Author: info@philachaptersah.org

Real Philadelphia: Selections from the Robert M. Skaler Postcard Collection

November 16, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Join us for a special tour with Bruce Laverty, Curator of Architecture

Monday, December 4th at 6:00 p.m.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia
219 S. 6th Street
Free, but registration required. Please email us at info@philachaptersah.org

More than 250 examples of “real photo postcards” are on display from the a popular and wide-spread type that were produced by professional and amateur photographers alike between 1904 and 1918. These extraordinary images depict Philadelphia at the zenith of its industrial prosperity. Of particular note are the scores of pictures of children who played on the streets of the ever-growing row-house neighborhoods of the Workshop of the World.

Bob Skaler began collecting postcard views of Philadelphia in the 1960s at flea markets, yard sales and antique shops. His collection has appeared in the several books he has written for Arcadia Publishing including Society Hill and Old City, West Philadelphia and Philadelphia’s Broad Street. He felt The Athenaeum would be the best repository for his collection of 1,899 postcards making them available to historians and researchers.

The exhibit is free and runs through January 26, 2018.

Save the Date for these Upcoming Phila Chapter SAH Programs

October 27, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Monday, December 4, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.
Curator’s Tour of
Real Philadelphia: Selections from the Robert M. Skaler Postcard Collection
with Bruce Laverty, Curator of Architecture
at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

Tuesday, January 23, 2018 at 6:00 p.m.
Annual Members Pizza & Pictures party
at The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

Full details and registration information will be sent out about a month before each event.

Special Curator’s Tour

October 23, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Tuesday, November 14 at 5:00 p.m.
The Heritage Center of The Union League of Philadelphia, 140 South Broad Street

Free but space is limited, please register by emailing us at info@philachaptersah.org
Priority given to Phila Chapter SAH members

Please join us for guided tour of this exhibit which honors the second clause in the first line of the Union League’s by-laws, “Every member shall support the Constitution, and the free enterprise system.”

The exhibit celebrates entrepreneurship, with a focus on nine entrepreneurs, from William Penn to Atwater Kent. Individuals whose vision, hard work, and willingness to take risks helped build the City of Philadelphia. See the inventions, artifacts, and important documents from business and industry that bring to life the birth and rise of Philadelphia.  See the Thomas Holme’s original 1683 Portraiture of Philadelphia map, the money box of “Financier of the Revolution” Robert Morris, Stephen Girard’s desk, and nearly 100 other original artifacts and documents of iconic Philadelphia entrepreneurs.

Guest Curator and Historian and Archivist Jack McCarthy will share his insights into preparing this exhibit.

For additional information visit www.ulheritagecenter.org

Exhibition Tour with curator Bruce Laverty

April 22, 2017 /

2017-05-11 Laying Tracks poster

Thursday, May 11 at 6:00 p.m.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street
Cost: Free, but space is limited.  Open to SAH Phila Chapter members and their guests only. Registration required at ffaphila@hotmail.com

The introduction of railroads in the 1830s initiated a revolution in the development of American industry, land use, and social patterns. The new technology challenged the nascent American professions of architecture and engineering to create entirely new building and structural types to meet railroad needs— passenger waiting stations, bridges, train sheds, repair shops, grand downtown depots, and even bedroom suburbs. For more than 100 years, Philadelphia’s most important designers met this challenge, including William Strickland, Thomas U. Walter, John Notman, Theophilus P. Chandler, the Wilson Brothers, Frank Furness, Horace Trumbauer and Paul P. Cret. This exhibit features drawings, prints, photographs, and manuscripts that document how these Philadelphia architects and engineers transformed not only their own city, but much of the American landscape.

The exhibition is on view February 13 through May 12, 2017.  http://www.philaathenaeum.org/

 

PALAZZOS OF POWER: CENTRAL STATIONS OF THE PHILADELPHIA ELECTRIC COMPANY, 1900-1930

March 31, 2017 /

2017-04-13 PECO Allegheny Ave District Off

An exhibition and book talk by by Joseph E. B. Elliott and Aaron V. Wunsch
Harvey and Irwin Kroiz Gallery, Architectural Archives
Lower Level of the Fisher Fine Arts Library
220 South 34th Street, University of Pennsylvania
Exhibition: March 20 – June 14, 2017
Reception and Book Talk: Thursday, April 13, 6:00 .p.m.
Free and open to the public.  No registration required.

This exhibition explores a series of colossal neoclassical power stations erected by The Philadelphia Electric Company between 1900 and 1930.  Presented through the photographs of Joseph E. B. Elliott (Professor of Art, Muhlenberg College) and scholarship of Aaron V. Wunsch (Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation, University of Pennsylvania), the show accompanies their recently released book, Palazzos of Power (Princeton Architectural Press): https://www.amazon.com/Palazzos-Power-Stations-Philadelphia-1900-1930/dp/1616895004

 

Don’t Scare the Horses: The Development of the American Estate Garage

March 31, 2017 /

2017-04-04 American Estate Garage Westthorpe

By Jeff Groff, Director of Interpretation and Estate Historian,
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Tuesday, April 4 at 6:00 p.m.
Room B-3, Meyerson Hall, Univ of Pennsylvania
Free and open to all.  Seating is first come, first served.  No registration required.

