In Part One of a two-part report on the broken system of historic preservation in Philadelphia, Ryan Briggs reveals a city historical commission that’s so underfunded it’s incapable of enabling the city to profit by its unsurpassed architectural heritage–let alone protect its buildings of significance and stature

“It really could be something,” said the former owner of the Buck Hosiery building that burned Monday. Now, four years on, the neighborhood is burning up piece by piece. Nathaniel Popkin condemns our failure to protect neighborhood and industrial architecture

Hidden City board member Bob Beaty sent along photos by Wojo Photo – Chamyang Unkow, who captures the scene on Norris Square–

Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta, Sidney Hillman Medical Center, The Spectrum, Poplar St. A.M.E. Zion, and dozens of buildings at the Frankford Arsenal: RIP

We always try to give you a peek behind locked doors and boarded up windows, in this case the soon-to-be demolished St. Boniface in Norris Square