Earlier in the winter, Philly Skyline and I wandered around the 24th Ward/George’s Hill Reservoir, taking in the workings of the res, the derelict Tonka toys, the mouse body surgically sliced in two. Recently, Skyline mentioned (at my prompting) that not using the reservoir land was a missed opportunity for the city; though not having the tallest flagpole in the world at Belmont Plateau is probably a more grievous oversight.
Yet apparently in1958 Philadelphia was interested in adaptive reuse of the George’s Hill Reservoir. Yesterday I came across some curious photos taken by a Fairmount Park archivist in the late ’90s of a model once located at the Recreation Department of a complex called the International Playground — a sort of waterpark located inside the Reservoir. It was designed by Montgomery and Bishop, Architects.
Here are some more photographs.
The Necessity for Ruins 
Perusing this site, it becomes rather apparent that even in centuries past, selling goods and services to the City of Philadelphia was quite a profitable business…