Innovation and speed were the keystones of American life in the early twentieth century with the wealthy embracing every new means of transportation to move about—and to show off their success.  At their country places, new types of buildings were designed to house their automobiles, and an important new type of servant was added to the estate  staff list—chauffeur.  Jeff Groff, director of interpretation & estate historian at Winterthur, will explore the design and function of these early garages; their evolution into key estate  features; and the need to define the chauffeur’s duties, status, and relationship to fellow servants and employers.

Annual Pizza & Pictures Party

November 8, 2016 /

pizza & pix

Tuesday January 24, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street

Pizza and beverages will be provided.  Please feel free to bring a dessert to share if you wish.  There is no charge for Philadelphia Chapter SAH members AND each member is invited to bring one guest as a prospective member.  Additional guests are welcome at $15.00 each.

Please RSVP to William V. Kriebel, Phila SAH Treasurer at kriebewv@drexel.edu or 215-735-3697.

If you would like to bring a few digital images to give a short (5 minute/10-15 image) talk on a recent project, current research, or “what I did on my summer vacation,” please contact Bruce Laverty at laverty@PhilaAthenaeum.org or 215-925-2688.  Digital images should be placed on a thumb drive as individual image files or in a Power Point file.

Please join us for an evening of fun and good food!

SNOW DATE THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 2017

The American Country Club: Architecture For Suburban Sports

November 8, 2016 /

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by Anne E. Krulikowski, Assistant Professor of History, West Chester University
Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 p.m.
Union League Golf Club at Torresdale
3801 Grant Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19114

$15 for SAH members, $20 for non-members.
Light refreshments will be served.
Advance registration and pre-payment required.  Space is limited.
Registration and questions by email at info@philachaptersah.org or by phone at 610-566-2342.  Once your registration is confirmed, please mail your check to William V. Kriebel, Phila SAH Treasurer, 1923 Manning Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103

The Golden Age of the American Country Club extended from the 1890s to the Great Crash of 1929.  These suburban institutions originated from several sources, including men’s city clubs and resort casinos.  The great suburban migration beginning in the 1890s increased the popularity of the sporting life for entire families.  Country club design became a notable part of some architectural practices and national architectural journals began featuring clubhouse designs and plans.   Clubhouse exteriors represented mainly traditional styles, while floor plans reflected gender roles, class hierarchies, and social values.

While not as formal as the Union League on Broad Street, the Golf Club requests that you wear business casual.

Preservation Pioneer: The Life and Legacy of Charles E. Peterson

October 4, 2016 /

An exhibition tour with with Bruce Laverty, Curator of Architecture

2016-10-25-petersonposter
Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at 6:00 p.m.
The Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia is pleased to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, with this exhibition.

In a career that spanned seven decades, Peterson founded the Historic American Buildings Survey, authored America’s first historic structures report, oversaw the creation of Independence National Historical Park, and created significant endowments that encourage building scholarship, documentation, and publication.

Peterson is credited with coming up with the neighborhood moniker “Society Hill” after discovering that William Penn’s real estate group, the Free Society of Traders, had set up shop in the area in the late 17th century.  He lived in Society Hill from 1954, when he purchased two row houses on Spruce Street for $8,000, until his death at age 97 in 2004.

This event is free, but registration is required as space is limited. Email info@philachaptersah.org

If you are unable to attend the tour the exhibit is on view through December 30, 2016. Free Admission. Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 9:00 am-5:00 pm and occasional Saturdays, check the Athenaeum website www.philaathenaeum.org

Palazzos of Power: Central Stations of the Philadelphia Electric Company, 1900-1930: A Lecture and Book Signing

September 23, 2016 /

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with author Aaron V. Wunsch and photographer Joseph E. B. Elliott
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Center for Architecture + Design, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia
Lecture 6:00-7:00 p.m., Reception & book signing 7:00-8:00 p.m.

“If it isn’t Electric, it isn’t Modern.” Such was the slogan of the Philadelphia Electric Company, developer of an unprecedented network of massive metropolitan power stations servicing greater Philadelphia at the turn of the twentieth century.  These once-brilliant sentinels of civic utility and activity were designed to convey ‘solidity and immensity’ in an age of deep public skepticism.  They now stand vacant and decaying, a blight in the eyes of city planners and a beacon to urban explorers.  Join Aaron Wunsch, assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, and Joseph Elliott, renowned photographer and Professor of Art at Muhlenberg College, as they discuss the first book on the buildings and machines that made possible the electrification of the United States.  Books will be available for purchase and signing.

This event is free, but registration is required at
http://aiaphiladelphia.org/events/palazzos-power-central-stations-philadelphia-electric-company-1900-1930-0

Sponsored by AIA Philadelphia’s Historic Preservation Committee, the Young Friends of the Preservation Alliance, the Delaware Valley Chapter of the Association for Preservation Technology, the Philadelphia Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians, and the Oliver Evans Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archaeology.