PlanPhilly: Planning Philadelphia's Future

Necessary Ruins: Eulogy for a Shaft

I consider the Drexel Shaft to be that good friend with a quiet solid presence.  Like a lot of utilitarian remnants of Philadephia’s industrial past, the Shaft has receded from our daily awareness–it looms there as a kind of monument to industrial productivity.  Though the Shaft seems to stand outside of time, by 8:00AM this Sunday the Shaft will have completed its “lifecycle”–a coordinated demolition will (hopefully) pirouette the 400′ octagonal stack down into a narrow patch of ground in one of the country’s most active rail yards....read more.

PlanPhilly will provide full coverage of the shaft's demolition.