Forgotten Philadelphia

by Keels, Thomas H.

• ISBN13: 9781592135066
• ISBN10: 1592135064
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-28
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

How does a landmark become, after just a few generations, a landfill? InForgotten Philadelphia, Thomas Keels takes the reader through a lavishly illustrated journey through three centuries of Philadelphia's architecture: what was built, how the public perceived the value of certain buildings, and why those buildings were eventually demolished. Keels does not simply lament the loss of buildings. Instead, he argues that in some cases there were good reasons to demolish places like the Broad Street Station; while some people today see this as a loss on par with the destruction of New York's Penn Station, at the time its demolition was to many a symbolic liberation from political corruption. In writing that celebrates Philadelphia past without ever being sentimental, Keels describes a city that was always reinventing itself, filled with people who always had a very measured view of the worth and beauty of its public architecture

Author Biography

Thomas H. Keels is a local writer and historian.  He is the author of Philadelphia Graveyards and Cemeteries and co-author of Chestnut Hill.

Table of Contents

Penn's green country town (1682 to 1775)	p. 9
Athens of America (1776 to 1820)	p. 47
City in transition (1821 to 1860)	p. 85
Workshop of the world (1861 to 1900)	p. 125
The consumer city (1901 to 1940)	p. 175
Renaissance and retrenchment (1940 to the present)	p. 215
Projected Philadelphia	p. 255
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