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These brick walls tell a story of many changes over time. Much of the brick will remain exposed.
Old Buildings – Salmon Brick
Brick and water: Not very good friends. If you live in an older home, you’ve probably seen little piles of orangey dust in your basement…
Cut it Out!
Still Going. In older Philly rowhomes, the bathroom plumbing was often accommodated by notching the floor structure. Here’s an example. Not only can you see…
Things We Do: Historical Commission
There’s a lot more to architecture than just drawing pictures of buildings. One major thing we help clients with is approvals from the many agencies…
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Zoning Process [Part II]
Next Steps, Nuts, and Bolts  In the first part of our Zoning article, we gave an overview of the process. Some of the considerations include…
Project Roundup: Week of 10/19/15
Hi, everyone. Well, we’ve been very busy around here, and haven’t been so good at posting. If you spend any time over on our Facebook,…
Books!
I’ve been doing a bunch of reading lately, so I thought I’d share some highlights with you. First, I Seem to be a Verb, by…
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Changing our Priorities
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Sustainable Business Network’s annual holiday party. It was held at the Reading Terminal Market in downtown…
Thankfulness
For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time when we gather with family and eat a lot. Maybe there’s football, too. There might even be…
Buying a Car
When you go to a dealership to buy a car, you can be assured of two things. The first thing is that every car you…
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Project Update – Mountain Street
Work has begun on an overhaul of a two-story rowhouse in South Philadelphia. The work is extensive–we’ve gutted the entire home, and will be rebuilding…
The End of the Suburbs?
Last week I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Leigh Gallagher, author of the new book The End of the Suburbs: Where the…
Shut Down!
As we enter day two of the federal government shutdown, everyone’s asking the same question: “How did we get here?”. In my mind, the problem…
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A Week of Service
Participating in Your Community Last week was a busy one here.  Lots of projects to work on, permits received, construction continuing. At the same time,…
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Demolition Derby
With several new projects starting this summer, I thought I’d show you some pictures of buildings undergoing demolition. Most of what you’ll see is interior…
What to do With the Parkway?
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.  For those of you who don’t know, the parkway…
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The Process: Continued
My last post was an introduction to how the design process begins.  After that beginning, where I measure the existing building and site and then…
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Beginning the Process
Clients often ask me “what happens after we sign the contract?  How do we get started?”  Here, I’d like to show you a little bit…