In Brewerytown

At the end of last year, we directed your attention to 1501 N. 31st St., noting that an old and unexciting warehouse building had been demolished. This structure had been used in recent years by a company specializing in the sale of suspension parts for cars, and was last used

From the early 1800s through the beginning of the 20th century, most of Philadelphia's drinking water was pumped out of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers and stored in reservoirs scattered around the city. In the earliest years, a water pumping station was located in Centre Square, spreading water through the growing city via gravity. The

If you're traveling from South Kensington to Brewerytown, as we were the other day, might we recommend Master Street as a convenient and clear shot across town? Your first inclination might be to take Girard, but there's all those traffic lights, plus Girard College interrupts the flow of the street. So

It was just a few years ago that the 1200 block of Etting Street was sitting empty and desolate, a Brewerytown block with nary a building. But times have changed, and they've changed rather quickly.The transition is nothing short of amazing, as the block has gone from zero buildings to

It was nearly seven years ago that we first brought the W.G. Schweiker building at 2621 W. Jefferson St. to your attention, noting at the time that it was listed for sale for $80K (too high a price, at the time!). The building caught our eye because it had spectacular

Baby boomers ran from cities in America, but millennials have embraced the urban living experience, if we may generalize. Ask a random baby boomer (and not an empty-nester that's come back to town in recent years) why they choose the suburban lifestyle, and they may tell you that the city is

Just north of Girard Avenue, several blocks of Ridge Avenue have been sitting vacant for as many years as we can remember. This is quite a change from the scene on these blocks in the middle of the 20th century, when this section of Ridge was an African American entertainment

We were in Brewerytown earlier today, and a zoning notice at 1222 N. 29th St. caught our eye in passing. In spying the zoning notice, we had an excuse to stare at this wonderful edifice for a moment, admiring its gabled roof, intact cornice, and the brickwork on the facade. Curious

Brewerytown's most prolific developer is set to take on the neighborhood's largest white elephant. A little less than two years ago, we told you that a developer had purchased the old Red Bell Brewery at 1500 N. 31st St. and we believed that redevelopment was on the horizon. Then we waited around

Turn back the clock many decades, and Columbia Avenue (now Cecil B. Moore Avenue) was the major commercial corridor in North Philadelphia. A massive riot in 1964 decimated the corridor though, and the damage was so extensive that it still hasn't really recovered. Only in recent years have we seen consistent