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In Defense Of Consolidation, 160 Years Later
Circa-1959 map showing pre-1854 consolidation | Map: City Plans Division, Bureau of Engineering & SurveysOn February 2, 1854, the City of Philadelphia grew in an instant from the “greene Countrie...
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The Shirt Corner To Be Demolished Tomorrow
Shirt Corner, Third and Market | Photo: Bradley MauleLeo Addimando, the preservation-minded developer who had planned to salvage the 19th-century brick buildings of the iconic Shirt Corner in Old City...
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A Douredoure Situation
Live fearlessly: the Douredoures knew the difference between an adjective and an adverb when they built 2324 Market St. | Photo: Bradley MauleIn the early 20th Century, the rise of the automobile made...
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Groups To Appeal Variance For Franklin Institute’s Flashing Signage On Parkway
Photo: K. Ciappa, for GPTMC, via the Daily NewsAnti-billboard advocates are resisting the Franklin Institute’s plans to install a digital sign on its Parkway-facing façade, reports the Daily News,...
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Philadelphia Zoo Balloon, Grounded For Good
The Zoo Balloon has joined The Lioness and Frank Furness in the afterlife | Photo: Bradley MauleOn the same day the USS Forrestal set off on her final voyage—to a Texas scrapyard—Mother Nature sucked...
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ICE STORM 2014: Beautiful But Deadly
Sure it’s pretty—just don’t stand under any trees for too long | Photo: Bradley MauleI can assure you, they make a sound. Trees fell in the woods and all across Greater Philadelphia during this latest...
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Ensuring Abandoned Buildings Are Safe— Easier Said Than Done
L&I Commissioner Carlton Williams |Photo: NBC10City Paper offers a sobering analysis of the long road ahead in the City’s efforts to prevent another tragedy like the 2012 Buck Hosiery fire in...
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February 8-9, 1964: When the Music Died in Philly
Teens line up at WFIL studios at 46th and Market, waiting to get in to American BandstandThe 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 has been...
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The Best Yet From Dranoff
The SLS International & its developer | Rendering by Kohn Pedersen, and photo by Ed Hille, for the Daily NewsInga Saffron calls the plans for the 47-story, $200 million SLS International building...
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A Mediterranean Breeze On Chestnut Street
A row of Chestnut Street beauties. The Jacob Reed building is at center, flanked by the American Baptist Publication Society building at left and the Packard Building at right | Photo: Peter WoodallA...
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PVM, RIP
Paul vanMeter | Livinthehighline.comFew could dream the possible city as well as Paul vanMeter, the landscape gardener and founder of ViaductGreene, who died suddenly at a hospital in Reading Thursday...
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Nutter & Clarke Reach LOVE Park Design & Funding Compromise
Photo: David Maialetti, for The InquirerMayor Nutter and City Council President Darrell Clarke have reached an agreement as to a “shared vision for LOVE Park,” reports The Inquirer. The compromise...
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Behind My Façade
This January marked a year since I began the series Behind the Façade for the Hidden City Daily. Although I’m proud of my work, I’m usually not one for sentimentality in regards to milestones. So I had...
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Vestige Of The Workshop Of The World Looks Ahead
Photo: Maria Pouchnikova, for Axis PhillyIn anticipation for next month’s TEDxPhiladelphia conference at Temple University—titled “The New Workshop of the World”—Ken Finkel writes at Axis Philly that...
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Ed On Ed: Hidden City Chats With Rendell, Set To Receive Bacon Prize
Former Mayor of Philadelphia and Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell in his office | Photo: Bradley MauleNext Tuesday, February 18th, former Mayor of Philadelphia and Governor of Pennsylvania Ed...
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Gentrification & Caffeination In Fishtown
The owners of Lola Bean in Fishtown | Photo by J.R. Blackwell for Philadelphia WeeklyThis week’s Philadelphia Weekly tours the city’s burgeoning coffee culture. The recent proliferation of coffee shops...
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Saturdays At The Library Are Back In Holmesburg—And 11 Others
Detail, Holmesburg Branch’s Browsing Collection | Photo: Sarah BarrStarting this Saturday, February 22nd, the Holmesburg Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia will open on Saturdays for the first...
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Good Weather, Good Times Forecast For Weekend On Waterfront
USS Somerset, incoming | Photo courtesy of Delaware River Waterfront CorporationAfter weeks and weeks of relentless winter, from snow dumps to ice storms to earth shattering thunder, Mother Nature...
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The Floating Church And Its Successors Along The Delaware
The Floating Church of the Redeemer. | Library of Congress.The Seamen’s Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey was conceived in 1843 as a mission serving the needs of mariners in the ports...
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When Good Urbanism Meets Bad Architecture
Rendering of the Mormon temple, meeting house and apartment tower | Via philly.comInga Saffron confronts “a difficult conundrum” in her consideration of the Mormon Church’s plan to construct two...
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