I was rummaging around boxes of 35mm prints when I came across a number of pictures of the NewMarket shopping center that was on Headhouse Square in the vicinity of 2nd Street between South and Lombard Streets. I took the pictures in 1990 and NewMarket was already defunct. It was mostly empty when I strolled through it with my Sears branded Pentax SLR. I don’t know what I was thinking when I shot these photographs. Maybe I thought it would be for photo reference for some future illustration job although I don’t know what assignment would require shots of a shuttered mall.
This is what Wikipedia had to say about NewMarket:
In 1975, a modern steel-and-glass retail and restaurant complex called NewMarket opened east of the historic market between Pine and Lombard Streets. The center struggled to attract customers and was essentially vacant by 1988. An early 1990s revival as a cabaret entertainment district was short-lived. The complex was demolished in 2002 and its site was subsequently redeveloped.
1975 sounds about right judging from the looks of the place. I guess that the developers thought that the Logan’s Run aesthetic was going to last forever.
To see more of NewMarket and other places in and around Philadelphia that aren’t there anymore, check out my Flickr album Gone, Daddy, GONE!
Like this:
Like Loading...
