 |
| Photo by Michael Bixler |
"The best blog I've ever seen" -Ben Franklin
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Old-Ass Building of the Week-- Stetson Hospital
1745 North 4th Street
Holy crap! This is all that's left of the old Stetson Hat complex! Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily!
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Fill This Front: Aramark Tower
1101 Market Street Suite 125
Though sometimes its hard to tell, One Reading Center aka the Aramark Tower has lots of leasable street level spaces besides the big one at the corner held down by that Santander Bank. They're kind of hard to see because all the ones that aren't Santander are accessed by a tiny little door with minimal frontage on the street. Most of them change hands quite frequently and have found themselves though all kinds of different uses. However, there is one of them that has been empty for 7.5 years.
This little 1,099 square foot retail space is the only Aramark Tower retail spot besides the Santander one that faces Market Street at street level. It stands at the bottom of one of the building's rounded corners. What's unique about this space is that it also has a 1,220 square foot basement space attached that is not accessible to the public via the transit concourse. Its hard to tell all the uses this little space has had since the building opened in 1984 but its last use was as a cafe, and from what I can tell, is still configured as such.
The street level space also has an entrance from the Aramark lobby that includes some large display windows. Due to the angle the outdoor entrance faces, this little front is visible all the way down the block (from the west). This would be a great spot for a small coffee place that's trying to be way more badass than the shitty Dunkin' Donuts in the Reading Terminal Lobby down the block. This would be a great spot for one of our home-grown coffee companies to set up. La Colombe? Passero's? Green Street? There's like a million others. They all have small spaces like this found in office building lobbies or corners where you wouldn't expect them. How about a Federal Donuts? They'll open everywhere the fuck else but are afraid of Market East. If they were as badass as they say they are, this is the kind of place they would open.
This location has a lot going for it,in case you're a dumbass and you didn't know. Not only is it right next to Jefferson Station and the Convention Center, you've got two gigantic hotels and a few smaller ones in a two block radius. You have countless bus lines on the same street and a subway spot directly underneath. On top of all that shit, there's a giant mixed-use development in progress across the street.
What the fuck are you waiting for? Bring this little corner of the Aramark Tower back to life for the first time in the teens. Bring your badass coffee shop here and tell the others how much they can fuck off. Take advantage of all the new shit that's about to take place across the street. The space is managed by Precision Realty Group, here's the listing, which offers other spaces in the Aramark Tower as well. FILL THIS FUCKING FRONT!!
Though sometimes its hard to tell, One Reading Center aka the Aramark Tower has lots of leasable street level spaces besides the big one at the corner held down by that Santander Bank. They're kind of hard to see because all the ones that aren't Santander are accessed by a tiny little door with minimal frontage on the street. Most of them change hands quite frequently and have found themselves though all kinds of different uses. However, there is one of them that has been empty for 7.5 years.
This little 1,099 square foot retail space is the only Aramark Tower retail spot besides the Santander one that faces Market Street at street level. It stands at the bottom of one of the building's rounded corners. What's unique about this space is that it also has a 1,220 square foot basement space attached that is not accessible to the public via the transit concourse. Its hard to tell all the uses this little space has had since the building opened in 1984 but its last use was as a cafe, and from what I can tell, is still configured as such.
 |
| The configuration of both the street level and underground spaces. |
The street level space also has an entrance from the Aramark lobby that includes some large display windows. Due to the angle the outdoor entrance faces, this little front is visible all the way down the block (from the west). This would be a great spot for a small coffee place that's trying to be way more badass than the shitty Dunkin' Donuts in the Reading Terminal Lobby down the block. This would be a great spot for one of our home-grown coffee companies to set up. La Colombe? Passero's? Green Street? There's like a million others. They all have small spaces like this found in office building lobbies or corners where you wouldn't expect them. How about a Federal Donuts? They'll open everywhere the fuck else but are afraid of Market East. If they were as badass as they say they are, this is the kind of place they would open.
 |
| Lobby entrance with display windows |
What the fuck are you waiting for? Bring this little corner of the Aramark Tower back to life for the first time in the teens. Bring your badass coffee shop here and tell the others how much they can fuck off. Take advantage of all the new shit that's about to take place across the street. The space is managed by Precision Realty Group, here's the listing, which offers other spaces in the Aramark Tower as well. FILL THIS FUCKING FRONT!!
