Month: December 2015

Light Up Your Life on Smedley & Colorado Streets

/ unexpectedphila / 4 Comments

The gifts have been opened and the leftover turkey is  (thankfully!)  gone,  but there’s still plenty of holiday magic in Philadelphia…

2015_12_28 1 Smedley DC_3672

(The 2700 block of Smedley Street in South Philadelphia is a stroller’s delight.)

In earlier posts,  we told you about South Philadelphia’s  Miracle on 13th Street  between Morris and Tasker Streets and  our own neighborhood window display  at E. Passyunk Avenue and Tasker.

But there’s more – way more – holiday fun a mile away,  in the area of Smedley and Colorado Streets…  Continue reading →

Take a photo tour – then visit “The Miracle on South 13th Street”

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They call it Philadelphia’s  “Miracle on South 13th Street”  and – when you see our website photo tour – we know you’ll agree….

15_12_09 Miracle on South 13th_3045(The view up South 13th Street, looking north between Morris and Tasker Streets.)

Every year –  from the Saturday after Thanksgiving,  until the first week of January –  the 1600 block of South 13th Street is transformed into a holiday wonderland that’s touted as one of the best places in town for Christmas lights.  Continue reading →

“Colonial Revival Meets Dumpster Diver” House Tour: Ann Keech

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First, take famed architect R. Brognard Okie,  who designed a Colonial Revival masterpiece for a young married couple in 1902.   (Paid for by the groom’s father, of course….)

15_12_01 1 Okie Inglenook_9287(This wonderfully inviting inglenook shows Okie’s love of woodwork and clever design.  With those big windows on the landing,  how did he hide the fireplace chimney?)

Next,  take Ann and Ev Keech,  who stumbled on the fixer-upper home just outside Philadelphia in 1977,  and began administering tender loving care while raising three children there.

15_12_01 2 Okie Dining Room_9305(Did we mention the elaborate woodwork?  And,  yes,  Okie carefully designed the fireplace columns to match those seen outside on the porch.)
 Continue reading →