In Bella Vista

Several months ago, we told you about Mildred Court, a plan to redevelop half of a square block in Bella Vista, including a former 7-Up bottling plant on Carpenter Street. In the intervening time, the project has gone through the civic design review process, and has gotten approval from the

Cinema Treasures tells us that Ripley Music Hall opened at 606 South St. in 1909 with a seating capacity of 500. However, the image taken from G.W. Bromley’s Philadelphia Atlas tells us that by 1910, the theatre was known by the much more hilarious handle, the Hippodrome.

In 1925, the Hippodrome underwent major renovations, which,

1016 South St. stands directly next to Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zager’s greatest masterpiece, the walk-through debris sculpture aptly called the Magic Garden.  While the eyes of most viewers will understandably be drawn to this highly unusual sight, right next to it stands a building with a fair degree of its own

A couple of years ago, we reflected on the state of retail on South Street and lamented the numerous vacancies, pointing to the corner of 6th & South as a prime example of just how far South Street had fallen. On the 600 block, we counted several vacant storefronts, including

A few months ago, we told you about four foundations that had been poured on the 1300 block of Bainbridge St., which represented the first phase of twenty-two new homes replacing a big surface parking lot on this block. Sitting next to a gas station and in the shadow of

In our last post, we told you about four homes filling in a vacant wooded lot in Fairmount, and wondered how a lot could sit vacant for so many years in such an established neighborhood. As it's strange to see vacant lots in Fairmount, it's also unexpected to see vacant

Almost two years ago, we first told you about plans for the Olive Townhomes, four new green homes facing a private courtyard on the 800 block of Carpenter Street. For quite some time, nothing happened at this site, but two months ago we brought you the good news that construction was

After stuffing our faces with cannoli at the Italian Market Festival, we found ourselves on the 1200 block of Carpenter St. and were surprised to see some new construction activity on the block. 1215 Carpenter St. was an overgrown vacant lot we'd never noticed, and now it's framed out over

We've probably written about the southwest corner of 10th & Carpenter half a dozen times in the last couple of years, often bearing the bad news that the latest business to call this little space home had closed its doors. From InFusion to Mazag Cafe to Filter Cafe to Bookz-n-Beans and

Earlier this week, we attended a BVTW zoning meeting and the buzz in the room was primarily about a proposed 70' building that was dead on arrival. The other prominent project discussed at this meeting was a proposal from US Construction for twenty-four new homes on the 900 block of