Forum on the Hill
The Forum on the Hill provides opportunities for the community to engage with speakers once a month, (September- June) who discuss current topics. Join the Conversations! Presented both in person at 12:30pm in Widener Hall and then recorded and posted online here the next day. *Bring a brown bag lunch to enjoy, and we serve light snacks, water, and coffee starting at Noon.
CLICK HERE to watch the recorded presentation from April 10th.
A $5 donation is requested for the series to help support this program when you attend in person. If you are watching online, please consider making this small contribution through the secure Donate button below, or mail a check made out to PCCH to: Center on the Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia PA 19118 if you watch online. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Registration Required to attend in person, please CLICK HERE to Register Online, or call 215-247-4654 or email msaavedra@chestnuthillpres.org
April 10
Molly Lester and Michael Bixler
Building Ghosts: Past Lives and Lost Places in a Changing City
“Building ghosts” are the idiosyncratic remnants or imprints of demolished buildings, left behind on the sides of neighboring structures. Mostly seen in older Northeastern cities with rowhomes or party-wall adjacencies, they can reveal remarkable things, such as an old staircase going up the side of a building or plaster traces left by a set of shelves in an attic gable. As history in our changing cities is erased and remade, these ghosts can be ephemeral or enduring. They can be quickly revealed and replaced in a neighborhood seeing rapid change or unveiled and never re-covered in a neighborhood that has not seen new construction in a long time. Join author Molly Lester and photographer Michael Bixler as they discuss their new book, Building Ghosts: Past Lives and Lost Places in a Changing City (Temple University Press, November 2024).
Molly Lester is a historian of the built environment, and currently serves as the Associate Director of the Urban Heritage Project at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. Her research interests include the ephemeral traces of “building ghosts” in the built environment and the role of women in shaping the American built environment in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Michael Bixler is the Editorial Director and Chief Photographer of Hidden City Philadelphia. His writing and photography is focused on creating dialogue and documentation of the built environment and how it relates to history, culture, and the urban experience.
Recent PAST Forums:
Beth Kephart
My Life in Paper Watch HERE
Barbara VornDick
Eliza’s True Story Watch HERE
Michael Schaffer and Ben Lerner
The Defender: The Battle to Protect the Rights of the Accused in Philadelphia Watch HERE
Angelo Cataldi
Turning up the Volume in the Most Passionate Sports City in America Watch HERE
Amy Jane Cohen
Black History in the Philadelphia Landscape Watch HERE
Rebecca Yamin
Digging In the City of Brotherly Love. Stories from Philadelphia Archaeology Watch HERE
David Young
The Battles of Germantown Watch HERE
Thomas Keels
Franklins Forgotten Philadelphia Watch HERE
Dan Biddle and Murray Dubin
Tasting Freedom: the life of civil rights activist Octavius Catto. Watch HERE
Eric Gershenow
The Science Behind Creating a New Medication Watch HERE
