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Tag: architectural history

Agent Stories: Exploring Philly Arts Spaces With Niki Cousineau

Posted on by Solo Team

Niki Cousineau approaches real estate the same way she approaches her practice as a dancer and choreographer – it’s all about space. Niki, a new agent with Solo, appreciates space in all of its forms. She brings this appreciation to her work as a realtor. Who better to help you find your next home than someone who sees the beauty in a whole range of unique spaces?

 

While the connection between dance and real estate might not be readily apparent, a deep emphasis on the spaces we inhabit is something shared by both. Recently Niki took us on a tour of some remarkable arts and performance spaces that most Philadelphians might not have access to normally. Take a look at our insider’s peek at Philly’s cool performance, arts, and practice spaces!

 

The Glass Factory

 

The first place Niki showed us is tucked away on a quiet side street in Brewerytown. From the outside you would never guess the amazing, cavernous space that lies within. Niki first discovered this space with the company she co-directs, Subcircle. Subcircle came to the Glass Factory with their show Hold Still while I figure this out in June 2016. That piece was more recently performed at FringeArts this past fall.

 

One thing that really stands out in the Glass Factory are the raw materials. While the space is simple, the signs of it’s past life as an auto shop give off a raw, edgy vibe. The exposed brick with phrases such as “Cars Washed” and “Brakes” painted on and the iron beams fit in with today’s popular post-industrial vibe. Meanwhile, the spacious stage and skylights add lightness and grace to the room.

While Niki discovered the Glass Factory through her dance and choreography work, the space hosts a wide array of events including music performances, martial arts classes, and art installations.

Subcircle performing at the Glass Factory

 

MAAS Building

 

The second location that Niki gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of was the MAAS Building. This brewery turned trolley repair shop in Olde Kensington is, coincidentally, just two doors down from our project Kensington Yards. Now the building is home to two offices on the ground floor, an events and practice space, a recording studio, a large garden courtyard behind the main building, and a private residence.

When owners Ben and Catherine first acquired the MAAS, it hadn’t been used since its days as a trolley shop. It’s because of this that so much of the original industrial workshop character is preserved. A floor was built to divide the building into two stories, and this diverse practice, performance, work, and home space was born.

 

While one of the most common uses of the upstairs space is actually weddings, Niki and her company Subcircle host their works in progress series and rehearse there. Other local groups that take advantage of this gorgeous, open space are Almanac Dance Circus Theatre and New Paradise Laboratories.

Subcircle in the second floor of the MAAS Building

 

Crane Arts

 

The last space Niki showed us was Crane Arts. Crane Arts is a well established place for artists’ studios and rental space in Olde Kensington. In more recent years they transitioned their Icebox Project Space to having a more structured public presence as well. The Icebox already existed as rental space in the Crane Arts building, in fact, Subcircle did their piece Still Unknown there in 2006. Now they host more regular performances, installations, and shows. With this expanded programming, Crane Arts moves beyond its role as a rental space. The directors are interested in expanding their scope and joining the conversation in Philly’s art community. 

 

Believe it or not, the Crane Arts building used to be a plumbing warehouse. After that a seafood packaging plant called the enormous building home. Between the shuttering of that business and its 2004 purchase, the building remained vacant. The Icebox, which we spent most of our visit in, was actually a giant walk-in freezer back in the days of the packaging plant, hence its name. Some of that original character is still noticeable in the large, blank space suitable for all sorts of performances and installations.

 

An edited photo from a Subcircle performance in the Icebox

How Kevin Bacon’s Dad Changed Your Life

Posted on by Solo Team

You might not think about Kevin Bacon very often, but if you live in Philadelphia, his dad likely influences your life nearly everyday. Edmund Bacon and his wife, Ruth Hilda Holmes, raised six children, including Kevin Bacon, in the city of brotherly love. Besides his role as a father to the future star, Edmund Bacon, architect, educator, urban planner and author, served as the Executive Director of the City Planning Commission from 1949-1970. During this tenure, he oversaw numerous large- and small-scale design ideas that shaped today’s Philadelphia.

Bacon, born to a quaker family in West Philadelphia in 1910, trained as an architect at Cornell and later at Cranbrook Academy. While at Cranbrook, he studied under renowned Finnish architect/planner Eliel Saarinen. Saarinen worked extensively on major planning projects in nearby Flint, Michigan, and enlisted the young Edmund Bacon to assist. Bacon quickly grew into the role and in the late 1930s served as Flint’s planning commissioner.

These early experiences in Flint as well as international travels greatly influenced Bacon’s approach to urban planning. In the late 1940s, he became the City Planning Commissioner of Philadelphia, bringing both vision and practical experience to the job. Because of his design background, Bacon not only served as an administrator, but also conceived physical concepts.

The following projects are some of those most closely associated with Bacon.

Society Hill

In the 1950s, Society Hill was a fairly rundown, dodgy neighborhood. Bacon, seeking to preserve the historical, colonial quality of the area, worked with the Redevelopment Authority, to invest brick sidewalks, period lighting and streetscaping. This included a network of walkways called the Greenway System to tie the neighborhood together. While most of the 18th and early 19th century houses were restored, late 19th century houses were demolished to create high-density housing. The resulting Society Hill towers designed by I.M. Pei are now symbolic of the neighborhood.

