Know Your Neighborhood: The Painted Bride 

The Painted Bride Art Center, sometimes referred to informally as The Bride, is a non-profit artist-centered performance space and gallery oriented to presenting the work of local Philadelphia artists, which presents dance, jazz, world, folk and electronic music, visual arts, theatre and performance art, poetry and spoken word performances.

The Painted Bride was founded as a gallery space in an old bridal shop on South Street in 1969 and moved to it's current location in 1982.

The outside of the former Eastern Elevator Company is completely covered by Skin of the Bride, a mosaic by Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar, which he created between 1991 and 2000 and donated to the center.

Last year, The Painted Bride announced the building was going up for sale, with plans to keep the Painted Bride art center itself going, just in different parts of the city. In September, the building's fate was decided in a narrow 5-4 vote at the Philadelphia Historical Commission’s monthly meeting, during which the majority of members opted not to add the building to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places. The lack of designation means it will not be protected from demolition.

Currently the fate of the building & the mosaic is up in the air.

Beginning stages of the mosaic. Isaiah on the ladder