Here's a link to a thread about setting up a historic designation for part of the neighborhood:
http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?t=30078
They suggested east to 21st Street, which got me thinking about the two big churches on the 2000 block of Christian. Both were designed in 1868 by important architects:
- St. Charles Borromeo (900 S. 20th Street) was designed by Edwin Forrest Durang, who specialized in Roman Catholic Churches and who was apparently also involved in the design of the Academy of Music and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, probably in association with Napoleon Le Brun.
- The Episcopal Church of the Apostles (now Shiloh Baptist Church, 2040 Christian Street) was designed by the firm of Fraser, Furness & Hewitt. Frank Furness of course is famous for his wildly exuberant designs for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania Library and others. John Fraser designed The Union League of Philadelphia.
While rummaging at the Philadelphia Architects & Buildings Project site, I came upon line drawings for the two school buildings that preceded the current Chester Arthur. The first was the A. C. Curtin School, presumably named for the Curtin who was governor of Pennsylvania during the Civil War; and the second was the Chester Arthur combined primary and secondary school. I've placed versions of them in my Flickr photo set, and you can see them, if you're interested, at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lblanch...7594489060666/
Another resource for exploring our neighborhood are the 1942 and 1962 land use maps available online from
http://www.philageohistory.org/
Most of the older atlases scanned here do not cover our ward, although I suspect that other volumes of some of them do.
Yet another edit: Early views of the U.S. Naval Asylum can be found at
http://www.pacscl.org/shows/navalhome/