 |
| Across the street in a few years. |
Monday, January 12, 2015
The Athenaeum's Looking Forward: GroJLart Picks His Own Winners (and Losers)
219 South 6th Street
2014 marked the 200th Anniversary of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the badass library/resource center/museum housed in a kick-ass 1845-built John Notman-designed building on the east side of Washington Square that was the first brownstone building in the city. I'd go more into what the Athenaeum is, but, if you read this blog regularly, you should already fucking know. However, if you're new to this blog or just a general dumbass, here's all you need.
To celebrate their bicentennial (and because they didn't bother celebrating their own centennial in 1914), the Athenaeum held an architecture contest named "Looking Forward" for both professional firms and students, imagining if the old John Notman building was replaced in 2050. Here's the full fact sheet that lists all the requirements and outlines badass jurors who would pick the final winners.
The Athenaeum received 88 submissions from all around the world, 46 professional and 42 student-made. Bruce Laverty, Gladys Brooks Curator for Architecture, and Michael Seneca, Director of the Athenaeum’s Regional Digital Imaging Center, have been huge boosters of Philaphilia and myself for the last 3 years. They've provided me with access to untold shitloads of information and images and this blog would be pretty boring without them, so thanks.
They've also given me access to all the submissions to Looking Forward, so I have taken it upon myself to choose my own winners and losers for this contest, who of course will receive no prizes besides my mention of them. I'm sure if any of the real jurists read my review of these designs they would puke in their own mouths, but my choices are made nonetheless. To see the real winners of the Looking Forward contest, go down to the Athenaeum of Philadelphia at 219 South 6th Street, where the winners are on display until February 14th.
The Professional Submissions
Ok, so as everyone knows, I don't care much for contemporary urban architecture or what today's firms have been producing. I like the old shit much better... out of all these submissions, the John Notman building still outdoes them all. The professional submissions range from very very detailed and thought-out to basic and barely rendered. Architecture firms are busy places and few even have the time to sit around and commit to fully designing a building that would never exist just to submit to a contest, so I understand why some look like they were farted out onto the paper. Nonetheless, some do stand out as pretty good and really bad.
Note: the submissions are anonymous, I have no idea who the architects were for any of them. However, you can tell which ones have actually been to the site or know anything about the surrounding area. Some of the submissions didn't bother to look at page 6 of the fact sheet, which shows the context of the site:
Therefore, any submission that didn't have the Washington Square side as the primary facade went on my immediate shitlist. With some, however, you could tell its originators knew about the area and even went as far as eliminating the Dilworth House property or acknowledging the poor souls at the St. James houses who have been in perpetual shadow for decades.
There were also some that seemed to think the building was to be placed in the year 2550 instead of 2050, having outlandish-ass technology and other whacky shit involved. Others went way more staid, with the most basic re-do of the building, almost like they just took off the John Notman facade and put a boring contemporary one on. Some are Supertall Skyscrapers, others put the whole thing underground like the never-built Calder Museum. Anyway, enough talk. Here are my professional winners and losers:
The Winner
I had a hard time picking a winner... again, I'm not a fan of contemporary urban architecture nor am I much into some of the attitudes behind a lot of ideas that get shoe-horned into today's building designs. Of the 46 professional submissions, this was my favorite:
Pretty good. It has all the kind of crap that should be involved with a place like this without going overboard. A thin tower section holding all the library/museum stuff and a shorter section for rentable studios and "collaboration pods" that is topped with an outdoor space.
Futuristic without too much whacky shit going on. Doesn't much acknowledge the Randolph Street side, but that's ok, I still enjoy it. This one would really make a great addition to Washington Square. My only two criticisms of this one are the big "Athenaeum" sign and the grey facade of the short section.
Honorable Mention
This one gets an Honorable Mention-- out of all the submissions that were skyscrapers, this one was the best looking and had the best conceptual shit going on. Its fucking gigantic at 1,040 feet but that's not the only thing that makes it cool. The top floor has a 360 degree interactive observation deck whereby a person could get info about each building visible from the deck through a display on the windows themselves.
