PhilaPlace

Crane Company Building/Crane Arts

Crane Co. building sign. Image provided by Historical Society of Pennsylvania

1400 North American Street

Designed by Walter Ballinger and completed 1905, the Crane Building was originally home to the Crane Plumbing Company. In 2004, artists Nick Kripal and Richard Hricko transformed this 117,000-square-foot former ice house and flash-freezing plant into space for emerging and established local artists. The five floors of artists' studios and office suites house individual artists, design and architecture firms, and arts organizations including InLiquid, Claymobile, and Gallery 201. The Crane Arts complex also boasts a huge white exhibition space called the Ice Box Gallery, a nod to the space's previous function as the Crane Company's refrigeration room. The growth of artists' collectives and studio and exhibition spaces in formerly industrial Northern Liberties and Lower Kensington are nurturing Philadelphia's arts community, providing both the spaces and incentives to live and work in the city.

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