Poplar is a neighborhood in
Lower North Philadelphia
Lower North Philadelphia is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that is immediately north of Center City and below Upper North Philadelphia and can be described as a section of Philadelphia that was designated as a "Model City" target, that h ...
. It is located north of
Callowhill, between
Spring Garden/
Fairmount and
Northern Liberties
Northern Liberties is a neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to its incorporation into Philadelphia in 1854, it was among the top 10 largest cities in the U.S. in every census from 1790 to 1850.
Boundaries
Northern Liberties is loc ...
, bounded roughly by Girard Avenue to the north, North Broad Street to the west, Spring Garden Street to the south, and 5th Street to the east. The neighborhood is mostly residential with commercial frontage on Broad Street and Girard Avenue and some industrial facilities to the west of the railroad tracks along Percy St. and 9th St.
Housing
Originally, the neighborhood was composed mostly of single-family row houses and some industry. The Depression left many homes in disrepair, leading the city to raze them in the late 1930s to build the Richard Allen Homes, a massive public housing project that replaced blighted areas as well as provided housing for new workers attracted to the city for wartime production. The Richard Allen Homes remained Poplar's defining physical characteristic for the next several decades. Budget cuts by the city effected an egregious degree of deterioration in the homes, and poorly planned open spaces encouraged crime, generating notoriety as a center for crime and drug trafficking by the 1970s and 1980s.
The Allen Homes complemented Cambridge Plaza, a modernist public housing project comprising two 248-unit, high-rise towers and 124 low-rise townhouses. Cambridge Plaza was constructed in 1957 and demolished in 2001, when the Philadelphia Housing Authority began to erect suburban-style duplexes and single-family homes.
In the past ten years the homes were cleared out and replaced with suburban-style single-family homes and duplexes, and other public and senior housing exists on Fairmount Avenue, 8th St., 13th St., etc. Some original row houses remain, mostly south of Fairmount Avenue and west of the SEPTA line.
The Friends Housing Cooperative (FHC) is a residential housing complex which exists on one square block between Fairmount Avenue, Franklin Street, Brown Street and North 8th Street. FHC consists of semi-detached homes built circa 1850 and reconfigured into market-rate, gated apartment community in the early 1950s. After years of neglect and deterioration, this community has experienced a notable renaissance.
Landmarks
While most of Poplar's original housing has been demolished, a handful of defining structures identify the neighborhood and can be seen from various points both in the neighborhood and around the city. The ornate, Victorian
Divine Lorraine Hotel
The Divine Lorraine Hotel, also known as the Lorraine Apartments, stands at the corner of Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by architect Willis G. Hale and built between 1892 and 1894, the building or ...
fronts on North Broad Street at its intersection with Fairmount Street; the massive, former Strawbridge & Clothier warehouse is located at 9th and Poplar Streets adjacent to the SEPTA elevated line (with the expanded building occupying almost the entire space between Poplar and Girard), and two 1920s-1930s public school buildings (
Spring Garden School No. 1 and
Spring Garden School, the latter formerly Spring Garden School No. 2) constructed in a Moderne/Art Deco style, designed by noted Philadelphia school architect Irwin Catharine, are located on 12th St. With the exception of the southernmost of the two schools, which remains in use, the rest of the older landmarks remain vacant. The Divine Lorraine Hotel and the two schools are listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
along with the
Thaddeus Stevens School of Observation
The Thaddeus Stevens School of Observation is an historic, American school building that is located in the Poplar neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The school has since ...
,
Rodeph Shalom Synagogue
Congregation Rodeph Shalom of Philadelphia, founded in 1795, is the oldest Ashkenazic synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. It is noted historically for its leadership of the Reform Judaism among American Hebrew congregations, for its spiritual i ...
, and
Mary Channing Wister School
The Mary Channing Wister School, originally the Mary Channing Wister Public School, is an historic, American school building that is located in the Poplar neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was added to the National Register of Hist ...
.
The
Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is at 830 North Franklin Street. It was built in 1966 and designed by Julian K. Jastremsky.
Education
![Spring Garden School No 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Spring_Garden_School_No_2.JPG)
Residents are zoned to the
School District of Philadelphia
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...
. Zoned schools include:
*
K-8 schools:
**Harrison School
**
Spring Garden School[Spring Garden Elementary School Geographic Boundaries]
." School District of Philadelphia
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...
. Retrieved on November 11, 2016.
*
Benjamin Franklin High School[Benjamin Franklin High School Geographic Boundaries]
." School District of Philadelphia
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...
. Retrieved on November 11, 2016.
References
{{North Philadelphia
Neighborhoods in Philadelphia