Independence Hall Philadelphia

Philadelphia | PA

City Hall | Philadelphia

philadelphia | pa | usa the building was designed by Scottish-born architect john mcarthur, jr., in the second empire style, and was constructed from 1871 until 1901 at a cost of $24 million. city hall was topped off in 1894, although the interior wasn't finished until 1901. Designed to be the world's tallest building, it was surpassed during construction by the Washington Monument and the Eiffel Tower, though it was at completion the world's tallest habitable building. It was the first modern building (excluding the Eiffel Tower) to be the world's tallest and also was the first secular habitable building to have this record: all previous world's tallest buildings were religious structures, including European cathedrals and, for the previous 3,800 years, the Great Pyramid of Giza. With almost 700 rooms, City Hall is the largest municipal building in the United States.[3] The building houses three branches of government, playing host to the city's executive branch (the Mayor's Office), its legislature (the Philadelphia City Council), and a substantial portion of the judicial activity in the city (with the Civil Division and Orphan's Court of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas for the First Judicial District being housed there, as well as chambers for some criminal judges and some judges of the Philadelphia Municipal Court).

Industrial Philadelphia

Coal Pier | Philadelphia | PA Part of the Reading Railroad's Port Richmond complex, this was one of the primary transfer points for anthracite coal between Pennsylvania's coal fields and the international market. The pier had two tracks and was once equipped with a large McMyler side car dumper, which would lift coal cars from the rails and dump their contents into waiting barges anchored along the side of the pier. By the mid 1970s, the coal industry was declining rapidly. After the Reading Company was absorbed by Conrail, the pier, and (most of) the rest of the port, was abandoned. The coal dumper was scrapped and removed at a later date.

Philly Arts

Philadelphia | PA | USA Part of the Reading Railroad's Port Richmond complex, this was one of the primary transfer points for anthracite coal between Pennsylvania's coal fields and the international market. The pier had two tracks and was once equipped with a large McMyler side car dumper, which would lift coal cars from the rails and dump their contents into waiting barges anchored along the side of the pier. By the mid 1970s, the coal industry was declining rapidly. After the Reading Company was absorbed by Conrail, the pier, and (most of) the rest of the port, was abandoned. The coal dumper was scrapped and removed at a later date.

Abandoned Pier with Graffiti

Philadelphia | PA | USA Part of the Reading Railroad's Port Richmond complex, this was one of the primary transfer points for anthracite coal between Pennsylvania's coal fields and the international market. The pier had two tracks and was once equipped with a large McMyler side car dumper, which would lift coal cars from the rails and dump their contents into waiting barges anchored along the side of the pier. By the mid 1970s, the coal industry was declining rapidly. After the Reading Company was absorbed by Conrail, the pier, and (most of) the rest of the port, was abandoned. The coal dumper was scrapped and removed at a later date.

Colorful Abandoned Pier

Philadelphia | PA | USA

Black and White Love Sculpture in Philadelphia

Boat House Row

Boat House Row during a summer's evening in July. 'A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.' - Diane Arbus