Walking the Eraserhood: 1309 Noble Street

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“Walking the Eraserhood” represents an ongoing street-level exploration of the Callowhill district and surrounding environs, a sort of virtual walking tour of the neighborhood.

Standing on this site, the pedestrian is between the incredible bulk of the Terminal Commerce Building to the south and Philip Tyre’s astonishing spire and Art Deco designs on the former Lasher Printing Company to the north. This spot exhibits many of the key characteristics that make the Eraserhood unique. The canyon between these two buildings manages to be simultaneously foreboding and radiant; displaying some of the best Philadelphia’s industrial history has to offer. Looking west along the side of the Terminal Commerce Building, the visitor can look directly under Broad Street at the recently cinder blocked base of the Elverson Building, where originally trains passed on their way to the elevated portion of the Reading Viaduct. To the east, one can see the beginning of the upward sweep of the Viaduct. In fact, it is possible to walk a short, grassy portion of the Viaduct, over the 13th Street Bridge, and all the way up to the locked gate that restricts access to the remainder of the Viaduct. Currently plans are underway to convert both these spaces, the underground space to the west and the elevated space to the east into a large rail park. At this point, the park should break ground sometime in 2014.

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