Philadelphia residents hold funeral for a house

Philadelphia residents hold funeral for a house

A dilapidated 142-year-old house was accorded a unique honour before it was demolished - it was given a grand send-off complete with celebration activities.

Residents of Mantua, Philadelphia participated enthusiastically in the "Funeral for a Home" as a tribute for the house which had outlived many of its neighbours. They took part in a procession and a funeral service complete with a choir and flowers before it was bulldozed on May 31, reported Reuters.

Funeral for a Home is a Mantua-based effort hatched by local artists Billy Dufala, Steven Dufala, and Jacob Hellman working with community organisations.

Concerned that about 600 houses are demolished in Philadelophia each year, they decided to organise a memorable "demolition in the service of preservation", said the artists on their website.

Each funeral service would engage "long-term residents and numerous neighbourhood organisations that have worked throughout the year to offer reflections of the selected house as well as the proud history and coming future of Mantua".

Music, art, celebration, food, and ritual form part of the event as it commemorates the selected house with public memory and civic dialogue of shared lifetimes.

chenj@sph.com.sg

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