Border Lines

An occasional series on the look and texture of Philadelphia neighborhoods.

photography by Kass Mencher

Northern Liberties

Where: Delaware Avenue to Sixth Street, Spring Garden Street to Girard Avenue.

Who: Everyone from artists to politicians to small-business owners to welfare recipients. To name a few: William Reed, co-owner of Standard Tap, a bar/restaurant at Second and Poplar, his wife, Liz, and their daughter; City Councilman at-large Angel Ortiz and his wife, Lydia Hernandez Velez; painter Dennis Haugh.

What it looks like: Architecturally diverse, from a log cabin (Lawrence and Poplar Streets) to a 25-room mansion (Sixth and Girard) to warehouses and abandoned homes.

Why they live here: "There is much more to it [Northern Liberties] than meets the eye," says Haugh, a painter and active resident (currently as chairman for the community park, Liberty Lands) for more than 20 years. He likes the strong sense of community, the affordability and diversity. Best of all: "Access to Center City without being Center City."

Rowhomes near Spring Garden St. and the El.

Neighboring doors on Green Street.

A side yard on 3rd St. near St. John Neumann’s Way.

Dennis Haugh and daughter Tessa Lucinda in Liberty Lands.

Don Quijote (de la Mancha), a replica of a statue in Ciudad Real, Spain, erected at 2nd and Girard in 1996. Schmidt’s Brewery looms on the horizon.