The Marian Anderson Museum officially reopened in March after extensive restoration following a 2020 flood. Located at 762 South Martin Street in Graduate Hospital, the museum was once home to the legendary Marian Anderson, whose 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial challenged racial barriers in the arts. The Preservation Alliance is proud to have supported the project, which repaired water damage, preserved priceless artifacts, and integrated modern upgrades while maintaining the home’s historic character. Jillian Pirtle, CEO of the Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society, welcomes you to journey through the extraordinary life of the great Marian Anderson in this epic tour experience featuring a sacred collection of Artifacts, Performance Gowns, Music, Paintings, Photos, Letters and much more.

Jillian Patricia Pirtle is an American Stage & Opera Artist with her roots in Philadelphia. Jillian received her formal training from the High School of Creative and Performing, during that time Jillian was introduced to the life and legacy of the great Marian Anderson and was selected by the founder of the Marian Anderson Museum & Historical Society the late Lady Blanche Burton Lyles to become a National Marian Anderson Scholar Artist. Jillian is the CEO of the National Marian Anderson Museum & Historical Society and is honored to be youngest Steward of a National Historical Landmark Site in the United States.

The Marian Anderson Museum officially reopened in March after extensive restoration following a 2020 flood. Located at 762 South Martin Street in Graduate Hospital, the museum was once home to the legendary Marian Anderson, whose 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial challenged racial barriers in the arts. The Preservation Alliance is proud to have supported the project, which repaired water damage, preserved priceless artifacts, and integrated modern upgrades while maintaining the home’s historic character. Jillian Pirtle, CEO of the Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society, welcomes you to journey through the extraordinary life of the great Marian Anderson in this epic tour experience featuring a sacred collection of Artifacts, Performance Gowns, Music, Paintings, Photos, Letters and much more.

Jillian Patricia Pirtle is an American Stage & Opera Artist with her roots in Philadelphia. Jillian received her formal training from the High School of Creative and Performing, during that time Jillian was introduced to the life and legacy of the great Marian Anderson and was selected by the founder of the Marian Anderson Museum & Historical Society the late Lady Blanche Burton Lyles to become a National Marian Anderson Scholar Artist. Jillian is the CEO of the National Marian Anderson Museum & Historical Society and is honored to be youngest Steward of a National Historical Landmark Site in the United States.

Contrast the many generations of high-rise apartment building architecture on the Square – representing every decade of the 20th century – with the smaller scale of the grand houses on nearby streets while walking past some of Philadelphia’s most fashionable brownstones.

Discover the Philadelphia Plan, which gave us two Art Deco masterpieces, the monumental 30th Street Station and Suburban Station, the first all-underground rail terminal. The tour starts at 30th Street Station and proceeds via trolley to 19th St. From the Comcast tower lobby, descend into an underground concourse network to the site of The Fashion District before ending at Reading Terminal. Along the way, lament the loss of Broad St. Station and learn about the 1905-mid-50s trolley and subway lines, the Broad Street subway (1928), the Commuter Rail Tunnel (1984), and the former Reading Terminal.

Since the closing of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in the late 1990’s, the area has been transformed into one of the most successful redevelopment projects in the city. Today it is a thriving, mixed-use riverfront community with more than 15,000 people and 150 companies and soon to be residential apartments. Learn about the Navy Yard’s past and see their plans for the future. 

Bella Vista (“beautiful view”) is a vibrant, historic residential neighborhood and home to the famous Ninth Street Market, AKA the Italian Market, one of the nation’s oldest continuously operating open-air markets. The tour will highlight the lively neighborhood’s architecture, diverse ethnic mix, and social changes.

East Falls transitioned from a small fishing outpost along the Schuylkill River to a major mill town in the 1800s, but the last mills closed almost a century ago.  As the mills were closing, the neighborhood developed into a ‘suburb’ within Philadelphia. This tour will look at the changes from 1900 to the mid-century with a walk through the Tudor District, Oak Road, and School House Lane highlighting the highways and byways in between.

Stroll a charming labyrinth of streets west of Washington Square, a village-like setting right in the heart of Center City, developed in the mid 19th century. Experience an intimate “hierarchy of streets” where the larger style-conscious houses are on the main streets, the smaller scale houses built for the aspiring middle class are on the middle-sized streets, and what was worker housing is on the smallest alleys. See Philadelphia as a “livable” city at its best.

A Man Full of Trouble, built in 1759, is Philadelphia’s only surviving colonial tavern. Recently restored and honored in this year’s Preservation Achievement Awards, it now operates as a tavern museum, with a working bar on the first floor. Upstairs is a three-room museum that tells the stories of the tavern and the “urban renewal” of the Society Hill neighborhood, along with some early Philadelphia and revolutionary history. 

Join owner Dan Wheeler who purchased A Man Full of Trouble in 2021 from the University of Pennsylvania, on a tour of the tavern and and stay for a drink after!