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Hangin’ With The Ghosts Under City Hall
A will from the City and County of Philadelphia, pre-1854 consolidation | Photo: Bradley MauleEd. note: This is a companion piece to Sam Robinson’s story, Digging in the City’s Basement.When the Police...
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Elegant Complexity At Cira South
Shovels are in the ground: The Grove at Cira Centre South is under construction | Photo: Bradley MauleErdy McHenry Architecture’s first major commission, in 2001, was a new headquarters for the...
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Linking Riverside Trails
About the authorStephen Currall recently received his BA in history from Arcadia University. Before beginning doctoral studies, he is pursuing his interest in local history, specifically just how...
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Amidst A Redeveloping Waterfront, An 1830s Row Lives On
Photo: Richard GonzalezEast of I-95, in Northern Liberties’ nether regions, stands this perplexing ancient row of houses. Smack dab in the middle of a No Man’s Land of surface parking lots and...
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Drexel Acquires Firestone Parcel At 32nd & Market
A view of the Firestone site after development | Image: Drexel UniversityDrexel University has acquired the long-sought Firestone tire service station at 32nd and Market, a 26,675 square foot...
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At The Academy, The Birth Of Wire Transmission Of Music
Bell Labs engineers in basement of Academy of Music, 1933. Courtesy of AT&T Archives & History CenterThursday night, April 27, 1933–eighty years ago Saturday–the Philadelphia Orchestra, in...
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A Saint Guided By Spirits
1913: Theodore Finkenauer’s fleet of electric delivery trucks sit parked in front of the stable that previously kept its delivery horses. The building’s brewing history will soon resume with Saint...
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West Philly’s One-Man Blight Patrol
About the authorStephen Currall recently received his BA in history from Arcadia University. Before beginning doctoral studies, he is pursuing his interest in local history, specifically just how...
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Data Democratized: CultureBlocks Launches
Mapping the cultural resources of Bella Vista on CultureBlocksOfficially launched today, CultureBlocks is a free mapping tool meant to help us help us understand our neighborhoods, their cultural...
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Stories In The Ash
ABC Auto, which burned on Saturday | Photo: Peter WoodallThe 19th century warehouse at 1815 Sedgely Avenue, which burned on Saturday, was one of the last remnants of a massive industrial zone that...
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Smokin’ Joe’s Gym Deemed Historic!
About the authorStephen Currall recently received his BA in history from Arcadia University. Before beginning doctoral studies, he is pursuing his interest in local history, specifically just how...
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Enduring Happiness At A Germantown Playground & Rec Center
Happy Hollow Playground & Rec Center | Photo: Allison WeissAs the weather warms, the city’s youth seize the recreational opportunities afforded them, hitting the ball fields, basketball courts, and...
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A Saga In Sculpture: The Barnes Brings Ellsworth Kelly Milestone Home To...
An art using pure colors expressed in simple monumental forms adapts itself easily to modern building. The glass and steel reinforced concrete structures have created a new form and a new space to work...
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Of Reverence And Ritual At Hawthorne Hall
No one knows but the Grand Puba what goes on at Hawthorne Hall | Photo: Bradley MauleIn West Philadelphia, the would-be intersection of 39th and Hamilton Streets has its corner cut by Lancaster Avenue....
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Developer’s Retaliatory Lawsuits Demolish Old City Civic’s Zoning Board
Proposed World Trade Center City | Neal Santos, for Plan PhillyOld City Civic Association’s (OCCA) zoning operation has been dismantled by a private developer, says Plan Philly. After Waterfront...
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Ed Bacon, In Perspective
Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, Penn Press, 2013, by Gregory HellerEditor’s Note:For about a decade, the accomplished urban thinker and practitioner Greg Heller...
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Clarke’s Municipal Advertising Bill Passed, But Will Nutter Step In Line?
photo: bighandking, via Curbed PhillyCity Council President Darrell Clarke was finally able to get his bill (unanimously) passed that would bring private advertising on to public buildings. NewsWorks...
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In Kensington, A Major Reversal Brings New Hope For Historic Banks
Vacant banks on Front Street | Photo: Peter WoodallAn affordable housing project at the site of two historic Kensington banks appears to be dead in the midst of intense neighborhood opposition,...
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A First Visit, A First Year: The Barnes On The Parkway, A Photo Essay
Okay, that’s a pretty righteous entryway to a landmark new cultural institution | Photo: Bradley MauleWhen I left Philly for Portland, Oregon in fall 2009, the Youth Study Center was a pile of rubble...
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The Philadelphia Eagles Comeback Story
Bird on the wire: a bald eagle circles over the Amtrak and Septa catenary wires at Girard Avenue | Photo: Bradley MauleAs last week’s string of gorgeous days coalesced into a picture perfect spring...
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