Out of the many whacky, outlandish, and totally impractical submissions to this contest, this one stands out to me as best of those. Others included little flying robots that would retrieve resources for you and the conversion of South 6th Street into a series of public baths in front of the place. Seriously.
Another I would also give a semi-honorable mention to is this one that was one of the real winners of the contest. Though the architect is all the way from Hungary, he acknowledges the site much better than many of the others.
The Losers
I thought I had a hard time picking a winner until I had to pick a loser. I don't know what some of these firms are smoking but I'm mad that they've never offered me some. Don't get me wrong-- they didn't all suck. Some were pretty good but nothing to write home about, others were boring more than bad. However, I've narrowed it down to a few that require some good old-fashioned GroJLart shit-talking.
What the fuck is this shit? Nice quality renderings but the design... I don't know where to begin! That goofy-looking green and blue tower? The base that looks like it was designed by a broken android? Though just one of the many submissions with a residential tower attached, I'm pretty sure this is the only one that also has a 60-car parking garage!
Is this Athenaeum supposed to be in Hell? Its in the middle of a desert with shadow people walking around it. The submission for this one is more about the system the originators
created to access info at the library than the building itself. Why so all the windows face the St. James Street side? That just ends up facing the back of the Penn Mutual Towers!
What the hell are they trying to do with this one? It looks like a gun pointed at Washington Square. The interior of the cylindrical section is configured like a submarine and the whole place has all this indoor-outdoor shit going on like the Athenaeum is located in a place where it never rains or gets cold. Blech.
The Student Submissions
Ok, so many of us know what its like to be a college student. All those lofty ideas in your head but no experience in knowing the best way to execute said ideas. When I first started looking at the student submissions, I was excited for a couple of reasons. One was that I would see what the real future of architecture would look like, the other was that I would see ideas that the pros would never come up with.
What a disappointment. Some of the student ones look like they were given as a class project and were executed at the last minute after two weeks straight of binge drinking (I went to Art School, I know what it's like). Others seemed like tumblr opened an architecture firm. Therefore, I'm only picking a winner in the student submissions and no losers, because talking shit about some of these student ones would be too mean, even for me. They're not all bad though-- I narrowed it down to about six I kind of liked and chose a Winner and Honorable Mention.
The Student Winner
Out of the 42 student submissions, this was my favorite:
I didn't like this one at first glance but it the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me. Usually I don't like building with a big mass on top like that but this one makes up for it with the crazy curved ribs in the windows. The roof has a practically-designed public space with a small amount of greenery, as opposed to other submissions that had 100-year-old trees popping out from the basement. The glass with its curved ribbing pops out of the top as well. Good job, young'n.
Honorable Mention
Ok, this seems borderline silly but I think it looks pretty cool, at least in the way presented here. Several of both the professional and student submissions made the John Notman building into a base for a taller building, but this one outdoes them all. Its a giant heart plopped down into the old building with veins/arteries popping out that are not only a design element visible from the outside, but also functional as elevator shafts/utilities/soffits etc. Pretty Neat.
Overall, this was a great idea for a contest and a great way to celebrate one of Philadelphia's most important institutions. Make sure to check out the exhibit at the Athenaeum, where you can not only see all the winners, but models of their designs and a slideshow of ALL the submissions.
 |
| That white box with question mark is better-looking than some of the submissions. |
To celebrate their bicentennial (and because they didn't bother celebrating their own centennial in 1914), the Athenaeum held an architecture contest named "Looking Forward" for both professional firms and students, imagining if the old John Notman building was replaced in 2050. Here's the full fact sheet that lists all the requirements and outlines badass jurors who would pick the final winners.
The Athenaeum received 88 submissions from all around the world, 46 professional and 42 student-made. Bruce Laverty, Gladys Brooks Curator for Architecture, and Michael Seneca, Director of the Athenaeum’s Regional Digital Imaging Center, have been huge boosters of Philaphilia and myself for the last 3 years. They've provided me with access to untold shitloads of information and images and this blog would be pretty boring without them, so thanks.
They've also given me access to all the submissions to Looking Forward, so I have taken it upon myself to choose my own winners and losers for this contest, who of course will receive no prizes besides my mention of them. I'm sure if any of the real jurists read my review of these designs they would puke in their own mouths, but my choices are made nonetheless. To see the real winners of the Looking Forward contest, go down to the Athenaeum of Philadelphia at 219 South 6th Street, where the winners are on display until February 14th.
