Architectural historian Roger W. Moss and photographer Tom Crane set out to celebrate the surviving accessible historic architecture of Philadelphia, envisioning a series of books that would provide much more than the snapshots found in guidebooks. They began with Historic Houses of Philadelphia, bringing the region's most impressive museum homes to life. Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia followed, an exclusive tour of fifty hallowed sites. In Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia, Moss and Crane feature prominent, memorable structures that reflect stages in Philadelphia's growth.

There are sixty-five National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia, structures that have been identified as being "nationally significant" and having "meaning to all Americans." This newest addition to Moss and Crane's trilogy includes a wide array of historic sites, ranging from concert halls to prisons, train stations to museums, banks to libraries. The buildings are arranged chronologically rather than geographically, to emphasize Philadelphia's evolution from modest mercantile outpost of a colonial power, to capital of a proud new nation, to a robust world-renowned cosmopolitan city.

Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia presents such notable attractions as Fort Mifflin, Independence Hall, the Fairmount Water Works, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Boathouse Row, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Eastern State Penitentiary, the Academy of Music, the Union League of Philadelphia, Memorial Hall, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Masonic Temple, and the sights that line the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Rodin Museum, in more than two hundred color illustrations. It celebrates master builders and their influence on the course of American architecture while identifying the distinctive qualities that embody Philadelphia's history and spirit.

A Barra Foundation Book

Philadelphia is a walkable city where the modern visitor encounters historic architecture at every turn. In fact, no other American city is so richly endowed with historic buildings as Philadelphia—some dating back to the seventeenth century. In addition to obvious national treasures like Independence Hall, there are thousands of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes that continue to shelter and comfort Philadelphians as they have for centuries. Less well known are the hundreds of sacred places—colonial and Victorian Protestant and Catholic churches, Quaker meeting houses, and Jewish synagogues—that enrich every neighborhood. Replete with symbolism and often architecturally impressive, these sacred places await discovery in the pages of this handsome book.

The rich diversity of Philadelphia's sacred places owes its existence to William Penn's guarantee of religious toleration to the many religious denominations attracted to his "holy experiment." They are a metaphor for the modern American pluralistic society that is itself a legacy from Penn. Philadelphia's historic sacred places also reflect how these different congregations chose to celebrate their belief in God through the choice of architectural style, art, and decoration. Here can be found the eloquent simplicity of Quaker meeting houses, the soaring steeples of colonial churches surrounded by atmospheric graveyards, and opulently embellished Roman Catholic parish churches.

Roger Moss has selected fifty of these inspired Philadelphia historic sacred places, and he conducts the reader on a tour of each hallowed site, calling attention to the architecture and fine details that are then recorded in exquisite color photographs by Tom Crane. At each site the reader is provided with the basic information about the congregation that commissioned the building as well as the architects, artists, and artisans who created these masterpieces—collectively, a treasure of our shared cultural heritage.

This opulent volume, by the author and photographer of the acclaimed Historic Houses of Philadelphia, will serve as a guide through the architectural and religious traditions of Philadelphia, complete with maps, telephone numbers, and web sites, so the reader can visit these sacred places in person. There is also an extensive bibliography of further reading on each sacred place.

A Barra Foundation Book