Today, the Charter High School For Architecture and Design (CHAD) stands at 105 S. 7th St., bound by Sansom, Chestnut, 6th and 7th Streets.  It would seem a fitting place to learn about architecture and design given the long architectural biography of the location.  Indeed, according to Philadelphia Dance History Journal, this was the site of Philadelphia’s very first hotel, Oeller’s Hotel.  As it was located across from a major performance venue, many dancers used the hotel’s facilities to teach their craft to others as a means of supplementing their income.

As the advertisement from the Philadelphia Gazette here below demonstrates, the hotel was favored amongst dancers since its construction in 1790.

Elaborate advertisement spread for Oeller’s Hotel in 1797

Thereafter, according to the Library Company of Philadelphia, Oeller’s was adapted into a private residence before becoming Jones’ Hotel and/or Yohe’s Hotel, depending…

As a Comcast customer, you can handle most account matters online or over the phone.  But if you ever need to return an old cable box, make payment in person, or just give them a piece of your mind with the help of dramatic facial expressions, you need to visit a Comcast Service Center.  If you live in Pennsport, chances are it’s the one at 1351 S. Columbus Blvd. Flanked by a scary lot of unkempt woods on one side and a scary lot of unkempt grass on the other, this hardly looks like the site of a major industrial operation.  But that it was according to the image below from G.W. Bromley’s 1895 Philadelphia Atlas.

The Delaware Sugar Refinery in 1895

According to engineer George Newhall, whose court testimony is recorded in the 1912 volume, United States of America, Petitioner, Against the American Sugar Refining…

If you’re ever hitting the lanes at North Bowl and wondering why the folks next door are wearing suits and getting valet parking, the reason is Cescaphe Ballroom.  Located at 923 N. 2nd St., this Northern Liberties location has been drawing crowds for 200 years.  As early as the turn of the 19th century, the Bull’s Head Tavern stood on this spot.  In fact, quite a bit of important U.S. History would transpire just outside the tavern. According to The Library Company of Philadelphia, “in the year 1809, the staid citizens of Philadelphia were agog with curiosity over a strange and mysterious thing upon a vacant tract beside the Bull’s Head Tavern upon Second street, near Poplar street.”   The ‘strange and mysterious thing’ was an exhibit for the plans to construct America’s first railroad.  Below, a series of 1922 Frank H. Taylor sketches depicts the 1809…

Today, Market East is a haven for pawn-brokers, check-cashing stands and purveyors of brand name knockoffs. The south side of the 1000 block offers one such decidedly uninspiring mix of storefronts. Simultaneously, this stretch is a reminder of a time when Market Street was one of the nation’s top retail destinations. The odd structure listed as 1020 Market St. is a perfect demonstration. This strange building, whose edifice looks not unlike a gargantuan toboggan leaning against a dumpster, hints at a brighter time in Market Street’s retail history. Actually, a reflection on the changes at this location suggests that most times in its retail history were brighter than this one. So says the 1858 photo below, taken from the Library Company, which shows the location in its earliest incarnation as a marble yard.

Marble Yard and jib crane in

…

In December of 2011, we told you about the exciting new development that was nearly complete at 600 North Broad Street. Today, the complex represents the future promise of North Broad Street. Joe Volpe’s Vie, Marc Vetri’s Alla Spina and Stephen Starr’s Route 6 anchor a reviving area already pioneered by Osteria. This facelift for the property bound by Broad, Green, Mt. Vernon and 15th Streets is a big piece of the puzzle in the transformation of a long-neglected area. This is appropriate because, as history shows, this space has a documented habit of mirroring the broader (no pun intended) changes around it. Indeed, as shown by the image below, taken from Hexamer & Locher’s 1858 Philadelphia Atlas, the 600 block of North Broad was a lumberyard, as was every block between Spring Garden and North Streets.

600 Block of

…

The story of how I-95 cut a gash through Philadelphia starting in the 1960s is not just a single tale of eminent domain. The superhighway is best anthologized through the various neighborhoods and industrial work sites that disappeared thanks to its construction. This post is the first in an ongoing series about places that no longer exist thanks to our beloved I-95.

An area quite profoundly impacted by the construction of I-95, the Pennsport neighborhood exists today in the shadow of the elevated interstate. One stretch that gives evidence of the transformation is that on Front Street between Washington and Federal.  Nestled snugly beneath an overpass, Rizzo Rink offers an excellent example of how negative space should be used…that is, for ice skating and athletics.  But long before 95 arrested the development of our waterfront, the area in question was of even greater strategic importance than for the practice of pee…