The Professional Submissions
Ok, so as everyone knows, I don't care much for contemporary urban architecture or what today's firms have been producing. I like the old shit much better... out of all these submissions, the John Notman building still outdoes them all. The professional submissions range from very very detailed and thought-out to basic and barely rendered. Architecture firms are busy places and few even have the time to sit around and commit to fully designing a building that would never exist just to submit to a contest, so I understand why some look like they were farted out onto the paper. Nonetheless, some do stand out as pretty good and really bad.
Note: the submissions are anonymous, I have no idea who the architects were for any of them. However, you can tell which ones have actually been to the site or know anything about the surrounding area. Some of the submissions didn't bother to look at page 6 of the fact sheet, which shows the context of the site:
 |
| Page Six shows how the site is surrounded by the Penn Mutual Towers, the St James houses, and Dilworth House. |
There were also some that seemed to think the building was to be placed in the year 2550 instead of 2050, having outlandish-ass technology and other whacky shit involved. Others went way more staid, with the most basic re-do of the building, almost like they just took off the John Notman facade and put a boring contemporary one on. Some are Supertall Skyscrapers, others put the whole thing underground like the never-built Calder Museum. Anyway, enough talk. Here are my professional winners and losers:
The Winner
I had a hard time picking a winner... again, I'm not a fan of contemporary urban architecture nor am I much into some of the attitudes behind a lot of ideas that get shoe-horned into today's building designs. Of the 46 professional submissions, this was my favorite:
 |
| Looks like the guy on the right is about to take a shit. |
Futuristic without too much whacky shit going on. Doesn't much acknowledge the Randolph Street side, but that's ok, I still enjoy it. This one would really make a great addition to Washington Square. My only two criticisms of this one are the big "Athenaeum" sign and the grey facade of the short section.
Honorable Mention
This one gets an Honorable Mention-- out of all the submissions that were skyscrapers, this one was the best looking and had the best conceptual shit going on. Its fucking gigantic at 1,040 feet but that's not the only thing that makes it cool. The top floor has a 360 degree interactive observation deck whereby a person could get info about each building visible from the deck through a display on the windows themselves.
 |
| How fucking cool is that? |
Another I would also give a semi-honorable mention to is this one that was one of the real winners of the contest. Though the architect is all the way from Hungary, he acknowledges the site much better than many of the others.
The Losers
I thought I had a hard time picking a winner until I had to pick a loser. I don't know what some of these firms are smoking but I'm mad that they've never offered me some. Don't get me wrong-- they didn't all suck. Some were pretty good but nothing to write home about, others were boring more than bad. However, I've narrowed it down to a few that require some good old-fashioned GroJLart shit-talking.
 |
| No... just no. |
 |
| WTF? |
What the hell are they trying to do with this one? It looks like a gun pointed at Washington Square. The interior of the cylindrical section is configured like a submarine and the whole place has all this indoor-outdoor shit going on like the Athenaeum is located in a place where it never rains or gets cold. Blech.
The Student Submissions
Ok, so many of us know what its like to be a college student. All those lofty ideas in your head but no experience in knowing the best way to execute said ideas. When I first started looking at the student submissions, I was excited for a couple of reasons. One was that I would see what the real future of architecture would look like, the other was that I would see ideas that the pros would never come up with.
What a disappointment. Some of the student ones look like they were given as a class project and were executed at the last minute after two weeks straight of binge drinking (I went to Art School, I know what it's like). Others seemed like tumblr opened an architecture firm. Therefore, I'm only picking a winner in the student submissions and no losers, because talking shit about some of these student ones would be too mean, even for me. They're not all bad though-- I narrowed it down to about six I kind of liked and chose a Winner and Honorable Mention.
The Student Winner
Out of the 42 student submissions, this was my favorite:
I didn't like this one at first glance but it the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me. Usually I don't like building with a big mass on top like that but this one makes up for it with the crazy curved ribs in the windows. The roof has a practically-designed public space with a small amount of greenery, as opposed to other submissions that had 100-year-old trees popping out from the basement. The glass with its curved ribbing pops out of the top as well. Good job, young'n.
