THE NECESSITY FOR RUINS

Although Charles Wilson Peale had been using coal gas to light his museum of oddities in Independence Hall as early as 1816 and the Chestnut Street Theater had gas lighting by 1822, city leaders rejected the idea of leaky gas tanks and were cold to the the idea of a city sponsored gas works in the early 19th century. That was until Samuel Merrick, a fire engine builder and founder of the Franklin Institute decided to get himself elected to council vowing to bring the city into the 19th century. By 1835 the ambitious Merrick had erected a facility at 24th and Chestnut Sts. on the model of London’s Regency Park Gas Works and a year later the ornately detailed facility was producing enough gas to light 2nd Street from South to Vine Sts.

In 1841 the city assumed control of the quasi-private Works and chief engineer John Cresson soon realized that the 1.68 million cubic feet capacity of the 11 gasholders were still insufficient to supply the growing city.  Cresson was a believer in the future of gas lighting and in 1861 he deemed experiments with an “electric lite” far more absurd than practicable gas technology. By 1851 City councils agreed to expand the works and purchased land at Point Breeze for this purpose. Cresson saw that the new facilities were built in the rarely-used Gothic Revival style with the gray granite retort house sporting arched lancet windows and buttresses.

[What Gothic Revival style meant in an industrial context has not been fully explored. It may have had something to do with 19th elites' nostalgia for the peace and stability of medieval Christian Europe prompted by rising antagonism from immigrant workers. Or it could have been a style choice devoid of symbolism. I would love to know more explanations for the use of this idiom in industrial settings. See Edgar Jones' Industrial Architecture in Britain: 1750-1939]

[Point Breeze Gas Works: 1895/present]

According to Buried Past: An Archaeological History of Philadelphia, there was more to Cresson’s design than nostalgia or good looks; it enabled both the efficient movement of materials and ventilation ensured the comfort of those shoveling coal in the blistering heat of the retorts. The facility continued to produce gas until after World War II when natural gas and the electric light ended the need for gas from coal.

Yet while nothing remains of the 19th c. Point Breeze site, there are still vestiges of street lamps built by the Penn Gas Globe Light Company of Philadelphia at two points on Lombard Street between 22nd and 19th Streets. Though the Penn Gas Globe Light Company of Connecticut is still in existence, these lamps are clearly marked “Phila.” and are original. The one at 1916 Lombard still has the mechanism for introducing vaporized gas to the flame. [Here is the original patent.] The one at 2220 Lombard appears to have been modified for electric bulbs. Other lamps exist on Pine Street. If anyone knows of more, I’m doing an informal survey so let me know.