Category: Reading
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Spring Street Subway
Read more: Spring Street SubwayFor over a century the Spring Street Subway has stood as one of the city’s most controversial infrastructure landmarks. Built in 1909 to eliminate a deadly grade crossing where pedestrian traffic intersected with the bustling Reading Railroad yard; this landmark’s journey from concept to reality was defined by fierce public debate, scandal, lawsuits and a…
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Auditing Six Years of Reading’s HARB Resolutions
Read more: Auditing Six Years of Reading’s HARB ResolutionsThree months ago I reported the abrupt mass-resignation of Reading’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) following intense administrative friction, and the beginning of the shift to the City making unilateral decisions regarding historic district properties. Since that time I have analyzed 6 years worth of HARB documents via a “Right to Know” request, to better…
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Christ Episcopal Church – 200 years
Read more: Christ Episcopal Church – 200 yearsFor over 160 years the brownstone Cathedral of Christ Episcopal Church has towered 180 feet above the heart of Reading. The body of this church dates to 1763, when enough settlers decided they wanted a church for the english-speaking citizens of the city, who were far outnumbered by Germans. Local attorney James Read petitioned the…
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Is Berks County going to abandon its iconic Courthouse?
Read more: Is Berks County going to abandon its iconic Courthouse?On May 5th the County of Berks released a press release announcing their intention to purchase 600 Penn Street in Reading, for the purpose of moving their services to the building. It also outlined their intent to move judicial operations over to the County’s current Services Center, which sits directly east of the 1931-built Courthouse…
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Reading’s Historic Architecture Review Board Mass Resignations
Read more: Reading’s Historic Architecture Review Board Mass ResignationsIn early March the local circuit reported that all six members of Reading’s 9-seat Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) resigned en masse. This is particularly troubling because only when things are very bad internally do organizations vacate themselves in such a manner. While the local medias reported on the mass resignations, they did not expose…
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5th and Penn Redevelopment
Read more: 5th and Penn RedevelopmentI have spent the better part of a year advocating for the long-awaited sale and redevelopment of the buildings on the northwest corner of 5th and Penn, that the City of Reading has sat on and let deteriorate for well over a decade. Finally, last month the city decided to sell the Farmers National Bank…
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Reading’s First Natatorium – 134 N. 5th Street
Read more: Reading’s First Natatorium – 134 N. 5th StreetOn April 6th, 1904 it was announced in the Reading Times that William Luden had purchased a property at 134-136 North 5th street with the intention to construct a Natatorium. It would be Reading’s first indoor swimming pool, managed by the Fifth Street Swimming Club, which was formed for the endeavor with Luden as President.…
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James Carpenter’s Swanona Mansion
Read more: James Carpenter’s Swanona MansionJames Henry Carpenter James Henry Carpenter was born in 1846 in Brooklyn, New York. When he was a boy of 15 years the American Civil War broke out, and he promptly joined the Union Navy as a cabin boy. He took part in a night operation which involved capturing the Confederate schooner named “C.P. Knapp“.…
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30 North 6th Street
Read more: 30 North 6th StreetThis past summer I explored another of Reading’s long abandoned industrial spaces; 30 North 6th Street – directly across from the Courthouse. The bones of this building’s front section likely date to the 1840s. In its very beginnings it was utilized as a residential dwelling. Deeds from 1860 and 1880 describe it as a two-story…
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The Hawthorne & George F. Baer
Read more: The Hawthorne & George F. BaerIn the shadow of the Pagoda, at 1501 Mineral Spring Road, sits the Hawthorne; mansion of the late George F. Baer. A statement to his influence, the Baer moniker still echos throughout Reading to present day. You may recognize it as the namesake of a park at the far northwest reaches of the city and…