Honorable Mention
Ok, this seems borderline silly but I think it looks pretty cool, at least in the way presented here. Several of both the professional and student submissions made the John Notman building into a base for a taller building, but this one outdoes them all. Its a giant heart plopped down into the old building with veins/arteries popping out that are not only a design element visible from the outside, but also functional as elevator shafts/utilities/soffits etc. Pretty Neat.
Overall, this was a great idea for a contest and a great way to celebrate one of Philadelphia's most important institutions. Make sure to check out the exhibit at the Athenaeum, where you can not only see all the winners, but models of their designs and a slideshow of ALL the submissions.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Update!! Fronts That Filled!!
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Hello, this is Robert Stack, and you are now reading this in my voice. Since last April, your shitbag author GroJLart has been highlighting long-empty storefronts hoping to get them filled. Almost 9 months later, some that have been empty for years and years have finally filled or now have activity in motion. Play the youtube embedded below to hear the appropriate background music.
Update!!
The infamous Murano storefront, featured in the first-ever Fill This Front post, is about to get filled! American Heritage Credit Union is moving over from the Stock Exchange Building in anticipation of its coming head-to-toe renovation. They will be taking a ~5,000 square foot segment of the space, leaving a 2,500 square foot section still available. After nearly 8 years without ever getting a tenant, the Murano's ground floor will finally rise! Here's the listing for the rest of the space.
Update!
Another storefront empty for nearly 8 years, the Stapler space, finally has an occupant! Everything Fresh, an experimental grocery store concept being tried out that may expand further throughout Center City if successful. The place has only been open for a short time but always seems to be crowded and has some great Yelp reviews. Good Luck!
Update!
The 5-years-empty 1518 Walnut space now finally has a permanent lessee. My.Suit (that's not a typo), has opened their fifth-ever store here, their first outside of NYC (unless you count their White Plains store as such, which I don't). If you have a lot of money, go in and get yourself a custom-made suit.
Update!
Both storefronts outlined in a single Fill This Front post, 1200 and 1300 South Street, both have activity in motion. 1200 South went up for sale at the end of November and then was re-labeled "Off Market" on December 31st, meaning that it either just got sold or was just taken off the market after a month and some change. Hopefully it sold. Either way, the retail space is back up for lease.
1300 South, a storefront empty for nearly 9 years, now has a tenant signed: the new location of Sansom Street Kebab House! The owner of the Kebab House told the Inquirer that he will be retaining the name of the place, so the new location will be labeled with a different street name that its actually on. This is a grand Philly tradition-- Paper on Pine is on 13th Street, Sound of Market is in its last month at 11th Street (and once had a location on Chestnut), Spruce Street Video is on 12th Street, and the short-lived 14th Street Audio was on Chestnut Street!
Update!
Even when the Fill This Front about 137 South 10th Street was posted, plans were already in motion. In a very very short time, the space has been made into the Jefferson Acceleration Zone! This building looked like absolute shit for a long time so this is a great addition to the street and the neighborhood.
And now some smaller updates:
-2108 Walnut has a new owner, therefore this long-empty storefront may come back into play.
-Unsubstantiated rumor has it that the Sprucy Storefronts may be getting filled with an expansion of the CVS next door. We'll see what happens.
- The Philadelphia Blueprint Company building is in the midst of construction-- additional floors are being added on top. Hopefully this means that someone will be coming along to use all this new space and maybe even Fill that Front after nearly 8 years empty.
Something is afoot at the "Dinette" space. The sidewalk out front is blocked off and a candystripe notice from L + I has appeared.
For every empty lot, effed-up building, new development, or empty storefront, there's someone, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that someone is reading this. Perhaps... it's you. If you have any new or extra information relating to articles posted at Philaphilia, write to us at rhaandarite@gmail.com. You need not give your name.
Hello, this is Robert Stack, and you are now reading this in my voice. Since last April, your shitbag author GroJLart has been highlighting long-empty storefronts hoping to get them filled. Almost 9 months later, some that have been empty for years and years have finally filled or now have activity in motion. Play the youtube embedded below to hear the appropriate background music.
Update!!
