the University adapts its long-standing Brutalist architectural tradition to foster new-found urban ambitions > more
Your Favorite Public Spaces
Hidden City Daily readers explain their favorite spots, from Boathouse Row to Wayne Junction Station to the prosaic Philadelphia stoop > more
Time To Take Back the Tea Party
Philadelphia intervention set the stage for the Boston Tea Party (238 years ago today), even more decisive was a peaceful protest--the largest public gathering yet in colonial America--that sent the British tea importers packing for good > more
What’s In A Name?
With eight vacant schools threatened with demolition, we trace city history through the people who were honored with an eponymous school > more
These Walls Can Speak
The Girard College wall, built to the stipulations of Stephen Girard's will, has stood as a witness to history. Today, as a documentary film on the life of Stephen Girard is released, we reveal 2 stories imbedded in the wall, and a mystery > more
In South Philly, Subtly Staking Territory
Exploring the shopping center architecture of Vietnamese Washington Avenue > more
Jefferson’s Monticello on the Schuylkill
Eager to escape the crowded city and yet unwilling to give up political influence on the direction of the new nation—and the world—the third president settled on the east bank of the Schuylkill at Grays Ferry > more
Rina Cutler Wants Us To Think Big
The city's deputy mayor for transportation on old and new Philadelphia, city-SEPTA relations, City Hall station, the fare system, bus shelters, subway lines, and why America cities are losing > more
Relieve the Monotony
Spark's Shot Tower in Queen Village, an early remnant of the industrial city, still towers above the rowhouse neighborhood > more
Pioneering Quakers as Spontaneous Urbanists
Awaiting the arrival of William Penn, pioneering Quakers inhabited caves--some of which became taverns and brothels--dug into the muddy west bank of the Delaware River > more
“Philly Feels Like Home”
Lane Savadove, the sage behind the magnetic theater company EgoPo, talks about looking for a place to belong and finally finding a home in Philly, from ditching New York (twice!) to being stranded after Hurricane Katrina > more
Beachcombing by the Airport
Beachcombing near Philadelphia International Airport, with musings on the origins of whiskey bottles, cold cream jars, and the original Delaware River shoreline > more
Occupy Philly As Spontaneous Urbanism, Part III
Steve Stofka's evolving photographic analysis of the Dilworth camp--final chapter > more
San Francisco Treat
The classic PTC cars running on Market Street in San Francisco aren't the only SF-Philly transit connection--almost 130 years ago SF was the first city to install a cable car system, designed by Philadelphian Eleazer Gardner > more
When We Were Ready
"Operation Scram," which took place in Philadelphia on the morning of November 23, 1954--57 years ago today--was the code name for the first civil defense evacuation drill in a large American city > more
Occupy Philly’s Spontaneous Urbanism
The tent city at Dilworth Plaza displays a spontaneous, complex, emergent urbanism--Follow Stephen Stofka's camera through Occupy Philly and see why > more
A Peek Inside South Philly’s Lerro Candy
As fourth generation John Pasquale Lerro attends Wharton, the nearly century old Lerro Candy on South Broad sees a future with younger customers who appreciate fresh to order chocolate. > more
Doomsday Cult on the Wissahickon
The New World's first doomsday cult called Philadelphia home. Aside from being wrong about the date of the apocalypse, they built the first observatory and pipe organ in the colonies > more
Flash of Discovery
The remarkable (though sad) story of St. John's Lutheran Church, its cemetery, and the surrounding homes and streets before the Ben Franklin Bridge > more
Invisible NoLibs
One building on 3rd Street--"flash drinking house," theater, temperance house, piano factory, clubhouse, repair shop--180 years and countless dreams > more
Urbanized, Not Quite Radicalized
Filmmaker Gary Hustwit's ambitious, intelligent film on urban design gives us a common language for understanding this century of the city but fails to account for underlying economics and ignores the issue of jobs (and joblessness) > more
Eyes on the River
Talking with the creators of Marquee on the Race Street Connector, the new public art project that leads to the Race Street Pier > more
High Street Hope
Can a new restaurant at Front and Market measure up to its storied predecessors? > more
Something’s Missing
Well into the immense reconstruction of the Parkway, some questions remain...as a piece of the puzzle opens Friday....in New York > more
“Dr. Sangrado” in Hart’s Cemetery, Rattling the Dead
The Friends of Poquessing Creek work to salvage a forgotten 328-year old cemetery in the Northeast > more
Let’s Begin By Re-imagining
Katrina Ohstrom sits down with Teddy Cruz, who brings his provocative approach to West Philadelphia > more
Do Not Stammer!
A rowhouse on Spring Garden Street once promised "deliverance from lingual bondage" > more
Fire on Water(front)
The Great Conflagration of 1850—a disaster fought with water and technology > more
Seashore of the Northeast
With a Wawa rising on the former site of Boulevard Pools, time to revisit one of the first great pool spots in the nation > more
Abolitionist of Society Hill
Before there was Robert Purvis and Frederick Douglass, at Front and Lombard, James Forten envisioned an integrated society > more
Poor Little Willow Street
Willow Street: the curious curvaceous chronicle of Cohoquinoque Creek > more
A Building Is Never Completely Lost
Bruce Laverty on the secrets of the archives, Thomas Ustick Walter, and the joy of collecting > more
Washington’s Monumental Secret
The tip of Washington Monument was made in Philadelphia, by the avant-garde William Frishmuth > more
“The City Will Not Remain Static”
Bruce Laverty, Athenaeum archivist, on the past, present, and future of preservation > more
There’s No Place Like Home?
Can St. Gabriel's in Grays Ferry recover its place in the community? > more
Inside the Shimmering Nave
Once the center of Irish Grays Ferry, the monumental St. Gabriel’s has been stunningly restored, but can it prosper? > more
Nine Lives of Charlie Rivera
Post-electrocution, a Philadelphia carpenter regained his form building the bars at Frankford Hall > more
Liddonfield Gone, Northeast Village Lingers (in memory)
A tale of two post World War II public housing projects in Northeast Philadelphia > more
Southwark Meets the World
The 1915 "Southwark Group" finger piers at Christian Street were the city's busiest > more
The Frankford Advice
How a little known meeting in Northeast Philadelphia, changed the course of American history > more
Hero of the Waterfront
The Live Arts Festival/Philly Fringe's new home once revolutionized fire fighting in America > more
It’s What’s For Dinner
First US cattle drive crossed the Delaware on the way to Valley Forge from Harry K's Philadelphia Encyclopedia During the harsh winter of 1777-1778, General Washington > more
© 2011 Hidden City Philadelphia |