ch once lined the narrow streets
and alleys, most have become squalid tenements and small alien stores,
or else have been utilized for commercial purposes. To walk through
Combes Alley and Elfret Alley is to sense what once was and to realize
the trend of the times, but there is much material for study in these
rapidly decaying old sections that repay a visit by the architect and
student.

Happily, however, one of these typical little streets is to be
perpetuated in something like its pristine condition. Camac Street, "the
street of little clubs", has become one of the unique features of the
city,--a typically American "Latin Quarter." To enter this little,
narrow, rough-paved alley, running south from Walnut Street between
Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, is like stepping back a century or
more. The squatty little two and a half story houses with picturesque
doorways and dormer windows have become the homes of numerous clubs
representing the best art interests of the city. Poor Richard Club,
Plastic Club, Sketch Club, Coin d'Or and Franklin Inn are among the
names to be seen painted on the signs beside the doors. The houses and
their gardens in the rear have been restored and provide excellent club,
exhibition and lecture rooms, at the same time preserving some fine
examples of a rapidly passing type of early American architecture. Would
that a similar course might be taken by local societies in every large
American city where a wealth of Colonial architecture exists!

Among the fine old single-front houses of particular interest which have
suffered through the encroachment of business upon the former
residential sections of the city are the Blackwell house, Number 224
Pine Street, and the Wharton house, Number 336 Spruce Street.

The former was in many respects the most elegant residence in
Philadelphia, built almost without regard to cost by a man of great
wealth, whose taste and refinement called for luxurious living and a
beautiful home. The interior woodwork surpassed in design and execution
anything to be found elsewhere in the city. Many of the doorways had
fluted pilasters, heavily molded casings and carved broken pediments.
The doors were of mahogany as was likewise the wainscoting of the
staircases. The sides of the rooms where fireplaces were located were
completely paneled to the ceiling, and above the fireplace openings were
narrow panels on which were hunting scenes done in mastic. Some years
ago much o