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News
From Arctic Stone to Aluminum Skies: Cryolite, Philadelphia, and the Geometry of Industrial Power
2+ day, 15+ hour ago (269+ words) The Return of an Old Obsession Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company’s Greenwich Chemical Works seen here in the Philadelphia edition of Hexamer General Surveys of 1892. | Image courtesy of the Atheneum of Philadelphia via Map Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia Ice That…...
Places to Save: Summer 2026
4+ day, 15+ hour ago (275+ words) Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Summer 2026 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Location: 1701 Vine Street This uncertainty threatens not only the structure’s physical condition, but also its architectural…...
Anger and Advocacy Fuel Demands for Securing University Avenue Bridge
3+ week, 4+ day ago (430+ words) Cret combined modern classicism with Beaux-Arts styling, with features such as carved friezes and finials, bronze lanterns decorated with stylized leaves, scallop designs and sea horse motifs, and two octagonal bridge operator’s houses with large windows on each side. Although…...
Unlisted Philadelphia: Engine 6
4+ week, 2+ day ago (146+ words) Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Summer 2026 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Location: 2601 Belgrade Street In 2025, the Philadelphia Fire Department announced the return of its historic Engine 6 to…...
Building Modification Requests Consume Historical Commission Meeting
1+ mon, 1+ day ago (276+ words) At its meeting on July 10, the Philadelphia Historical Commission did not consider any new nominations to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. However, it did review several requests by owners to modify historic buildings to adapt to their present-day uses....
In Pursuit of Greatness: the Challenges of Creating a Groundbreaking Docuseries
1+ mon, 6+ day ago (820+ words) At this precarious moment in American history it seems prudent, even necessary, to reexamine how we got here. Fortunately, we have In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America, a richly textured and thoughtfully crafted 10-part docuseries from History Making…...
Communism and the Quaker City
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (324+ words) Children demonstrate during a communist rally at Philadelphia City Hall on January 14, 1933. | Image courtesy of ExplorePAHistory.org Come One, Come All “Dust Off Your Dreams, The Story of American Youth for Democracy” a 24-page booklet published by the American Youth…...
Boom Goes the Dynamite: A 250-Year History of Philly’s Love Affair With Fireworks
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (928+ words) 150 years from now, perhaps an account of Philadelphia’s celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial this year, will read something familiar. If it does, it will be an echo of an echo. The above description of Independence Day festivities hails from July…...
The First Bank of the United States Reopens with a Regal Restoration
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (1238+ words) On Wednesday, July 1 the National Park Service will unveil the restoration of the first building ever constructed for the United States government. The grand reopening invites visitors to step inside the building for the first time in many decades. The…...
Restoration Role Model: Hiester House
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (150+ words) Editor’s Note: A version of this story was published in the Winter 2026 issue of Extant, a publication of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia. Extant Magazine (EM): What attracted you to this building? EM: What was the building’s original use?...