Monday, March 27 at 6:30 PM
WAGNER FREE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE – SPRING 2023 COURSE: ARCHITECTURE & URBANISM SERIES
Architecture and History of North Philadelphia with Professor Bruce Laverty
6 Mondays, March 27 – May 8, 6:30 - 8pm
This course meets at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, 219 S. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA.
This course requires pre-registration.
North Philadelphia has been home to the city’s wealthiest citizens and its poorest. Its factories gave us everything—including the Baldwin Locomotive, the Stetson Hat, the Flexible Flyer Sled, and the Oreo cookie. By the 1890s the typical North Philadelphia rowhouse was considered nothing short of a modern miracle, and even made an appearance at the Chicago World’s Fair. It was the neighborhood where a preacher named Russell Conwell would found a University and become best friends with Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, whose Keneseth Israel synagogue was just steps away from the Baptist Temple. It was the location of Philadelphia’s two most devastating riots—in 1844 and in 1964. It was home to Dox Thrash and John Coltrane. It was where Cecil B. Moore and Rev. Leon Sullivan led the struggle for civil rights and economic freedom. How North Philadelphia succeeds or fails in the 21st century will determine how the entire city succeeds or fails. North Philadelphia is Philadelphia.
