Salute to Fearless Frank – A Frank Furness Birthday Party
November 12, 2011 / 6:00 – 10:00pm
Historic Castle Ringstetten of Undine Barge Club

Frank Furness birthday party at historic Castle Ringstetten |Photo: Rob Lybeck

We celebrated the first annual birthday salute to Frank Furness at historic Castle Ringstetten, the up-river retreat of the Undine Barge Club. We offered tours of Undine’s main boathouse at 13 Boathouse Row before the party. Both buildings were designed by Furness.

The acclaimed Philadelphia architect Frank Heyling Furness (1839–1912) designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his eclectic, muscular, and eccentric buildings, and for his influence on other noted American architects, such as Louis Sullivan, Louis Kahn, and Robert Venturi. Furness was a gritty, pioneering personality, famous for his gun-toting romance with the Wild West, taste for taxidermy, and testosterone-laden yet elegant design. In addition to his accolades as an architect, he was awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery during the Civil War.

Much of his work has been unfortunately lost to demolition. Aside from the well-known Fisher Fine Arts Library at University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, there are precious few buildings left.

Unsilent Night
December 14, 2011 / 6:00 – 7:30pm
Rittenhouse Square, Center City

This piece (really an event) was created by New York composer Phil Kline to be heard outdoors in the month of December. It takes the form of a street promenade in which the audience becomes the performer. Each participant gets one of four tracks of music in the form of a cassette, CD, or MP3. Together, all four tracks comprise Unsilent Night. Participants carry boomboxes and simultaneously start playing the music. They then walk a carefully chosen route through their city’s streets, creating a unique mobile sound sculpture which is different from every listener’s perspective. It all started in winter 1992 in New York City, when Kline had an idea for a public artwork in the form of a holiday caroling party. Unsilent Night has become an annual tradition—for nearly 10 years in Philadelphia!—as well as an international phenomenon. It has been presented in over 50 cities and four continents. Hidden City is pleased to continue the tradition in Philly.

Hidden City Holiday Party
December 14, 2011 / 7:30 – 10:00pm
The Orpheus Club of Philadelphia

In the spirit of the season, Hidden City began this year what we hope will be an annual tradition: our Holiday Party, featuring a bill of fare that included traditional plum pudding with Wassail punch, Stilton cheese and Madeira wine, along with other savory fare in the resonant halls of the historic Orpheus Clubhouse.

The Orpheus Club of Philadelphia began with a performance given by the 22 original members at The Musical Fund Hall on December 7, 1872. Founded with the purpose to “attainment of the greatest possible excellence in the performance of part songs for male voice,” and later developing a tradition of performing for charity benefits, it is the oldest men’s singing club in the United States and