Pennsylvania Firehouses: The Evolution of Design

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania Firehouses: The Evolution of Design Firehouses are among the most easily recognizable and popular public buildings across the nation. Beginning with the construction of the first permanent homes for volunteer companies in the early nineteenth cen­tury, fire station design has been influ­enced by functional requirements. Be­yond serving as a place to store fire­fighting equipment, however, the fire­house was also a public building,...
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Bryn Athyn Cathedral: Where Man May Forget the World

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on Bryn Athyn Cathedral: Where Man May Forget the World Bryn Athyn Cathedral, tucked well back from Second Street Pike in Montgomery County, is not immediately visible to the passerby. One is intro­duced to the finely chiseled spires, granite towers and sparkling glass in rapid, stop­-frame glimpses through a dense stand of trees. As the full view unfolds, one is at once compelled by the loom­ing one hundred and fifty foot central tower and beckoned...
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The New Taste in Pennsylvania

Posted by on Nov 29, 2013 in | Comments Off on The New Taste in Pennsylvania Like the nation itself during the so-called “Federal” period, the arts in Pennsylvania reached a crescendo in their development that had an unexpected unity, a strong purpose, and a national style. Despite great varia­tions in the Germanic and English traditions, Pennsylvania emerged from the revolutionary period reasonably cohesive. City and country perspectives, naive and...
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Religion on a Moving Frontier: The Berks County Area, 1700-1748

Posted by on Nov 28, 2013 in | Comments Off on Religion on a Moving Frontier: The Berks County Area, 1700-1748 Because of the tolerant policy of the Penns, thousands of people of various ethnic backgrounds and religious faiths poured into the colony of Pennsylvania, many of them moving directly to the frontier. Within fifteen years after the founding of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania frontier had moved more than fifty miles north and west of the city. By 1700 the area comprising the southeastern part of...
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