Philadelphia

"With stunning photographs and vivid prose, Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City takes us on a fascinating journey through the submerged urban realm and provides an essential Baedeker to Philadelphia's past by offering entrée to its hidden places of privilege, production, and prayer."
—Michael Z. Wise, author of Capital Dilemma: Germany's Search for a New Architecture of Democracy

"From neighborhood churches and factories to former prisons and power plants, Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City reveals an urban landscape and a way of life that have all but disappeared. Nathaniel Popkin and Peter Woodall unearth the soul of a city and recall a time when dreams were manifest in brick, carved wood, iron, and stone. Joseph Elliott's poignant photographs show the care and craftsmanship invested in the making of these spaces, evoking a sense of awe and mystery, and also a sadness for the fragility of this built environment, reminding us of the need to preserve a cultural history being swept away by indifference in the name of modernization."
—Christopher Payne, photographer and author of Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals

"This book is Very. Cool. Delving into great abandoned factories, churches, and public buildings, plumbing the underground city (tremendous, atmospheric photographs), this is a brainy tour of a town hidden from itself."
—John Timpane, Philadelphia Inquirer

"The book makes an eloquent and concise case for us to pay more attention to the history of our built environment and to allow that history to inform our future.... The excellent photographs never cease to be surprising, revealing the unique quality and character of a variety of Philadelphia spaces."
—Context

"Written by two expert urban observers and photographed by one of America's most lauded architectural photographers, the book marks out the elements of Philadelphia's hiddenness through its vivid layers and living ruins, including in places like the Metropolitan Opera House, the Divine Lorraine Hotel, and Reading Railroad.... The book is as much visual as it is literary; Joseph Elliott's striking photographs bring the viewer intriguing images of a city living, breathing, and always changing."
—Aspire Design and Home

"The book's text plays a supporting role to its star: Joseph E. B. Elliott's photographs of Philadelphia places lost, hidden, and hiding-in-plain-sight. The artwork will delight any Philly lover and inspire plans to go explore these physical manifestations of the city's often-forgotten history in person. And that is perhaps the central mission of Hidden City and this book: To look at present day Philadelphia and see its messy, glorious past. The prose ambles along as if a charming pendant on a stroll through town, here noticing a faded photograph that inspires a winding exposition on the incidental preservationism of Father Divine, there pointing out an architectural curlicue belying a nondescript storefront's original use as a theater or a five-and-dime. This is no orderly tour through the city's architectural history, it’s a wandering tale of discovering the past as it peeks out from behind modernity's façade. Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City belongs on your coffee table, not your reference desk."
—Plan Philly

"The book presents a brilliantly cross-referenced, significant slice of the modern history of the city, much of which is likely unknown or overlooked by the lion's share of its inhabitants.... The intricate narrative of Finding the Hidden City is beautifully written, even lyrical. The authors...have pulled together a vast amount of material, and have done so with impressive, scholarly thoroughness and thoughtfulness. And the photographs are spectacular. There are so many complicated, fascinating, interrelated themes introduced, and presented in astounding, rich detail.... (I)t makes a significant contribution to understanding this great city."
—Artblog

"This collaborative project between two journalists (Popkin and Woodall) and a professional photographer (Elliott), all of whom share a common interest in Philadelphia's oldest built environment, does not highlight the restored tourist destinations in the City of Brotherly Love but rather its more neglected parts, where splendid buildings are beginning to decay. It takes readers through a brief tour of Philadelphia's cultural history from 1916 to the present and provides historical context for more than 25 structures, including bridges, buildings, a railroad, and a water filtration chamber. More than 100 beautiful color photographs fill the pages.... VERDICT This will interest anyone who wants to become familiar with Philly's off-the-beaten-path historic areas. Readers interested in a slice of the city's lore and architectural history will also find it enjoyable."
—Library Journal

"Divided into two parts, 'City of Infinite Layers' and 'City of Living Ruins' and replete with historic and contemporary photographs, the book offers glimpses of spaces and histories that remain unseen by residents and visitors alike. Elliott's sumptuous photographs are an essential counterpoint to the text—they transcend mere documentation and rise to the level of art. The book should broaden the audience for this trio's important work.... (T)he authors smartly choose the specific over the broad, drawing the reader in through singular objects they use to speak for larger concerns.... Finding the Hidden City succeeds on many levels.... (T)he book is an enjoyable reminder that the layers of history that surround us can speak eloquently about our past and present if we care to look and listen closely."
—Jonathan Clancy, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City is an essential bridge between past and present. Sure, it belongs on your coffee table. But make sure you read it, too."
—George Hunka's blog

"Part history, part tour guide, part civic manifesto, Philadelphia: Finding the Hidden City traverses and decodes the city as it goes. Along with Elliott's one hundred-plus striking photographs, this alluring book not only shows where to look, but provides an adept context on how to see and read the city’s countless layers."
—BOMB

"(The) book is a timely manifesto of urban exploration, a fascinating patchwork of secret histories, and a riveting formula for distilling Ozymandian enchantment from industrial rubble and rust. The (authors) invite us to discover a new way of seeing the city as a palimpsest, one in which communion with the obsolete becomes a means of finding what is truly intimate in ourselves."
—Broad Street Review

"Popkin and Woodall, the cofounders of the website Hidden City Daily, argue that many of Philadelphia’s best assets are too often overlooked. Working with architectural photographer Elliott, the authors aim to change that with this illustrated urban history.... The most interesting sights included in the book are those unique to Philadelphia: for example, the Wanamaker Organ, located on the second floor of a Macy’s in Center City, and Wayne Mills, where employees still manufacture and dye cotton, nylon, and polyester twill tape in a facility that’s been doing essentially the same thing since 1885.... Readers looking for an offbeat history of one of America’s oldest cities would do well to pick this up."
—Publishers Weekly

"The brilliance of the book...is that the authors, rather than presenting a voyeuristic photoplay of postindustrial ruination devoid of context, have peeled away the layers of historic accumulation to reveal the stories of what these souvenirs of the past were, still are, or have become in their current state of redevelopment.... Luxuriously illustrated with color plates (the photographs are almost too beautiful, visually treating the mundane as monument), the book takes urban exploring to a higher level of understanding and meaning, not only showing the hidden-in-plain-sight layers of Philadelphia but revealing the life those layers still contain."
—Pennsylvania Heritage

"The book offers a deeper celebration and meditation on the meaning of Philadelphia’s industrial remains than can be found at Hidden City Philadelphia (the website).... The writing is generally excellent.... The numerous photographs of these and other city spaces (110 of them by Joseph Elliott) are striking and effective at conveying the allure of what remains of the city’s 'long nineteenth century.'"
— Journal of Urban Affairs