“Old houses are a slow process. There’s no hurry up and get it done.” — Stan Moorman
“Screw that, let’s do this now, man!” — Tornado, 2006
Category: History
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In search of: A Dobson Connection to Hohenadel House
From the start of our research into the house at 3617 Indian Queen Lane, we’ve heard that one or more members of the famous Dobson family either built the house or lived in it. So far, we’ve been unable to track down a Dobson connection to the property on any census reports, city directories, land records, deeds, bank notes, etc. (more…)
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Mansions Out of Mole Hills — A Family’s Rise in East Falls
Fallsers often use the term “mansion” to describe the Hohenadel place, which seems kind of a stretch. The property is grand, but hardly sprawling: 6 bedrooms, 3 baths, 3900 square feet. Grace Kelly’s childhood home on Henry is 56 square feet bigger, yet locals rarely call that a mansion. (more…)
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Walking history: A Tour of Indian Queen Lane
We sometimes get too focused on Hohenadel House and forget that Indian Queen Lane is probably the single most architecturally diverse street in East Falls, if not Philadelphia, with Gothic, Greek Revival, Federal, and Italianate houses interspersed among classic rowhomes.
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Hohe-ly Moley! A second Hohenadel House?!
Yep, just when we were digging for more details about the Indian Queen Lane house, we find a whole ‘nother Hohenadel House. A few blocks north, the Timmons House was John William Hohenadel’s last residence in East Falls, a spacious colonial revival mansion now serving as an events & reception hall on the grounds of William Penn Charter School. (more…)
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Hohenadel Squared: My Sons John
Keeping your Hohenadels (and their breweries) straight when you dig into historical records can be a bit confusing. The family had a thing for naming their sons John, though not all were in the brewing business. (more…)
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There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes. — Abraham Lincoln
This story has a happy ending, even though it starts off in frustration: Where are all our East Falls photos from the last 40 years?
You’d think history blogging would be easy because everything’s already been written but unfortunately almost none of it has been saved. At least, not the interesting stuff. (more…)
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How Old is this House? Hunting for Clues in Nails, Paint and Window Sashes
We’ve walked a lot of people through Hohenadel House, and one of the first questions out of everyone’s mouth is always: How old is this place?! (more…)
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Beware the dog days of summer: Philadelphia edition
July 3rd through August 11: The “dog days” of summer. These sticky, stagnant couple of weeks when the weather seems aggressively hot. Greenery takes on a yellow tinge of drought, the family dog refuses his afternoon walk and humans everywhere hunker down in dark, air conditioned homes…trying to move as little as possible until the sun goes down.
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