Society Hill Towers designed by I.M. Pei

The Far Northeast

In the early 1950s, the far Northeast section of Philadelphia (north of Pennypack Creek), was largely undeveloped farmland. With growing pressure to create more affordable housing, Bacon conceived of a concept for a new type of urban neighborhood that used dense rowhouse blocks, but sited them along a curved street network, based around retail and recreation hubs, connected with bus lines. The intent was to maintain the existing streams and open space. While the resulting neighborhood did not match Bacon’s initial vision, the streams and parkspace remain remarkably intact.

Pennypack Park

Penn Center

In the early 1950s, the Pennsylvania Railroad committed to demolish a long-defunct section viaduct which cut through Center City and redevelop the land. Bacon worked with architects and planners to conceive of a new use for this central urban space as a transit connected office and retail environment. Again, the resulting development differed dramatically from Bacon’s original proposal, but Penn Center remains a transit and office hub, and has become the core of Center City’s business district.

Earle Barber (left) of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority, Edmund Bacon (center) of the City Planning Commission, and architect Vincent Kling consider 1950s projects to follow the removal of the Pennsylvania Railroad viaduct. (Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries)

In addition to this notable work as City Planning Commissioner,  Edmund Bacon also served as a professor of urban design at the University of Pennsylvania during the 1970s and 1980s. Owner Deborah Solo studied under him while pursuing her Master’s in Architecture. Here at Solo, we’re just two degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon!

References:

https://planningpa.org/in-memoriam/in-memoriam-of-edmund-bacon/

https://www.philadelphiacfa.org/programs-and-exhibitions/edmund-n-bacon-prize-lecture/about-edmund-n-bacon 

Neighborhood Histories: Northern Liberties

Posted on by Solo Team

The Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia was created by William Penn himself, only it wasn’t originally part of the city. The earlier Northern Liberties Township came from large tracts of rural land available in the area in the late 1600s. The “liberty lands” were allotted to settlers based on the size of their land purchase. Created as a less dense alternative to Center City, Northern Liberties was deemed “Philadelphia’s first suburb”. The neighborhood was officially annexed into Philadelphia in 1854.

The aptly named Liberty Lands park is a point of pride for the neighborhood.

Given its situation just outside the city’s core, it makes sense that Northern Liberties has a rich manufacturing history. Industry of all sorts flocked to the spacious tracts in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The types of factories included mills, breweries, tanneries, chemical and paint works, tool manufacture, and iron and stove foundries.

A former medicine factory on Fairmount Ave. converted into apartments over the last few years with some accompanying new construction.

The 19th century settlers of the neighborhood were mostly German artisans. Later, the early 20th century brought an influx of Eastern European immigrants, namely Slovakian and Romanian. These populations are still present today in their respective churches, St. Agnes Slovak Roman Catholic Church at 4th & Brown Streets and the Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church at American & Brown Streets, both of which remain active (although under a different name in the latter’s case).

The Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church (now St. John’s Church) at American & Brown Streets (above) and St. Agnes Slovak Roman Catholic Church at 4th & Brown Streets (below).

Nestled amongst the former factories and other industrial buildings, Northern Liberties also portrays some significant historic architectural styles, with many blocks of rowhomes still intact. The architectures that dominate the area are Italianate, Greek Revival, and Federal. The abundance of these blocks is at least partially due to the creation of the Northern Liberties Historic District in 1985 and the fact that many buildings have made it onto the National Register of Historic Places.

Some gorgeous twins on 5th Street with mansard roofs (above), and some rare Federal style rowhomes on Fairmount Ave (below).

It is for this reason that Northern Liberties has maintained its historic charm and character even while undergoing some drastic changes. In the past few decades the neighborhood has experienced significant development and an influx of new residents such as young professionals, students, and artists. Given the proximity to Center City – you can be downtown in under ten minutes by subway, bus, or car – the attractiveness of the neighborhood to people of all occupations makes sense. In Northern Liberties you can experience all the convenience of living close to downtown, while also having a close knit neighborhood feel, more space, and lower housing costs compared to Center City neighborhoods such as Rittenhouse Square, Fitler Square, and Society Hill.

As a result of the large swaths of land left open by de-industrialization in the mid- to late-1900s, redevelopment of the neighborhood was able to happen with exceptional vigor. While Northern Liberties does have plenty of historic rowhome architecture, the collection of styles has always been more eclectic than, say, the uniform rows of homes in South Philadelphia neighborhoods. Since the landscape was already quirky and diverse, the new construction, often hulking in some areas, meshes better here.

The eclectic nature of Northern Liberties architectural styles (above and below).

Today Northern Liberties has an exciting array of housing types, with the grand, old three story rowhomes still intact amongst new construction condos and townhomes. There is also a bustling commercial corridor to be found along 2nd Street where new restaurants, coffee shops, and stores are popping up everyday. The neighborhood still maintains its distinctive character and intimate feel, despite its booming growth and inflow of new residents.

