Product Description

In the 1860s, Broad Street formed the western edge of downtown Philadelphia and was little more than railroad tracks and train depots. However, with the building of Philadelphia City Hall in the 1870s, Broad Street rapidly developed into one of the cityís premier streets. Rows of mansions sprung up south of Spruce Street, and the area north of Spruce became known as ìhotel row.î Four-story brownstones lined both sides of North Broad Street, interspersed with the mansions and gardens of the nouveau riche and punctuated by clubs, theaters, schools, churches, and synagogues. Philadelphiaís Broad Street: South and North is the first photographic history devoted exclusively to Broad Street in its ìgilded age.î These vintage images provide a vivid reminder, if one is needed, of how dramatically the street has changed in the last one hundred years. ÝÝ

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1383100 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-14
• Released on: 2003-07-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Robert Morris Skaler, a forensic architect and architectural historian, has been collecting historic images of Broad Street for forty years. A past president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Victorian Society and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Architecture, Skaler is also the author of West Philadelphia: University City to 52nd Street.

Customer Reviews

Learned a lot with this book
Bob Skaler's done it again! As with his first book regarding West Philadelphia, Bob treats us to rare pics of many sites that are no longer standing on either side of Broad Street.

I found it interesting that Bob chose to focus more on North Broad, as that has been neglected for the better part of a hundred years. To this day, there is more attention focused on making South Broad chic while the North side continues to crumble.

More historical goodies are contained in this book and it is a very interesting read.