Philaphilia

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- May 21st

2013-05-21T13:35:00.001-04:00

Tun Tavern Reconstruction

109 Spruce Street


Old conjectural drawing of Tun Tavern superimposed (badly) onto the site of the proposed project.

In last week's Empty Lot of the Week, I examined a dirty pile of empty land at the corner of Spruce Street and 38th Parallel Place, between Front and Second. At the end, I appealed to the sky for an answer as to why the city has been sitting on this space for the last 40 years without nary a sign of life, besides a brand new sidewalk that was just installed--the first one this lot has ever had! In the comments section of that piece, Philaphile Bob Bruhin brought up the fact that a re-build of the legendary Tun Tavern was once set to happen here but never happened. A Dead-Ass Proposal!
Read all about it at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

LOST BUILDINGS ARE BACK!!!

2013-05-17T12:25:00.001-04:00

After an 8 month hiatus, Lost Building of the Week is back!!! They will be hosted by the Philadelphia Magazine's Property Blog!

Northern National Bank

2300 Germantown Avenue

Holy crap!!! Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

The worst kind of lost building is one that survives and keeps on truckin', only to get unceremoniously demolished in the end. This, the Northern National Bank, is the quintessential exemplar of this phenomenon. A building that kicked ass all over the place until getting ripped the f down like a rotten old wooden shed.
Read more at the Philadelphia Magazine's Property Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- May 14th

2013-05-14T14:53:00.001-04:00

Hidden Grasshit Lot

Northeast Corner of Spruce Street and 38th Parallel Place

This pile of dirt and grass is NOT part of the Korean War Memorial Park to the north and east. This is a straight-up empty lot that's managed to stay hidden due to all the open space around it, disguised as part of the surrounding park and plaza. Empty for over 50 years, this shitty patch of fuck has witnessed the entire history of our great city.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- May 13th

2013-05-13T10:07:00.004-04:00

Kaplan Career Institute Philadelphia Campus

3000 Market

Here's a building that's manage to stick it out while all its brothers have fallen away. This relic of the industrial past of University City has stayed in continuous use since 1907. Read more about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- May 7th

2013-05-07T13:00:00.001-04:00

African-American Hall of Fame and Sculpture Garden

George's Hill, Fairmount Park

No rendering exists, but here's the bust of W. Wilson Goode that was to be included in the project. Source: Zenos Frudakis

In the melange of Philadelphia's numerous Dead-Ass Proposals, you'll find cool things that would have been awesome if they happened, shitty things that were better off dead, and boring things that wouldn't have mattered anyway. Then you have one like this--- shit so outlandish that you can't believe how close it came to actually getting executed.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- April 30th

2013-05-01T14:50:00.001-04:00

Metropolitan Hospital Lot

Bounded by the 8th, Vine, Franklin Streets and the Metroclub Condo

From the Franklin Street/Franklin Square side.

This right here sure turned out crappy. This shitbag surface lot is just one of many in the area surrounding Franklin Square. With endless auto traffic lining its perimeter, this 40-year-old lot will probably never go away. Nonetheless, there is a small glimmer of hope that it might some time soon.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- April 29th

2013-04-29T14:38:00.002-04:00

The Yamaha City Building

81 Fairmount Avenue

I've always wondered about this set of houses that have been combined into one big-ass building. After months of finding bits of info about it here and there, I've finally assembled (most of) its full history. Read about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- April 23

2013-04-23T14:25:00.003-04:00

101 Sky

101 Spring Garden Street

Is this fucker even dead? This staid-looking asstower has been promised for the last eight years and still hasn't seen a stick of construction. Read more at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- April 16th

2013-04-16T12:52:00.000-04:00

Spring Garden Violation Shit Lot

1200-1212 Spring Garden Street

Blarf!!! Billboard-palooza!

This corner looks like shit. This isn't even the only empty lot at this location! How the fuck did it get to this point? With all the improvements happening nearly every few blocks in Philadelphia, how did this lot get so neglected? Fuck this lot and everything it stands for. An abandoned property whose tax delinquent owner is making a shitload of money on its FOUR billboards. That's right, FOUR. Oh, and fuck Clear Channel for leasing the billboard space from this slumlord. This all gets exacerbated by the fact that this neighborhood was once one of the best in the city!
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- April 15th

2013-04-15T11:12:00.001-04:00

Northern Liberties National Bank

300 North Third Street

This old bank is a relic of ancient Northern Liberties. Check out my write-up about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- April 9th

2013-04-09T13:20:00.002-04:00

Centennial Tower

Fairmount Park

Now this is crazy as shit. This was Philly's attempt at an Eiffel Tower-style structure well before Eiffel was ever a thought. Had it been executed, this gigantic tower would still be the tallest building in the city.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- April 2nd

2013-04-02T12:32:00.001-04:00

Drexel Greenville Pre-NIMBY Lot

3428-3442 Lancaster Avenue

Lancaster Avenue gets no damn respect. This road was once a major thoroughfare-- one of the most important single streets in early America. This surface lot that sits on its 3400 block sucks ass. Though the lot's days SHOULD be numbered, a small group of angry NIMBYs is determined to keep it a surface lot for the rest of time.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- April 1st

2013-04-01T11:31:00.001-04:00

Northeastern Title and Trust Company/Flomar Building

3160 Kensington Avenue

Photo by Brad Maule for Hidden City

This big-ass building down at K & A is like the Kensington Empire State Building. Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- March 26th

2013-03-26T13:36:00.002-04:00

River's Edge Corporate Center/Campbell's Soup HQ Tower

Camden Waterfront

The only living rendering is this overhead view from an old Camden Waterfront Master Plan. Yes, it would have included that huge parking lot.