The Secret Life of Buildings: Residential Courts

Posted on by Solo Team

In our last Secret Life of Buildings post we tackled trinity homes. What we didn’t get around to mentioning are the residential courts that many houses of this style are nestled into. Residential courts are the smallest of the small streets, cartways, and alleyways that were carved out of William Penn’s Greene Country Towne in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are so small, in fact, that these dead end nooks are pedestrian only, often with an communal courtyard space.

 

Often gated and consisting of anywhere from three to twelve homes on average and typically (though not always) bandbox style, these petite residential courts are yet another distinctive feature of Philadelphia’s urban design and built environment.

 

Lewis Court in Fishtown dates back to 1797.

 

Unfortunately, fewer of these residential court have survived into the 20th century than the trinity homes of our earlier exploration. The small scale, dense houses were historically built for craftsmen and factory workers, and as these industries faded in the 20th century, so did much of the housing.

 

As a city that cherishes history, however, Philadelphia held on to a handful of these residential courts. Some might sit right in your neighborhood without you ever having noticed since they’re such hidden secrets of the city. A few of the most architecturally or historically pertinent courts have even made their way onto the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. Among those are Loxley and Bladen’s Courts in Old City and Drinker’s and Bell’s Courts in Society Hill.

 

Bell’s Court in Society Hill (above) was not always closed off to traffic (see below).

 

The common form that the residential court takes is with one or two larger houses fronting a main street with an attached row of trinities behind accessed by an alleyway between the two or beside the one street fronting properties.

 

Here is a residential courtyard tucked away on the petite Waverly Street in Washington Square West.

 

While some of the most iconic Philadelphia residential courts still standing today are in Old City, Society Hill, Queen Village, and Rittenhouse, this housing type was at one time even more common in neighborhoods like Northern Liberties, Fishtown, and Kensington. The reason for this was mainly that the courts were built to house factory workers efficiently and close by to the workplace which were frequently located in these River Wards neighborhoods.

 

Earl Court in Fishtown is an example of a residential court in the Riverwards that still remains today.

 

Many of the residential courts in these neighborhoods just northeast of Center City vanished after the industrial age and in the wake of the construction of I-95 between 1959-1979. While these homes were not necessarily notable for their architectural style since they were of a straightforward and unadorned construction, they are significant for their representation of a local housing type and as a distinct iteration of 19th century urban design in Philadelphia. We’ve touched on a few residential courts in prior blog posts, like our Blocks We Love on 700 Miller Street and 700 North Bodine Street.

 

Not only are these homes desirable for their historic connection, original features, and quiet, private space that is separated from the main street, they also are uniquely Philadelphia. Many of the courts are so obscured within the city’s blocks many people don’t even realize they exist. As a hidden secret of Philadelphia, the residential courts tell a story about the city’s early development, industrial roots, and distinction as a city of streets of rowhomes within streets of rowhomes within streets of rowhomes.

 

The Secret Life of Buildings: Common Philadelphia Brick Styles

Posted on by Solo Team

Philadelphia is a city rich with architectural history, with many private residences dating back to the colonial era. And while homes have changed significantly since the city’s founding in 1662 (we’re particularly fond of indoor plumbing and electric wiring), one element of Philadelphia rowhomes remains little changed in over three hundred years: brick.

It’s no coincidence that homes throughout the city, from stately properties in Old City to more humble rowhomes in Kensington are clad with the same material. Due to a stroke of geographical good fortune, the city rested atop a bed of high-quality brick clay just below the surface. This resource was so extensive that even after two centuries,  it still provided enough clay to produce more than 200 million bricks a year by the end of the nineteenth century.

However, brickmaking declined in the 20th century, due to both automation of the manufacturing process and diminishing clay resources. Concurrently, concrete blocks were developed. Less expensive to manufacture and construct, concrete blocks quickly began to displace bricks in foundation walls and as backup for wall facings.

Yet despite the loss of brick manufacturing, brick remains an emblematic element of Philadelphia architecture.

The following brick bonds are representative of the common styles seen in Philadelphia’s historic neighborhoods.

ENGLISH BOND

Generally regarded as the oldest of bricklaying styles, the English bond is characterized by alternating courses (each horizontal row of bricks is a course) of stretchers (the long side of the brick) and headers (the narrow side).

FLEMISH BOND

This style became popular in the 17th Century and can be seen frequently throughout Philadelphia’s older neighborhoods. In a Flemish bond, headers and stretchers alternate continually within each course. Often, bricklayers used burnt headers, creating a visually engaging facade with a mix of red and black.

RUNNING BOND

Frequently used for veneer, running bond uses only stretchers. It’s counterpart, the Common Bond (sometimes referred to as the American Bond) uses 5, 6, or 7 courses of stretchers, interspersed with a row of headers. These headers tie the wall to the backing masonry material.  As it’s name implies, Common bond is commonly used, especially in historic Philadelphia rowhomes.