PSH Starts Collaboration with PhilaPhilia

It’s no secret that we here at PSH are stadium geeks as well as history geeks, who love the architecture of the greatest stadiums in Philly history (early Shibe, Franklin Field, the Palestra), and are pretty honest about the lamest places the home teams have played. (The Vet was an absolute disgrace, essentially a parking lot painted green with a bowl around it.) Well, there is one place that has combined our love of history, our love of local architecture, and our love of no-holds-barred wiseass Philly attitude into one of the best new blogs in Philadelphia. If you haven’t stumbled across Philaphilia yet, you are in for a treat. It glorifies the spectacular beauty of some of our greatest buildings, and heaps white hot scorn upon the idiots who have torn down great buildings to put up parking lots. It’s sort of Inga Saffron meets Bill Hicks. Here’s a sample of some of its finest.

• John Wanamaker’s spoiled brat of a son bought the oldest paper in town. What can he do to bring it back to it’s former glory? Build a kick-ass building, that’s what.

• What happens when the Father of Post-Modernism designs a Quaker retirement home? A goddamn atrocity.

• The first generation of hipsters had to party somewhere.

• The biggest piece of Civil War history Philly has to offer is a frickin’ 3-block-long empty lot. There have been some awesome proposals at these lots over the years, but they have all been shot down.