The infamous Murano storefront, featured in the first-ever Fill This Front post, is about to get filled! American Heritage Credit Union is moving over from the Stock Exchange Building in anticipation of its coming head-to-toe renovation. They will be taking a ~5,000 square foot segment of the space, leaving a 2,500 square foot section still available. After nearly 8 years without ever getting a tenant, the Murano's ground floor will finally rise! Here's the listing for the rest of the space.
Update!
Another storefront empty for nearly 8 years, the Stapler space, finally has an occupant! Everything Fresh, an experimental grocery store concept being tried out that may expand further throughout Center City if successful. The place has only been open for a short time but always seems to be crowded and has some great Yelp reviews. Good Luck!
Update!
The 5-years-empty 1518 Walnut space now finally has a permanent lessee. My.Suit (that's not a typo), has opened their fifth-ever store here, their first outside of NYC (unless you count their White Plains store as such, which I don't). If you have a lot of money, go in and get yourself a custom-made suit.
Update!
Both storefronts outlined in a single Fill This Front post, 1200 and 1300 South Street, both have activity in motion. 1200 South went up for sale at the end of November and then was re-labeled "Off Market" on December 31st, meaning that it either just got sold or was just taken off the market after a month and some change. Hopefully it sold. Either way, the retail space is back up for lease.
1300 South, a storefront empty for nearly 9 years, now has a tenant signed: the new location of Sansom Street Kebab House! The owner of the Kebab House told the Inquirer that he will be retaining the name of the place, so the new location will be labeled with a different street name that its actually on. This is a grand Philly tradition-- Paper on Pine is on 13th Street, Sound of Market is in its last month at 11th Street (and once had a location on Chestnut), Spruce Street Video is on 12th Street, and the short-lived 14th Street Audio was on Chestnut Street!
Update!
Even when the Fill This Front about 137 South 10th Street was posted, plans were already in motion. In a very very short time, the space has been made into the Jefferson Acceleration Zone! This building looked like absolute shit for a long time so this is a great addition to the street and the neighborhood.
And now some smaller updates:
-2108 Walnut has a new owner, therefore this long-empty storefront may come back into play.
-Unsubstantiated rumor has it that the Sprucy Storefronts may be getting filled with an expansion of the CVS next door. We'll see what happens.
- The Philadelphia Blueprint Company building is in the midst of construction-- additional floors are being added on top. Hopefully this means that someone will be coming along to use all this new space and maybe even Fill that Front after nearly 8 years empty.
Something is afoot at the "Dinette" space. The sidewalk out front is blocked off and a candystripe notice from L + I has appeared.
For every empty lot, effed-up building, new development, or empty storefront, there's someone, somewhere, who knows the truth. Perhaps that someone is reading this. Perhaps... it's you. If you have any new or extra information relating to articles posted at Philaphilia, write to us at rhaandarite@gmail.com. You need not give your name.
 |
| "Now get the fuck out of here" |
Monday, January 5, 2015
Old-Ass Building of the Week: U-Haul
747-753 West Allegheny Avenue
I always thought this place was a theater, but it ends up I've always been wrong. Read all about it at the Hidden City Daily!
 |
| Photo by Michael Bixler |
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
99 Years Ago in Philadelphia: Middle of December, 1915
Big Fucking Snowstorm Hits Philadelphia, Worse in Other Cities
On December 13, 1915, Philadelphia was hit with a huge, unexpected snow storm that had been predicted by weathermen to be nothing but slush. It started out as just a little over an inch of snow all morning and appeared to have stopped completely. Then, all of a sudden, another 4 inches fell in blizzard form around noon and was done in a very short period of time.
That's right, it was only a total of 5 inches. Nonetheless, the city was crippled. However, the effect in Philly was nothing compared to other northeastern cities. Trains were stuck all over the coast with passengers trapped inside. In the end, $2.5 million of damage was done. Telegraph and phone wires were down all over the northeast-- there was zero service of each kind between Albany and Philadelphia for days. Milk deliveries to Philly were suspended for at least one day-- all reserve milk was sent to hospitals and public institutions.
It makes you wonder how these 1915 folks would have handled the badass winter Philly had last year.
