“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 at street level here, we can get a very different perspective on the sites we just viewed from the Viaduct. The elevated portion of the City Branch comes in to the northwest, crosses 12th Street due north, and gracefully curves to the south, to meet with the main line due east of here, in the middle of the 1100 block of Callowhill. The northwest corner is occupied by the former rail yard, bordered to the north by the stone bulk of the Viaduct and to the west, across 13th street, by the Terminal Commerce Building. (Some have suggested piles of earth in this rail yard, as it appeared in the late 1960’s, provided the model for the “rough hillocks” Henry Spencer climbs in the beginning if David Lynch’s Eraserhead.) We can also appreciate the sheer bulk of the Wolf Building from here, and even look west down Callowhill to see the entrance to Underground Arts, a performance venue in a deep sub-basement of the Wolf.

Copyright © 2009-2013, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.

“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.

Walking west, back along the Viaduct, the visitor can return to the Noble Street bridge over 13th Street, where the view up the canyon between Rebman and the condominium building at 428 North 13th Street dramatically showcases a relatively unspoiled block, including the John Evans’ Sons spring foundry (now serving as a stable for carriage horses) and the well restored Prohibition Taproom.

Copyright © 2010-2013, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.

“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.

The spot just outside the Viaduct Gate is an excellent site to just stop and look around. To the north stands Ballinger & Perot’s Rebman building. With luck, twin spires of the endangered historical Church of the Assumption are still visible to the northeast. Due east, in the distance, the three smokestacks of the Willow Street Steam Generation Plant are just visible. Southeast from here one can appreciate the graceful sweep of the final siding of the City Branch as it joins the main line of the Reading Viaduct, pointing toward – but no longer reaching – the Reading Terminal. An abandoned cluster of electrical services for the former railroad still stands at the intersection of the two lines, dominating the 1100 block of Callowhill Street. Beyond this massive ruin, one can just see a bit of the former Frank C. Maurone Company building. Originally this building housed a wholesale distributor of Bazaar and Carnival Supplies. Currently the site is filled with art studios and galleries of many sizes and descriptions.
Directly to the south of the gate, the stone face of the Viaduct drops straight down to the former rail yard and coal depot for the Reading Railroad. Currently this site is occupied by parking, a yard filled with diesel generators and electrical transformers (presumably associated with the Sungard facility in Terminal Commerce) and a single historical coal shed, currently shuttered. Beyond this site one can see the historical Wolf Building on the east end of the 1200 block of Callowhilll Street, currently filled with a creative mix of art studios, performance venues, residences, and even high tech companies. The west end of the same block is occupied by the 1909 Ballinger & Perot designed Goodman Brothers & Hinlein Company Building, currently filled with residences.
Peering further to the south, just to the left of the Wolf Building, a visitor can view the shiny façade of the former Smaltz Bulding, designed in 1912 also by Ballinger & Perot. Currently this building is known as Goldtex Apartments, and sports a modern skin that unmistakably differentiates it from neighboring sites of the same era. While standing here, one might also to look to the southwest, between Goodman Brothers and Terminal Commerce, just above the white bulk of Packard Motor, to get a clear view of more modern structures closer to Market Street, such as the Comcast Building.

Copyright © 2010-2013, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.