Starr Herr-Cardillo has this roundup of local register nominations on the agenda for the August meeting of the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s Designation Committee

Stacia Friedman takes us inside one of South Broad Street’s most mysterious and magnificent historic mansions.

Rob McClung takes us on a journey through the turbulent history and present reawakening of the mighty Metropolitan Opera House at Broad and Poplar

Contributor Rob McClung opens the door of 1617 Spruce, where the Philadelphia Musical Academy once filled the street with the sounds of classical music

Music City on Chestnut Street was the spot for aspiring jazz musicians in the 1950s. Famous players like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz would often take time out from gigging in town to give impromptu performances and technical sessions to young instrumentalists at the popular music store. Philadelphia music historian Jack McCarthy lights up another smoking chapter from the city’s robust jazz era

Long before One Liberty Place leveled the area with sky-high apartments and upscale shopping, Ranstead Street used to belong to Billy Krechmer. His little jazz club burned with Swing and Dixieland brass for over 28 years. Music historian and archivist Jack McCarthy has the skinny on this long-lost gem

Thought all the vestiges of the Bicentennial were gone? Not this–a nearly 40 year old music series at Laurel Hill Mansion

Quaker influence kept the volume turned way down on early Philadelphia’s musical output. The consecration of Old Swedes’ Church in July 1700 changed that, and as Jack McCarthy writes, that first documented musical performance included an unlikely participant: Kelpius and his Mystics of the Wissahickon