The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay “A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!” Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker

February 2015 issue

City Abandoned: Charting the Loss of Civil Institutions in Philadelphia

by Vincent D Feldman

The pictures in City Abandoned: Charting the Loss of Civic Institutions in Philadelphia portray a landscape and selected buildings left in the wake of the great retreat from the urban ideal which over took America’s urban centers in the middle and latter part of the 20th Century. Philadelphia, amongst the largest of cities in America was particularly effected. The photograph of Germantown Hall that appears on the cover of the book is as good an example civic retreat as you can find—its Greek revival facade a style introduced to the New World in 1800 in Philadelphia to demonstrate the eloquent achievements and values manifest by our fledgling democracy. An enduring form, it was employed for the 1923 replacement of the original Germantown Hall building. Public buildings were at the center of this life. A hundred years ago, these structures were springing up all over Philadelphia. The ennobling character of their entrances, like the one found on the Anthony Wayne Elementary School, expressed the seriousness of their public mission. When these gateways were permanently closed,

and soon after were covered in the graffiti of neighborhood youth, this symbolism was turned inside out. In the past decade, Center City and its adjacent neighborhoods have experienced a surprising turnaround. Yet, beyond this area, schools continue to close, libraries and cultural repositories struggle to remain open, and more churches and homes become vacant. By inviting you to look carefully at buildings from Philadelphia’s past, Feldman hopes to promote inquiry about this history and also to inspire thoughtful discussion about what we might done differently in the future.