The Spirit of Giving, Kensington Style
Hugh McCrane was a bum that primarily hung out at the corner of Front
and York in Kensington who apparently loved himself some Christmas. Upon
passing a store that had a large stuffed Santa Claus on display, he
ripped the beard off of it and somehow stuck it to his own face. He then
stole a bunch of baskets of apples from a nearby grocer and started
handing the apples out to all the children on the street.
The grocer himself was understandably pissed off by this and contacted his friend, Officer McClusker, who took McCrane into custody. Santa Bum was sentenced by Magistrate Glenn to 30 days at the House of Corrections. McCrane responded with an endless tirade of bad language.
The Great Trunk Murder Caper
In the basement of 4062 Frankford Avenue, the demolition of an old house lead to the discovery of a gruesome scene. One of the demolition workers, Louis Dehman, was digging up the cellar of the place when he found a wooden box containing a steamer trunk that contained a body that was completely covered in Quicklime aka Calcium Oxide.
What came to be known as the "Trunk Murder" or "Box Murder" became big news over the next six months. The victim was 23-year-old Daniel J. McNichol, cousin of a State Senator. He had disappeared 20 months before and just happened to be carrying $2000 on his person at the time.
Edward F. Keller, partner of McNichol in a failed leather company, cooperated with police the day the trunk was found but soon became the prime suspect and was arrested the day after. Keller's story changed constantly thereafter but the circumstantial evidence against him piled up like a motherfucker. They found Quicklime at his house (which also happened to be the same kind of quicklime used at the leather plant), he told McNichol's pregnant fiance that he had abandoned her and moved to NYC, Norristown, and/or Detroit the day after he disappeared, Keller owned the commercial laundry business that had been using the building in which the trunk body was found (under a fake name) , and he was witnessed digging a hole in the basement.
Keller tried to claim that the man in the trunk was not McNichol at all and that McNichol was not only still alive, but in contact with him, claiming that he had become a bum in New York. This was all disproved pretty quickly using some science revolutionary to the period, aka checking the gold fillings in the corpses' teeth versus dental records. Keller also claimed that the laundry was located in a shitty neighborhood (it was) and didn't have locks on the doors (it didn't), so anyone could have buried that body there. In May, 1916, Keller was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10-12 years at Eastern State Penitentiary.
After spending 8 years at Eastern State, Keller was released and found a job as a night watchman at the Corn Exchange Bank (this guy was such a pimp that he was able to get meet a woman and get married while in prison, who got him the job). On December 20th, 1925, he proceeded to steal $20,000 in cash from the bank. He fled from his home to the Lorraine Hotel (you know, the Divine Lorraine!) but then panicked and wanted to leave town. He hailed a cab and set about escaping Philadelphia forever. He opened his suitcase to admire the pile of money and died of heart failure, lying in the money he just stole. The same detective who solved the McNichol case (Detective Belshaw) was called to investigate the death of Keller. How ironic.
The detective work connecting Keller to the McNichol murder was unprecedented in its use of science and forensics. The story still pops up every now and then, including a shitty 1991 MS-DOS video game called Murder! and has appeared in detective training literature as recently as 2007.
Fake Buttermilk and Other Offenses to Food Are Being Sold All Over The City!
Special Agent Robert M. Simmons of the Pennsylvania State Dairy and Food Commission has made a disturbing discovery: 85% of the buttermilk being sold in Philadelphia is not real! In case you didn't know, back in 1915, people drank buttermilk, the by-product left over from the churning of butter out of cream, because it was believed that the shit made you into a super-healthy Stanless Steelsque mega-monster.
Special Agent Simmons discovered that some shady company was selling a specially-made powdered skim milk to most Philadelphia grocers that, when mixed with lactic acid, created an artificial buttermilk that tasted better than the real thing but had no nutritional value. Simmons also busted a bunch of stores for selling rotten "canned eggs", selling goat meat as lamb, and adding sulfer dioxide to cherries.
