Preservation Repeating History In Old City After Chestnut Street Fire Tyler Putman takes a look at the recent fire that ravaged 239 Chestnut Street and its long-gone neighbor the Jayne Building, a mid-19th century skyscraper that suffered a similar fate
Preservation An Architectural Graveyard At Independence Mall The Shadow visits the grassy grave of the Irvin Building, one of many iconic commercial buildings razed in the 1970s to make way for Independence Mall
Art & Design The National Parks: America’s Best In Show To celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary, the Philadelphia Flower Show—its 188th—brings the country’s greatest natural treasures together under one roof. Park enthusiast Brad Maule laces up his boots and hits the Flower Show trail
History Losing Our Independence: Bicentennial Film In Last Days Harry K. waxes nostalgic about Independence, a 28-minute John Huston film about the American Revolutionary War that has been playing at Independence National Historical Park since the Bicentennial
Art & Design Social Entrepreneurs Wake Up Lower Walnut Street With Social Design Cafe FRIEDA for generations, a socially-minded startup company, is carving out a home inside the long vacant Maryland Casualty Company office at Walnut Place in Society Hill. Joseph Brin profiles the organization’s forthcoming cafe that aims to combine coffee talk, intergenerational networking, and local design
History A View Of The Bicentennial From The Top Of Penn Mutual A new public observation deck is opening this summer on the 57th floor of One Liberty Place and Harry K. couldn’t be more pleased. Join him in the glass elevator to the top of the old Penn Mutual building as he evokes the Spirit of ’76
Art & Design A Monumental Shift At Dilworth Park Olin’s design for Dilworth Park gives Philadelphia what it has long struggled for: a suitably grand approach to the monumental City Hall, says Hidden City co-editor Nathaniel Popkin. Here’s his review of the park, now essentially complete
Architecture The Revolution, Stuck With Stern Taliban of Architecture be damned! The Philadelphia Art Commission has unanimously approved Robert A.M. Stern’s “updated” design for the Museum of the American Revolution, paving the way for construction of its lackluster design