A reader reached out to us recently, wondering about some ongoing construction activity on Umbria Street, a couple blocks past the end of Main Street (or is it the start of Main Street? Who knows). The property in question is 4649 Umbria St., which to the naked eye simply looks

The 1800 block of Ludlow is one of the stranger, seedier blocks in the heart of downtown Philadelphia, where a row of older, three story buildings on the south side of the block smash against the backs of the high rise buildings on the 1800 block of Market Street. Slowly though,

The property at 1103 S. 47th St. has some pretty sweet bones, with a seemingly intact cornice and a turret bay that extends from the 2nd to the 3rd floor. Also cool is that said turret bay has a pointed roof, a detail that's missing from plenty of other similar buildings,

As the West Poplar and Callowhill neighborhoods have gentrified in recent years, the eastern section of Spring Garden Street has seen some changes as well. Many of those improvements have been thanks to the efforts of Arts + Crafts Holdings, a developer and property owner which has purchased and renovated

When someone talks about South Street, they're generally thinking about the famed eastern side of the corridor. Depending on when you were born, you might think fondly about seeing a show at Grendel's Lair or JC Dobbs or Ripley's. No matter your age, you probably have a love/hate thing with the TLA.

We've mentioned the Willow Street Steam Generation Plant a few times over the years, noting its looming presence at the northeast corner of 9th & Willow, in the Callowhill neighborhood. As we've indicated previously, the building was constructed in 1927 and burned coal to generate steam (as the name suggests).

There was a lumber yard near 3rd & Girard dating back to at least 1875, with this use eventually expanding to cover most of the city block encompassed by 3rd Street, Girard Avenue, Orianna Street, and Cambridge Street. Most recently, JT Riley Lumber operated at this site, and we told

The east side of 13th Street between Hamilton Street and Buttonwood Street has changed dramatically over the last decade, and the last undeveloped property on this little block is now poised for redevelopment. Back in 2011, we shared a unique building at 449 N. 13th St., noting the unusual look of

The Behavioral Wellness Center at Girard takes up the city block surrounded by Franklin Street, Thompson Street, 9th Street, and Girard Avenue, and has a very interesting history as a medical facility. The property was originally operated as Philadelphia Children’s Homeopathic Hospital, which was later renamed St. Luke’s and Children’s Medical

Things are moving fast in the Norris Square and South Kensington neighborhoods. To wit - less than four years ago, we drew your attention to 2000 N. 2nd St., a ten-story industrial building that was occupied at that time by a wicker wholesaler and was originally constructed as a silk