A Book To Celebrate

This is a page from the newly released "coffee table" book entitled Historic Architecture in West Philadelphia, 1789-1930s, by Joseph Minardi. It documents the buildings of my neighborhood with loads of photographic plates and a thorough text. I flipped through it tonight and it made me happy because we have the most wonderful selection of century-old, and older houses and churches around here.

In the picture is a fairly well-preserved row of Victorian twins that are super-familiar to me, two of which I painted myself and one of which I lived in for a few months. In fact I blipped the latter, telling the sad tale of a young man who fell from a high ladder there, to paralysis and eventual death.

The book is especially right because it was created after almost every house was restored to its proper beauty. Had it been done twenty years ago, the title might have included a term like urban decay or lost elegance. And it pleases me because it doesn't cover a wide selection of the western side of the city, but rather concentrates on the part I walk through every day.

What a delight to see this hard copy of what we proudly show every visitor and love so much!