In South West Philadelphia

When we recently heard about a new project at 4820 Chester Ave., we thought it felt a bit familiar. This property sits right across from the 49th Street Station on the Media-Elwyn line, and something has been in the works here for over three years. We had considered covering it

The Word Tabernacle Baptist Church worshipped in a beautiful building at 5200 Chester Ave. for many years. This building was constructed in 1910 for First United Presbyterian, and was designed by Joseph Huston. The church resembled countless other religious structures built at the beginning of the 20th century, which is to say it was

There's an irregularly shaped parcel at 4921 Chester Ave. which measures about 1500 sqft, and you'd never know it's there unless someone told you. The reason its existence isn't obvious is because it sits immediately adjacent to the submerged Media-Elwyn Regional Rail tracks, and its frontage is hidden by a

The last decade or so has seen a huge burst of development in the neighborhoods west of the Schuylkill near Drexel, Penn, and University of the Sciences. These areas have seen countless new projects sprout up, permanently changing the face of many blocks in the rings around these educational institutions. Mantua,

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,

Spak Group has been developing in West and Southwest Philly for several years, and we've covered a few of their projects over time. As we've shown, this developer has made a bit of a name for themselves, being especially sensitive to the community as they consider their projects. Years ago, we told

The property at 5013 Springfield Ave. covers nearly an acre, but you'd never guess it just from passing by. Because of the way that the Media/Elwyn train tracks split the 5000 blocks of Springfield and Warrington, there's an oddly shaped quasi-triangle at this address, with minimal frontage on Springfield and

Student housing has inexorably marched north, west, and south from Penn and Drexel, spreading to various degrees into Mantua, Walnut Hill, Spruce Hill, Powelton Village, Squirrel Hill, and Kingsessing. These types of projects have been slower to move into neighborhoods in Southwest, but in the last few years we've definitely seen

It wasn't even two weeks ago that we told you about a gorgeous but deteriorating church at the corner of 52nd & Chester, opining that the new owners of the property would likely tear it down. We visited this building thanks to a reader tip, so we zipped out to

It was roughly half a decade ago that we directed your attention to the Word Tabernacle Baptist Church, a congregation that was worshiping out of a gorgeous building at 52nd & Chester, in Kingsessing. In the story, we expressed some degree of surprise that the congregation was able to use the