King of K&A: Plain Sights at Wishart St. & Kensington Ave.

The Flomar Building, now home to Esperanza Health Center and the Hispanic Community and Counseling Services, in K&A (Kensington and Allegheny), serves as an example of a would-be eyesore that went from neighborhood burden to neighborhood benefit.

The building was built in 1928 for the Northeastern Title and Trust Company. While other banks in the

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Up, Up and Away: Plain Sights at 34th & Girard

Long, snowy winters are nothing new to Philadelphians, but this season’s accumulation did some serious damage, counting among its victims the beloved Channel 6 ZooBalloon. The first attraction of its kind, the ZooBalloon carried riders 400 feet above the nation’s first zoo, providing for sweeping views of the Schuylkill River, Fairmount Park and the Philadelphia

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What’s in a Name?

Story and Photos by Bradley MauleWilliam Allen wielded a lot of influence in colonial Pennsylvania—he was a merchant who built upon his father’s fortune, he helped finance the construction of Independence Hall, and he was a one-term Philadelphia mayor and a longtime chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania. Mount Airy, his nine-acre estate, gave

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Last Days of St. Bonaventure

It appears that St. Bonaventure Roman Catholic Church in North Philadelphia’s Fairhill neighborhood will not be spared. The landmark church, designed by prominent church architect Edwin Forrest Durang in 1894 and completed in 1906, was issued its final fate when the City’s Department of Licenses and Inspections determined it was “imminently dangerous” and beyond repair.

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Bridge to the Past

Buried beneath a leafy canopy and camouflaged by summer shrubbery, this brick skew arch bridge has kept its integrity 116 years after its construction and 67 years after the last trolley ran through it. Originally built for the Fairmount Park Transit Company in 1897 with 15 consecutive angled brick arches, the “Chamounix Tunnel” ported trolleys

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