Globe Dye Works

Until closing in 2005, Globe Dye Works’ hulking complex in Frankford was a major player in the dyeing and bleaching industry. Maintained by five generations of the Greenwood family, Globe Dye produced skeins of yarn and spools of thread for use across the world in everything from clothing to upholstery. Its closing left more than 145,000 square feet of industrial-zoned space across 12 buildings just waiting for an ambitious suitor.

In addition to luring in photographers and urban explorers with its irresistible lofty spaces and rusting, vintage machinery, the Globe Dye complex also caught the eye of a group of seven investors, most of whom had other large Frankford building renovations under their belts, who came to call themselves the Globe Development Group. Armed with a master plan issued by architecture firm DIGSAU, Globe Development Group is renovating the space as a bustling creative compound with exhibition and studio space for Philadelphia’s arts and small manufacturing scene.

I wrote and shot a story for the folks at Hidden City Philadelphia. Here’s a sampling of some of my favorite images from the day. For more, check out the post on Hidden City Philadelphia.