Forgive the obviousness of the following statement, but the vast majority of Philadelphia's housing stock was built in a radically different era than the one we find ourselves living in today. Even for simple row homes, architect often designed elaborate facades, and the individuals building those homes were willing to

Historically, Point Breeze Avenue was a hugely important commercial corridor for the neighborhood, with so many types of stores that residents didn't have to go to Center City to do their shopping. Over time though, Point Breeze Avenue experienced a significant decline, consistent with the trend in the rest of

A reader reached out to us the other day, wondering about some ongoing construction on the 2000 block of E. Hagert which stretched all the way to E. Boston Street. Thinking that a large residential project was underway, we went to take a look. But we quickly realized that this

Most people would agree that a large casino would have been a pretty terrible use for the large tract of land on Columbus Blvd. between Reed and Tasker Streets. And thankfully, after years of legal challenges and community pushback, the ill advised Foxwoods project fell through in 2010. The site

As the years have passed, we've increasingly seen development push northward in South Kensington, with Berks Street generally serving as a stopping point. We'd posit that as things continue to change, we'll increasingly see construction push into the Norris Square neighborhood. We didn't realize the extent to which it's already happening, at

The eastern side of the Schuylkill River waterfront in Center City is one of the best public spaces in town. On days warmer than today, the Schuylkill River Trail is abuzz with joggers, bikers, walkers, picnickers, and folks that are just looking to spend some time sitting in the grass,

For Northern Liberties residents, the large vacant lot just south of 2nd & Girard has surely been a source of frustration for many years. And those that aren't annoyed by the vacant lot have surely at least experienced some aggravation from the blighted building right at the corner. For many people, especially

Michael's Custom Cuts is a little barber shop/hair salon in West Philly where we've been getting our haircuts for longer than we can remember. And many people can say the same thing, as we're pretty sure this business has been operating out of a space near the corner of 40th

If you went to Temple, or if you've spent some time in the neighborhood near the university, perhaps you've noticed Al's Classic Cars at some point. Al's is located at 1333 N. 17th St., on a block that's most notable for its largely vacant western side. If you're into classic

The 2100 block of Bainbridge is a little unusual, for two different reasons. First, almost all the homes on the north side of the block have little front yards, a condition that we also see on the the south side of the 2200 block. We have no idea how or