Building Ghosts
- Molly Lester
- PennPraxis, Weitzman School of Design (PennDesign)
- Independent Creative Production Grant
“In the simplest sense, [building ghosts] are artistic objects, beautiful, sometimes legible, and confounding—all at once. But these vestiges (of structures, stairs, wallpaper, closets) are also legacies, hinting at the ghosts of the lives lived within these walls and the ways in which we erase history in our changing city”. - Molly Lester (Sample of “building ghost” surveyed; photo by Molly Lester)
Molly Lester will pursue an interdisciplinary interpretive project centered around “Building ghosts,” the imprint and last impressions of a demolished building, left behind on the walls of neighboring structures. Physically, building ghosts are architectural remnants that could be found only in a rowhouse city like Philadelphia, where the loss of one structure leaves a tangible mark on its neighbors. This project investigates, mourns, and celebrates these ghosts in our midst, creating a census of extant ghosts during one particular month in the life of Philadelphia. This “census” of ghosts will be established through interdisciplinary interpretations, using architectural street photography, oral history interviews, and archival research as a form of forensic storytelling to retrace the ghosts’ structures and selves.