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Rating: 
Summary: Covers the highlights, but far too small
Review: This is the foremost guide book to Philadelphia's buildings; unfortunately, anyone who knows the city well will find it woefully incomplete. The guide covers Center City, University City and its surrounding neighborhoods, Fairmount Park, Germantown, and Chestnut Hill in good detail (over 200 of the 253 entries are in these areas.) Each entry includes considerable text, and most (though not all) have a corresponding photograph; the most significant buildings have longer entries. The touring maps included in the back are clear and easy to read. One of the book's nicest features is a repeated map of the city's current boundaries, with shaded areas showing the spread of development as the city aged, allowing one to quickly understand the patterns of settlement that produced the present-day city. Oddly, the building entries are ordered not by location, but by date of construction, from oldest to newest. This, combined with an on-going time line and essays on the city's development and architectural styles of the various periods, make the book more of an introduction to American architectural styles, using Philadelphia as an example, rather than a neighborhood-by-neighborhood survey of the city's buildings. The format makes the book more difficult to use as a field guide than would arrangement of entries by location. The book's two major flaws are interrelated: it is too thin, and it omits far too many areas of the city. Bridesburg, North Broadway, Kensington, Erie Avenue, and many other neighborhoods which contain many historically and architecturally significant buildings are given few, if any, entries. There are a paltry two entries for all of South Philadelphia. Including more thorough surveys of these and other areas of the city would give the book much-needed volume (it is far too short for a city's of Philadelphia's size and stature.) Interestingly, many of the omitted areas correspond to the city's worst slums, particularly those in north Philadelphia. Perhaps not coincidentally, there is also a lack of any critical tone in the building entries. These two factors combine to give a subtle tone of civic boosterism, something that an architectural guidebook should not have. The authors would do well to look to New York's guidebook, which is not afraid to call bad architecture on the floor, and does not fear to guide travelers into the more unsavory parts of town. Also lacking are represenative samples of vernacular rowhouse architecture. Philadelphia is defined by the rowhouse -- thousands upon thousands of them, stretching for mile after mile, so many of them that the detached buildings showcased in the guide seem like anomalies. They range from the utterly plain to among the city's finest houses; yet hardly any examples are given. A sampling of rowhouse styles and a few typical histories would definately make the guide more informative. In short, this guidebook is a strong introduction to Philadelphia's major buildings and most significant neighborhoods. But take it with a grain of salt: it omits vast areas of the city as well.
Rating:
Summary: Covers the highlights, but far too small
Review: This is the foremost guide book to Philadelphia's buildings; unfortunately, anyone who knows the city well will find it woefully incomplete. The guide covers Center City, University City and its surrounding neighborhoods, Fairmount Park, Germantown, and Chestnut Hill in good detail (over 200 of the 253 entries are in these areas.) Each entry includes considerable text, and most (though not all) have a corresponding photograph; the most significant buildings have longer entries. The touring maps included in the back are clear and easy to read. One of the book's nicest features is a repeated map of the city's current boundaries, with shaded areas showing the spread of development as the city aged, allowing one to quickly understand the patterns of settlement that produced the present-day city. Oddly, the building entries are ordered not by location, but by date of construction, from oldest to newest. This, combined with an on-going time line and essays on the city's development and architectural styles of the various periods, make the book more of an introduction to American architectural styles, using Philadelphia as an example, rather than a neighborhood-by-neighborhood survey of the city's buildings. The format makes the book more difficult to use as a field guide than would arrangement of entries by location. The book's two major flaws are interrelated: it is too thin, and it omits far too many areas of the city. Bridesburg, North Broadway, Kensington, Erie Avenue, and many other neighborhoods which contain many historically and architecturally significant buildings are given few, if any, entries. There are a paltry two entries for all of South Philadelphia. Including more thorough surveys of these and other areas of the city would give the book much-needed volume (it is far too short for a city's of Philadelphia's size and stature.) Interestingly, many of the omitted areas correspond to the city's worst slums, particularly those in north Philadelphia. Perhaps not coincidentally, there is also a lack of any critical tone in the building entries. These two factors combine to give a subtle tone of civic boosterism, something that an architectural guidebook should not have. The authors would do well to look to New York's guidebook, which is not afraid to call bad architecture on the floor, and does not fear to guide travelers into the more unsavory parts of town. Also lacking are represenative samples of vernacular rowhouse architecture. Philadelphia is defined by the rowhouse -- thousands upon thousands of them, stretching for mile after mile, so many of them that the detached buildings showcased in the guide seem like anomalies. They range from the utterly plain to among the city's finest houses; yet hardly any examples are given. A sampling of rowhouse styles and a few typical histories would definately make the guide more informative. In short, this guidebook is a strong introduction to Philadelphia's major buildings and most significant neighborhoods. But take it with a grain of salt: it omits vast areas of the city as well.
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