Customer Reviews

West Philadelphia: University City to 52nd Street (PA) (Images of America)

5 star:		(2)
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West Philadelphia is a well written history with 200 wondeful and rare vintage photographs of West Philadelphia as it looked 100 years ago. The author explains how West Philadelphia developed and documents many of the architects and owners of the buildings shown.We were thrilled to see a picture in the book of our old family home and local church as they looked in 1905.Those who lived in West Philadelphia at one time or are living in the area now will greatly enjoy the book.It documents an area of Philadelphia that may soon be lost . We gave it 5 stars!

Forensic architect Bob Skaler really did his homework putting together a pictorial history of West Philadelphia. Though none of my family ever settled in the area, I was fascinated to read about the ethnic makeup of the different neighborhoods in addition to being treated to very rare photos from Skaler's postcard collection (which he has been assembling for the better part of 50 years).

He treats the reader to a thorough history of each neighborhood (or village, as it was formerly known) and goes into detailed explanation of the architecture of the houses that once stood in those areas (he rips architect H.E. Flower a new one for his design of rowhomes in the Parkside section of West Philly - homes that had their walls knocked down because the original homeowners weren't crazy about having to share a common stairwell).

A University of Pennsylvania graduate, Skaler did an excellent job in handling West Philly's history - from University City to 52nd Street.