You think Philly's Delaware Riverfront is development-cursed? Check out Camden's. Camden's waterfront has many development-driving advantages over Phiadelphia's. There's no gigantic interstate highway running alongside, the real estate is much more abundant (and much less expensive), and the view of Philadelpia's skyline from Camden is about 10,000 times better than the reverse. Despite all that, Camden's waterfront has been through just as many goofy waterfront proposals as Philly's in the last 30 years. This is the story of one that was pretty certain to happen until it all went to shit.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!!!

Empty Lot of the Week-- March 19th

2013-03-19T12:35:00.001-04:00

PennDot PPA Realen Fail Lot

Bounded by Spring, 15th, 16th, and Vine Streets with a parking garage in the middle

This is the only way to see both sides of the lot. Image from Google.

Though most empty lots piss me off, I can understand how they form. Sometimes its a patch of old buildings too far gone to save that get knocked down. Sometimes there's actually a need for surface parking in the area. Sometimes an owner just doesn't have the resources to save it. This one, however, pisses me off like no other. This is a lot that was cleared for development that was a shitty idea from the rip. On top of that, I hate empty lots that take over what were previously a whole bunch of little streets, and this is one of those as well. Wanna know what else I hate? Parking garages that are right next to surface parking lots. This is one of those, too!!! Even worse, the garage has empty lots on both sides. How much worse can it get? Much worse.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- March 18th

2013-03-18T12:38:00.004-04:00

Green Hill Market

1632 Poplar Street

Check this shit out-- a leftover farmer's market that barely appears on any lists of surviving Philly markets from the olden days. This crazy motherfucker, 153 years old, has managed to outlive two of its replacements. Gotta love Francisville!!

Read more at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- March 12th

2013-03-12T13:35:00.002-04:00

Powelton Avenue Bridge

Spanning the Powelton Yards and Schuylkill River at Powelton Avenue

Where it would be if it was ever built. Original aerial from Google.

Ya know, its one thing to have a Dead-Ass Proposal that was active for 5, 10, or even 20 years. That's shitty in itself. But a Dead-Ass Proposal brought up again and again and AGAIN over the course of nearly 90 years? That rigoddamndiculous!!!! Well that's this one. This bridge proposal was attempted numerous times in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and failed every last time. This is the Powelton Avenue Bridge.
Read more at the Philadelphia Citypaper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- March 5th

2013-03-05T12:39:00.001-05:00

Asbury Penn Lot

3311-3359 Chestnut Street

What the fuck, man? The University of Pennsylvania was actually using buildings on this lot, but then fucked it all up! How the hell does that happen? Though there are plans to make this lot better, for now, it remains an asphalt ocean of shitslices consisting of two different surface parking lots.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- March 4th

2013-03-04T12:29:00.000-05:00

Keystone Battery, Battery A

4111 Mantua Ave

                Created in 1861, the Keystone Battery started as a volunteer infantry company and later formed into a light artillery battery. After fighting many battles in the Civil War, the unit moved back to Philadelphia and re-organized themselves and was accepted into the Pennsylvania National Guard.
              Read more at the Hidden City Daily!

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- February 26th

2013-02-26T12:21:00.001-05:00

Bridge Hall/Welcome Hall/Convention Hall

Straddling the Schuylkill River between Market and Chestnut Streets

East/West facade. Image from the Athenaeum of Philadelphia.

This proposal is insane now and was even more insane in 1910. Its hard to believe that the idea of a Convention Hall built over a river would EVER be taken seriously, but here we have one that was designed down to the last stitch in a time period where a project like this would seem nearly impossible.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- February 19th

2013-02-19T13:19:00.002-05:00

Chinatown College of Pharmacy Lot

139 North 10th Street/ 100 Block of North Hutchinson Street

From the Hutchinson Street side.

Here's another Chinatown lot that doesn't make any goddamn sense. Though its actually three lots combined, the center property on this location has been a surface parking lot for over 70 years. Though mostly hidden by buildings, any empty space in Chinatown becomes extremely conspicuous, due to the rest of the neighborhood's crowded nature.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- February 18th

2013-02-18T14:13:00.003-05:00

Greenhouse Market

1324 Chestnut Street

This little building, kind of boring today, used to be a kick-ass trust company HQ. Wait 'til you see the Dead-Ass Proposal for an addition to it! Read more at the Hidden City Daily! Here's a pic of it's original configuration:

Its all the way to the right.

Dead-Ass Proposal of the Week-- February 12th

2013-02-12T13:38:00.001-05:00

Philadelphia CityCenter

1301 Market Street

The only picture of it is from this model of an unrelated Dead-Ass Proposal. Its the one with the two goofy rectangles at the top.

Ever wonder why there's a big empty hole at 13th and Market? Less than a block away from City Hall? Prime real estate that can't get moving on ANYTHING and has been empty for nearly 20 years? Well, this is it. This is the reason that piece of fuck just sits there parking cars night and day, embarrassing the fuck out of the city. It all started in the late 1980s.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!

Empty Lot of the Week-- February 5th

2013-02-05T13:33:00.003-05:00

South Street Bridge Lot

600 Block of Schuylkill Avenue

Hopefully this lot is only temporary. While I've informed you about empty lots that have been empty for over 80 years, this one is only about two years old. That shit doesn't matter. This lot still has no damn excuse to exist and there's a possibility that this patch of dog dung may last for decades to come.
Read more at the Philadelphia City Paper's Naked City Blog!!

Old-Ass Building of the Week-- February 4th

2013-02-04T13:01:00.005-05:00

Caledonian Hall

1239 Spring Garden Street

This beautiful building at the northeast corner of 13th and Spring Garden is the fucking bomb-diggity. Find out more about it at the Hidden City Daily!