Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place

Posted by on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Historic Districts in Pennsylvania: An Evolving Sense of Place Jim Thorpe, originally named Mauch Chunk, is a small and picturesque borough of well-preserved 19th-century buildings perched on the side of a mountain along the Lehigh River in Carbon County. It once served as an important railroad and coal shipping center. As these industries waned in the 20th century, the town sought new economic purpose by marketing its scenic appeal as the “Switzerland of...
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Wilson Eyre: The Philadelphia Domestic Ideal

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Wilson Eyre: The Philadelphia Domestic Ideal At the turn of the twentieth century, Wilson Eyre was at the height of his architectural powers. For sixteen years he had had a successful practice in Philadelphia, one of America’s major architectural centers. The United States bad become a world power, with money to give con­crete evidence of this in the buildings of her great cities, and Philadelphia’s blend of conservative...
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Violet Oakley, Lady Mural Painter

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Violet Oakley, Lady Mural Painter When Violet Oak­ley accepted the commission – and challenge – of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to decorate the State Capitol then under con­struction in Harrisburg, she announced that the subject of her mural series would be “The Romance of the Found­ing of the State.” In 1902, the ardent lady mural painter, then twenty-eight years old and the only one of her kind,...
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The Day They Raised a Monument in Dixie

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Day They Raised a Monument in Dixie The artillery salvo thun­dered across the land­scape. The pandemo­nium reverberated through the ravines before fading eerily in the distance. The outburst was quickly followed by another, then another. It was reminiscent of an earlier day, many years before, when soldiers uni­formed in blue and gray skir­mished upon these heights and engaged in mortal combat amidst roaring guns and flar­ing...
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Lost and Found

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Lost and Found Lost Described as “an influential organization of artists and citizens,” the Philadelphia Art Club was housed in a building designed in 1892 by architect Frank Miles Day (1861-1918). The building was the first significant commission for Day, who had just returned from studies in Europe, which explains his use of unusual expansive arches, delicate stone window lintels, ornamental...
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