Preservation Legendary Jazz Landmark and Keystone Battery up for Historic Designation Consideration Starr Herr-Cardillo has this roundup of local register nominations on the agenda for the November meeting of the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s Designation Committee
Development City For Families? Millennial Parents Say So If schools are a key to retaining families, what is Philadelphia to do? Quite a lot, says David Feldman, who takes us inside the parent and community-led movement to invest in ten public elementary schools
Preservation Coming To Grips With Closing Schools And A Talk With Superintendent Hite Next week, the School District of Philadelphia will shutter 23 schools across the city. Jessie Fox interviews Superintendent Dr. William Hite, while a grassroots group of artists band to document the closings and the nearly 4,000 employees laid off as a result band together
Art & Design Spare A Dime For Bok’s Memories: WPA Play Begins Tonight The group CosaCosa brings the politics of the New Deal into a New Deal-funded auditorium in a school about to close–a song cycle for a cycle of economics and politics. Katrina Ohstrom previews the PIFA performance in words and photos
Photography Great Depression To Great Recession: The Life And Death Of Bok High A lens on American education policy at Bok, one of the only school buildings in the city to have been built completely by the WPA. Its closing leaves a students adrift and the future of vocational education in doubt. Katrina Ohstrom has the story and photos
Preservation Final Curtain For The Former Edison High The storied original Northeast High–famous and infamous–is being demolished for a strip mall and (in a phase 2) affordable housing. We have the latest on the development as well as remarkable photos from both 2007 and 2012 taken by Abandoned America’s Matthew Christopher
City Life My Favorite Place: Independence Charter One of our favorite things about the My Favorite Place series is when someone explains why they love a place we never really cared for, like the Spring Garden Street El stop, or in this case, school. Join teacher Julie Lenard as she delves into why education is yet another realm where place matters
Architecture Why All Philly Schools Look The Same Ever wondered about that distinctive boxy shape you see in most Philadelphia schools? Philip Jablon dives into the architectural vision of Irwin T. Catharine, the man responsible for the schools’ blueprints.