how well do you know Rxborough/Manayunk
By the time you read this, fresh asphalt will be cooling on another surface parking lot in Old City. That lot replaces two historic buildings that doggedly held the corner of Front and Chestnut Streets for almost 200 years, serving the neighborhood as it transitioned from a center of maritime commerce, to a blighted warehouse district, to a trendy place to live.
Bulldozers smashed the two 1830s buildings to dust last month, but the case is likely to reverberate a long time in City Hall. The matter is under investigation by Philadelphia's inspector general, Seth Williams. Officials at three agencies - the Historical Commission, the Department of Licenses and Inspections, and the Law Department - are engaged in discussions about what went wrong and how to plug the loopholes.