Before this year, locals and tourists who were interested in the stories of the Philadelphia's built environment had limited options. But thanks to a brainstorm from
Center for Architecture and Design Associate Director David Bender, there’s a new resource in town for those who want to go beyond Independence Hall and Elfreth's Alley.
A team of partners -- including the Center for Architecture, the
Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia and
Hidden City Philadelphia-- have joined forces for a new collaborative resource that pools listings of various tours:
TourPHL.org.
"There’s an appetite out there to explore other parts of Philadelphia, but it is less economically viable," explains Hidden City Project Director Peter Woodall, comparing the offerings of an organization like Hidden City against major for-profit tourist draws like Ride the Ducks. "[This is] why you see most of the tours that are outside that Colonial center being run by nonprofits."
TourPHL partners and their offerings represent what Woodall calls areas "that the market doesn’t really service, but are really important and are valuable.”
The project was sparked by Bender in spring 2015. The partners began to bat around ideas about how they could better cooperate -- a website where all the organizations could list their tours was the top idea that emerged.
A few months ago, TourPHL launched. It’s still in its early stages and Woodall has been working to build and maintain it.
He hopes that as the site attracts more traffic, it will gain visibility for locals and tourists who want to "find all of these in-depth tours that go way beyond the Colonial Philadelphia," he says.
Hidden City (coming up on its fifth anniversary this September) is already good at reaching local fans through published stories and social media, "but if you’re just rolling into Philly for a visit, that’s a completely different marketing situation that requires a lot of work," explains Woodall. Now all the information is in one place.
Woodall points to popular Hidden City tours like one of Mt. Moriah Cemetery (which actually spans the Philadelphia city line into Yeadon); one focused on Philly’s industrial history; a bike tour with
SPOKE Magazine; and a tour from Center City up into Northern Liberties and Kensington, inviting participants to "understand how you might read certain cues in the urban landscape, and extrapolate from there certain things about how the city developed."
While TourPHL.org grows, folks can follow along on
Facebook for information on events like Hidden City’s August 13
Forgotten North Broad Street Tour.
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Source: Peter Woodall, Hidden City Philadelphia