A Brown Refrigerator On Every Corner

Because the Inquirer sometimes chooses the oddest photos to go with my Friday column (I won't even mention headlines.), I thought I'd share some of my shots here. In case you haven't been wandering around the east side of Broad Street in Center City recently, the neighborhood has been sprouting refrigerator size boxes at every signalized intersection. They're part of a Streets Department project to digitize the traffic signals throughout the city, but thanks to the Department of Homeland Security the new system is three times the size of the old pole-mounted controls, requiring a 67-inch free-standing box. The reason? The boxes were made bigger so they could hold the computer equipment for a future surveillance network. Just what we need - a security camera on every corner!

In the first photo, workmen are installing one of the big behemoths next to Marjorie Amrom's early 19th Century home at 10th and Lombard. The box partially blocks one of the doorways to the historically certified house. Amrom told me she couldn't understand why they didn't locate the signal controller catercorner from her house, alongside the Seger Playground fence. There are already two postboxes there and another big brown installation would have blended right in.

As a point of reference, here is one of the pole-mounted signal boxes. This one is located on the west side of Broad Street. While it also contains the digital equipment, you can see it is much smaller and less intrusive. That's because it was installed in the first phase of the digitization project, before the federal government began require intensive surveillance monitoring of our little rowhouse neighborhoods.

I wonder what impact this box is having on Albert Maranca's antiques business at 10th and Pine? Didn't anyone notice that the box was blocking his shop window? One of the common complaints about the boxes is that their blank canvases are an irresistible siren call to graffiti artists. The project, which covers South to Market Streets, isn't complete yet, but already many boxes have been tagged.

Here's another window blocked by the box. This is the new Marathon Grill at 10th and Walnut, which has become a mecca for Jefferson Hospital employees. This corner used to be a real dump, but when Marathon decided to open a location at the intersection it hired Sandvold Blanda Architecture + Interiors to give the building a face lift. Although the structure isn't historic, they did research showing it once featured huge loft-style windows with cast iron detailing. The used that idiom to guide their splendid recreation of the exterior. It looks like the signal box has wrecked the best table in the house.

Even when the boxes aren't flush against Society Hill's historic, colonial-era homes, they often make a big statement on the street. Center City's streets are already so overpopulated with sign poles, hydrants, bus shelters, bollards, bicycle racks and honor boxes, there's just not much room to add any more urban equipment. Could these signal boxes be the tipping point?