Philadelphia’s Goldtex has come a long way. Originally built in 1911, it was called the “Smaltz Building” and housed a clothing manufacturer. Later, the property was leased to the Goldtex shoe factory, which is where the property gets its name. By the late 1990s, the building was vacant. In 2003, Philadelphia-based photographer Theresa Stigale took pictures of the abandoned shoe factory.
In 2005, Goldtex was added to the National Register of Historic Places – a registry of sites deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or “great artistic value.” By 2012, when Post Brothers purchased the building with the vision of turning it into a high-end apartment complex, it had become an abandoned graffiti haven.
As part of its developmental vision, Post Brothers wanted to preserve the artistic aspects that made Goldtex so unique. As photographer Conrad Benner wrote in his Streets Dept blog:
“One of the more particularly interesting/exciting things about Goldtex is that throughout the building [Post Brothers] pays homage to its past and to the graffiti artists who were among the few to use the space while it was left abandoned, leaving exposed pillars and beams to show some of the original graffiti.”
Thus, Post Brothers hired Philly’s own Stephen Powers (aka Icy Signs) to paint murals throughout the building, using graffiti as an inspiration. Notably, Stephan Powers is an internationally renowned artist who was given a Fulbright Scholarship for his artistry. He is originally from Philadelphia, took classes at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and has since been featured at the SFMOMA and in Triennale di Milano in Italy and Le Tri Postal in France.
Here are some of the murals he created for Goldtex:
As a point of interest, Stephen Powers wound up knowing one of the graffiti artists whose work was most prominent in the vacant building – Timothy Curtis. Therefore, Post Brothers also hired Philadelphia-native Tim Curtis to create various murals for Goldtex. You can read more about him here.
