One of the perks of construction and renovation work is that occasionally a relic of local history can be found in the process of rehabbing a building.
That's what happened when
Urban Renewal Builders got to work on a project in Port Richmond, discovering a hand-painted wall advertisement for "Kolb's Pan-Dandy Bread."
Photojournalist Conrad Benner of
Streets Dept had a chance to stop by the site and photograph the ghost sign, which was well preserved for over a century with the help of a layer of horsehair plaster.
The ad was for Kolb Bakery, which had three Philadelphia locations in the early 20th century before combining with several other small bakeries to form General Baking Co. in 1911. The ad was painted next to an empty lot on Richmond Ave. prior to the construction of a building in 1915 that kept it obscured until now.
Urban Renewal plans to preserve the ad by building a new interior wall at the site, slated to become apartments above a ground-floor coffee shop.
Conrad Benner/Streets Dept