Not a damn thing was ever done about it.
 |
| Picture taken at the height of the storm, somewhere on Market just west of City Hall. |
 |
| The yards on top of the old "Chinese Wall" leading to Broad Street Station during the storm |
It makes you wonder how these 1915 folks would have handled the badass winter Philly had last year.
 |
| View of Market East getting its ass kicked by the storm from City Hall |
The Spirit of Giving, Kensington Style
 |
| The scene of Christmas Spirit from PhillyHistory.org |
The grocer himself was understandably pissed off by this and contacted his friend, Officer McClusker, who took McCrane into custody. Santa Bum was sentenced by Magistrate Glenn to 30 days at the House of Corrections. McCrane responded with an endless tirade of bad language.
 |
| Front and York today thanks to Google Streetview. Yes, that is the same building. |
The Great Trunk Murder Caper
In the basement of 4062 Frankford Avenue, the demolition of an old house lead to the discovery of a gruesome scene. One of the demolition workers, Louis Dehman, was digging up the cellar of the place when he found a wooden box containing a steamer trunk that contained a body that was completely covered in Quicklime aka Calcium Oxide.
What came to be known as the "Trunk Murder" or "Box Murder" became big news over the next six months. The victim was 23-year-old Daniel J. McNichol, cousin of a State Senator. He had disappeared 20 months before and just happened to be carrying $2000 on his person at the time.
Edward F. Keller, partner of McNichol in a failed leather company, cooperated with police the day the trunk was found but soon became the prime suspect and was arrested the day after. Keller's story changed constantly thereafter but the circumstantial evidence against him piled up like a motherfucker. They found Quicklime at his house (which also happened to be the same kind of quicklime used at the leather plant), he told McNichol's pregnant fiance that he had abandoned her and moved to NYC, Norristown, and/or Detroit the day after he disappeared, Keller owned the commercial laundry business that had been using the building in which the trunk body was found (under a fake name) , and he was witnessed digging a hole in the basement.
Keller tried to claim that the man in the trunk was not McNichol at all and that McNichol was not only still alive, but in contact with him, claiming that he had become a bum in New York. This was all disproved pretty quickly using some science revolutionary to the period, aka checking the gold fillings in the corpses' teeth versus dental records. Keller also claimed that the laundry was located in a shitty neighborhood (it was) and didn't have locks on the doors (it didn't), so anyone could have buried that body there. In May, 1916, Keller was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 10-12 years at Eastern State Penitentiary.
After spending 8 years at Eastern State, Keller was released and found a job as a night watchman at the Corn Exchange Bank (this guy was such a pimp that he was able to get meet a woman and get married while in prison, who got him the job). On December 20th, 1925, he proceeded to steal $20,000 in cash from the bank. He fled from his home to the Lorraine Hotel (you know, the Divine Lorraine!) but then panicked and wanted to leave town. He hailed a cab and set about escaping Philadelphia forever. He opened his suitcase to admire the pile of money and died of heart failure, lying in the money he just stole. The same detective who solved the McNichol case (Detective Belshaw) was called to investigate the death of Keller. How ironic.
The detective work connecting Keller to the McNichol murder was unprecedented in its use of science and forensics. The story still pops up every now and then, including a shitty 1991 MS-DOS video game called Murder! and has appeared in detective training literature as recently as 2007.
 |
| Edward Keller |
Fake Buttermilk and Other Offenses to Food Are Being Sold All Over The City!
Special Agent Robert M. Simmons of the Pennsylvania State Dairy and Food Commission has made a disturbing discovery: 85% of the buttermilk being sold in Philadelphia is not real! In case you didn't know, back in 1915, people drank buttermilk, the by-product left over from the churning of butter out of cream, because it was believed that the shit made you into a super-healthy Stanless Steelsque mega-monster.
Special Agent Simmons discovered that some shady company was selling a specially-made powdered skim milk to most Philadelphia grocers that, when mixed with lactic acid, created an artificial buttermilk that tasted better than the real thing but had no nutritional value. Simmons also busted a bunch of stores for selling rotten "canned eggs", selling goat meat as lamb, and adding sulfer dioxide to cherries.
Not a damn thing was ever done about it.
 |
| Those sulfer dioxide cherries are quite common today. Pic from vineandvapor.com |
Monday, December 15, 2014
Old-Ass Building: Bell Telephone Diamond Exchange
1632 Diamond Street
Norf Philly has lots of architectural treasures to talk about but few seem to know about this old phone exchange... except me! Read it all at the Hidden City Daily!
 |
| Photo by Michael Bixler |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)